Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)

Memories flying back

Joy as Repair Shop fixes Liz’s toy pigeon

- BY POPPY DANBY poppy.danby @mirror.co.uk @Poppydanby

WHEN Liz Harvey found a broken toy pigeon that brought back childhood memories, she knew there was only one place to go to… The Repair Shop.

The 75-year-old took the dismantled parts to the team – and they restored it to its former Victorian glory.

And seeing her gran’s bird cooing as it whizzed across the table, filled Liz with emotion. Now, she cannot wait to share its joys with her own four grandchild­ren.

Speaking of the moment Repair Shop expert David Burville and host Jay Blades showed her the fixed bird, Liz said: “I think I hugged it and it’s not the most cuddly toy. But it was wonderful.

“I was just so overwhelme­d and I wished grandma could see it. It definitely made me think of her.

“She would have loved to have seen this working. And, now I’ve got grandchild­ren and I want them to see it working too.

“So it’s kind of like a continuati­on of that interest in a mechanical toy.”

Liz’s gran died when she was five. But it wasn’t until her mum passed away in 1998 that she became the owner of the pigeon after spotting it in a box of old belongings.

She added: “It didn’t work and it was broken. I’d never fixed a Victorian toy before, but I’d made models before, where you turn the handle and a dinosaur opens its mouth, so I thought I knew enough about simple engineerin­g to be able to mend it.

“I carefully dismantled it. I opened it up, got all the pieces out and then thought, ‘Ahh, I haven’t got a clue what to do next.’

“We used to watch The Repair Shop and it was just an instinctiv­e thing, I thought, ‘I’ve got to apply.’”

David soon had the toy in working order and even made a new metal wheel for it.

Liz had wanted a family gettogethe­r after the show was filmed last January to show them the bird for the first time. But Covid put a halt to that.

And she decided to keep the repair a secret.

Liz, of Thurlstone, South Yorks, said: “I’ve got them all primed to watch The Repair Shop, that will be the first time they’ll all see it.”

The Repair Shop is on BBC One tonight at 8pm or available later on iplayer.

I think I hugged it. I wish gran could have seen it LIZ HARVEY AFTER THE TOY WAS FIXED BY DAVID

 ??  ?? BEFORE Broken pigeon lies in bits on repair table
BEFORE Broken pigeon lies in bits on repair table
 ??  ?? AFTER Jay, Liz holding the restored bird & David
AFTER Jay, Liz holding the restored bird & David

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