Not every possession in life tells a story, but some certainly do. One such item is a gold bangle which bears my name and which I designed and had made for me in rose, yellow, and white gold, almost twenty years ago.
I had just graduated from university and felt that life had perhaps begun to open doors previously closed to me. Old gold from single earrings where the other in the pair was lost, broken necklaces and other odds and ends were smelted down and within a few weeks my creation was born.
Designed so that it could be worn permanently, night and day, my bangle was there with me through thick and thin. It was on my wrist when my ex-husband proposed, when we married and when our children were born.
Insentient, it did not see, it did not record, but like a beloved teddy, my heart assigned it emotions nonetheless. It witnessed my tears, the sad breakdown of my marriage and my eventual journey into the minefield of dating...and then perhaps echoing me a little bit, it broke.
It slipped from my wrist like a forlorn lover, parting from me with regret and sorrowful backward glances.
For so long it languished on my dressing table waiting to be fixed. And every time I glanced in its direction I promised myself that I would attend to it soon...and yet I did nothing.
Until today. Chastened and ashamed by the fact that daily I mourned its absence and yet did nothing to change the status quo, I took a trip to the Jewellery Quarter in Birmingham. A couple of years ago the catch that had originally closed the bracelet had broken and I had taken it to a wonderful repair shop called A and A.
There they had listened to the problem and designed an ingenious pin system to fix it. The repair was made and the charge was reasonable. So today I took it back there. I explained that the pin had unfortunately come loose and that I wanted the whole thing soldered shut.
A very nice man listened intently, disappeared with my bracelet and reappeared five minutes later with it repaired and sparkling clean.
So if you are looking for a repair to a beloved piece of jewellery, perhaps a piece that you hold dear to your heart and have been afraid up until now to let out of your sight, then I can say to you that I highly recommend A and A.
For caring and prompt service, for people who listen, for the skill to work and rework jewellery to the customer's satisfaction and for the sheer workmanship they bestow upon every job :-
A and A Jewellery Ltd http://www.aajewellery.com/
