A FAST growing international furniture repair business played an integral role in the Royal Wedding by ensuring two historic planes looked their best. County Durham based Furniture Clinic was approached by the RAF to carry out leather restoration work on two of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight aircraft - the only flying Lancaster Bomber in the world and the last remaining Spitfire to have seen combat in the Second World War - which took part in a flypast of Buckingham Palace.

The latest success comes as the family run firm plans to take on more staff, opening a call centre to service warranties for retailers, and has seen increasing demand for its products and services from around the world.

The Burnopfield based business, employing 38 and now with 14 branches across the UK, was founded by Keith Staerck in 2005 and initially produced leather and upholstery cleaning products which it sold through its website.

Now Mr Staerck runs the business, which branched out into repairs in 2008, with his sons Ben and Adam.

They were contacted after the marriage of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in April and told that the planes that took part in the flypast on the day were the aircraft that it had worked on.

The firms sales director, Ben Staerck said: "It was a great privilege for Furniture Clinic to be able to offer our services in preserving the leather fittings in the planes.

"The leather on the aircraft can get worn quite quickly due to the huge number of people who visit the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Visitors Centre and the regular flights displays that the RAF run during the summer.

"We were not aware that the aircraft would be used as part of the Royal Wedding celebrations, so when we found out that the planes we had restored were the ones used on the day, we were delighted."

Keith Staerck said it was the first full restoration of the leather for some years, as it had previously been patched up.

It was approached by the RAF at the end of last year to carry out the restoration work, completing the contract in January.

It involved cleaning, restoring and protecting all leather items including various cushions, pilot seats, head rests, back rests, joysticks and control columns.

It was the first contract of its kind for the firm, which usually repairs products such as furniture, car interiors and handbags, with orders coming in from all over the world thanks to its use of the internet.

It has just gained authorisation from the Financial Services Authority, which enables it to offer extended warranties, which it will carry out on behalf of furniture retailers.

This will lead to the firm setting up a call centre employing around six new staff at its Burnopfield base. It also exports its cleaning products around the world, with orders having come from South Africa, Russia and Japan, with a new product due to be launched next month.

Keith Staerck added: "We are growing rapidly in this side of the business, moving into the warranty work and it is an exciting time for the company."