Inherited toys repaired

A WOMAN in Henley has repaired three inherited toys for the “next younger generation”.

Gillian Raine volunteers and fixes textile items at the Henley Repair Café, which is held in the pavilion at Henley YMCA.

Ms Raine was brought three soft toys to repair, a rabbit wearing a white dress and two teddy bears in pink and blue polka-dot outfits.

She said: “I wouldn’t normally attempt such an unusual mend but the toys were so sweet and obviously had been so well-loved I couldn’t resist the challenge.

“I took them home to mend, which is unusual, because I like to mend textiles at the café but the mend was complex, I had to match up new fabrics with old. It was very complicated, almost like a surgical procedure.”

They had to be taken apart and put back together and the job took about three days. Ms Raine even took apart one of her own toys, a koala bear given to her by a friend in 1987, to mend the bears.

The rabbit needed new legs, and the teddy bears needed new fur heads and paws.

Ms Raine said: “I thought it was important to keep the original eyes and I tried to keep as much of the original parts as possible.” She added: “The owner collected the toys ready for Christmas and offered a donation to the repair café.”

The next repair café will be held on Saturday, January 17.