Kindness, Love And Understanding

With The Repair Shop

Feel-good show The RepairShop sees a team of experts lovingly repair and restore a variety of objects from children’s toys and musical instruments to clocks and jewellery. But while the show – which regularly attracts more than four million viewers – gives us all a warm and fuzzy feeling, it’s also incredibly moving.

According to leather expert Suzie Fletcher, who joined the team in 2017, it’s easy to see why. “The show lets people know that everyone is in the same boat sometimes and we understand, we’re human.

“The humanity that comes across is really key. It’s not built on sensationalising

www.myweekly.co.uk anything, it’s down to the core of what human beings need in their lives: kindness, love and understanding.”

The show is filmed at The Weald and Downland Living Museum in the South Downs National Park in a 17th century court barn. Regular experts in the workshop include furniture restorer Jay Blades, horologist Steve Fletcher (Suzie’s brother), carpenter and cabinetmaker Will Kirk and Kirsten Ramsay, a ceramics conservator.

Suzie joined the second series after returning to the UK following the death of her husband from cancer. She had lived in the US for 22 years working as one of the top saddle makers. “While I was in the States getting ready to move back, Steve video conferenced with me almost every night, and told me how wonderful the show was that he was working on.

“He was having the time of his life and every time we spoke, he was more and more enthused about it. I threw out the comment that if ever they need anyone that works with leather… and he ran with it!”

Suzie trained with some of the world’s most respected leather workers, including Ken Langford, a master saddler and former president of the Society of Master Saddlers, who took her on as an apprentice at 14.

“He’s my mentor and my best friend and a second father to me,” she says fondly. “He took me on at a time when women didn’t come into the industry. He’s such a maverick and said there’s ‘no reason why a woman can’t do this’. I was floundering a bit in life and the one thing that kept me stable and comfortable with myself was my love of horses. Ken recognised that and he opened the door.”

Viewers have seen Suzie perform repairs on all manner of objects brought into the workshop, all of them hugely sentimental to their owners.

Over the years the show has attracted a few highprofile fans including Stephen