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Eat the Streets Ballyfermot Community Festival!

We’re delighted to be taking part in Eat the Streets, a family-friendly festival celebrating food, community, and sustainability in Ballyfermot.

The idea is simple (and right up our alley): grow, cook, create, and discover together — bringing families, urban growers, and chefs straight from the streets to the table.

TOG workshop: Learn to wire a plug (with Jeffrey Roe)

As part of the festival, our own Jeffrey Roe will be running a hands-on “learn to wire a plug” skills workshop.

If you’ve ever looked at a plug and thought, “I should really know how to do this properly” — this is your chance. It’s a practical, confidence-boosting skill, and we’ll keep it friendly and beginner-friendly.

(Some festival workshops have limited capacity and may require free tickets — if you’re planning to do a few sessions, it’s worth checking the bookings.)

Can’t make it on the day?

No stress — if you miss Jeffrey’s learn to wire a plug workshop at the festival, we’re running the same workshop again in March as part of Engineers Week at TOG Hackerspace.

You’ll get the same practical, step-by-step guidance (and the confidence to do it safely at home).

Full details and booking info are on the TOG site:
https://www.tog.ie/2026/02/learn-to-wire-a-plug-engineers-week-edition-workshop-at-tog/

What else is on?

There’s loads happening across the afternoon, including:

  • Cooking demos: Batch Cooking, FakeAways, and Empty Your Fridge
  • Workshops: Grow it Yourself, Natural Remedies, Fun Tie-Dye and more
  • Information stalls
  • Family fun: Free face painting and children’s entertainment

Event details

  • Location: Ballyfermot Community Civic Centre
  • Date: Saturday, 14th February 2026
  • Time: 12pm – 4pm
  • Cost: Free

Come eat, learn, share, and connect

Pop down, bring the family, meet local growers and community groups, pick up a few ideas for reducing food waste, and come chat to us at TOG while you’re at it.

More info (and tickets where needed): eatthestreets.ie/festival

#EatTheStreetsFestival #SustainableFood #CommunityEvent #UrbanGrowing #FoodCulture #Ballyfermot #FamilyFriendly

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Soldering Workshop (Engineers Week) – Build a Kit on the Night

We’re running a beginner-friendly soldering workshop at TOG Hackerspace for Engineers Week.

If you’ve ever wanted to learn how to solder (or just get more confident with it), this is a hands-on session that starts from the basics and finishes with you building something real.

Like our previous soldering workshops, we’ll cover safe tool use, good technique, and the common mistakes that catch people out.

What to expect

In this class, our instructors will guide you through the process of soldering components onto a circuit board. We’ll start with the fundamentals — how to use a soldering iron properly, how to get a clean joint, and how to spot (and fix) issues — then you’ll build your own project.

New for this Engineers Week edition: choose your kit

On the night, you’ll get to pick one of five different kits and build it after the lesson. Each kit is designed to be achievable for beginners, with help on hand if you get stuck.

Workshop details

No electronics experience needed — just come along ready to learn. (If you want an age limit like the last one, drop it in here.)

Why Engineers Week?

Engineers Week is all about celebrating engineering in everyday life — and soldering is one of those skills that turns curiosity into “I can actually build that”. It’s a brilliant gateway into electronics: you learn how components fit together, how circuits come to life, and how to make something solid and reliable with your own hands. You’ll leave with a finished kit you built yourself, and a lot more confidence the next time you open up a project, fix a cable, or start tinkering with electronics at home.

And if you’re in the mood to learn another practical skill during Engineers Week, check out our Learn to Wire a Plug workshop too:
https://www.tog.ie/2026/02/learn-to-wire-a-plug-engineers-week-edition-workshop-at-tog/

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The Salvage Squad came to our Repair Café and the lamp lived to tell the tale

Back in August last year, we had a great surprise visitor at one of our Repair Cafés. The team from Virgin Media’s The Salvage Squad dropped in with a lamp that needed a bit of TLC.

Cameras and curiosity in tow, they joined the usual Repair Café buzz at TOG, with fixers working away on everything from small electronics to household bits and bobs. The lamp landed on the bench with our member Shane, supported by the other volunteer fixers on the day.

With a bit of careful troubleshooting and plenty of know-how, the lamp was brought back to life. The Salvage Squad team headed off with a lovely working lamp, and a proper appreciation for what Repair Cafés are all about. Sharing skills, keeping useful things out of the bin, and proving that “broken” often just means “not yet fixed”.

