The Repair Shop (2017–…): Season 12, Episode 1 - Ukrainian painting - full transcript
The team restores a Ukrainian painting which survived a WWII labour camp and a 1960s bookings calendar from Liverpool's Cavern Club, which records an early Beatles performance.
Welcome to The Repair Shop...
Oh, my goodness. ..where precious
but faded keepsakes...
That is proper crushed.
..are restored
to their former glory.
Zhuh-zhing. Zhuh-zhing.
"Could I get finished now, please?"
Yes! A dream team of
expert craftspeople...
I'm absolutely chuffed to bits!
Fantastic! Brilliant!
Yes! Look at that!
..using traditional techniques
passed down the generations.
Perfecto.
It's almost magic.
Nothing better than a plan
that works.
..restore irreplaceable treasures...
Oh, my God, look at that!
It's perfect.
..and unlock
the stories they hold.
BELL DINGS
Happy tears!
It feels more magical.
I just want to hug everybody!
Nice.
Actually, it was nice with
the blackbird,
cos there was a lady blackbird
sat on the branch as well.
Oh, hi.
Great minds think alike.
What, a cup of tea? Yeah.
LAUGHTER
Lucia.
You've got to see this.
Ready? Yeah.
Ooh!
Wow! Special?
Yeah. Pretty amazing.
It needs some work,
though, doesn't it? Yeah.
This glorious 19th-century
painting's miraculous journey
can be traced through history,
from a war-torn Ukraine
of over 100 years ago,
all the way to
The Repair Shop today.
Maria Kirk has arrived to tell its
tale to
art conservator Lucia Scalisi.
Hello. Hello.
How are you doing?
I'm good, thank you. Are you?
I'm very good.
Please tell us about this painting.
Well, my grandfather was a Ukrainian
Catholic priest, and he was given
this by his father when he was
ordained... Right.
..and it hung in his church.
Where was this, then?
This was in a little village
in Skov'yatyn, in western Ukraine,
in the mountains. OK. Right.
And then at the outbreak
of the Second World War, my mother,
my aunt and my grandmother
were escaping from the Russians,
who were one side,
the Germans were the other side.
So you had both sides... Yeah, they
were like a sandwich in the middle.
Wow, OK. So they decided to take
the painting with them.
So they rolled it up and stitched
it into a winter coat
so it was safe.
So this was the...
..the only thing that they took,
and sewn into the coat? Yeah. Wow.
Just this picture.
Eventually, my mother, my aunt
and my grandmother were captured
by the Germans and sent
to a labour camp.
Oh, my word.
And my grandmother died
in the camp, of starvation. Yeah.
And then when the war ended, my mum
decided to come to England...
..and my aunt stayed in Germany.
And they decided my aunt
would have the painting. Right.
I went to see my aunt.
She was very sick, so she told me
she wanted me to have the painting.
And this is all I've got. You know,
I haven't got any other tangible
proof that they even,
you know, existed.
I mean, it's a really sad,
poignant story.
What a life story, Maria. Yes.
It sort of...
It makes me realise... Going to cry.
CHUCKLES
..how brave they were to do this,
because they could have
easily have been robbed.
They could have been shot.
Now, the faith and the bravery
to just do it
and hide it in the coat
and to carry it through
the whole war...
It's incredible that it survived.
Yes.
It became even more precious.
Yes. Because that was it, that's all
they'd got, yeah. Yeah.
You know, I'd like to do something
with it, for their memory.
So all the damage on there is caused
by it being rolled up and put in...?
Yeah, you can see that it's been
rolled up. You know,
those horizontal lines of damage.
OK.
And, you know, I'm presuming
you don't want to lose
all that because that's part
of it... No, because otherwise
it would just be a painting,
wouldn't it? Exactly.
I just love it. I feel as though
I'm the custodian of it.
It's not actually mine.
Will it go back to Ukraine,
then, do you think?
I'd like to dream that I would be
able to take it back to the actual
village and put it back
into the church. Yeah.
But, you know,
that would be lovely to do.
That's fantastic.
The church is still there
in that village?
The church is still standing.
Yes, the church is still there.
With everything that's happening
in Ukraine...
It's meant to be. It's meant to be.
What a privilege for me, and an
honour. So this going back would be
like a real honour to the village
as well, wouldn't it?
Yes, yes, it would.
It would be something special
for them to be able to see that
out of all the darkness
and the horrors of war... Yeah.
..something comes out.
Something beautiful and peaceful
and gentle.
Thank you for letting us know
about your family history.
Thank you so much.
You take care now. Bye. Bye. Bye.
JAY EXHALES
It's all you now. Yeah.
From the story that Maria told us...
..it's an absolute miracle
that this is here today and in quite
a remarkable condition.
I thought I was going to have
to start with consolidation.
I expected the paint to be
really actively flaking.
There's obviously a lot
of losses that relate directly
to it being rolled up, but I
actually thought the paint layer
itself would be much more delicate
and quite brittle.
It isn't actually flaking,
which is great.
So no consolidation.
Cleaning, do my filling.
I'm not going to fill everything.
I want to keep these rolled-up
lines, which are part
of its really serious history.
My priority, I think initially,
is to get it off this piece
of chunky board and actually work
on it on its new stretcher,
which will make handling easier.
Maria said that she's going to take
this back to the church
that it's from, which I think
is wonderful.
And if I can send it back
in as near original condition
as possible, that will be fantastic.
As Lucia begins work on the Madonna
and Child, the next visitor is also
hoping for some divine intervention.
Stephen Hills from Kent has brought
an absolute shipwreck to the barn,
badly in need of a rescue mission.
Dom!
You all right, Jay?
I'm very good. Wow!
Look at this! Eh?
Oh, my...! Stephen, meet Dom.
Dom, meet Stephen. Hi, nice to meet
you. Nice to meet you, Stephen.
Wow! Stephen, what is this?
Is this a kayak or a canoe?
Well, this is technically a kayak.
All right.
The canoes are the open ones that
you paddle with a single paddle,
and this one has the paddles
that you...
Oh, OK... This has got two paddles?
Yeah.
Oh. That's one paddle, though,
innit? So that goes together.
Oh! Oh, it slots in. And then you
paddle across...
And that makes it a kayak.
That makes it a kayak,
but we always called it a canoe,
so I know it as a canoe.
My father built it from a kit
in the mid 1960s.
Your dad built this? Yeah.
You see, the fibreglass hull comes
in one and then you have to build
the rest of it.
And somewhere here,
the original plan.
Oh, stop it!
That's where the blueprints...
And you've got that still!
I remember the little... I always
remember the little blue label
over there that said
"Moonraker" on it. OK.
Yeah, it's great that little
details like that have survived.
It's brilliant. Exactly, yeah.
So what was Dad's name?
His name was Brian. What on earth
made Brian want to make a boat?
Well, he loved messing about
on the water and he loved boats,
so he made this in the '60s,
and he always just loved
working with wood.
Was he a carpenter or an engineer
or...? No, no, no, no.
He worked in London,
he was an insurance broker. Wow!
But he just loved
working with his hands.
So you used to go out on this with
your...with your dad? Yeah.
So, in the 1960s, my grandparents
lived down at Frinton in Essex...
OK. ..and I remember walking this
down the pavement,
down to the beach, and we'd paddle
out to sea... Yeah.
..him, my brother and I.
Really, every year, always family
holidays there, really, really good.
And then our children enjoyed
using it as well. Wow!
Why has it got like this, then?
My mother died in '98,
and my father died in 2002. Right.
So at that stage we had to sort out
everything they had, and neither my
brother or I had anywhere
16 foot long indoors to keep it.
Yeah. So it ended up at the bottom
of our brother's garden,
under a tarpaulin for years.
And last spring he gave me a call.
He said, did I want
the family canoe?
Because he could do nothing
with it and he had no space for it.
So, of course I said, "Oh, yes,
I'll have to have it."
Did you know it was in this
condition? No, I had no idea.
It's just rotten, isn't it?
That's so sad, isn't it?
After having it pristine
for so long. Yeah.
He'd be appalled to see it in
the current state. Aw! And why now?
Why do you want to get it
repaired now?
Well, for me, it's about...it's
about the sort of generational stuff
and the fact that my father made it.
Yeah. And I'd just love to take out
the grandchildren and teach them
how to mess about on the water,
just like he taught me. Right. The
things that we've got that he made
are really special within the family
because that's the link to him.
Yeah. That's, um, a real
big job for you, innit?
THEY LAUGH
Hey, if your dad could make it,
and I've got the...I've got
the instructions... You've got the
instructions. ..so I've literally
got no excuse, yeah.
We're going to do our best.
Thanks very much. It's going to be
great fun. Thank you. Brilliant.
Look forward to it. See you later.
Bye. Take care.
Oh. You OK? Yeah. There we go.
It doesn't fit on the bench!
THEY LAUGH
You need a bigger bench, yeah?
I need a bigger workshop!
Look at it.
Well, this is completely out of your
comfort zone. No, well...
This is fibreglass and timber.
This is a kit.
So this is really taking me
back to being a kid,
building little model planes
and model cars. Cos at the moment,
you've got holes here, this is
coming off, like, look at it, Dom.
You're going to have to help me
with this paintwork. OK.
This is plywood... Yeah. ..sheets.
So whilst it's together,
I'm going to get make some paper
templates, so I know exactly
what shape they should be.
Take all the wood off, sand and
paint the bottom, and then start
reconstructing the top with some
new sheets of plywood.
So, going to get templates
from these and then cut
it out of some plywood, attach
it and then we can start lacquering.
Is that right? Yeah. Ain't got much
to do, then, have you?
No, it is quite a big job!
