Growing up in a children’s home, Marcia Bryan only ever had one precious toy that she could call her own, a doll she named Diana.
Growing up in 50s Britain the doll gave Marcia a lot of comfort - not least because it was black.
Marcia, now 65 says: “Diana is a memento of a time in my life when things were different.
“I was given the doll as a Christmas present by the home superintendent when I was four. I loved it because it was brown like me. As a child in a home, nothing belongs to you, you have to share everything.
“So this being mine made it extra precious.
“The doll helped me through difficult times, she was something familiar to hold.”
As Marcia, now a family liaison worker, grew older, the doll became damaged. But now Diana has been lovingly restored on hit show, The Repair Shop.The BBC1 series fixed the doll’s voice box, repaired her limbs and knitted new clothes.
Mum-of-two Marcia says: “When they uncovered her I felt like I was four years old again.
“It just hit me in the heart.”
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Marcia’s mum Edith left Jamaica to work as a nanny for a British diplomat in the 1950s.
She discovered she was pregnant with twins on the journey and her employer suggested she put them in a home so she could still work. Marcia and her twin Graham went to live with their mum just before they turned ten, when Edith was married to their stepfather Benjamin and living in Manchester.
Marcia says: “For me, the story has been a triumph of what my mum set out to do in the 1950s.”
“I am very proud to be black because my mum went through terrifying adversity to look for a better life for us. I’m very proud that I come from that generation of eternal strength.”
- The Repair Shop, Wednesday night, BBC1, 8pm.
