Rugby
Rugby Refurbishment Centre
Centre Manager: Garth Melling and Apprentice, Caleb Scotland
Phone: 01473 210220*
Email: post@twam.uk
*Please ring our head office in Ipswich, who will try and help you themselves, or if not, will transfer you to the Rugby Centre.
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Address: 6 Paynes Lane, Rugby, CV21 2UH
Opening Times: Monday to Thursday 8.30 am to 4.30 pm, Friday 8.30am to 4pm
How to donate tools
We welcome tool drop-offs from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm, Monday to Friday. To make unloading easier, please box your tools wherever possible. If you are planning to drop off more than just a couple of boxes of tools or machines, we kindly ask that you make an appointment by calling us at 01473 210220 during the aforementioned hours. This will help us prevent overcrowding and ensure there are no clashes with van deliveries. Thank you for your cooperation.
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Alternatively please check who your nearest collector is here
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What we do
The Rugby Refurbishment Centre was opened in 2022 as part of TWAM's ambitious 5-year strategic plan to double in size. The centre will be able to send the same number of containers as our Ipswich headquarters - that's 16 containers full of tools every year.
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To achieve this ambitious plan, we need more volunteers! Find out more about volunteering at our Rugby centre below.
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The Rugby centre covers the northern half of the UK and undertakes a large number of van journeys every year, spanning from Carlisle to Weston Super Mare. Our dedicated volunteer drivers in Rugby put in many miles for TWAM, collecting from our collectors across the region.
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We have a team of around 20 volunteers in Rugby who help with various tasks, including refurbishment, sorting, and packing. Two of our volunteers specialise in haberdashery to make sewing kits and sort materials to go with the sewing machines.
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If you would like to read the 'journey of the building', a talk given by Mike Griffin, our CEO at the Dedication and Commissioning service on 4th September 2022 you can download it here.
Volunteering at Rugby
We're a new refurbishment centre that was opened in 2022, after moving from our previous Coventry centre. We collect from across the Midlands, the North of England, and Wales. We're never short of tools to sort and refurbish! We're a great team of volunteers who work well together and support each other. We have a laugh while we're working.
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We specialise in refurbishing sewing machines, assembling carpentry kits, and sorting haberdashery, but we can put our hands to most things. We have a volunteer canteen and a separate volunteer lounge. We provide tea, coffee, and biscuits and sometimes people bring in cakes. We especially like people who bring in cakes! Anyone can use any mug or glass, and you can keep drinks cold in the fridge. Everyone shares in washing up. We've got plenty of parking outside the centre.
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If you want to find out what we do and what you could do to help, please give us a ring or just pop in. It would be great to see you.
Pictures of the Centre
Malcolm
Tool Champion
What attracted you to volunteering for TWAM and to this role in particular?
I relished the opportunity to support a Christian charity working in the developing world in a practical way, rather than just giving money, and using my passion for DIY and woodwork. The TWAM centre was conveniently situated near where I live, and the team were welcoming and happy to teach me the skills needed to restore any tools that I may not have been familiar with.
What is a typical volunteering shift for you like?
My role involves restoring and repairing carpentry tools, mainly augers, G cramps, screwdrivers and set squares. I normally start around 9.30am and check with Ian the Centre Manager if there are any tools that we are short of for the current set of carpentry kits being prepared. It's then a question of checking what stocks we have on the shelves for the next set of kits and working to clean and sharpen the type of tools needed. I also help sort any tools that have come into the workshop into different types and sizes, ready to be cleaned, repaired and sharpened. We all stop to have lunch together, and my shift usually finishes at about 3.30pm.
What is your favourite thing about volunteering?
I think it is having the opportunity to contribute to the supply of kits and sewing machines and the feeling that in some small way, I am helping people in the developing world to have the chance to earn a living and support themselves and their families.
What has been one of the highlights?
I think it would be when the Director from one of the projects which TWAM supports in Africa visited the Coventry workshop and told us about particular examples of how the ways in which the different kits had made such a difference in people's lives. It was a very humbling experience.
What would you say you have gained from this role?
The chance to be part of a team and an organisation which is making a tangible difference in the lives and circumstances of people less fortunate than ourselves. It is also so encouraging to know that we can take things in that in many cases people would throw away and restore them so that they are of use to others helping them get out of a life of poverty.
Why would you recommend volunteering with TWAM to other people?
TWAM offers a great range of opportunities to put your skills and experience to good use, and in doing so to make a real difference to people’s lives. For me, it fires me up each time I take a set of rusty tools from the ‘in box’ and get them ready to go in the carpentry kits, knowing that this is going to change someone's future.
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