Brilliant. Let me know when you need
my help. Will do. Thanks, Jay.
I was hoping to get these panels
off in one piece.
I've never seen anything like it.
It's completely rotten, basically.
A mixture of the sea air,
the salty water, and all those years
underneath that tarpaulin
in the garden have not done well
for this plywood.
I'm actually uncovering
the inner structure.
This is what's holding all
these plywood pieces in place.
And some other surprises in here.
The actual missing seat back,
which is great.
Will need a bit of a clean-up,
but I think they'll live again.
I'm just going to work my way
down and remove
this very brittle plywood.
Yes. Perfect.
Lucia is using skills honed
in institutions like
the Victoria and Albert Museum
to restore a painting
that survived the rigours
of a Second World War labour camp.
The painting is now securely
on its new stretcher,
and I'm going to start
surface cleaning, which is removing
all the dirt that's built up
over the years,
and then I'm going to remove
the varnish layers.
So if I just sort of
clean this area...
I can see we've got a sort of
really nice colour change.
So it's gone from this ugly,
dirty yellow varnish
to sort of more pinky, fleshy tones.
So I can expect
quite a dramatic change.
The thing with discoloured varnish
and dirt on a surface,
it flattens everything. I know
it's two-dimensional, but it has
a three-dimensional effect
in how it's been painted because of
all the modelling of the shadows,
but they're all sort of lost.
So taking off this discoloration
will bring back some
of that modelling.
Finished the cleaning, so I'm
starting to fill the areas
that are exposed canvas.
I've made a traditional gesso,
which is calcium carbonate, gelatine
and a little bit of stand oil,
which is linseed oil
that's been thickened, and it makes
a really nice,
plasticky, putty type of material.
I can't retouch on bare canvas
anyway because the retouching
would just sink in.
So this literally gives me a ground
on which to do my retouching.
The gessos and fills that I use
are all water-soluble.
So when I come to rubbing it down,
which will be with a damp swab
and just do it slowly, slowly,
and I can really get the edges
quite neat. But it's
a very gentle process.
I don't want to cover all
these creases in the canvas,
and Maria doesn't want that either.
This is part of its history,
and the country's history,
the world history.
It's an incredible story.
And why would you want to
cover that up?
What are you doing there, then?
Oh, I'm just putting the base colour
in on the white fillings
that I've made.
I'm leaving some of the raw canvas
because it shows the rolling up. OK.
Yeah. But do you know what, Jay?
Once I started on this, I realised
that the painting was also
folded that way. Oh, you're joking.
So we've got these horizontals,
but we've also got these
vertical damages. Oh, yeah.
So it was rolled and then it was
folded into, like, a sandwich. Oh!
Wow! But they sort of did it so that
these...these folds miss the faces.
Yeah. That's how
they hid it in the coat.
For a painting
to have had that done to it,
and this much of the original image
still to be visible, is incredible.
Nice one. All right. Yeah. Thanks.
Next, a piece of
rock and roll history.
Peter McFall from Surrey has brought
a family heirloom that helped
a familiar fab foursome get on
The Long And Winding Road
to success.
How are you doing? Hi, I'm fine.
You must be Peter. I am, yeah.
So, what have you brought us in?
Well, it doesn't sound
very exciting, but it's a calendar.
Angelina, do you mind joining us?
Sure.
Paper restorer Angelina Bakalarou
mastered her craft
at the eminent National Archives.
Hello, hi. Hello, Angelina.
Nice to meet you. Hi, I'm Peter.
It's the calendar that my dad used
to write down the names
of all the bands that he booked
in The Cavern.
What, THE Cavern?!
THE Cavern in Liverpool, yeah.
Seriously?!
He owned The Cavern, yeah. Wow!
That's a big thing. It was, yeah.
Yeah. It was for him, yeah.
Does it have The Beatles in there,
then? Yeah, it has got The Beatles
in there, yeah. Seriously? Yeah.
Yeah, he had it during the golden
period, and he booked The Beatles
for the first time. Wow!
You're smiling when you say this.
Look at you. Well, yeah, I'm so
proud of it, really,
because it was a great time for him.
Yeah, because it's a massive
thing he's done. Mm. Oh, yeah.
This is like social culture,
history, everything. Absolutely.
And it's just changed music,
what your dad started. Yeah.
That's like, "Wow! Come on!" Yeah.
What was Dad's name? Ray.
Ray McFall. OK.
And did you ever go down there?
I first went down to see
The Beatles when they were first
appearing, in 1961. Right. Yeah.
So I was only eight years old at
the time then. What was that like?
They were good, and they made
a fuss of us.
The photograph that we've got taken
with The Beatles,
George wrote on the back
of the photograph,
"All the best from your good old
uncles." Aw! Aw! Nice one.
George Harrison. So sweet.
Can I have a closer look?
Of course you can. Yeah, please.
Thank you. Yeah.
So what's written down the side
are people who've played
at lunchtime.
So you see The Beatles... Oh, I see!
The Beatles have played at
lunchtime, there. Blimey.
3rd of August. Yeah. The Beatles,
and all these other bands appeared
at the same time. So, like, every
week, it's just bands after bands
after bands. Yeah. It's just full up
in there. Yeah. I just noticed
there, look, you've got
Rolling Stones
on the 5th of November.
Yeah. And they played in
the afternoon as well! Yeah. Wow!
Cor blimey. I can see why you're
smiling. So proud.
So, what was...what was Dad like?
What was he like?
Well, he was a quite private
man, very family-centred.
So he used to take me and my
brothers and sisters out
on a Sunday afternoon.
But he worked really hard
during the rest of the time,
just running the club.
He had it until 1966, when he went
bankrupt, the club closed,
so we lost everything.
It was quite a traumatic time
for him, and my mum as well,
because I think
he felt he'd failed.
You know, it had all gone...all
gone wrong for him. Yeah.
So it wasn't really until later
years that he kind of realised
the full impact of what
he'd done, yeah. Yeah.
He passed away in 2015... Right.
..and I hadn't realised just how
long the memory
was in Liverpool of my dad.
They still remember.
They all still remembered him
and they were still shocked
by his death, so... Yeah, yeah.
Because he's important, man.
Well, yeah. I mean, as I say,
I thought it would have all been
forgotten about, to be honest.
You know, things have moved on.
Yeah. But no, they hadn't.
No. We were going through
his things,
we found these calendars.
It was like we'd, you know,
uncovered some treasure.
It's sad to see it like that.
I mean, I can imagine people turning
it over and over, you know,
every single day. It's the
connection with him again...
The connection with Dad, Liverpool,
just the music history. Yeah.
So what exactly would you like
Angelina to do?
It is falling to bits.
There's pages coming out.
Yeah. Cover's come off. You know,
this sort of ring binder thing,
that's...it's tearing the pages off.
So if Angelina is able to get
this working like a calendar,
what are you going to do with it?
Oh, I mean, it'll be fantastic.
It'd be incredible if you can.
Yeah. But it's just...it's
the effect it has on people
when they see some
of the names in the calendar.
It's... Yeah.
It needs to be shown to people.
Well, Peter, leave this with
us. We'll see what we can do.
Thank you. All right? See you, then.
You take care. Lovely meeting you.
Thank you very much. Thank you.
Bye-bye. Bye. Wow.
This calendar, it's not
in the best shape.
I mean, clearly
it has been very heavily used.
The first page is literally
coming off and the spiral
is not really good.
It's starting to rust.
It has started
seeping into the paper.
So I definitely need to take
this out and replace it.
I need to figure out a way
of recreating all these little holes
on this paper,
giving it some new edges.
Once I repair this, I would
really like to put a new cover on,
just to make sure that all these
pages remain protected.
Right, so time to take
the spiral off.
The rust that is on the inside of
the pages, that has formed
on the metal, is not
really letting it move.
So the best idea is to just cut one
bit at a time and remove it slowly.
I have to be really careful
with these wire cutters
because I don't want to create any
more damage, so I need to go slowly.
It's going to take a little bit
longer, but...easy does it.
Lucia is also using her most
reverent of touches
on the holy painting.
I've put the base coat on
the fillings and I'm now actually
starting to retouch proper,
which is colour matching.
As well as actually retouching
on the filling,
I'm also retouching along some
of the very wider visible cracks.
That's where your eye will go
when you're looking at a painting.
My eye is in there now.
My colour mixing is going quite
well, so I think I've cracked it
on terms of the artist's palette,
and what I need to do to mimic that.
It's quite a challenge,
but I'm up for that challenge.
DOM: Cor, I think I've got the heavy
end here, Jay! I think you have,
actually. Left a bit.
Go on, left, left. All right.
THEY LAUGH
It's all hands on deck to get
the kayak seaworthy again.
So I've got a brand-new piece
of ply, and I just need to transfer
the all-important paper
templates onto my new piece.
I'm having to sand down
this fibreglass because it's got
something called osmosis,
which is where the water gets
into the fibreglass and then it
blisters up and breaks out
in all these little dimples
on the surface.
So the only solution for that is
to sand it back down,
remove all of those dimples, fill
in imperfections, and then reapply
two coats of primer
and two coats of top paint.
My little kayak is coming
on really well.
Spent so long preparing
the fibreglass and the base.
It's now painted and done.
I've got all of the framework that
really supports it all in place.
I'm about to start putting the final
skin of plywood on the top.
The adhesive that I'm using
is waterproof, so it's actually
sealing the joints between the two
pieces of wood.
Now I've got the piece of wood
clamped in position,
I can start tacking it in place.
Oh, perfect!
I've got 300 more pins.
Once that's done,
I can start on
the all-important varnish.
After spending so long looking at
rotting pieces of wood and broken
bits of plywood, to actually see
it looking like a kayak again
is really rewarding for me.
