The Repair Shop (2017–…): Season 12, Episode 6 - Ventriloquist's dummy, Roman chair - full transcript
A seized-up ventriloquist's dummy with no strings attached gets a much-needed makeover, and a Roman-style leather chair undergoes a triumphant transformation.
Welcome to The Repair Shop...
Oh, my goodness!
..where precious but faded
keepsakes...
That is proper crushed.
..are restored to their former glory.
Zhooshing. Zhooshing.
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 RINGS
Happy tears.
It feels more magical.
I just want to hug everybody.
Morning.
You're going to love this one. Hey!
You're smiling already.
I know you're going to love it.
Putting her trust in master
of mechanisms David Burville
is Alison Gunn Robson.
She and a very dear friend
from her school days
are in need of assistance.
Hello. Hello.
Ooh! I thought you were going
to tell me not to come in.
No, no - of course you come through
the door,
you've got to come in here.
What have you got for us?
Um, I've got George. In the bag?
OK.
George usually sits on my left hand,
and then I make him work
with the right.
George, are you happy about this?
VENTRILOQUIZED: Not really.
VENTRILOQUIZED: I think I'm all right
as I am.
No, no, George, I can't take
you out in public anymore.
You're a complete disgrace.
VENTRILOQUIZED: Disgrace? No!
So why have you got George?
I had an aunt.
She had this ventriloquist's doll
which was given to her
by a man who used to do
the music halls. Right.
I acquired him when I was 11.
So how old is George then?
How old is he?
1898 he was born - well, made.
I think it's amazing to take
an inanimate object
and just bring it to life. Yes.
Do you want to see how he works?
Yes, please, yeah.
Right.
Have you got to take his head off?
Yeah. Look away now.
Julie and Amanda, look away.
I don't want anybody passing out.
So these are all his workings,
and this has all gone a little bit
whatsitty.
He moves his eyes.
OK.
That's freaked you out, hasn't it?
Yeah, that has freaked me out a bit.
He blinks, and then he speaks
like this
but this is a bit stiff.
And actually...
Hi.
You just sort of move his head
and talk to him.
And, when you say something
really hairy, the hair comes up.
Yeah. So have you ever performed
with George?
So I used to do the school intervals
at school plays and things
and talk about teachers and people,
pupils that have been naughty
and things like that.
George could say what he liked.
It wasn't me saying it,
it was George.
Did he ever get you into trouble
at school?
Well, no, because I would just say,
"I don't know how that happened."
So he's a real cheeky chappy then.
Oh, yeah! Yeah?
I think he helped me through quite
a bad time.
I was very dyslexic. Yeah?
And so you have quite a big
inferiority complex, I think,
and you're shy.
And I think, having George, it meant
that I could talk freely
and with confidence.
Wow.
That brings it into perspective.
And actually, also,
when you live alone,
you're not talking to yourself
because, you know,
if people come and they think,
"Who the hell's she's talking to?"
And I go, "Oh, I'm talking to
George."
I know he's maybe not
everybody's cup of tea,
but he's just such a dear
old fellow.
So what would you like us to do
to your old friend George?
It's just so sad. He's thinned out,
been in a few fights.
It would be nice if his workings
worked... Yeah. ..properly.
I just want him to look
a little bit dapper. Yeah.
If you leave George with us, we'll
see if we can spruce him up for you.
Aww.
Be good.
Thank you ever such a lot.
All right, see you later.
Bye-ee!
How are you doing?
I had to come have a look.
You want to see George? Oh, yes.
Hello, George.
You're not good at making
suits, are you? No, definitely not.
You're going to need help on this.
Yeah, I think it's going to be a
team effort, definitely.
Julie and I can take the clothes
and hair.
Once you've done the mechanism,
bring him back to me. Yep.
It's like a relay, isn't it?
That's great.
Then I can do the face. Pass the
baton over to you. Yeah? Yeah.
JAY: Perfect. I'll leave it
to you guys.
I'm really quite excited
to be working on George.
He really is quite a cheeky
little chappy.
His lips and his eyelid are actually
done using a very thin leather.
It's dried out.
It's gone stiff.
And also, where George
has been overpainted,
it's just gone hard and crackly.
So I'm going to have to replace
all of those parts.
But the first thing that I've got to
do is perform a bit of brain surgery
and try and find out what's
actually going on in there.
It looks like there's actually
an access panel
on the back of his head...
..and that is quite
a complex system of springs
and levers, and that's quite
frightening.
