Steve Fletcher pays touching tribute to son after making rare BBC The Repair Shop appearance: ‘Wonderful’
The Repair Shop’s Steve Fetcher has paid an emotional tribute to his son, Fred Fletcher, in a new Instagram post after his BBC stint for the VE Day special episode.
During the special, the Fletchers were tasked with repairing a clock brought in by a 101-year-old veteran, John Holloway, who became emotional as he recalled his late wife’s love of the item.
Holloway explained a little about the clock: “Well, I acquired it from an aircraft which I serviced during the war. I was an engineer and mechanic on an aircraft carrier, HMS Formidable, in 1944.”
He went on to share he had been 17 at the time, adding: “I had to do a daily service on the plane, and that clock is imperative in flying. The squadron leader would say, ‘set the clocks,’ you know? So all the clocks are going to be set off just prior to taking off.
“That was my job, to put that clock back in the cockpit. All the clocks were taken out of the aircraft after they’d done so many hours flying, so we all had one of these clocks.”
He noted that he gave the clock to his wife in 1947, who always kept the clock next to her bedside table, before revealing six years ago he moved to Devon, and during the move, it broke.
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Feeling the pressure to get the repair done and reunite Holloway with his beloved clock, Fletcher enlisted the help of his young son Fred.
As the pair worked together to bring the clock back to life, Holloway soon returned to the barn to retrieve his item and was left in tears.
He sobbed: “It’s going! That’s brilliant. That’s great. That’s going to remind me of Con all the time. She was a wonderful, wonderful woman.”
Fletcher explained: “So I’ve not only done the case up, but my son, Fred, who’s over there – he’s done some very fine work to the mechanism. I needed a younger set of eyes to help me.”
“Fred, thank you very much,” Holloway responded, gesturing towards the youngster who replied: “It’s my pleasure.”
Feeling proud of his son and the work they had managed to pull off for Holloway, Fletcher took to his Instagram account to pen a sweet tribute.
Posting a carousel of pictures, he captioned the post: “This evening’s @therepairshoptv was full of emotions! An episode to mark VE Day, with my son @fredfletcher.clocks helping me with a special repair.
“Fred did a wonderful job, and the reaction was everything we could have hoped for and more.
“There were some incredible items in the barn for this episode, and stories to match. If you are able to access @bbciplayer, it’s available to watch now.”
Fans of the show were equally left inspired by Fletcher and his son, as one commented: “They were all very emotional pieces, but the reaction on the cockpit clock reveal was incredibly touching. You could tell it meant the world to him.”
“Good to see Fred at the bench again, also really good to be honest at the amount of attempts,” another noted before a third penned: “Great work by you and Fred.”
“You & Fred did an amazing job!” someone expressed as another added: “Very emotional and emotive episode tonight, fantastic repair.”
A sixth wrote: “Excellent show tonight, the clock was amazing and all of the reveals brought a tear to my eye. You’ve got the best job in the world.” (sic)