This lovely golden yacht varnish
just brings out the colour
in the grain of the wood.
Look at that!
Instantly looks a million
times better.
This yacht varnish has a few jobs.
First and most importantly,
it's waterproof,
and it's going to seal all
of this wood, all these joints.
Not only that, but it looks awesome.
There is something quite,
quite nice, quite romantic in a way,
of reliving the history
for this kayak,
going through the same steps
that Stephen's dad did
when he actually first
built this in the '60s.
He would have done exactly this -
pot of yacht varnish, nice two-inch
brush, and just worked his way
around, building up the layers,
sanding it between coats.
It's beautiful.
You can't beat the old way
of doing things.
I've got a huge amount of work
ahead of me, but I can see
the rewards already.
It's going to look beautiful
when I'm finished.
Don't tell me you're doing
that varnishing.
I've got a spare brush...
Oh, diamond.
..if you fancy getting stuck in.
Yeah. I'm running up this side.
You could carry on that side, if you
don't mind. This looks good, Dom.
Thank you.
Well, he does want to use it again
anyway, so it's got to look the part
and be waterproof as well.
Yeah.
With the Ukrainian painting's
surface clean and stable,
Lucia is channelling her inner
artist, recreating the missing
areas of paint.
I'm at the stage of fine-tuning
and, you know, I can sort of dance
around the painting, and I keep sort
of spotting little things
and then just bringing them
into plane again,
so that, basically, they disappear.
And I've really nailed it down
to knowing what the artist
has used and what my equivalent
pigments will be.
And sometimes they're
modern alternatives,
and sometimes, like the earth
pigments, like the yellow ochre
in her headdress, you know,
that's a prehistoric pigment.
And that's as valid today
on the modern artist's palette
as it was in cave paintings.
And I just love that linkage,
that chain in history.
So now I'm in the flow of it,
I'm just going to crack on and aim
towards getting it finished
and handing back to Maria
so she can take it back to Ukraine.
How exciting is that?
I'm enjoying this greatly.
This painting was rolled, folded
and secretly stitched into
a coat lining during
the Second World War
as Maria's family fled persecution.
It's the only item
she has that links her back
to her Ukrainian family.
Hello. Hello. Hello, Maria!
It's so great to see you.
Lovely to see you both.
Bless you. How you doing?
I'm...
The two of you are proper excited,
aren't you? Yeah! Yeah. Aw, bless!
I'm like...
How can we not be excited?
I know, but I'm trying to keep calm.
You're excited to see it? Yeah.
I feel as though my mum's
here with me.
She always spoke about this painting
as being the thing that kept them
all together in the camp.
I just want to see it
how they would have seen it. Yeah.
You ready? Yes!
Lucia.
MARIA GASPS
Oh, my goodness!
Oh, it's beautiful!
Thank you!
The colours. It's alive!
It's just her eyes, just...
..doing a normal thing
that a mother does,
feeding her baby... Yeah.
..but looking at the baby
with such peace.
MARIA SOBS
It's beautiful!
I can't believe that!
THEY CHUCKLE
Thank you! Oh, my pleasure.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
What do you think your mum
would be saying now?
The same. Thank you.
She told me so much about it,
and I couldn't envisage
what it would be like.
Not long before she died, she told
me that when they were captured,
they were all given little patches
to sew on their clothes
that said, "Ostarbeiter",
which meant...
..East European slave labour.
And my mum didn't want to put
it on the coat.
And she said that my grandmother
had said to her, "Just put it on.
"It's not what's on
the outside of your coat,
"it's what's going to keep
us together inside."
And I understand why they took it.
Yeah. Yeah, I understand now.
And now I get it.
I would love one day to be able to
take it back to Ukraine,
but...
..I don't know if I'll be able to.
I will never, ever, ever,
ever forget this.
I just want to hug everybody!
THEY LAUGH
Oh, bless you!
Maria, I'm sure you
want to get this home. Yes. OK.
We'll give you a hand out to the
car. Thank you. Is that all right?
Thank you. I'll get the door.
Thank you. Thank you.
Thank all of you.
This is the only tangible thing
that I can actually touch and know
that they touched
it and they looked at it.
And I think it's, like, created
a bond between us now
that wasn't there before.
Hopefully, I've helped them
to be remembered,
and that...that's important as well.
Fellow upholsterers Jay and Sonnaz
just can't resist a sneak peek
at the next assignment.
Yeah, that's going to... Whoa!
SONNAZ LAUGHS
Yeah. Don't touch it now.
Yeah, just leave it, leave it.
This chair once provided
Joelle Gardner's children,
Lucian and Romaya, with hours
of childhood adventure and joy.
Hi. Hello. How are you doing?
Hello.
How are you?
Good, thank you. Good.
So tell us about this chair.
It was my dad's chair originally.
Right. It lived in Dad's very neat
and tidy house that he had,
that only got messy when these guys
came around.
Oh, nothing to do with you, then,
no? Nothing to do with me!
All right. It was when they was
a lot younger.
And, yeah, I remember it always
being in the living room
whenever we came, and he'd pull
it into the middle of the room
and then these guys would put
on his motorbike helmet...
He's smiling already. Oh! Yeah.
They'd put on this motorbike helmet,
they'd jump into the chair,
and my dad would spin them
and it would just be crazy. Wow.
Did anybody fly off of it?
Every time. Every time?!
Every time. What was Dad's name?
Herall.
He sounds like he was a really fun
grandad, and dad as well.
Yeah, he was the type of person
that would make you laugh
until you cry.
Sometimes I'd have to beg him, like,
"Stop, please!
"I can't laugh any more!" Yeah.
Yeah, Dad was very helpful,
especially when I had these
guys, particularly Romaya.
I was only 17 when I gave birth
to Romaya, and he was there
at the hospital. Wow.
He dropped me home and he was
there almost every day.
He used to take them away to
the seaside and just do fun things
with them while I'd
get a little bit of a break. Yeah.
He'd invite us over for dinner.
I'd always see him sort of sat
at the table, smiling to himself,
like, that was his happy place.
He used to always say that he didn't
really need much,
just his family, really.
Oh, wow. So, when did he pass?
So, he passed away in 2014. OK.
He had cancer, but he didn't know.
He passed away quite quickly,
so it was very sudden. Oh!
You must miss him.
SHE EXHALES
Massively, massively miss him.
Yeah. Yeah, a lot.
But this was his...this was a very
special piece of furniture for him,
and it was very important to him.
Right.
Ah, and a place where he could have
fun with his grandchildren.
Yeah, definitely. Yeah. Yeah.
And, I mean, it was in much better
condition when we first got it.
Right. But once we got it home...
LAUGHTER
Oh, oh! She hasn't just thrown you
under the bus?! Sorry! I didn't...
I didn't know they was going to do
this. Once we got it home...
Let him speak for himself. Hold on.
What did you do to the chair?
It was just trying to recreate him
spinning me, I guess. Aw!
Thank you. Right.
And it reclined and broke in half.
THEY LAUGH
But you still kept it, even though
you knew... Yeah.
There was just no way
that I could get rid of it.
I just couldn't let it go.
So, what would you like Sonnaz
to do to this?
Um, just hopefully
bring it back to life.
I just feel like Dad would be
happy to see it functional
and working again.
And the chair just looks lonely
and sad, so it kind of makes me
feel the same.
Aw!
We're going to get straight on it.
OK? You guys take care now.
All right, thank you. See you soon.
See you soon. Bye! Bye.
Take care, won't you? Bye-bye. Bye.
This is a modern chair.
It's not one-of-a-kind.
But the really key thing is it means
a lot to Joelle and her family
because of that connection
with her dad.
So I really want to make sure
that not only does it look fabulous,
but functionally, it still spins.
The leather is in pretty
good condition.
It just needs a clean.
And then I'll address
the...the leather finish itself.
So I'm going to take the covers
off first and address the fabric
sections where they need replacing.
The padding has lost
its plumptiousness.
You don't always have to completely
replace foams.
When they've lost their body,
like what's happened here,
they can create quite
a nice base layer.
So, adding a layer on top of it is
the best solution to making it fill
a cover again without any waste,
because you can keep
what was originally there.
Oh!
OK. Now I can start taking
the covers off
and start having a look at the foam.
Tasked with taking the Cavern Club
calendar from drab to fab,
Angelina.
This calendar has gone through a lot
of hands, like, over the years
of its life,
so I just want to freshen up
the surface and remove most
of the surface dust that is there,
and the oils from people's hands.
Eraser crumbs are the best way
to just deal with this.
I don't want to use a big
piece of rubber.
This is quite sensitive, still,
and I don't want to use a lot
of force because I might end up
tearing the paper.
This is a little bit of fabric
that will allow me to just move
around the eraser crumbs
without creating any tension
on the paper.
I can already see that the names
of these bands are a bit darker,
which is good.
That means it's cleaning.
This is not a very fast
method but is very effective.
I have a big pile still to go
through, so I'd better crack on.
Right. Oh, my goodness.
Finally managed to clean everything.
52 pages, front and back. Madness.
And now I'm ready to climb the next
mountain, which is preparing
and supporting these 52 pages
all over again.
So I can address
all these perforations
that are quite fragile and brittle.
What I want to do is just support
this area so they can be rebound,
back to another spiral.
And the best way is to put
a supporting strip
of Japanese tissue.
It has really long fibres, so it
will create a really good support.
The best way to cut
the Japanese tissue is
just to wet it with some water,
just like wetting a line,
and then it just rips apart.
Because I do want all these little
beautiful fibres to blend in
with my calendar paper.
Right, so I'll just position it
to where I want it.
This is my blotter.
