Big shoes to fill..
Loved uncle’s clown footwear restored on The Repair Shop
ENORMOUS clown shoes in which a beloved uncle entertained working men’s clubs in the 1940s and 50s are restored to their former glory on tonight’s The Repair Shop.
In emotional scenes on the BBC1 hit presented by Jay Blades, 82-year-old Tracy Harvey brings in the battered 100-year-old leather shoes that hold a deep connection to her uncle.
Bert Baveystock, known on stage as Bert Bavey, worked in a car factory in Acton, West London, by day but by night he toured working men’s clubs. He entertained at children’s parties too.
Tracy often joined Bert on stage at kids’ parties to sing when she was around 12, sometimes doing Vera Lynn songs. She says: “He delighted in making people laugh. He just acted stupid, wearing his red nose and big shoes, flapping them about.
“Everyone thought he was special, which he was.
“He served in the First World War and got shot in the leg, but he always had a fabulous sense of humour.”
Tracy, who has two sons and two grandchildren, lived just two doors down from her aunt Violet and uncle Bert, growing up in Willesden, North West London.
She says: “Bert’s wife and my mum were sisters. My mum had five children and they couldn’t have any. I ended up living with them all the time. I had fantastic parents, but I ended up with two homes. My Uncle Bert was like my second dad.”
When Bert died in 1975 aged 87, Tracy’s aunt got rid of his clown costume but Tracy grabbed the shoes as a memento of him. Tracey, who now lives with husband Frank in Stoke Poges, Bucks, let her son Grant play with them as a child and they ended up flattened, faded and scuffed, with dried-out leather, a missing tongue and falling apart at the seams.
Cobbler Dean Westmoreland took on the job of restoring them.
Blown away by the transformation, Tracy says on tonight’s show: “They were in such a mess I didn’t think they could be repaired. “It’s so lovely to see them come back to life.
“Everything about them are him.”
Grant adds: “My Great Uncle Bert was always a very kind, funny man.
“He brought Mum up as her dad and I just know how much they mean to her.”
■ The Repair Shop, tonight, BBC1, 8pm.
I had fantastic parents but Uncle Bert was like my second dad TRACY HARVEY ON THE KIND CLOWN SHE LOVED