The other day I stumbled across the BBC TV programme called The Repair Shop, which takes old broken items, precious to their owners, and restores them to their former glory.
In the episode I watched, a woman had brought in a horse-racing toy that had belonged to her father. They'd had hours of fun playing it when she was a child.
But the mechanism to make the horses "gallop" down the cloth racecourse no longer worked and the lead horses were in a sorry state.
But not for long - the expert craftsman used his skill (and a good deal of TLC) to restore the toy so that it worked perfectly once more, bringing back many happy memories for her and her father.
Old toy memories
The programme sparked a conversation between me and my husband about favourite toys in our own childhood. He
recalled a set of lead model Knights of the Round Table he'd once had (prompting him to go scouring the internet where he found the exact models for sale on eBay!) and I thought back to my baby doll, called Rose.
While sadly I no longer have the doll, I still have some of the beautiful clothes my great-aunt knitted for her (see above!).
My old teddy!
I also had a very old teddy, who was so well cuddled that his fur was almost bare and his stuffing virtually non-existent.
My mum, in her wisdom, decided that it was time he was thrown out. I was devastated - and so was Mum afterwards, worrying that her rash act had caused me psychological damage!
So, while it's a bit faded, it was wonderful to find a photograph of Old Teddy while scanning my dad's collection of photograph slides.
What are your favourite toy memories?