I'm just going to put that there,
and my weights on.
Once this dries, I will be able
to trim those edges and hopefully
I can make those
beautiful perforations.
The adhesive is now dry
and all my repairs are dry,
so I'm going to use my screw puncher
to cut these holes.
So, basically, I just push down
and then it cuts the paper.
I can only do one hole at a time,
and I've got 52 pages
with about 24 holes each.
That's a whole lot of holes
to drill,
so I really need to keep going.
With the pages punched,
they must now be rebound...
..with a bespoke brass binder,
courtesy of Pete.
Oh! OK. How's that?
It's perfect. Good, good.
That's what I like to hear.
Thank you, Pete.
So it's time to
put this all together.
It's just like when I was removing
the old coil,
just one bit at a time.
It takes a lot of fumbling about.
After hours of sanding, painting
and varnishing the 1960s kayak,
it's time for the big peel
and reveal.
To be standing here putting
the last few finishing touches onto
Stephen's boat is the best feeling.
I will be honest, there
have been times where this kayak
has nearly beaten me.
HE CHUCKLES
But to stand back now and look
at this beautiful,
shiny, glossy varnish,
all the little details,
it's just right.
It just looks right.
Stephen's father built this kayak
in the '60s, originally,
and he did a fantastic job.
I have followed in his footsteps,
literally to the letter.
I've got the last few details
to put in, the backrests
and the all-important plaque,
and it will be ready to test
on the water.
The kayak arrived all at sea,
having been languishing on dry land
for 20 years, but Dom responded
to the Mayday
by getting her shipshape once again.
Brothers Stephen and Nigel
are hoping to recreate
their happy seafaring
childhood memories.
Stephen. Hi there. Hi.
Good morning. How are we doing?
Yeah, good, thank you.
So, how are you both feeling?
Yeah, excited, yeah. Yeah.
Good to see it. That's good.
He's looking at it...
It looks like it might be here.
THEY LAUGH
Cos you're hoping to use this as
well, aren't you? Absolutely, yeah.
So, are you ready to see it?
We are. We are.
It's excit... It's... Should we do
it? Very exciting. Let's do it.
The heartbeats...
Ready?
Wow! Oh, ho, ho!
Look at that.
That's amazing.
That is amazing, isn't it?
CHUCKLES: That is amazing.
The details... The little plaque
that was there.
It was really special.
It's fantastic.
Look at those.
They weren't like that
last we saw them!
THEY LAUGH
No!
That is fantastic. It's amazing.
So, where does this take you back,
seeing it like this now?
What does it take you back to?
Takes me back to Frinton,
those summer holidays. Yeah.
Those brilliant family holidays.
Now it's your grandkids' turn to
make their own memories with it.
Yeah, absolutely. It's just great
to see it as it always was.
I mean, it's just a beautiful thing,
and it's kind of unique to us.
I mean, Dad made it
and he varnished it.
He did it for the family.
It would...
It would be...so good
if he was here.
Yeah. He'd be...
He'd love this. He would.
He'd really love this.
He used to make, make and build
things with love,
and I think this has been,
you know, restored with love.
I'm so glad. I'm so glad it's going
to be used and enjoyed.
It will be. It's perfect.
It will be.
Well, it doesn't belong here,
does it? It belongs in some water.
Shall we get it in some water?
Yeah, let's do it.
That'd be amazing. Let's do it.
Brilliant. I'll get the door.
Nice, yeah.
Go on, in you get.
Wow, that's been a long time!
Oh! Oh! Got it, Jay? Wow!
Memories! Memories!
Go on, then. Let's see you.
Wow. Nice!
Isn't it beautiful?
Oh, well done. Oh, I'm so pleased.
Oh, that's brilliant.
How's that, then?
Fantastic! Brilliant.
It's amazing to be together in it.
I mean, it's probably not
since we were children
that we paddled it together.
And the kayak just looks
so beautiful now.
Really fantastic.
It feels like a floating memory.
It's like being back
on our holidays again.
Back on dry land, upholsterer Sonnaz
is preparing to plump up the volume
on the dilapidated leather chair.
I've taken all of the covers off.
I'm going to start with the arms,
I think.
I've really got to be
careful that I don't over-pad,
because there is a danger that
I won't be able to fit the cover
back onto it.
So I'm just kind of using my
upholsterer's intuition
with how much foam to actually
add on each layer.
Perfect. That's good.
Sometimes a foam saw can be quite
heavy and big and bulky.
So, for finer cuts, sometimes
I like to use a blade.
I love this process of gently
refining things,
the form and exact shape.
It's a little bit
like sculpting, I feel.
OK.
Already it looks so much better,
and it feels better as well.
Brilliant.
So all I need to do is repeat
the same process
on the other pieces.
I've unpicked all of the covers.
The reason I'm having to do
this is because
there's a hole
on this outside arm.
So the best thing to do
is to replace them like-for-like.
This is quite precise work
because I've got leather, piping,
and the new fabric to navigate.
So I need to get my head down
and plough on.
This really is the moment of truth
as to whether I've put too much
foam on or not enough.
It's very similar to...
..wrestling a crocodile.
The Velcros are together.
It feels great.
It's lovely and full.
I've just got to put the other
covers on as well.
And I'm also going to need Dom's
help because I'm hoping
he's going to be able to put
the chair back together again.
Always up for a challenge,
and this certainly is one.
Genuinely got no idea
how this goes back together.
I'm sort of joining the dots up.
Times like this is where I wish
I had three arms!
Yes. Here we go.
Brilliant. Right.
Paper restorer Angelina has
painstakingly preserved
all 52 pages of the Cavern Club
calendar,
hand-punched over 1,200 holes,
and bound them all back together.
I just want to turn my focus
on making a cover
for Peter's calendar.
So I thought, why not use
a nice photo of The Cavern?
The best way to do it is
just attach it on a piece
of acid-free board.
So this is not going to affect
either the photograph
or my calendar in years to come.
Hopefully this will be a beautiful
reminder of what this calendar
represents for him, his family,
and actually the world.
I think this will be a really
beautiful tribute.
It was in this calendar,
in 1963, the legendary manager
of the Cavern Club,
Ray McFall, booked
the soon-to-be-global-superstars,
The Beatles and the Stones.
His son Peter wished to preserve
this piece of memorabilia,
and with it his dad's role
in British music history.
Peter. Hi. Hello, Peter.
Hello, Dom. Hi, Angelina.
How are you? I'm fine, thank you.
Good to see you. Yeah.
What are you hoping Angie's been
able to do to the calendar?
So long as, you know,
you can look at it and touch it
and open it
without it falling to bits,
that's what I'm hoping for.
You looking forward to seeing it?
Absolutely, yeah.
I'm a bit nervous, though,
I have to say. Oh! Oh, really?
Yeah. Go on, then, Angie. Shall I?
Please, yeah.
Oh, my God!
My goodness me!
Oh! I can't believe you've
done that! That's...
It's got new binders on there.
I didn't know what to expect,
but it wasn't this.
It was my pleasure.
Absolute pleasure.
It's how confidently now
you're sort of flicking through!
Yeah, I know. Yeah.
You've done a...
It's amazing, yeah.
I just can't thank you enough.
I still... Yeah. Speechless.
My dad would be speechless.
He put a lot of work into
what he did with The Cavern.
And to this day, people are going
back to Liverpool
to go to The Cavern,
to relive those times. Mm.
Yeah. Thank you!
Glad you can actually now
enjoy it properly. Yeah. Yeah.
Thanks a lot. Thank you so much.
See you later, then. Thank you.
Take care. Thanks. Bye.
I'm a bit overwhelmed, to be honest,
to have it back
in this condition now.
It's magnificent. It really is.
It's an important record of
everything that my dad
worked hard at when he was running
The Cavern.
In Liverpool, if something's good,
they'll say, "That's boss, that."
And that's what they'll say
about this. "That's boss."
Also looking boss is the chair
that's had Sonnaz in a spin.
I'm thrilled to see the chair back
together again, and that's now
allowing me to start
addressing the scuffs.
I'm using a leather renovator
to recolour and touch back
in any scuffs.
The leather renovators sit on top
of the surface and create a barrier
and sort of help protect the scuff,
as well, from any further damage.
I'm thrilled with how it's looking,
nice and plump and clean.
It's quite a handsome chair.
I can't wait to see what Joelle,
Lucian and Romaya
think of the chair when they see it.
Joelle's dad was the ultimate fun
grandad for her children,
Romaya and Lucian, when he spun
them round in this chair,
safety rigorously upheld
by the addition
of his motorbike helmet.
Hello, how we doing?
Hi. Hi! Good?
You've brought the helmet as well!
THEY LAUGH
You missed it? Yeah. Yeah.
It was very strange, not having it
in the house, actually.
I didn't realise how much we'd
missed it. Aw!
So, what are you hoping for?
A usable chair. Usable! That you're
going to swing round... That doesn't
send you flying backwards when you
sit on it. OK, yeah.
Shall we show them? Yeah.
Do the honours.
# Dun-dun-duuuun! #
THEY EXCLAIM
Oh! It's back!
Oh, my gosh!
It just looks like how it used
to look, like,
in the BEGINNING beginning!
Fresh! Oh, my God!
What?! Oh...
Thank you so much!
Oh...my...God!
Oh, man! Seriously, it's so amazing.
All it needs is someone
in there now.
THEY CHUCKLE
You ready?
Oh, wow. Oh!
And...
..push!
THEY LAUGH
It did take me back.
It's quite emotional, actually.
I do feel a little bit overwhelmed
by having this chair back,
in its state.
It looks absolutely beautiful.
I feel like I can finally
just sit in it and, you know,
remember my grandad.