It finally aired this week

The piece we filmed back in August has finally made it to air this week, which is brilliant to see. If you missed the episode, you can catch up on the Virgin Media One player here:
https://www.virginmediatelevision.ie/player/show/2571/0/0/

A big thank you again to Shane and all the fixers who gave their time and skills on the day.

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Plant All The Things

seeds

It’s a New Year and January has already given way to February. Many of us at TOG are keen vegetable growers and we’re now looking forward to spring and the growing season ahead. The harvest last year was super, so let’s hope for a repeat.

Join us at TOG for a free seed and plant swap on Saturday 21st February from 3PM to 7PM. We’ll be planting lots of seeds on the day and hopefully no one will go away empty handed. We’ll have plenty of pots, bags and potting compost.


If you have anything surplus that you’d like to share, why not bring it along…. seeds? plants? cuttings? We’d love to hear your own stories of what you like to plant in your own garden or space. Tell your friends and family about the event. If you’re involved with any community gardens, then definitely tell them also. The kettle will be on all day with plenty of tea and coffee and biscuits.

From 7PM that same day, it’s our regular monthly Open Social event which you are welcome to join also. There’ll be pizza and plenty of chat and craic as usual. TOG is a non-profit space run by unpaid volunteers. Donations are always welcome.

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Learn to Wire a Plug (Engineers Week Edition) – Workshop at TOG

We’re running our Learn to Wire a Plug workshop again at TOG Hackerspace — a practical, confidence-boosting skill that’ll serve you for years. If you’ve ever looked at a broken plug or a dodgy extension lead and thought “I should know how to sort that”… this is the evening for you.

What’s it all about?

This is a hands-on session where we’ll guide you through safely wiring a 13A plug and connecting it to a 4-gang extension lead. No prior experience needed — we’ll go step-by-step and explain the “why” as well as the “how”.

Each participant will:

  • Wire a 3-core cable into a standard plug
  • Connect that cable into a 4-way socket block
  • Learn about fuses, strain relief, polarity, and safe wiring practice
  • Get their finished lead PAT tested so it’s safe and ready to use at home
  • Take home a working, tested extension lead they built themselves

All tools and materials are provided.

Note: This workshop is wiring a portable extension lead for personal use and does not fall under Restricted Electrical Works (as per Safe Electric guidance).

Booking info

🎟️ Tickets: €25 + booking fee
https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/learn-to-wire-a-plug-engineers-week-edition-workshop-at-tog-tickets-1982339639224?aff=oddtdtcreator

Places are limited to keep it properly hands-on — so booking ahead is recommended.

Why Engineers Week?

Engineers Week is all about celebrating engineering in everyday life — and honestly, safe, practical household skills are a brilliant gateway into understanding how things work. You’ll leave with something useful, and a bit more confidence the next time you’re faced with a simple electrical fix.

Workshop details recap

📅 Date: Tuesday, 3rd March
⏰ Time: 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
📍 Location: TOG Hackerspace (see tog.ie for directions)
💶 Cost: €25 + fee (includes all materials + donation to TOG)
✅ Beginner-friendly — no experience needed

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TOG joins the VULCA Network

We’ve some good news to share: TOG Hackerspace is now a member of the VULCA Network, a European network of makers, makerspaces and maker networks getting involved at the European level.

VULCA’s story is very “makerspace”. They started as a bunch of friends travelling around Europe, visiting spaces, sleeping on fab managers’ and hackers’ couches, and building friendships the old-fashioned way by showing up and sharing what they knew. Over time that grew into a wider network, with a goal of helping makerspaces build connections across Europe and beyond.

We joined as a makerspace member, and we did it the straightforward way: we applied in December 2025. (VULCA open membership applications twice a year, in December and June.)

So what does this mean for TOG? In practical terms it connects us into a wider European community for exchanges, collaboration and shared learning. VULCA also supports members around mobility and cross-border collaboration, and runs meetups like the annual VULCA Seminar, a multi-day gathering for members to meet, swap know-how and strengthen the wider maker movement.

We’ll share more as we figure out what we want our first “VULCA chapter” to look like, but the aim is simple: more opportunities for TOG members to connect with other community-run spaces, learn new tricks, and bring that energy back to Kylemore Road.