Jokes great aunt has a collection of music boxes. Two of the twenty boxes needed some help from the Repair Café. Last month Joke brought along a Father Christmas with glitter in his belly and this week a Merry-go-round.

At home, Joke did her best to fix the Merry-go-round (twisting it to the right, to the left, thoroughly cleaning it up), all to no avail. The music box kept wobbling on its platform. Joke wasn’t sure whether gluing the box was wise, so she sought some advice from the Repair Café.

Twisting to the right, to the left, adding some cotton thread to the pin, adding a slither of wood.. at the Repair Café it seemed that nothing was going to solve the problem. Then Ian, very carefully, millimeter by millimiter, tried twisting the Merry-go-round to the left. It worked!

A happy Joke explained that the music box belonged to her great aunt (87 years old) who had avoided celebrating Christmas for two years. Following the death of her husband and her sister she had begun to feel more and more lonely. This year she finally felt ready to start celebrating Christmas again. The collection of music boxes now holds pride of place in her living room.