GRANDFATHER John Evans was reunited with his 1940s toy truck after it was carefully restored by Love Haslemere Hate Waste’s repair café team.

The wooden truck was built in 1940 by Frederick Evans during his posting in Felixstowe while serving for the RAF in the Second World War. It was given as a gift to his son, John, who now lives in Liphook. John said: “I remember playing with the truck in the garden and pulling it along to our air raid shelter.”

Over the years, the much loved truck fell into disrepair with fading and chipped paintwork, missing parts and misaligned wheels which no longer turned.

John’s daughter, Angela Rhydderch, brought the truck along to the Love Haslemere Hate Waste repair café and one of the team’s ministry of menders, Christopher, took on the project.

Christopher said: “The truck was clearly very old and had been hand built, meaning there was nothing to compare it to. It was one of a kind. It was extremely fragile too because of its age.

“I had to carefully remove each of the broken parts and stabilise the wood with glue first of all.

“I then had to reshape all of the damaged metalwork like the wheel arches, before it was stripped back and painted.

“We mixed paint especially to match the existing. It was a wonderful item to restore.”

The repair café team worked together, with David Smith making new wheels by hand.

The truck was handed back to John at his Liphook home. He gasped at the surprise and began reminiscing about his childhood days, toy truck in tow.