A woman and her daughter brought a Bible that once belonged to her grandmother Florence, who was held with her three children in an internment camp during war.
Judy and her daughter Laura brought a Bible that had once belonged to Judy’s mother (Image: BBC)
A guest on The Repair Shop has shared the devastating family history behind a treasured heirloom, and why she wanted to have it restored.
Judy and her daughter Laura appeared on the programme in an episode that originally aired in October 2025, where they brought a Bible with them, hoping to have it restored from its ‘battered and weathered’ state. It had once belonged to Judy’s grandmother Florence, and passed down to her children, including Judy’s mother.
As Judy and Laura spoke to The Repair Shop expert Chris Shaw, they detailed their family history, and the conditions that Florence and her children found themselves in, after they were hel at the Lunghua Civilian Assembly Centre in Shanghai during the Second World War.
“She was living and born in China, her father was an Irishman and her mother was a local Chinese lady and at some point, Florence met her future husband, an Englishman,” Laura explained. “Unfortunately, he left her widowed in her early 30s with three children and he died just a few weeks after their son was born.”
She noted that Florence was remarkably young to lose her husband, as bookbinder Chris Shaw described the story as “terrible”, though she encountered additional hardship when conflict erupted and Japan invaded China.
Florence and her children were identified as British and sent to the internment camp, where the children, including Judy’s mum, were aged 17, 15 and 10, reports the Express.
Judy described the appalling conditions, saying: “They were all crammed in, it was hot, little food. They were having very watered down rice with added maggots. Then my grandmother caught TB and she was taken out of camp to a hospital, and they were on their own in camp for about 18 months without their mum.”
The three children found solace in the Bible throughout their four-year ordeal in the camp. Following liberation when the war ended, they were finally reunited with their mother.
Judy recalled how the camp experience stayed with her mum for the rest of her days, explaining: “The habits, if you like. We had a walk-in larder when I was a little girl and it was rammed, floor to ceiling, with tinned food, saying she’d never starve again if war broke out.”
Laura added: “She did have a terrific sense of fun. Obviously as my grandmother, she was always up to mischief, she was definitely your ally. And she was very much of the view that childhoods should be fun and lighthearted, because she felt robbed.”
Judy and Laura were hoping Chris could rescue the “battered and weathered” Bible that had endured the wet and damp conditions of the camp, disclosing that it was over a century old.
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After Chris restored it, Judy was left in tears, seeing the Bible brought back to life. “It represents my mum and my nan’s legacy really, and what they went through. Their strength, their endurance, and hopefully this book can survive a little bit longer, too,” she said.
“Oh gosh,” she said, after seeing it, in disbelief. “Is that the same one? It’s amazing… this is how it would have looked.”
She thanked Chris, adding: “It’s something my nana would have held, and obviously it meant a lot to my mum and her sister in camp, giving comfort when things were so bad. We’ve got it back in one piece that we can hold, it’s a lesson that not all is lost.”
The Repair Shop is available to watch on BBC iPlayer