Draft storyAt the café and the repair workshop
The useful noticeboard
Ask what still works before buying a new one.
A draft: the words and pictures are waiting for an educator’s review.
Who’s in it
MairiWonders whether her old café noticeboard needs replacing.Meet Mairi
StanChecks the board and mends a loose corner.Meet Stan
MayAsks what the notices want people to do.Meet MayThe story
A tired old board
Mairi’s café noticeboard had carried news of garden clubs, missing mittens and village picnics.
Now the notices were down. The wooden frame was scratched, and one corner felt loose.
Mairi rested a hand on the frame.
“You’ve had a busy life,” she said.
A new notice
Mairi lifted the board onto a table.
Stan wanted a notice about repairs at his workshop. Mairi had promised a place on the café wall.
“A new board would look smart,” she thought.
Then she looked at the old one.
“But what’s wrong with this one, apart from a few marks?”
Stan looks closely
At the workshop, Stan checked the board.
“Let’s see what’s still useful.”
He looked over the frame and the centre.
“Most of this is sound. This corner needs some attention.”
Stan did the repair while Mairi watched. Afterwards, the frame held firm.
“Still our old board,” said Mairi.
“Still a useful board,” said Stan.
May asks a question
May arrived while Mairi was getting the notices ready.
“What do you want people to do?” she asked.
“Ask Stan about something they’d like repaired.”
“Then tell them who to ask, and where.”
Mairi read out the first notice. “Something wobbly? Ask Stan at the workshop.”
The second asked neighbours with spare plant pots to speak to Mairi.
Together, May and Mairi pinned both notices in place.
Back on the wall
Back at the café, the board went onto its familiar wall.
Mairi stood beside Stan and looked up.
The frame still had a few old marks. The notices had room to be seen.
“No new board needed,” she said.
“This one has more news to carry.”
The first customer
May joined them to admire their work.
“I wonder who’ll be first to ask about a repair,” she said.
“Someone’s beaten them to it,” said Mairi.
Stan looked towards the door.
“Who?”
Mairi pointed at the board.
“Our first customer.”
May laughed. “And already back at work.”
Talk about the story
- Why did Mairi think about a new board?
- What did Stan check?
- How did May help the notices work better?
- Why did Mairi call the board their first customer?
- What useful job might an older object still do?
A small activity without tools
With a grown-up, choose a familiar object and talk about its job. What still works? Does anything need attention? The grown-up decides whether checking or repair is suitable. Children don’t take objects apart. Drawing or talking is enough, with no purchase or printer needed.
For grown-ups
The story encourages asking what remains useful before replacing something. Repairs need a grown-up’s judgement and the right skills. Not everything can be repaired, and some jobs need a qualified specialist. The plant-pot notice is a made-up request through Mairi, not an invitation for children to collect unknown items or share contact details.
Draft: the revised story of 21 October 2026. The words and pictures are not yet reviewed by an educator, and the story has not yet been read aloud with children.
The real-life bit
Mending something that still does its job well saves buying a new one, and keeps the old one out of the bin. Look for a repair café or reuse shop near you. Repairs are a job for a grown-up. Gullbrae is made up. Your council’s own rules are the ones to follow.