Our humble beginnings…
The BitFIXit project was founded in 2004 by Gareth Coleman. At the time, there were several local projects that focused on providing hardware. Gareth realised that without ongoing maintenance and support, an expensive computer could quickly become little more than a door stop. Repair services were expensive if people could find repair shops at all.
This was at a time when broadband was becoming an important part of everyday life. At this time, we came to rely on the internet to buy and sell goods, talk to friends and family, apply for jobs and claim benefits. We even use the internet for streaming music and movies, or playing online games with other people around the world.
Initially running in Heeley, the project quickly moved to Pitsmoor, where the Ashram project offered us space to operate and store our equipment. A team of volunteers came together every Saturday to fix computers for local communities. They shared their knowledge and experience in mending computers and peripherals with each other. In turn, they empowered other people in the community in fixing problems with their computers.
Evolving through the years…
After a few months, we moved the repair cafes over to Verdon Street in Burngreave. Here, we had our own dedicated space, which we quickly filled to the ceiling with computer parts! However, we had to pay for our own heating, electricity and internet. Having a small grant or two covered this for a couple of years, but the steady financial costs were a drain.
In around 2010 or 2011, we moved the repair cafes from Verdon Street to Abbeyfield Park House. Originally, we used the community room to host our repair cafes. Other community groups used this room for their own projects and sessions. This meant that sometimes, we used other rooms to host our own repair cafes.
After that, we’re able to sustain the project through donations, which removed the need to apply for grants or pay out of our own pockets. Customers who can afford to give us occasional donations, cover our costs and allows us to buy tools and parts if we need them.
Remaining resilient…
The pay as you feel model, coupled with minimal running costs, enabled us to endure through some difficult times. Beginning in early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the livelihoods of many people throughout the UK. This forced many local computer repair shops to close down during lock downs, even though they clearly offered essential services.
This is at a time when people relied on their computers and mobile devices for work, shopping and leisure more than ever before. Without the computer repair services to rely on during lock down, they become isolated from work and online services when something goes wrong.
BitFIXit had to stop running its usual repair cafes when the Government imposed lock downs to halt the spread of COVID-19. The closures went on for several months over the course of two lock downs, as we bode our time and kept up to date with announcements. We returned after the lock downs to run our repair cafes again. The BitFIXit project would not have been as resilient if we had run it as a small for-profit enterprise instead.
Unifying services…
In October 2022, Gareth founded Reyt Repair, a social enterprise which provides repair services for various other everyday items. He set up the workshops in a vacant room, where a community group formerly operated. Here, Reyt Repair also collaborates with Green City Action in running the Community Tool Bank.
As a project, BitFIXit moved its computer repair services into the same room. Effectively, this set up brings all three services together into one family. Even with this development, we remain committed to providing accessible pay-as-you-feel computer repair services to the community every Saturday.
What we offer to the community
BitFIXit offers a range of services at our repair cafes, which are easily accessible by public transport or car. We provide our services on a pay as you feel basis to make them accessible to people who otherwise can’t afford to pay for them. The repair cafes take place every Saturday at Abbeyfield Park House. As of October 2022, we now run sessions from 10am until 4pm to align with opening times for Reyt Repairs. Our services include:
- Hardware repairs: we can replace broken and faulty parts in PCs and laptops with working parts.
- Virus removal: we remove viruses and other unwanted programs from PCs using well-known antivirus software.
- System optimisation: we can remove junk and tweak settings to make your computer run faster.
- Upgrades: we can make your computer run faster and more responsive by installing an SSD or extra RAM.
- Collections: we can take in old or unwanted computers and equipment, and refurbish the viable machines ready to give away to people who need them.
We’re also keen to find new ways of reusing old computers, parts and peripherals. Most old, broken or unwanted items tend to end up in landfill, when they are still viable for reuse. At present, we focus on practical reuse projects that use parts for their original purposes. But we’re also keen on coming up with crazier uses of old parts and equipment!