Lucian, you will be chief spinner.
I will take over the role.
If you have a treasured possession
that's seen better days,
and you think the team can help,
please get in touch at...
..and join us in The Repair Shop.
Oh, my goodness. ..where precious
but faded keepsakes...
That is proper crushed.
..are restored
to their former glory.
Zhuh-zhing. Zhuh-zhing.
"Could I get finished now, please?"
Yes! A dream team of
expert craftspeople...
I'm absolutely chuffed to bits!
Fantastic! Brilliant!
Yes! Look at that!
..using traditional techniques
passed down the generations.
Perfecto.
It's almost magic.
Nothing better than a plan
that works.
..restore irreplaceable treasures...
Oh, my God, look at that!
It's perfect.
..and unlock
the stories they hold.
BELL DINGS
Happy tears!
It feels more magical.
I just want to hug everybody!
Nice.
Actually, it was nice with
the blackbird,
cos there was a lady blackbird
sat on the branch as well.
Oh, hi.
Great minds think alike.
What, a cup of tea? Yeah.
LAUGHTER
Lucia.
You've got to see this.
Ready? Yeah.
Ooh!
Wow! Special?
Yeah. Pretty amazing.
It needs some work,
though, doesn't it? Yeah.
This glorious 19th-century
painting's miraculous journey
can be traced through history,
from a war-torn Ukraine
of over 100 years ago,
all the way to
The Repair Shop today.
Maria Kirk has arrived to tell its
tale to
art conservator Lucia Scalisi.
Hello. Hello.
How are you doing?
I'm good, thank you. Are you?
I'm very good.
Please tell us about this painting.
Well, my grandfather was a Ukrainian
Catholic priest, and he was given
this by his father when he was
ordained... Right.
..and it hung in his church.
Where was this, then?
This was in a little village
in Skov'yatyn, in western Ukraine,
in the mountains. OK. Right.
And then at the outbreak
of the Second World War, my mother,
my aunt and my grandmother
were escaping from the Russians,
who were one side,
the Germans were the other side.
So you had both sides... Yeah, they
were like a sandwich in the middle.
Wow, OK. So they decided to take
the painting with them.
So they rolled it up and stitched
it into a winter coat
so it was safe.
So this was the...
..the only thing that they took,
and sewn into the coat? Yeah. Wow.
Just this picture.
Eventually, my mother, my aunt
and my grandmother were captured
by the Germans and sent
to a labour camp.
Oh, my word.
And my grandmother died
in the camp, of starvation. Yeah.
And then when the war ended, my mum
decided to come to England...
..and my aunt stayed in Germany.
And they decided my aunt
would have the painting. Right.
I went to see my aunt.
She was very sick, so she told me
she wanted me to have the painting.
And this is all I've got. You know,
I haven't got any other tangible
proof that they even,
you know, existed.
I mean, it's a really sad,
poignant story.
What a life story, Maria. Yes.
It sort of...
It makes me realise... Going to cry.
CHUCKLES
..how brave they were to do this,
because they could have
easily have been robbed.
They could have been shot.
Now, the faith and the bravery
to just do it
and hide it in the coat
and to carry it through
the whole war...
It's incredible that it survived.
Yes.
It became even more precious.
Yes. Because that was it, that's all
they'd got, yeah. Yeah.
You know, I'd like to do something
with it, for their memory.
So all the damage on there is caused
by it being rolled up and put in...?
Yeah, you can see that it's been
rolled up. You know,
those horizontal lines of damage.
OK.
And, you know, I'm presuming
you don't want to lose
all that because that's part
of it... No, because otherwise
it would just be a painting,
wouldn't it? Exactly.
I just love it. I feel as though
I'm the custodian of it.
It's not actually mine.
Will it go back to Ukraine,
then, do you think?
I'd like to dream that I would be
able to take it back to the actual
village and put it back
into the church. Yeah.
But, you know,
that would be lovely to do.
That's fantastic.
The church is still there
in that village?
The church is still standing.
Yes, the church is still there.
With everything that's happening
in Ukraine...
It's meant to be. It's meant to be.
What a privilege for me, and an
honour. So this going back would be
like a real honour to the village
as well, wouldn't it?
Yes, yes, it would.
It would be something special
for them to be able to see that
out of all the darkness
and the horrors of war... Yeah.
..something comes out.
Something beautiful and peaceful
and gentle.
Thank you for letting us know
about your family history.
Thank you so much.
You take care now. Bye. Bye. Bye.
JAY EXHALES
It's all you now. Yeah.
From the story that Maria told us...
..it's an absolute miracle
that this is here today and in quite
a remarkable condition.
I thought I was going to have
to start with consolidation.
I expected the paint to be
really actively flaking.
There's obviously a lot
of losses that relate directly
to it being rolled up, but I
actually thought the paint layer
itself would be much more delicate
and quite brittle.
It isn't actually flaking,
which is great.
So no consolidation.
Cleaning, do my filling.
I'm not going to fill everything.
I want to keep these rolled-up
lines, which are part
of its really serious history.
My priority, I think initially,
is to get it off this piece
of chunky board and actually work
on it on its new stretcher,
which will make handling easier.
Maria said that she's going to take
this back to the church
that it's from, which I think
is wonderful.
And if I can send it back
in as near original condition
as possible, that will be fantastic.
As Lucia begins work on the Madonna
and Child, the next visitor is also
hoping for some divine intervention.
Stephen Hills from Kent has brought
an absolute shipwreck to the barn,
badly in need of a rescue mission.
Dom!
You all right, Jay?
I'm very good. Wow!
Look at this! Eh?
Oh, my...! Stephen, meet Dom.
Dom, meet Stephen. Hi, nice to meet
you. Nice to meet you, Stephen.
Wow! Stephen, what is this?
Is this a kayak or a canoe?
Well, this is technically a kayak.
All right.
The canoes are the open ones that
you paddle with a single paddle,
and this one has the paddles
that you...
Oh, OK... This has got two paddles?
Yeah.
Oh. That's one paddle, though,
innit? So that goes together.
Oh! Oh, it slots in. And then you
paddle across...
And that makes it a kayak.
That makes it a kayak,
but we always called it a canoe,
so I know it as a canoe.
My father built it from a kit
in the mid 1960s.
Your dad built this? Yeah.
You see, the fibreglass hull comes
in one and then you have to build
the rest of it.
And somewhere here,
the original plan.
Oh, stop it!
That's where the blueprints...
And you've got that still!
I remember the little... I always
remember the little blue label
over there that said
"Moonraker" on it. OK.
Yeah, it's great that little
details like that have survived.
It's brilliant. Exactly, yeah.
So what was Dad's name?
His name was Brian. What on earth
made Brian want to make a boat?
Well, he loved messing about
on the water and he loved boats,
so he made this in the '60s,
and he always just loved
working with wood.
Was he a carpenter or an engineer
or...? No, no, no, no.
He worked in London,
he was an insurance broker. Wow!
But he just loved
working with his hands.
So you used to go out on this with
your...with your dad? Yeah.
So, in the 1960s, my grandparents
lived down at Frinton in Essex...
OK. ..and I remember walking this
down the pavement,
down to the beach, and we'd paddle
out to sea... Yeah.
..him, my brother and I.
Really, every year, always family
holidays there, really, really good.
And then our children enjoyed
using it as well. Wow!
Why has it got like this, then?
My mother died in '98,
and my father died in 2002. Right.
So at that stage we had to sort out
everything they had, and neither my
brother or I had anywhere
16 foot long indoors to keep it.
Yeah. So it ended up at the bottom
of our brother's garden,
under a tarpaulin for years.
And last spring he gave me a call.
He said, did I want
the family canoe?
Because he could do nothing
with it and he had no space for it.
So, of course I said, "Oh, yes,
I'll have to have it."
Did you know it was in this
condition? No, I had no idea.
It's just rotten, isn't it?
That's so sad, isn't it?
After having it pristine
for so long. Yeah.
He'd be appalled to see it in
the current state. Aw! And why now?
Why do you want to get it
repaired now?
Well, for me, it's about...it's
about the sort of generational stuff
and the fact that my father made it.
Yeah. And I'd just love to take out
the grandchildren and teach them
how to mess about on the water,
just like he taught me. Right. The
things that we've got that he made
are really special within the family
because that's the link to him.
Yeah. That's, um, a real
big job for you, innit?
THEY LAUGH
Hey, if your dad could make it,
and I've got the...I've got
the instructions... You've got the
instructions. ..so I've literally
got no excuse, yeah.
We're going to do our best.
Thanks very much. It's going to be
great fun. Thank you. Brilliant.
Look forward to it. See you later.
Bye. Take care.
Oh. You OK? Yeah. There we go.
It doesn't fit on the bench!
THEY LAUGH
You need a bigger bench, yeah?
I need a bigger workshop!
Look at it.
Well, this is completely out of your
comfort zone. No, well...
This is fibreglass and timber.
This is a kit.
So this is really taking me
back to being a kid,
building little model planes
and model cars. Cos at the moment,
you've got holes here, this is
coming off, like, look at it, Dom.
You're going to have to help me
with this paintwork. OK.
This is plywood... Yeah. ..sheets.
So whilst it's together,
I'm going to get make some paper
templates, so I know exactly
what shape they should be.
Take all the wood off, sand and
paint the bottom, and then start
reconstructing the top with some
new sheets of plywood.
So, going to get templates
from these and then cut
it out of some plywood, attach
it and then we can start lacquering.
Is that right? Yeah. Ain't got much
to do, then, have you?
No, it is quite a big job!
Brilliant. Let me know when you need
my help. Will do. Thanks, Jay.
I was hoping to get these panels
off in one piece.
