A 9ft-tall inflatable dinosaur will greet shoppers in the foyer at Tesco in Bordon today (Saturday).

Inside the outfit will be David George, general manager of the Furniture Helpline charity, who will hand out helium balloons and leaflets advertising the relaunch of its Repair Café.

The monthly Repair Café – a chance to have some refreshments while an expert fixes a broken domestic item – began last November.

But Mr George felt its location in the former garrison police station at the end of Kildare Road made it difficult to attract visitors.

So it is moving into a room at the Forest Community Centre, from 10am until midday on the fourth Saturday of each month.

Anything which cannot be repaired on the day will be taken back to Kildare Road where the Repair Café team has a fully-equipped workshop.

Mr George said: “We can repair almost anything, including clothes and fabrics, electricals, bikes and furniture.

On the day, visitors will be able to enjoy a drink and a cake with our volunteers, who range from experienced and skilled hobbyists to highly-qualified professional electricians, engineers, woodworkers and seamstresses.

“Although repairs are free of charge, within reason – we’re not going to buy a new engine – we very much welcome donations to keep the volunteers topped up with cake, and to pay for repairs and the continuance of the Repair Café.”

When the Bordon Herald visited Kildare Road – also the headquarters of Furniture Helpline, which collects donated furniture and offers it free or cheaply to people in need – an electric lawnmower was being revived and some electronic kitchen scales awaited the re-soldering of their wires.

Inside pretty wooden cabinets were a 1970s Sanyo music centre and a 1911 electric/manual Singer sewing machine.

On the back of Mr George’s leaflets will be a 20 per cent discount voucher for Furniture Helpline stock, and Furniture Helpline staff will dress as Star Wars characters to hand out more balloons and leaflets at the Forest Centre.

Mr George said: “We’ll be offering free hobby classes at the same time, such as creative paint techniques on furniture, home-made Christmas decorations and turning a bottle into a lamp.

“We really want the local community to take us up on our offer of free repairs – saving them money and saving their items from landfill.”

The Furniture Helpline/Repair Café headquarters is open weekdays from 9am until 4pm. For more details, call 01420 489000.