Jay Blades on Barbara & Thelma...
MOTHER’S Day is always extra-special for The Repair Shop presenter because it is when he honours the two women he believes made him who he is today.
The furniture restorer and host of the BBC2 show says that, as well as his real mum Barbara Cumberbatch, who lives in Barbados, he considers Thelma Dunlop, who helped him when he was at his lowest, his second mum.
Jay, 51, says: “I’m very fortunate to have two mums. My mum Barbara who gave birth to me, and when I was 45 I fell down and I got picked up by my second mum, Thelma.
“Both of them have nurtured me at important times in my life.”
Jay became homeless after the charity he set up to train disadvantaged young people in furniture restoration lost funding, his marriage broke down and he found himself on the streets.
He says: “I had hit rock bottom, I was at death’s door. I was homeless and then a friend of mine took me in and put me to live with his mum – and she nurtured me back to the man speaking today.
“At my 50th birthday they met each other and had so much love and respect for each other it was unbelievable.”
“I’ll be seeing my second mum this weekend and speaking to my mum in Barbados too. I feel the same about both of them. They have helped me in my life of crisis.
“I love them both dearly. I don’t just celebrate my mums on Mother’s Day. I celebrate them every day.”
They met and had so much love and respect for each other
JAY BLADES THE REPAIR SHOP PRESENTER