The Repair Shop experts Amanda Middleditch and Julie Tatchell were left heartbroken when guest Camilla Greenwood walked into the barn with a wish to restore her late mother’s bear – leaving them to issue a warning for its future.
During the newest episode of the BBC series, the barn experts saw a farming family’s butter churn and a guitar amp at the centre of Derry’s punk scene in the 1970s is ready to roar again.
However, it was Greenwood’s burnt teddy bear which left Middleditch and Tatchell speechless and wondering if they were going to be able to bring the childhood toy back to life.
Walking into the barn and placing the sentimental plush on the table, Greenwood explained: “I have brought a very sorry-looking bear of my mums! He has seen better days, hasn’t he? He was given to my mum when she was little.
“He was with her throughout her childhood, and then when I came along, he was always kept in my room, and he’s just sort of been a continuum throughout my mum’s life and my life. It’s always just been the two of us since I was six months old, and she was a very special woman.
“My mum died last year, there was a fire at my mum’s house and that… destroyed the house and my mum didn’t get out. So it is remarkable that the bear survived. He was just on the lawn outside the house and I have no idea how he survived really.
“She was a single mum and she and I were an invincible team. She was a solicitor and she opened her own law firm when I was six months old, she was remarkable and a force to be reckoned with and kind and fierce in equal measures you know, just a very gentle person but determined.
“She’s my counterpart,” she expressed before breaking down in tears. “Sorry. It’s important for me to try and rescue at least something, all of our memories we built together and any toys that my mum saved to give to her grandchildren have gone.
“I’m expecting my first child so it’s particularly important for me to be able to give something to my children that means something from my childhood and my mum’s childhood.”
Middleditch wanted to confirm what Greenwood wanted the pair to do with the bear, to which she explained she wanted evidence of the fire to be removed, but to still look like a loved bear.
As Greenwood left the barn, Tatchell turned to her colleague and admitted: “I’m feeling really quite moved, actually. What a brave young lady. I think he is probably the dirtiest bear that we’ve ever had to.”
Agreeing, Middleditch added: “He is and probably the worst condition, one of the worst,” before the pair got to work on a plan, deciding that brushing away the fire would be a good place to start.
Using their skills, the pair managed to bring the bear back to life, and were ready to present it to Greenwood who walked back into the barn and expressed: “He’s beautiful!”
Greenwood broke down in tears and left Middleditch offering her a hug before she went on: “Thank you so much! Very happy tears thank you. That’s amazing! Oh how wonderful, thank you so much! How have you done it? Oh, he’s just amazing! I’m speechless, I just think it is the most incredible transformation.
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“I want my children to have something of my mums, and something from my childhood because I don’t have anything now apart from him so that’s his future.”
Before they let Greenwood leave the barn with her bear, Tatchell advised: “Take him home, love him and thank you again.”
