The Repair Shop expert was left fighting back tears after an emotional restoration on the BBC show.
Will Kirk couldn’t hide his emotion.(Image: BBC)
The Repair Shop expert Will Kirk couldn’t hide his emotion as a guest left him feeling choked up.
The woodwork restorer, who has become a fan-favourite on the BBC programme, admitted he was ‘going to cry’ after an emotional restoration.
During Wednesday’s (July 8) episode of the BBC hit show, Will and expert shoe restorer Dean Westmoreland were joined by Barbara Dennison and granddaughter Giovanna.
The duo came into the workshop looking for the experts help to restore a pair of baby shoes holding precious memories of wartime heroism.
The shoes belonged to Barbara and her late father Norman William gave them to her. He was gifted the shoes in Holland in 1945, during the Second World War after saving a little girl.
During a heartfelt moment, Barbara explained: “He was going down the street in Holland and there was a little girl playing in the street. Some shooting started and he grabbed this little girl and jumped into a cellar.
“When the shooting finished, he took her back to her mum and dad. The family must have been really grateful because he saved her. They must have been talking and he told them that he had a little girl, then they brought him these little shoes.”
Pointing at the shoes, she added: “Shortly after that his jeep got blown up but they survived , which is a miracle in itself.”
Dean knew he had a huge task on his hand as he admitted that he was feeling “nervous”. While getting stuck into the restoration, he said: “They’re so delicate and so small that I’m a little bit nervous about handling them.
“Unfortunately, I can’t scale my hands down to get in and do all this fine micro-detail work. The lining on this one is actually, almost all of it has come away. The leather is quite stiff, it’s quite dry so I’m going to have to think about how to hydrate this leather.”
Despite the huge challenge ahead, Dean managed to restore the item and Barbara was left in tears after reuniting with her precious shoes.
Joining Dean and Will back in the workshop, Barbara was tearful as she said: “Oh that’s lovely. Look it’s all stitched on. Oh Dean, thank you.”
She continued: “You’ve done exactly what I wanted. Each crack is just a wonderful memory of my dad and all my kids.”
The moment left Will emotional as he turned to Barbara and Giovanna and admitted: “You’re going to make me cry.”
Barbara was grateful to Dean for all his hard work as she added: “I can’t thank you enough.”
You can catch up on The Repair Shop on BBC iPlayer.