A profoundly deaf woman who overcame her disadvantage, prejudice, bullying and family tragedy is due to have a tweeting treasured heirloom restored.

Fenella Haffenden of Tavistock will be appearing on BBC One’s The Repair Shop on Wednesday, April 8, to hear the singing of a mechanical moving bird in a golden cage, treasured in her family, for the first time in her life.

She said: “As a young child our family used to visit my grandmother in Jersey who used to wind up a singing bird in a cage prior to dinner every day for all us children to see.

“Sadly being deaf I could not hear it but I was amazed at the beauty of the movement of the bird in its golden cage.

“I was so used to pretend to join in the experiences everyone, that I just behaved as if I could hear it sing. But I longed to hear what everyone else was hearing.”

The singing bird and cage then went missing, only to be discovered recently in relative’s loft, but was in bad shape. The Repair Shop was contacted and they jumped on the moving story and filming, under a veil of secrecy, of the transformation has taken place.

Fenella, 62, has an inspirational life story to tell, which captured the imagination of the Repair Shop producers. This includes coping with the death of her husband who was killed by a freak lightning bolt out of a cloudless sky, leaving her with three young children to bring up alone.

She was born deaf and learned to speak as a child with the help of a speech therapist, rather than using sign language. Her mum only realised she was deaf when she was 18 months old.

She explained that she learned to speak by feeling the vibration of her therapist talking by touching her neck, while at the same time watching how the flame of a candle responded to her exhaled breath.

The therapist then held up pictures of items for Fenella to name verbally, while checking her own vocal cord vibrations and the effect on the candle. She also learned how to lip read, having struggled with early bulky, low-tech hearing aids.

Fenella has not let her deafness hold her back and early in life was assessed by Mensa as among the top ten per cent most intelligent people in the country.

She is a successful computer professional at Mount Kelly College, having been headhunted for a US job and worked for top London companies.

Fenella had a cochlear implant fitted about 20 years which allowed her to hear better for the first time: “It transformed my life. I was hearing things like rustling leaves and birds clearly for the first time. The first thing I heard properly was the fizz of a celebratory gin and tonic. It sounds strange, but I didn’t even know male and female voices were different, so that was just one revelation.”

Ever-positive Fenella says being deaf has been good for her: “I’ve had to overcome bullying when a child, prejudice and the loss of my husband. It’s all helped to forge my resilience.”