Sheffield woman's delight as clockwork pigeon restored on TV's The Repair Shop

Viewers of the popular BBC One show, where experts restore much-loved family items to their former glory, saw Liz Henry take along a broken mechanical pigeon which used to belong to her grandma in the hope that it could be put back together.

Expert David Burville was presented with a bag of bits – after Liz had taken the pigeon apart in a bid to get it operating once more.

She revealed to viewers: “I’ve never seen it work. When I retired, I wondered whether I could ment and took it apart and then I thought ‘no.’

"It was Grandma Heafford’s. She lived with us and I used to go and have tea in her room. She looked after me, she was a lovely lady.”

Described as a first for The Repair Shop, David painstakingly took the motor apart, repaired a miniature set of bellows which helped the mechanical bird make a cooing sound and also recast its wheels from molten metal.

She said: “I must have got that pigeon out a thousand times and looked at it over the last forty years."

When David and fellow host Jay Blades unveiled the pigeon, she exclaimed: “Fantastic!

"It has even got little wheels on the back, you clever man.

"It’s stunning. I’ve never ever seen it work, despite having it for 35 to 40 years.

"It’s fabulous, thank you.”

She added: “I am absolutely exultant. It works so beautifully. I’m incredibly pleased, there’s no way I’m taking that pigeon apart again!”

She wasn’t the only South Yorkshire member of the public to feature on last night’s episode of the hugely popular BBC One show.

Christine Clay, who comes from Doncaster, was left in tears of joy after furniture restorer Will Kirk restored her beloved late dad’s card table to its former glory after gently carrying out repairs to the homemade table which had become worn and damaged after years of use.