17 October 2023 , 21:59
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The Repair Shop presenter Jay Blades has reflected on a touching memory where his community work had an emotional response as he helped a young girl 'smile again'.
Speaking on a question and answer session on The Repair Shop's Instagram account, Jay recalled a memory from his community work helping young people.
After telling viewers that his community work gave him the biggest sense of pride, he then explained: "With regards to the work that I do, I love doing community work. There’s a young girl called Variety who I worked with who hadn’t smiled for about three to four years.
Jay Blades is known for his work on BBC's The Reapir Shop (BBC/Ricochet/Guy Levy)"Her mum brought her to the workshop and we were working with her for about four weeks, then her mum came in and she was crying."
Jay then explained that he took Variety's mum to one side to ask what was wrong, with the mum then explaining that her daughter had begun to smile again since doing work in the workshop with Jay. The mum told Jay: "I've not stopped crying Jay, you have been able to support her and get her to open up in an environment where it just worked."
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Jay then finished the heartwarming story as he reflected: "So, craft for me being able to get a young girl to smile, now that to me is my greatest achievement. I could curl up and not do anymore and just remember Variety's mum because that was ultra special."
Outside of his work as a TV presenter, Jay is an active charity worker and regularly works with disadvantaged young people to help give them a better future. Jay's own charity Out of the Dark was set up to help youths by training them to restore old furniture. The charity sadly closed in 2015 after a loss of funding, but Jay continues to work with other charities giving them support.
The presenter has opened up on an "ultra special" moment in his career (BBC)As part of BBC's The Repair Shop, presenter Jay Blades has often been met with emotional and tearjerking moments as he and the team lovingly restore family heirlooms, keepsakes and treasures.
In one moment earlier this year, Jay appeared to get teary eyed as he met a couple that had brought in a heartbreaking memory with a photo frame which contained ceramic footprints and a photo of their late son David, who they revealed had passed away at five months old. As the couple revealed the sad news of how David had died at such a young age, a solemn looking Jay had tears running down his cheeks.
He later described the couple as "brave" whilst talking about their appearance on The One Show, as he said: "David's footprints there, that was very brave of the family to come in and speak about what happened."