Máiría Cahill recalls the Dolls Hospital and cherished childhood toys

Máiría Cahill recounts her mother's memories of a 1950s Dolls Hospital in Belfast and how repair services kept toys in use, and she describes a family decision to buy a similar doll found online.

A seven-year-old's school project about toys led to a family conversation and a story from the 1950s. Máiría Cahill's mother remembered a beloved rubber doll called Denise and the local Dolls Hospital where dolls were mended. Cahill links that memory to archive footage from 1965 and to present-day repair cafes across Northern Ireland. She also describes a recent family purchase of a similar doll found online that will reconnect grandmother and grandchild. Noted details: - The niece is seven and had a class assignment to present on toys. - Denise was a 1950s rubber doll with a carved ponytail and "pedigree" stamped on the back; limbs could be removed and sometimes an eye fell out. - The Dolls Hospital on Grosvenor Road in Belfast (and another on Sandy Row) repaired and restrung dolls and made clothes; archive footage from 1965 shows Mary McDowell being interviewed about such work. - Repair cafes now operate across the north, reporting about a 66% average repair rate, and a Newtownabbey Repair Cafe posted about restoring a doll that briefly helped a woman with memory loss reconnect with earlier memories. - The family found a similar doll for sale online for £20; the grandmother had lost the original Denise in a house fire that also claimed a baby sibling and the family home. Summary: Cahill presents the Dolls Hospital and present-day repair cafes as a thread connecting past repair practices and personal memory to contemporary community efforts. The family has purchased a similar doll online and awaits its arrival as a tangible link between generations.