SHARE Oxford

Susan says, “I like to take advantage of the abundance of summer fruit and berries to make jams, simple ones like strawberry, but blended ones like blackberry with blueberry, gooseberry with strawberry, or even greengage with Victoria plums. I have found the large cooking pot to be useful in making 6lb or larger amounts of jam. I plan on borrowing the pot again in the autumn to make my favourite apple and tomato chutneys.”

So, as Theresa says: “I was bored of the standard supermarket ice cream flavours, so decided to borrow this machine and see what I could whip up.  I found lots of easy recipes online and made some delicious peanut-butter-choc-chip ice cream. Sweet, savoury, sorbet…borrow this ice-cream maker and get creative in the kitchen!“

Summer is also when we go away to other places, so you may want to look in our travel or camping categories.

Oxfordshire County council has won an award for recycling electricals in recognition of repair cafés they funded via the CAG network between November 2017 – 2018. Together, a network of 49 electrical repair cafes worked to save nearly two tonnes of TVs, radios, toasters, and other electronic items from being thrown away, helping over 1,500 residents use their items again.

We were pleased to be involved in this effort and to continue to run Repair Cafés on an ongoing basis. Our next event is 1st September at Makespace in Jericho and there’s also a Rose Hill repair cafe on 3rd August, along with others around the county. You can of course repair more than just electricals – keep an eye on our website as we confirm which services we’ll be able to offer at the next event.

We need more friendly volunteers to help us run the Library of Things and to expand our opening hours, so we can help even more people to borrow instead of buy.

No experience is necessary, so if you’re enthusiastic and you can spare a few hours per week we’d love to hear from you. You can read more about the role here [link now closed], but if you want a real flavour of what’s involved, come along to our information and demo session on Wednesday 10th July from 6-7pm.

Please get in touch at libraryofthings@shareoxford.org if you plan to attend, so we have an idea of numbers. If you can’t make it to the event but you’re interested in volunteering please also email us or drop in during our opening hours and we’ll be delighted to tell you more.

… and nice weather so far. So we have featured items that you might want for going away and spending some time out in the open – camping or whatever – on our catalogue. Have a look and see how we can help you have some things that might make it possible here.

Or maybe you’ll want to garden, or go out on the canal in a canoe, or get on with the DIY… Lots of stuff in the Library to keep you out of trouble.

Library of Things ITV feature

You may have spotted us on ITV News last week! If you missed it, you can still catch the video here. We’ve also spoken on a couple of radio shows in other parts of Europe.

Come and see us!

We are of course always very happy to have you pop in to see us at Makespace during our usual opening hours but there are some additional exciting opportunities coming up:

• Guilty Feminist Live Show – Oxford, 19th June (tickets required) – We’re appearing in a panel discussion at the Guilty Feminist live show this Sunday where we’ll be talking about what we do in both the Library of Things and the Repair Cafés, alongside representatives from other local groups doing great things. You can buy tickets here (note the live shows are not being recorded for their podcast).
• Big Green Day Out – Oxford, Saturday 8th June (free) – We will have a stall at the Big Green Day Out, and we’d love to see you there! Find out more about the event [link closed].
• Oxfordshire Zero Waste Festival – Oxford, 16th June (free) – We are supporting this event where you’ll find a repair café, swap shop, food surplus café and more! Find out more [link closed].

May 9^th (Thursday) 2019, 6.30pm- 8.30pm
Makespace, 1 Aristotle Lane, OX2 6LP

All Library and Repair Café volunteers, borrower members of the Library, and representatives of financial supporters of SHARE Oxford are invited to attend this AGM. Please let us know if you intend to attend, in order for us to plan better by emailing libraryofthings@shareoxford.org

• The meeting will start at 6.30pm with a short update on the status and progress of the Library of Things and the Repair Cafes by Maurice Herson and Alex Mates.
• The formal business of the Meeting will then include:
  • presentation of the provisional accounts for financial year 2018/19.
  • Election and/or confirmation of the officers of SHARE Oxford (Chair [currently Alex] and Treasurer [currently Maurice], potentially Secretary). If you are interested in putting yourself forward for one of these roles – or would just like to see what they involve – please email  libraryofthings@shareoxford.org
• The rest of the meeting will be spent in a discussion of future possibilities for SHARE Oxford, such as:
  • other activities consistent with the vision of SHARE Oxford which we might take on; 
  • considerations for the continuity, frequency etc. of the Repair Cafes; 
  • considerations for the location of the Library after Makespace; 
  • partnerships we might seek; 
  • (if there is time) the nature of ‘membership’ of SHARE Oxford;
  • and any other strategic considerations brought up by attendees.

 
If you would like to see SHARE Oxford’s Constitution, please email requesting it; copies will also be available at the meeting.

Last week, we were delighted to be the principal feature in the Guardian’s article on the global Library of Things movement, alongside mentions for some of our friends in other LoTs around the UK and the world. Keep an eye out for more coverage in the media coming very soon!

Read more about the role here [link now closed] and if you’re keen to join our friendly group of volunteers, please get in touch at libraryofthings@shareoxford.org!

If numbers are not your thing but you’d like to offer your time for other roles please have a look at our volunteering page.

This week in the build-up to Mother’s Day, we’ve been making suggestions how you could do something for your mother. We started on Monday with gardening:
Instead of cut flowers full of air-miles why not spruce up the garden for your mum? Borrow our tools to help!

Next we suggested you could brighten up the car or patio for her by borrowing our pressure washer!

Then we put it to our members to spend quality time baking together, or bake something for her that she’ll love. Even if you’re not an expert in cupcake decoration, you can make them look great on our lovely cupcake stand! (it’s also perfect for afternoon tea)

Then we asked whether your mum would love to have that pesky DIY task done at last. Give her a treat by getting a job done for her… we have a wide variety of hand and power tools you can borrow…

Finally,  to make the wonderful lady/ies who brought you up feel special by gathering together for some quality family time. We have lots of games and jigsaws to borrow to keep you entertained all afternoon…

And this weekend it now is Mother’s Day, so take up one of our ideas for her. Or see whether we can loan you something you need to do a job for her or give her a treat. Or it doesn’t need to be this weekend, you can do any of these things any day. Look online at our catalogue and see what we’ve got to assist you. SHARE Oxford catalogue