Suzie Fletcher from The Repair Shop has shared the emotional hurdles she experienced on the show, confessing that the grief was so overwhelming at one point that she “had to escape”. After 22 years in the States working as a saddle-maker, Suzie returned to the UK when her husband passed away.
Encouraged by her brother Steve to become part of The Repair Shop crew, Suzie credits the show for helping her navigate some exceptionally tough times, reports the Express. In her touching memoir, The Sun Over The Mountains, Suzie discussed how therapeutic working on the BBC programme has been.
She said: “Being part of The Repair Shop has healed me from the inside. Using my skills in such a positive way has brought me joy and confidence. If I’ve ever been worried or run into a problem, their very first words have been ‘What can we do to help? What do you need? ‘ This changes the dynamics of everything.”
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(Image: BBC)
Even with this backing, there have been difficult episodes. One particularly poignant challenge involved a wooden rocking-horse belonging to a woman named Julie, cherished because it had been restored once by her late husband, Paul.
Before he could finish a second restoration, Paul passed away. Julie brought the treasured item to The Repair Shop, entrusting it to star Will, with a passionate request to keep Paul’s signature intact beneath the saddle.
Suzie said: “The handwriting of a loved one after they have gone is something very special. I have precious notes and cards from my late husband Rob. Some of the words were scribbled on scraps of paper, but I cherish and take comfort from them when I look at them from time to time, so I understood Julie’s request.”
In a touching reveal, Suzie mentioned how moved she was at seeing another’s cherished handwriting. She said: “As soon as I saw Paul’s signature, I was biting my lip to keep back the tears.
“But sometimes there is no holding back grief, and that’s when I revealed on camera the tragedy of my own life and how I had lost my husband to cancer.”
Suzie expressed her appreciation for the comfort she received in that difficult moment: “Thank goodness Steve was there to hold me as I felt the waves of loss pass through my own body. I didn’t expect to break down like this, but the trigger was enormous and I’d kept things bottled up for so long.”
Returning to her craft, she found peace and focus. Suzie said: “After the tears, I felt some relief and was able to get on with the job. I was soon back in the zone, lost and completely absorbed in my work. I made an entirely new saddle and embellished it with gold foil embossing. I got on with the matching bridle and leather straps.
“By the time it was ready for Julie, it looked beautiful. On the day she came back to the barn, she didn’t know about the date and Paul’s signature. When I took the saddle off to show her, she was absolutely stunned and quite emotional. I understood how she felt, as a widow myself I had that extra layer of sensitivity, but at the time she didn’t know about my own loss.”
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