The Repair Shop gives voice to son who died

Seeing repairs to her late son's obscure folk instrument was "like having him restored", a mother has said.

Emma MacLennan took her son Alex's Cretan lyra onto BBC programme The Repair Shop after he died aged 31.

He had immersed himself in the culture of the Greek island Crete, where his grandmother was from, until motor neurone disease (MND) ended his ability to perform, according to MacLennan.

The mother, from Kent, said: "He was broken by his disease but now something that meant a lot to him was back and functioning, and could give voice to him again."

The family's story and the restoration of the lyra are documented in the episode of the programme airing on BBC One at 20:00 BST on Wednesday.

"I was amazed at the fact that they could restore it," MacLennan said.

"It's frankly something that seemed incredible to me. A very difficult thing to accomplish."

The programme's stringed instrument restorer, Becky Houghton, said that the lyra was a "beautiful instrument owned by some beautiful people" and that she "absolutely loved working on this one".

MacLennan said that Houghton had achieved something she "thought was unimaginably impossible".

MND causes worsening muscle weakness and is typically life-shortening and does not have a known cure, according to the NHS.

MacLennan said that it was "a really dreadful disease" that "takes everything away from you".

"You're just the same person, just you're trapped in a body that doesn't respond to anything," she added.

"So, our precious son – who we absolutely adored, he was our best friend to all of us – we just watched him being tortured with his disease."

The lyra is now at MacLennan's house "waiting" for her grandson to play it when he is older, she said, while other family members have discussed learning the instrument themselves.

Additional reporting by PA Media

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