Salisbury Repair Cafe fix Charlie, Pizza Venti's mascot

Alex Popescu, co-owner of family owned Pizza Venti, was left in despair after his ornament was broken last month.

Read more: Pizza Venti's mascot left broken and window damaged

However, Richard Davis, 71, from Salisbury Repair Cafe, was able to fix Charlie and reunite him with his owners.

Richard took early retirement from the Ministry of Defence and has been volunteering as a mender at Salisbury Repair Cafe for almost four years.

It took Richard a total of 10 days to fix Charlie, he started with reattaching and reinforcing the broken hand, then he pieced the arm together and reattached the head.

See the full process of Charlie's restoration

Talking about why he decided to offer his repairing skills to the community, Richard said: "It's a lot of fun and I enjoy doing it. We all volunteer because we find it so rewarding."

Parts of Charlie were broken into little pieces, but this didn't deter Richard. For him, the hardest part was "finding the right paint for Charlie".

Richard Davis took on the challenge of fixing Charlie.

The unveiling of the repaired pizza mascot took place at Share Salisbury in Churchfields on Saturday, July 16.

Volunteers shared pizza and Alex said he would make a donation to Salisbury Repair Cafe to show his gratitude.

Alex found the community service through recommendations, he said: "It's a joy and it once again proves how important community support is.

"I wasn't expecting to find Charlie back. I was hoping for a miracle and it came through Salisbury Repair Cafe."

Charlie now stands with the other members of the mascot family, in Pizza Venti's window. 

"For us, this means everything. Charlie is sentimental and he always has a smile," added Alex.

Watch the moment Charlie was reunited with Alex and Maria

Eva McHue, 30, runs Share Salisbury, which is a library of things the community can access to borrow the things they need, "without it costing the earth".

Valuing sustainability and the environment, Eva started her business in June 2021 and now has 480 people signed up with online accounts and there have been 560 completed borrows.

Charlie was unveiled at Share Salisbury

For more information about Share Salisbury, visit the website by clicking here.

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