Voluntary Action South West Surrey

Do you love gardening? Do you like helping those in your community? Then we have the perfect project for you!

We are looking for volunteers to help those in their local community, who are not able to upkeep their gardens. We are aiming to start the project in Merrow during the Springtime. This is a pilot project and in the future, we would love for it to be rolled out across all the wards of Guildford.

Guildford Repair Cafè runs every third Saturday of the month at The Hive Community Centre in Guildford from 10am to 12:30pm. A friendly group of volunteers run the café and help repair small household items, from clothing to electricals and toys to gardening tools. The Repair Café is supported by Guildford Borough Council and the ‘Rotary Club of Guildford Wey’

Over the years our skilled repairers have helped save thousands of products from landfill and have given a new lease of life to some much-loved items, as well as more practical objects. Recently we were able to repair a small wooden stool that its owner had bought on honeymoon many years before, and countless lamps are now shining brightly again, thanks to our electrical specialists.

So don’t be shy, pop in for a free cuppa, and see what its all about, or message us if you have an item for repair. It’s always worth checking before the next session to make sure that we have the right repairer available on the day. Even more importantly, we’d love to hear from you if you have repairing skills that you’d like to share

The Spike Heritage Centre is one of the few buildings remaining from Guildford's Workhouse in the Poor Law era, which housed the forgotten classes of Victorian England.  The Vagrants and Casual Ward, known as The Spike was built in 1906 to house vagrants and low paid workers.  After the Poor Laws ended in 1929, it continued as a night hostel until the mid 1960s. The NHS took over the site becoming St Lukes Hospital, operational until the mid 1990s when the new Royal Surrey hospital was opened.  The majority of the workhouse site was redeveloped, but due to the efforts of local campaigners, the Casual Ward was saved and remains as a historic building with lots of stories to tell. Individual visitors and groups are welcome to explore this unique building with guides providing the insight about how the poor were treated in a bygone age.