I've never seen anything like it.
It's completely rotten, basically.
A mixture of the sea air,
the salty water, and all those years
underneath that tarpaulin
in the garden have not done well
for this plywood.
I'm actually uncovering
the inner structure.
This is what's holding all
these plywood pieces in place.
And some other surprises in here.
The actual missing seat back,
which is great.
Will need a bit of a clean-up,
but I think they'll live again.
I'm just going to work my way
down and remove
this very brittle plywood.
Yes. Perfect.
Lucia is using skills honed
in institutions like
the Victoria and Albert Museum
to restore a painting
that survived the rigours
of a Second World War labour camp.
The painting is now securely
on its new stretcher,
and I'm going to start
surface cleaning, which is removing
all the dirt that's built up
over the years,
and then I'm going to remove
the varnish layers.
So if I just sort of
clean this area...
I can see we've got a sort of
really nice colour change.
So it's gone from this ugly,
dirty yellow varnish
to sort of more pinky, fleshy tones.
So I can expect
quite a dramatic change.
The thing with discoloured varnish
and dirt on a surface,
it flattens everything. I know
it's two-dimensional, but it has
a three-dimensional effect
in how it's been painted because of
all the modelling of the shadows,
but they're all sort of lost.
So taking off this discoloration
will bring back some
of that modelling.
Finished the cleaning, so I'm
starting to fill the areas
that are exposed canvas.
I've made a traditional gesso,
which is calcium carbonate, gelatine
and a little bit of stand oil,
which is linseed oil
that's been thickened, and it makes
a really nice,
plasticky, putty type of material.
I can't retouch on bare canvas
anyway because the retouching
would just sink in.
So this literally gives me a ground
on which to do my retouching.
The gessos and fills that I use
are all water-soluble.
So when I come to rubbing it down,
which will be with a damp swab
and just do it slowly, slowly,
and I can really get the edges
quite neat. But it's
a very gentle process.
I don't want to cover all
these creases in the canvas,
and Maria doesn't want that either.
This is part of its history,
and the country's history,
the world history.
It's an incredible story.
And why would you want to
cover that up?
What are you doing there, then?
Oh, I'm just putting the base colour
in on the white fillings
that I've made.
I'm leaving some of the raw canvas
because it shows the rolling up. OK.
Yeah. But do you know what, Jay?
Once I started on this, I realised
that the painting was also
folded that way. Oh, you're joking.
So we've got these horizontals,
but we've also got these
vertical damages. Oh, yeah.
So it was rolled and then it was
folded into, like, a sandwich. Oh!
Wow! But they sort of did it so that
these...these folds miss the faces.
Yeah. That's how
they hid it in the coat.
For a painting
to have had that done to it,
and this much of the original image
still to be visible, is incredible.
Nice one. All right. Yeah. Thanks.
Next, a piece of
rock and roll history.
Peter McFall from Surrey has brought
a family heirloom that helped
a familiar fab foursome get on
The Long And Winding Road
to success.
How are you doing? Hi, I'm fine.
You must be Peter. I am, yeah.
So, what have you brought us in?
Well, it doesn't sound
very exciting, but it's a calendar.
Angelina, do you mind joining us?
Sure.
Paper restorer Angelina Bakalarou
mastered her craft
at the eminent National Archives.
Hello, hi. Hello, Angelina.
Nice to meet you. Hi, I'm Peter.
It's the calendar that my dad used
to write down the names
of all the bands that he booked
in The Cavern.
What, THE Cavern?!
THE Cavern in Liverpool, yeah.
Seriously?!
He owned The Cavern, yeah. Wow!
That's a big thing. It was, yeah.
Yeah. It was for him, yeah.
Does it have The Beatles in there,
then? Yeah, it has got The Beatles
in there, yeah. Seriously? Yeah.
Yeah, he had it during the golden
period, and he booked The Beatles
for the first time. Wow!
You're smiling when you say this.
Look at you. Well, yeah, I'm so
proud of it, really,
because it was a great time for him.
Yeah, because it's a massive
thing he's done. Mm. Oh, yeah.
This is like social culture,
history, everything. Absolutely.
And it's just changed music,
what your dad started. Yeah.
That's like, "Wow! Come on!" Yeah.
What was Dad's name? Ray.
Ray McFall. OK.
And did you ever go down there?
I first went down to see
The Beatles when they were first
appearing, in 1961. Right. Yeah.
So I was only eight years old at
the time then. What was that like?
They were good, and they made
a fuss of us.
The photograph that we've got taken
with The Beatles,
George wrote on the back
of the photograph,
"All the best from your good old
uncles." Aw! Aw! Nice one.
George Harrison. So sweet.
Can I have a closer look?
Of course you can. Yeah, please.
Thank you. Yeah.
So what's written down the side
are people who've played
at lunchtime.
So you see The Beatles... Oh, I see!
The Beatles have played at
lunchtime, there. Blimey.
3rd of August. Yeah. The Beatles,
and all these other bands appeared
at the same time. So, like, every
week, it's just bands after bands
after bands. Yeah. It's just full up
in there. Yeah. I just noticed
there, look, you've got
Rolling Stones
on the 5th of November.
Yeah. And they played in
the afternoon as well! Yeah. Wow!
Cor blimey. I can see why you're
smiling. So proud.
So, what was...what was Dad like?
What was he like?
Well, he was a quite private
man, very family-centred.
So he used to take me and my
brothers and sisters out
on a Sunday afternoon.
But he worked really hard
during the rest of the time,
just running the club.
He had it until 1966, when he went
bankrupt, the club closed,
so we lost everything.
It was quite a traumatic time
for him, and my mum as well,
because I think
he felt he'd failed.
You know, it had all gone...all
gone wrong for him. Yeah.
So it wasn't really until later
years that he kind of realised
the full impact of what
he'd done, yeah. Yeah.
He passed away in 2015... Right.
..and I hadn't realised just how
long the memory
was in Liverpool of my dad.
They still remember.
They all still remembered him
and they were still shocked
by his death, so... Yeah, yeah.
Because he's important, man.
Well, yeah. I mean, as I say,
I thought it would have all been
forgotten about, to be honest.
You know, things have moved on.
Yeah. But no, they hadn't.
No. We were going through
his things,
we found these calendars.
It was like we'd, you know,
uncovered some treasure.
It's sad to see it like that.
I mean, I can imagine people turning
it over and over, you know,
every single day. It's the
connection with him again...
The connection with Dad, Liverpool,
just the music history. Yeah.
So what exactly would you like
Angelina to do?
It is falling to bits.
There's pages coming out.
Yeah. Cover's come off. You know,
this sort of ring binder thing,
that's...it's tearing the pages off.
So if Angelina is able to get
this working like a calendar,
what are you going to do with it?
Oh, I mean, it'll be fantastic.
It'd be incredible if you can.
Yeah. But it's just...it's
the effect it has on people
when they see some
of the names in the calendar.
It's... Yeah.
It needs to be shown to people.
Well, Peter, leave this with
us. We'll see what we can do.
Thank you. All right? See you, then.
You take care. Lovely meeting you.
Thank you very much. Thank you.
Bye-bye. Bye. Wow.
This calendar, it's not
in the best shape.
I mean, clearly
it has been very heavily used.
The first page is literally
coming off and the spiral
is not really good.
It's starting to rust.
It has started
seeping into the paper.
So I definitely need to take
this out and replace it.
I need to figure out a way
of recreating all these little holes
on this paper,
giving it some new edges.
Once I repair this, I would
really like to put a new cover on,
just to make sure that all these
pages remain protected.
Right, so time to take
the spiral off.
The rust that is on the inside of
the pages, that has formed
on the metal, is not
really letting it move.
So the best idea is to just cut one
bit at a time and remove it slowly.
I have to be really careful
with these wire cutters
because I don't want to create any
more damage, so I need to go slowly.
It's going to take a little bit
longer, but...easy does it.
Lucia is also using her most
reverent of touches
on the holy painting.
I've put the base coat on
the fillings and I'm now actually
starting to retouch proper,
which is colour matching.
As well as actually retouching
on the filling,
I'm also retouching along some
of the very wider visible cracks.
That's where your eye will go
when you're looking at a painting.
My eye is in there now.
My colour mixing is going quite
well, so I think I've cracked it
on terms of the artist's palette,
and what I need to do to mimic that.
It's quite a challenge,
but I'm up for that challenge.
DOM: Cor, I think I've got the heavy
end here, Jay! I think you have,
actually. Left a bit.
Go on, left, left. All right.
THEY LAUGH
It's all hands on deck to get
the kayak seaworthy again.
So I've got a brand-new piece
of ply, and I just need to transfer
the all-important paper
templates onto my new piece.
I'm having to sand down
this fibreglass because it's got
something called osmosis,
which is where the water gets
into the fibreglass and then it
blisters up and breaks out
in all these little dimples
on the surface.
So the only solution for that is
to sand it back down,
remove all of those dimples, fill
in imperfections, and then reapply
two coats of primer
and two coats of top paint.
My little kayak is coming
on really well.
Spent so long preparing
the fibreglass and the base.
It's now painted and done.
I've got all of the framework that
really supports it all in place.
I'm about to start putting the final
skin of plywood on the top.
The adhesive that I'm using
is waterproof, so it's actually
sealing the joints between the two
pieces of wood.
Now I've got the piece of wood
clamped in position,
I can start tacking it in place.
Oh, perfect!
I've got 300 more pins.
Once that's done,
I can start on
the all-important varnish.
After spending so long looking at
rotting pieces of wood and broken
bits of plywood, to actually see
it looking like a kayak again
is really rewarding for me.
This lovely golden yacht varnish
just brings out the colour
in the grain of the wood.
