Making It: How Love, Kindness and Community Helped Me Repair My Life

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I admit to being a trifle skeptical about the content, I suspect that an autobiography doesn't have to be quite as strict with the truth as a fully-cited biography does. However, I do think that that bones of this story are true and it's worth noting that Mr Blades pulls no punches when it comes to explicitly detailing what society might be inclined to call his "failings of character". I liked very much that he calls out what he sees as failings in others and himself, although I do feel he was a little lax in applying the same standards to himself that he'd like to see in others, most specifically his father comes in for a pretty heavy lambasting throughout the book for his absence, deservedly so, but Jay has essentially repeated the "crimes" he so vehemently decries and although he's somewhat salving the wounds with money, the outcomes of some of his children's life indicate that there's potentially some element of Jay's absenteeism that could explain where they're at. That said, as he states in the book, " You can't live your kids' lives for them", he's done what he can, with who he is and even if he contributed to some of the problems, at least he's still trying to do something about contributing to the solution as well. Youngs, Ian (1 April 2020). "From repairing lives to hosting The Repair Shop". BBC News . Retrieved 29 June 2020. Daly, Charlotte (27 October 2022). "Social media goes wild for King Charles III's presenting skills on The Repair Shop". Country Living. Also in that year he released a memoir, Making It: How Love, Kindness and Community Helped Me Repair My Life, published by Pan Macmillan UK. [12] The Repair Shop's Jay Blades marries Lisa-Marie Zbozen in Barbados ceremony". Digital Spy. 5 December 2022.

Jay Blades Jay Blades

a b c Robertson, Dominic (10 August 2021). "Jay Blades: Why I have taken on challenge of reading at 51". Shropshire Star. p.8.

Broadcasts

Murphy, Nichola (26 September 2022). "The Repair Shop's Jay Blades 'wasn't ready' to be a father". HELLO!. We had our hardships, and there were times that we didn't have a lot of food and didn't have a lot of money. But that didn't stop me having the time of my life. It would seem from the book that he has done some amazing work with boys on whom most people have given up, helping them to acquire skills and crafts that should enable them to earn a living and avoid a life of crime. Using a system developed for use in prisons by the Shannon Trust, Jay commits to learn to read with Read Easy, a charity whose volunteers do one-to-one coaching. Along the way, he revisits key moments in his life that were shaped by not being able to read: the ‘learner’ class at school, the dead-end jobs he had to take because he had no qualifications, and not being able to read his children bedtime stories. Daughter Zola is now 15, and Jay wants to read her a story before she reaches adulthood on her next birthday.

Jay Blades: Learning to Read at 51 review - The Guardian Jay Blades: Learning to Read at 51 review - The Guardian

PLOT: Blades’ memoir of his early life, education, stumbles, and career choices take us on his journey from innocence to awareness, racism, privilege, relationships to emerging as a transformative figure through his hard work, passion, and ability to talk to people but most importantly to listen to people, becoming an example that real change can happen to ordinary people. Whitfield, Tony (25 September 2022). "Jay Blades says Repair Shop fixed him after his difficult childhood". Daily Express. We had our hardships, and there were times that we didn’t have a lot of food and didn’t have a lot of money. But that didn’t stop me having the time of my life. In September 2022 Blades appeared on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs and said that his childhood had been "blighted by racism and violence". [18] [19] In October 2022 Blades was the lead presenter for the edition of The Repair Shop which featured King Charles III. [20] [21]We had our hardships, and there were times that we didn’t have a lot of food and didn’t have a lot of money. But that didn’t stop me having the time of my life.' However, aside from being entertaining, interesting and engaging, I think Making It is an important book. Through his own, very personal experiences, Jay Blades gives permission for readers, especially men, to show and accept their vulnerability without embarrassment. He gives hope to all that, rather like the items that feature in the television programme The Repair Shop, for which he is most well known, there is always the possibility to create something new and beautiful from something – or someone – broken or damaged. Blades lives in Ironbridge in Shropshire. [11] He has three children. His youngest, a daughter, is from his first marriage and he has two sons from previous relationships. Blades married his second wife Lisa Zbozen in Barbados in November 2022. [26] [6] [9] [27] [28] Honours [ edit ] Blades and his wife Jade set up a charity based in High Wycombe, Out of the Dark, to train disadvantaged young people in furniture restoration. [6] The charity lost funding, their marriage broke down, and he became homeless. [6] He was supported by friends and by the Caribbean community. [6] Around the same time, television producers saw a short film about the charity which led to his work as a presenter. [6] He moved to Wolverhampton and established Jay & Co, a social enterprise to support disadvantaged and disengaged groups. [11] He’s not alone in facing this issue. Research findings suggest that a quarter of all children in England leave primary school, like Blades, unable to read to the expected level. More than eight million adults in the UK have poor literacy skills, and half of all prisoners either can’t read or struggle to do so.