The Repair Shop viewers left in tears as BBC guest receives emotional wartime surprise
Tonight’s episode of The Repair Shop left viewers reaching for the tissues as a guest named Fliss was reduced to tears by an extraordinary restoration.
The woman, who hails from Ashton-under-Lyne, had brought a gold locket with more than a century of family history to the BBC programme, hoping it could be saved.
Expert Richard Talman took on the challenge of mending the precious heirloom, which had belonged to Fliss’s grandparents, Bert and Winifred.
The piece had been in the family for at least 107 years and once held a photograph of her grandfather in his military uniform.
Fliss became emotional after seeing her treasured family locket restored
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BBC
When Fliss returned to the barn to see the completed work, she was overwhelmed with emotion.
The woman’s grandmother had worn the locket throughout the Second World War, keeping Bert’s photograph close while he was away serving.
He had enlisted the day after war was declared, she explained to Talman.
Over the decades, the gold piece had suffered considerable damage. It had split into two halves and bore the bite marks of Fliss’s uncle, who had chewed on it as a baby.
Expert Richard Talman painstakingly restored the damaged wartime heirloom
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BBCFliss also brought along a photograph of Winifred that was in a worn condition, having been carried by her grandfather through the conflict.
The locket was the sole piece of her grandmother’s jewellery that Fliss possessed.
The couple’s deep devotion to one another was evident from their wartime correspondence, Ms Fliss told the programme.
“They were very much in love,” she said.
The 107-year-old gold locket had belonged to Fliss’s grandparents, Bert and Winifred
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BBC
“And you can tell that by the letters from when he was at war and how much they absolutely adored each other.”
Having lost her grandfather in 2005 and her grandmother nine years later, Ms Fliss was keen to have the locket repaired, and the dents smoothed out.
Her greatest wish, however, was to place Winifred’s picture alongside Bert’s inside the restored piece.
“I also want to put a picture of my grandma in there as well. So they’re kind of next to each other again,” she said.
Mr Talman crafted a new hinge and removed the dents, transforming the damaged piece back to its former glory.
Upon seeing the result, Ms Fliss clasped her hands to her face and exclaimed: “That’s amazing!”
She was particularly moved that the locket now held the very photographs each grandparent had kept of the other.
The Repair Shop returned with another emotional restoration on Wednesday night’s BBC episode
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BBC“They’ve never been in the locket together. It’s an amazing feeling,” she said.
Fliss vowed the restored heirloom would never leave her, declaring: “It will not come off at all.”
“I didn’t get many years with either of my grandparents so to be able to have them with me and to tell their story and what I remember of them, it’s more than I could have ever hoped for,” she added.
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