The Toy Collectors: 'I love taking something home and giving it a second lease of life' 

 Joanna Carroll from Mallow says her extensive collection brings her great joy. Picture: Chani Anderson

Collector Joanna Carroll’s home has become something of a refuge for troubled toys which — after years of being adored — found themselves destined for the landfill.

The 37-year-old’s Mallow property is heaving with nostalgia as My Little Ponies and dolls stare back from every nook and cranny. Some of her toys date back to the 1950s. They came to her mutilated and disfigured. One doll, by Joanna’s own admission, arrived in “a bag of plastic limbs".