"It had been on my mind to begin a repair cafe in the south-west for a couple of years now," she said.

"Port Fairy is a great place with so many people with different skills and the community is really volunteer focused as well."

The concept of The Repair Cafe was devised by Martine Postma in 2009 who launched the first cafe in Amsterdam. Since then, its become a global phenomenon with cafes popping up in all corners of the world.

At The Repair Cafe, knowledgeable volunteers are on hand to help people fix their own items.

So far, Port Fairy volunteers with expertise in bike maintenance, computers, phones, battery-operated toys, electrical goods, theatre costuming, textiles, sentimental item maintenance and sharpening knives and garden tools have come forward to share their knowledge once the cafe opens with more volunteer fixers and planners welcomed.

Inspired by her grandfather, Mrs Mills hopes the Cafe can bring more people together.

"My grandfather used to take me to the Port Fairy tip when I was young and I remember watching him rummaging through the rubbish, finding bits and pieces to fix things and make or create new things," she said.

"After owner-building a house with my husband, I realised we can all learn DIY and fixing skills.

"There are so many people in the community with the knowledge and know how, we just need a platform like repair cafes to enable us to share it."

The Repair Cafe will open in Port Fairy's Community House this Sunday at 10am.

"The cafe is a reminder to people that we can fix things ourselves, we don't need to go out and buy something new each time something breaks," Mrs Mills said.

"It allows people to teach others their skills to then empower them to be able to fix things themselves."

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