Download this newsletter as a .pdf file here.

Spring 2025 has been an exciting time to be a part of the Remakery! Whether you are a new trainee who is gaining invaluable employability experience and practical skills; a local resident whose precious family-heirloom has been lovingly restored in our workshop; someone who shops in Grantown who has noticed that there is one less ‘To Let’ sign on the high street; or simply a part of the faithful community of locals and volunteers for whom The Remakery offers a safe environment with a friendly welcome, things are happening and our impact is increasing.

At the start of June we were excited to collect the keys to a new shop-front, directly adjacent to our current premises. With an ever-increasing uptake on our repair services, an expanding staff- and-volunteer team, and a burgeoning reputation as ethical stewards of well-loved items of furniture, space in our current hub has been at a premium for some time now; the decision to rent extra space represents our commitment to deliver growth and excellence in what we do. We will continue to operate from our current premises and expand into the shop next door to almost double the footprint of our dynamic and supportive project-space. Whilst in the first instance we are renting, George has been tirelessly fundraising with a view to purchasing the property next- door: we want to offer our sincere gratitude to the Robert Barr Trust, The Pebble Trust and The Cairngorm Trust for the support we have received so far in this exciting endeavour. Additional space promises The Remakery the facilities to empower more trainees, redeem more beautiful artefacts which would otherwise be destined for landfill and serve the community’s repair needs more fully.

We love Grantown on Spey. The vibrancy of its high street bucks the worrying trend in rural towns of high streets becoming increasingly populated with empty units. We take pride in the part we play in ensuring that visitors and locals to Grantown are met with a warm welcome and a town which exudes energy, creativity and inclusion. Renting additional space is a gesture of commitment to Grantown’s high street and its amazing atmosphere: if you love the High Street too, why not drop into the shop and say ‘Hi’ sometime – we often find that the shop has just the thing our customers didn’t realise they needed! We are open 9:30 – 16:00 Tuesday to Friday and take great pleasure in showing visitors the work we are so proud of.

If you have utilised our repair services in the past you will be aware of how incredibly skilled and conscientious our repair team is. Whether you have witnessed Tomas’ forensic triage of a beloved item of antique furniture, or Marie’s dedication to ensuring that customers are included in the process of choosing the fabric used in reupholstery, you will know that we care deeply about every item which is entrusted to us. This level of skill and enthusiasm is a key factor in the remarkable surge in uptake of our repair services over the past twelve months .

Compared to this time last year, our shop revenue has seen a 50% increase – the majority of which can be accredited to the repairs and restorations with which we have been
commissioned. There is no doubt that tendering and winning a contract to run a Share and Repair Network Tourism Fund through Circular Communities Scotland bolstered local knowledge of our work, or that we continue to reap the reputational and profile fruits of ourRoyal visit last year, but the loyal support of our community and the word-of-mouth promotion from our patrons is a foundational resource which we never take for granted. Thank you to each of you.

The growth in popularity of our repair services is accompanied by certain logistic challenges: where do we keep items to be restored? How can we ensure that an excellent quality of service is maintained when demand is on the increase? How do we nurture the wellbeing of staff and volunteers? Whilst we work out a strategy to remedy these challenges, transition to a new shop, and whilst staff enjoy some well-earned time off over the summer, we have a small ask of our valued supporters and customers: please can we request additional patience over July and August? Repairs may take a little longer, big jobs may need to be postponed, the shop may be a little quieter. Rest-assured, we are motivated to ensure that we meet our community’s needs, but sometimes that requires time for planning, discussions, and even to allow Tomas a few weeks in Czechia!

Alongside the joy we experience when we return restored items to our customers, we take seriously the impact that the concept of ‘Restore, Reuse Recycle’ can have in supporting the Green agenda to safeguard the planet for future generations. If you want to partner with us in supporting the Cairngorm 2030 Net Zero Plan be sure to tell your friends and neighbours about us next time they are thinking of updating their home.

We are incredibly proud of the work we do to support our trainees. Whether they have been referred to us to gain experience toward employment, offered the chance of an alternative curriculum with us by Grantown High School, or come in under their own steam – knowing the transformative impact of meaningful activity for mental health – the growth-journeys undertaken by our trainees is central to our work. And whilst ‘soft-outcomes’ such as a young person’s transition from lacking confidence to feeling empowered to work independently are undoubtedly something to be celebrated, they are much harder to evidence. With this in mind, in early June Sam took a fact-finding trip to a like-minded project in Gateshead. During the visit he was able to observe good practice and receive training to utilise Airtable technology to monitor, track, and evidence the progress which all of our trainees make, consistently, in our project. Sam spent two days with IT specialists and workshop supervisors to glean as much
information as possible about how projects with a longer history of empowerment might support, inspire and share resources to enable us to more thoroughly document, celebrate and evidence the incredible things which our trainees achieve in their time with us. Watch this space for news about how the generosity of this partner project enhances the outcomes for our trainees, the quality of our record-keeping, and our potential to attract further funding.

All this said, we are not the sort of team who will rest on their laurels. We know that we can support more people; we know that throw-away-culture continues to thrive and that our planet demands radical change; and we are proud to stand with those who value the characteristics of creativity, craftsmanship and integrity in a climate where the rise of AI threatens the livelihoods and soft-outcomes which our project exists to nurture.

We would like to thank everyone in the community, customers, funders, donors and supporters and in particular The Cairngorm Trust and Berry Burn Community Fund for all the support they have provided and look forward to seeing you all in the shop again soon. If you have used our services in the past year we would love to hear your feedback. We are currently conducting a public survey, and we would love your input as we strive to deliver the best service we can to our stakeholders.

Please click the link to complete the survey.

Download this newsletter as a .pdf file here.