Restorations on a 'heroic' scale for a historic occasion

Millions of us tune into The Repair Shop each week to watch its heartwarming restorations and the moving stories behind them. Now, a fascinating new book based on the BAFTA-winning show has brought together a poignant collection of tales connected with the end of the Second World War.

From a long lost dolly to Churchill's cook's bag, The Repair Shop: World War II delves into events in Britain and beyond to remember the sacrifice and bravery of the individuals of the time.

This stunning brass cross decorated with an intricate mosaic means so much to Margaret Coyle as it saved her father's life when he was shot - twice.

Johan was 16 when he left his native Romania to fight for the Russian Army after the Germans invaded his country.

The first bullet entered his mouth and exited his cheek. The second hit the cross, which he kept in his tunic pocket, splintering it into pieces and leaving a hole in the middle.

Margaret, from Nottinghamshire, was worried that if the repair wasn't made soon, Johan's story would be lost to future generations of his family.

Silversmith Brenton West made a new part for the missing trim, while horologist Steve Fletched melded it back together.

Then ceramics restorer Kirsten Ramsay stepped in to make tiny new mosaic tiles in paste tinted with turquoise pigment to fill the gaps. Margaret said she was amazed by the result.

Shaun Coles' great-great aunt Pauline Davidson worked her way up to become Sir Winston Churchill's cook after joining the Auxiliary Territorial Service in 1939.

Her recipes, scrapbooks, itineraries, guest lists of illustrious visitors (including politicians and military leaders), an engraved cigarette case gifted by America's General Eisenhower and a signed photograph of Sir Winston Churchill himself, were kept safe by Pauline's family for 80 years in her black leather attache bag.

Shaun, from Kidwelly, Wales, brought the battered bag, engraved with the initials of the then-reigning monarch, George VI, to the barn so his grandmother, Pauline's niece, could see it brought back to pristine condition.

Leather expert Suzie Fletcher cleaned the interior and exterior, repaired a damaged corner and replaced both straps.

Matthew Brooksbank from Lancashire entrusted his cracked teapot, in the shape of a charming black-and-white cat named Dinky, to ceramics restorer Kirsten Ramsay.

It had belonged to his 'Aunty' Gladys, who lived next door to the farm where he grew up. She taught him piano as a child and left him the teapot after she died, aged 105.

But Gladys had a wartime secret and Dinky was in on it.

While working on the jewellery counter in Woolworths, she was approached by a gentleman who asked if she was interested in working in national security.

Before she knew it, she had been trained as a member of the S.O.E. - the Special Operations Executive, which carried out covert missions overseas.

She then found herself sent behind enemy lines in Germany.

Although she never revealed her secrets, Gladys told Matthew she was gifted Dinky by two German sisters who she guided to safety after their subversive activities were spotted by officials.

Gladys was travelling on a train through Germany when it was raided by Nazi soldiers, who threw all the luggage about the carriages.

Her suitcase hit the floor and Dinky was badly cracked and chipped.

Kirsten removed the "toffee-like" yellow adhesive made by Gladys when trying to fix it originally - before rebonding, filling, smoothing and repainting the filled areas.

Repair Shop furniture restorer and book contributor Will Kirk understands all too well the huge pull these objects have.

His maternal grandfather Robert Kirk worked in bomb disposal in London during the war and was recognised for his bravery.

"One wrong snip of a wire and I wouldn't be here today," the 40-year-old tells the Sunday Express with a smile. "My uncle has an old photo of Robert from the war at Vauxhall tube station, giving it the thumbs up after dismantling a bomb.

"For a lot of people, the Second World War represents a strong link to their family. It's often the subject of colourful, tragic or inspiring tales handed down the generations.

"Some may have never got to meet their grandparents, but visitors will arrive at the barn with items that have stories attached to them."

He remembers growing up on a London street where Victorian houses had big gaps in between. "As a child, I would ask why the houses stopped and started again, to be told that the gaps were where houses had been bombed. I remember being very shocked by that," he says.

The television favourite who recently moved from London to Surrey with his wife Polly Snowdon and their two children,
says it was tough whittling down the many stories told by visitors to the barn to the few dozen that appear in the book.

He writes in the foreword: "Although 2025 marks the 80th anniversary of the end of the war, it doesn't seem that long ago.

"There are still people alive who went through it and we still talk a lot about it. It left a mark on our lives in so many ways."

Will says the Repair Shop team feel a huge responsibility to people's treasured wartime possessions.

One item he worked on was a treasure music box, which somehow survived when a Blitz bomb devastated a family house in Beckenham, Kent.

The bomb killed Roger Livett's grandmother, her two sons and an aunt, but his mother, Charlotte, was spared and kept the music box in her loft. Roger remembers that in 1956 or 1957 it was brought downstairs to be played but Charlotte felt so emotional about seeing it, it was put back in the loft.

Musical box expert Stephen Kember and furniture restorer Will Kirk joined forces to bring the box back to life for its original owner's family, so they could hear the same music their relatives listened to in wartime.

"The story behind it is harrowing," says Will. "Roger, the owner, didn't want what had happened that night, nor the family members who had been killed, to be forgotten in the repair. So the brief was very different. While I am usually trying to make a repair look seamless, in this case it was important to show the join on the broken lid. It was intense."

He adds: "The term 'lest we forget' is often in our minds. We're helping people who are trying to remember those who have fallen, hearing examples of bravery and family members going above and beyond the call of duty.

"Bringing in precious items attached to these memories can be very emotional.

"We are reminded of just what it means to people to have things fixed.

"That is why this book is so important.

"Every one of the objects we feature here will remind you of what people went through, whether they were at home or serving their country overseas."

The Repair Shop World War II (Kyle Books, £25) is published on September 4