Look at that!
Instantly looks a million
times better.
This yacht varnish has a few jobs.
First and most importantly,
it's waterproof,
and it's going to seal all
of this wood, all these joints.
Not only that, but it looks awesome.
There is something quite,
quite nice, quite romantic in a way,
of reliving the history
for this kayak,
going through the same steps
that Stephen's dad did
when he actually first
built this in the '60s.
He would have done exactly this -
pot of yacht varnish, nice two-inch
brush, and just worked his way
around, building up the layers,
sanding it between coats.
It's beautiful.
You can't beat the old way
of doing things.
I've got a huge amount of work
ahead of me, but I can see
the rewards already.
It's going to look beautiful
when I'm finished.
Don't tell me you're doing
that varnishing.
I've got a spare brush...
Oh, diamond.
..if you fancy getting stuck in.
Yeah. I'm running up this side.
You could carry on that side, if you
don't mind. This looks good, Dom.
Thank you.
Well, he does want to use it again
anyway, so it's got to look the part
and be waterproof as well.
Yeah.
With the Ukrainian painting's
surface clean and stable,
Lucia is channelling her inner
artist, recreating the missing
areas of paint.
I'm at the stage of fine-tuning
and, you know, I can sort of dance
around the painting, and I keep sort
of spotting little things
and then just bringing them
into plane again,
so that, basically, they disappear.
And I've really nailed it down
to knowing what the artist
has used and what my equivalent
pigments will be.
And sometimes they're
modern alternatives,
and sometimes, like the earth
pigments, like the yellow ochre
in her headdress, you know,
that's a prehistoric pigment.
And that's as valid today
on the modern artist's palette
as it was in cave paintings.
And I just love that linkage,
that chain in history.
So now I'm in the flow of it,
I'm just going to crack on and aim
towards getting it finished
and handing back to Maria
so she can take it back to Ukraine.
How exciting is that?
I'm enjoying this greatly.
This painting was rolled, folded
and secretly stitched into
a coat lining during
the Second World War
as Maria's family fled persecution.
It's the only item
she has that links her back
to her Ukrainian family.
Hello. Hello. Hello, Maria!
It's so great to see you.
Lovely to see you both.
Bless you. How you doing?
I'm...
The two of you are proper excited,
aren't you? Yeah! Yeah. Aw, bless!
I'm like...
How can we not be excited?
I know, but I'm trying to keep calm.
You're excited to see it? Yeah.
I feel as though my mum's
here with me.
She always spoke about this painting
as being the thing that kept them
all together in the camp.
I just want to see it
how they would have seen it. Yeah.
You ready? Yes!
Lucia.
MARIA GASPS
Oh, my goodness!
Oh, it's beautiful!
Thank you!
The colours. It's alive!
It's just her eyes, just...
..doing a normal thing
that a mother does,
feeding her baby... Yeah.
..but looking at the baby
with such peace.
MARIA SOBS
It's beautiful!
I can't believe that!
THEY CHUCKLE
Thank you! Oh, my pleasure.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
What do you think your mum
would be saying now?
The same. Thank you.
She told me so much about it,
and I couldn't envisage
what it would be like.
Not long before she died, she told
me that when they were captured,
they were all given little patches
to sew on their clothes
that said, "Ostarbeiter",
which meant...
..East European slave labour.
And my mum didn't want to put
it on the coat.
And she said that my grandmother
had said to her, "Just put it on.
"It's not what's on
the outside of your coat,
"it's what's going to keep
us together inside."
And I understand why they took it.
Yeah. Yeah, I understand now.
And now I get it.
I would love one day to be able to
take it back to Ukraine,
but...
..I don't know if I'll be able to.
I will never, ever, ever,
ever forget this.
I just want to hug everybody!
THEY LAUGH
Oh, bless you!
Maria, I'm sure you
want to get this home. Yes. OK.
We'll give you a hand out to the
car. Thank you. Is that all right?
Thank you. I'll get the door.
Thank you. Thank you.
Thank all of you.
This is the only tangible thing
that I can actually touch and know
that they touched
it and they looked at it.
And I think it's, like, created
a bond between us now
that wasn't there before.
Hopefully, I've helped them
to be remembered,
and that...that's important as well.
Fellow upholsterers Jay and Sonnaz
just can't resist a sneak peek
at the next assignment.
Yeah, that's going to... Whoa!
SONNAZ LAUGHS
Yeah. Don't touch it now.
Yeah, just leave it, leave it.
This chair once provided
Joelle Gardner's children,
Lucian and Romaya, with hours
of childhood adventure and joy.
Hi. Hello. How are you doing?
Hello.
How are you?
Good, thank you. Good.
So tell us about this chair.
It was my dad's chair originally.
Right. It lived in Dad's very neat
and tidy house that he had,
that only got messy when these guys
came around.
Oh, nothing to do with you, then,
no? Nothing to do with me!
All right. It was when they was
a lot younger.
And, yeah, I remember it always
being in the living room
whenever we came, and he'd pull
it into the middle of the room
and then these guys would put
on his motorbike helmet...
He's smiling already. Oh! Yeah.
They'd put on this motorbike helmet,
they'd jump into the chair,
and my dad would spin them
and it would just be crazy. Wow.
Did anybody fly off of it?
Every time. Every time?!
Every time. What was Dad's name?
Herall.
He sounds like he was a really fun
grandad, and dad as well.
Yeah, he was the type of person
that would make you laugh
until you cry.
Sometimes I'd have to beg him, like,
"Stop, please!
"I can't laugh any more!" Yeah.
Yeah, Dad was very helpful,
especially when I had these
guys, particularly Romaya.
I was only 17 when I gave birth
to Romaya, and he was there
at the hospital. Wow.
He dropped me home and he was
there almost every day.
He used to take them away to
the seaside and just do fun things
with them while I'd
get a little bit of a break. Yeah.
He'd invite us over for dinner.
I'd always see him sort of sat
at the table, smiling to himself,
like, that was his happy place.
He used to always say that he didn't
really need much,
just his family, really.
Oh, wow. So, when did he pass?
So, he passed away in 2014. OK.
He had cancer, but he didn't know.
He passed away quite quickly,
so it was very sudden. Oh!
You must miss him.
SHE EXHALES
Massively, massively miss him.
Yeah. Yeah, a lot.
But this was his...this was a very
special piece of furniture for him,
and it was very important to him.
Right.
Ah, and a place where he could have
fun with his grandchildren.
Yeah, definitely. Yeah. Yeah.
And, I mean, it was in much better
condition when we first got it.
Right. But once we got it home...
LAUGHTER
Oh, oh! She hasn't just thrown you
under the bus?! Sorry! I didn't...
I didn't know they was going to do
this. Once we got it home...
Let him speak for himself. Hold on.
What did you do to the chair?
It was just trying to recreate him
spinning me, I guess. Aw!
Thank you. Right.
And it reclined and broke in half.
THEY LAUGH
But you still kept it, even though
you knew... Yeah.
There was just no way
that I could get rid of it.
I just couldn't let it go.
So, what would you like Sonnaz
to do to this?
Um, just hopefully
bring it back to life.
I just feel like Dad would be
happy to see it functional
and working again.
And the chair just looks lonely
and sad, so it kind of makes me
feel the same.
Aw!
We're going to get straight on it.
OK? You guys take care now.
All right, thank you. See you soon.
See you soon. Bye! Bye.
Take care, won't you? Bye-bye. Bye.
This is a modern chair.
It's not one-of-a-kind.
But the really key thing is it means
a lot to Joelle and her family
because of that connection
with her dad.
So I really want to make sure
that not only does it look fabulous,
but functionally, it still spins.
The leather is in pretty
good condition.
It just needs a clean.
And then I'll address
the...the leather finish itself.
So I'm going to take the covers
off first and address the fabric
sections where they need replacing.
The padding has lost
its plumptiousness.
You don't always have to completely
replace foams.
When they've lost their body,
like what's happened here,
they can create quite
a nice base layer.
So, adding a layer on top of it is
the best solution to making it fill
a cover again without any waste,
because you can keep
what was originally there.
Oh!
OK. Now I can start taking
the covers off
and start having a look at the foam.
Tasked with taking the Cavern Club
calendar from drab to fab,
Angelina.
This calendar has gone through a lot
of hands, like, over the years
of its life,
so I just want to freshen up
the surface and remove most
of the surface dust that is there,
and the oils from people's hands.
Eraser crumbs are the best way
to just deal with this.
I don't want to use a big
piece of rubber.
This is quite sensitive, still,
and I don't want to use a lot
of force because I might end up
tearing the paper.
This is a little bit of fabric
that will allow me to just move
around the eraser crumbs
without creating any tension
on the paper.
I can already see that the names
of these bands are a bit darker,
which is good.
That means it's cleaning.
This is not a very fast
method but is very effective.
I have a big pile still to go
through, so I'd better crack on.
Right. Oh, my goodness.
Finally managed to clean everything.
52 pages, front and back. Madness.
And now I'm ready to climb the next
mountain, which is preparing
and supporting these 52 pages
all over again.
So I can address
all these perforations
that are quite fragile and brittle.
What I want to do is just support
this area so they can be rebound,
back to another spiral.
And the best way is to put
a supporting strip
of Japanese tissue.
It has really long fibres, so it
will create a really good support.
The best way to cut
the Japanese tissue is
just to wet it with some water,
just like wetting a line,
and then it just rips apart.
Because I do want all these little
beautiful fibres to blend in
with my calendar paper.
Right, so I'll just position it
to where I want it.
This is my blotter.
I'm just going to put that there,
and my weights on.
Once this dries, I will be able
to trim those edges and hopefully
I can make those
beautiful perforations.
