A LIFE RESTORED
VIEWERS of The Repair Shop watched a grandmother break down in tears as she gifted a restored family heirloom to her grandchildren.
Nan Stella Moore appeared on a recent episode of the BBC series hoping to enlist the help of Jay Blades and metalwork expert Dominic Chinea to restore her late daughter's roundabout swing.
6
The Birmingham native explained the importance of the item to the pair and how she needed it to be in working order so her grandchildren could make new memories with it.
Sharing the background of the item, Stella shared: "My uncle made it. He’s no longer with us and it was in about 1980.
"He thought there might be a business in it, but, unfortunately, the cost involved for reproduction was going to be too much.
"So the run he made, the few of those, they were sold and we had this one. It means a lot to us because this is the one my daughters played on," she added.
6
6
"And then now, it will be used if you can get it to work… with my grandchildren."
Furniture restorer Jay then asked: "Your daughters used to play on this, how many daughters have you got?"
It was at this moment Stella opened up about her late daughter Emma who passed away aged 39 from cancer and shared the importance of the swing: "I had three, and I lost my little daughter to cancer.
"Her name was Emma, she was 39. She was diagnosed with bowel cancer and it had spread to the liver and she was given six months, possibly, and she was amazing.
6
6
"She planned her wedding from the hospital and she fought against everybody, came out, she had her wedding. And she was an incredible person," she continued.
"Did she have children?" Jay asked. Stella replied: "Yes, she’d got the two. Olivia and she’s just had her youngest, Flo.
"So, it was a big shock. And Flo had her first birthday in the hospice - she was one when she died.
"They would love to be able to tread in the footsteps of my daughter. It’s all those memories that they can have and 'Did mummy actually do this?'
6
"The little ones are really excited about it, they sat on it the other day and went 'How does this work?'. And I said 'It doesn’t at the moment'. But hopefully, you’ll be able to have it working."
After sharing the emotional tie to the play toy, Stella admitted said "it’s so seized up" it doesn’t function in its current state - but that was all to change hours later.
Metal work expert Dominic worked his magic on the heirloom and understandably Stella was overcome with emotion when they unveiled the fully-functioning roundabout swing.
Most read in News TV
She gasped: "Oh my word… look at it! Isn’t that beautiful! Wow, it looks brand new. It’s amazing."
Read More on The Sun
"I’m just taken away," Stella said as she teared up. "And I can just see and hear all the times it was used.. the memories."
Stella’s grandchildren than gave the roundabout a whirl and Dominic remarked: "I feel relieved to see it spinning so nicely now, I can only imagine how you feel."
Topics