The adhesive is now dry
and all my repairs are dry,
so I'm going to use my screw puncher
to cut these holes.
So, basically, I just push down
and then it cuts the paper.
I can only do one hole at a time,
and I've got 52 pages
with about 24 holes each.
That's a whole lot of holes
to drill,
so I really need to keep going.
With the pages punched,
they must now be rebound...
..with a bespoke brass binder,
courtesy of Pete.
Oh! OK. How's that?
It's perfect. Good, good.
That's what I like to hear.
Thank you, Pete.
So it's time to
put this all together.
It's just like when I was removing
the old coil,
just one bit at a time.
It takes a lot of fumbling about.
After hours of sanding, painting
and varnishing the 1960s kayak,
it's time for the big peel
and reveal.
To be standing here putting
the last few finishing touches onto
Stephen's boat is the best feeling.
I will be honest, there
have been times where this kayak
has nearly beaten me.
HE CHUCKLES
But to stand back now and look
at this beautiful,
shiny, glossy varnish,
all the little details,
it's just right.
It just looks right.
Stephen's father built this kayak
in the '60s, originally,
and he did a fantastic job.
I have followed in his footsteps,
literally to the letter.
I've got the last few details
to put in, the backrests
and the all-important plaque,
and it will be ready to test
on the water.
The kayak arrived all at sea,
having been languishing on dry land
for 20 years, but Dom responded
to the Mayday
by getting her shipshape once again.
Brothers Stephen and Nigel
are hoping to recreate
their happy seafaring
childhood memories.
Stephen. Hi there. Hi.
Good morning. How are we doing?
Yeah, good, thank you.
So, how are you both feeling?
Yeah, excited, yeah. Yeah.
Good to see it. That's good.
He's looking at it...
It looks like it might be here.
THEY LAUGH
Cos you're hoping to use this as
well, aren't you? Absolutely, yeah.
So, are you ready to see it?
We are. We are.
It's excit... It's... Should we do
it? Very exciting. Let's do it.
The heartbeats...
Ready?
Wow! Oh, ho, ho!
Look at that.
That's amazing.
That is amazing, isn't it?
CHUCKLES: That is amazing.
The details... The little plaque
that was there.
It was really special.
It's fantastic.
Look at those.
They weren't like that
last we saw them!
THEY LAUGH
No!
That is fantastic. It's amazing.
So, where does this take you back,
seeing it like this now?
What does it take you back to?
Takes me back to Frinton,
those summer holidays. Yeah.
Those brilliant family holidays.
Now it's your grandkids' turn to
make their own memories with it.
Yeah, absolutely. It's just great
to see it as it always was.
I mean, it's just a beautiful thing,
and it's kind of unique to us.
I mean, Dad made it
and he varnished it.
He did it for the family.
It would...
It would be...so good
if he was here.
Yeah. He'd be...
He'd love this. He would.
He'd really love this.
He used to make, make and build
things with love,
and I think this has been,
you know, restored with love.
I'm so glad. I'm so glad it's going
to be used and enjoyed.
It will be. It's perfect.
It will be.
Well, it doesn't belong here,
does it? It belongs in some water.
Shall we get it in some water?
Yeah, let's do it.
That'd be amazing. Let's do it.
Brilliant. I'll get the door.
Nice, yeah.
Go on, in you get.
Wow, that's been a long time!
Oh! Oh! Got it, Jay? Wow!
Memories! Memories!
Go on, then. Let's see you.
Wow. Nice!
Isn't it beautiful?
Oh, well done. Oh, I'm so pleased.
Oh, that's brilliant.
How's that, then?
Fantastic! Brilliant.
It's amazing to be together in it.
I mean, it's probably not
since we were children
that we paddled it together.
And the kayak just looks
so beautiful now.
Really fantastic.
It feels like a floating memory.
It's like being back
on our holidays again.
Back on dry land, upholsterer Sonnaz
is preparing to plump up the volume
on the dilapidated leather chair.
I've taken all of the covers off.
I'm going to start with the arms,
I think.
I've really got to be
careful that I don't over-pad,
because there is a danger that
I won't be able to fit the cover
back onto it.
So I'm just kind of using my
upholsterer's intuition
with how much foam to actually
add on each layer.
Perfect. That's good.
Sometimes a foam saw can be quite
heavy and big and bulky.
So, for finer cuts, sometimes
I like to use a blade.
I love this process of gently
refining things,
the form and exact shape.
It's a little bit
like sculpting, I feel.
OK.
Already it looks so much better,
and it feels better as well.
Brilliant.
So all I need to do is repeat
the same process
on the other pieces.
I've unpicked all of the covers.
The reason I'm having to do
this is because
there's a hole
on this outside arm.
So the best thing to do
is to replace them like-for-like.
This is quite precise work
because I've got leather, piping,
and the new fabric to navigate.
So I need to get my head down
and plough on.
This really is the moment of truth
as to whether I've put too much
foam on or not enough.
It's very similar to...
..wrestling a crocodile.
The Velcros are together.
It feels great.
It's lovely and full.
I've just got to put the other
covers on as well.
And I'm also going to need Dom's
help because I'm hoping
he's going to be able to put
the chair back together again.
Always up for a challenge,
and this certainly is one.
Genuinely got no idea
how this goes back together.
I'm sort of joining the dots up.
Times like this is where I wish
I had three arms!
Yes. Here we go.
Brilliant. Right.
Paper restorer Angelina has
painstakingly preserved
all 52 pages of the Cavern Club
calendar,
hand-punched over 1,200 holes,
and bound them all back together.
I just want to turn my focus
on making a cover
for Peter's calendar.
So I thought, why not use
a nice photo of The Cavern?
The best way to do it is
just attach it on a piece
of acid-free board.
So this is not going to affect
either the photograph
or my calendar in years to come.
Hopefully this will be a beautiful
reminder of what this calendar
represents for him, his family,
and actually the world.
I think this will be a really
beautiful tribute.
It was in this calendar,
in 1963, the legendary manager
of the Cavern Club,
Ray McFall, booked
the soon-to-be-global-superstars,
The Beatles and the Stones.
His son Peter wished to preserve
this piece of memorabilia,
and with it his dad's role
in British music history.
Peter. Hi. Hello, Peter.
Hello, Dom. Hi, Angelina.
How are you? I'm fine, thank you.
Good to see you. Yeah.
What are you hoping Angie's been
able to do to the calendar?
So long as, you know,
you can look at it and touch it
and open it
without it falling to bits,
that's what I'm hoping for.
You looking forward to seeing it?
Absolutely, yeah.
I'm a bit nervous, though,
I have to say. Oh! Oh, really?
Yeah. Go on, then, Angie. Shall I?
Please, yeah.
Oh, my God!
My goodness me!
Oh! I can't believe you've
done that! That's...
It's got new binders on there.
I didn't know what to expect,
but it wasn't this.
It was my pleasure.
Absolute pleasure.
It's how confidently now
you're sort of flicking through!
Yeah, I know. Yeah.
You've done a...
It's amazing, yeah.
I just can't thank you enough.
I still... Yeah. Speechless.
My dad would be speechless.
He put a lot of work into
what he did with The Cavern.
And to this day, people are going
back to Liverpool
to go to The Cavern,
to relive those times. Mm.
Yeah. Thank you!
Glad you can actually now
enjoy it properly. Yeah. Yeah.
Thanks a lot. Thank you so much.
See you later, then. Thank you.
Take care. Thanks. Bye.
I'm a bit overwhelmed, to be honest,
to have it back
in this condition now.
It's magnificent. It really is.
It's an important record of
everything that my dad
worked hard at when he was running
The Cavern.
In Liverpool, if something's good,
they'll say, "That's boss, that."
And that's what they'll say
about this. "That's boss."
Also looking boss is the chair
that's had Sonnaz in a spin.
I'm thrilled to see the chair back
together again, and that's now
allowing me to start
addressing the scuffs.
I'm using a leather renovator
to recolour and touch back
in any scuffs.
The leather renovators sit on top
of the surface and create a barrier
and sort of help protect the scuff,
as well, from any further damage.
I'm thrilled with how it's looking,
nice and plump and clean.
It's quite a handsome chair.
I can't wait to see what Joelle,
Lucian and Romaya
think of the chair when they see it.
Joelle's dad was the ultimate fun
grandad for her children,
Romaya and Lucian, when he spun
them round in this chair,
safety rigorously upheld
by the addition
of his motorbike helmet.
Hello, how we doing?
Hi. Hi! Good?
You've brought the helmet as well!
THEY LAUGH
You missed it? Yeah. Yeah.
It was very strange, not having it
in the house, actually.
I didn't realise how much we'd
missed it. Aw!
So, what are you hoping for?
A usable chair. Usable! That you're
going to swing round... That doesn't
send you flying backwards when you
sit on it. OK, yeah.
Shall we show them? Yeah.
Do the honours.
# Dun-dun-duuuun! #
THEY EXCLAIM
Oh! It's back!
Oh, my gosh!
It just looks like how it used
to look, like,
in the BEGINNING beginning!
Fresh! Oh, my God!
What?! Oh...
Thank you so much!
Oh...my...God!
Oh, man! Seriously, it's so amazing.
All it needs is someone
in there now.
THEY CHUCKLE
You ready?
Oh, wow. Oh!
And...
..push!
THEY LAUGH
It did take me back.
It's quite emotional, actually.
I do feel a little bit overwhelmed
by having this chair back,
in its state.
It looks absolutely beautiful.
I feel like I can finally
just sit in it and, you know,
remember my grandad.
Lucian, you will be chief spinner.
I will take over the role.
If you have a treasured possession
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