All of these string linkages
will need to be replaced.
I'm going to mark what goes where.
We don't want his eyes
going left and right
when his mouth's supposed
to be going up and down.
That would be quite confusing.
From strings to the brass section.
Lewys Brill from south-east Wales
is hoping instrument restorer
Pete Woods can save a precious
memento that means the world to him.
Hello. Hi, are you all right?
I'm very good. How are you?
Yes, good, thank you.
What have you got wrapped up there?
I've brought my grandfather's
old cornet.
Wow. So that's your grandfather's?
Yes.
What was his name? Keith.
Keith? Yeah.
He's not with us anymore, is he?
No. No, unfortunately, he passed
away on Boxing Day just gone.
Sorry to hear it. That's all right.
So where did he get it from?
From the Salvation Army,
that he was with in Cwm,
which is a Welsh valley
just south of Ebbw Vale.
He played it every Tuesday
and Wednesday evening
and then Sunday mornings
and afternoons in the church.
At the age of ten,
he started to learn to play.
So it's been with him
for over 80 years. 80 years?
80 years, yeah. Wow.
And then it was passed on to me.
So what was he like?
I think the simple way to put it is
he was my hero.
Um... When I was born, my mum
and dad both worked full-time jobs
and my nan and grandpa took it upon
themselves to raise me.
He taught me how to play my cornet.
I was around five when I first
picked one up.
I went as far as to learn
until I was about the age of ten.
And, unfortunately, Grandpa
couldn't teach us anymore.
How come he couldn't teach
you anymore? What happened?
He unfortunately fell on his arm
and he broke it.
He had an operation and had a stroke
on the operating table.
The blood clot then caused him
to have vascular dementia,
and the dementia eventually
took its toll.
Playing an instrument was a big part
in your grandpa's life,
so how did it affect him
when he couldn't do it anymore?
It almost felt like he lost a bit
of himself,
and it then became a big part
of our lives then,
when it came to making sure
that he heard it,
especially in the later stages.
We knew the one way to get
a smile on his face was to play
a brass band in the background.
Yeah.
And, when we went to the funeral,
all of it was played
through a brass band.
And we hope that he heard it...
..and he was still smiling
up there with us.
Yeah. But, yeah...
Your grandad sounds like quite some
character.
Yeah, definitely.
What would you like Pete to do?
I just want to make sure
that it's what he had, and almost
bring back the colour to it.
The instrument now itself has a
little bit of dents and nicks in it,
and that wouldn't be him.
But, yes, I'd like it to look nice.
I dare say, when he used to go
out playing with it,
he used to give it a good shine-up,
didn't he?
Yes. Yeah, he'd be there for hours
on end and it'd be pristine
because he'd take good pride in just
making sure that it was perfect.
It brings back happy memories
of just him filling the room
with that beautiful sound.
And what I'd do to hear
that sound again.
OK. So I just want to get it to the
place
where I can play it and make him
proud.
Well, we're going to do our best
to get this... Thank you very much.
..looking and sounding perfect,
just the way you remember it.
Thank you for bringing this in and
telling us about your grandad.
Thank you very much. OK. Thank you.
Take care now. Bye-bye.
I've had a good look at
this instrument now.
I think it was made early 1900s,
which, when you consider
the condition of it now...
It's 120 years old, possibly.
It hasn't done bad.
It's a good, solid instrument
but there's quite a few nasties
on it.
This cornet belonged to Lewys's
grandfather,
who seems to have been a great
influence on his life.
I know my grandad was a great
influence on my life.
He was a joiner, carpenter.
I suppose that's where my use
of the hands comes in.
Now, looking at it, I've got quite
a few dents in the bell section,
a nasty fold there, which I've got
to get rid of -
means I've got to take
the bell actually off.
Lewys said he wanted it to look
like it was when his grandad had it.
So really we're going to have
to re-silver plate it
to get it all nice and bright
and shiny.
So the first thing to do is finish
taking it apart and give
it a good acid clean to get it
all nice and clean inside.
Poor George. I really do feel awful
doing this to him,
but I think the fact that he's going
to be able to natter away
once this is done
will hopefully redeem me.
As David
begins some reconstructive surgery
on veteran performer George's
aged face,
the Bear Ladies are in charge
of hair and wardrobe.
George's clothes had a really
good wash
and seem to have got lots of dirt
out of them.
They're still looking a bit
faded and a bit mucky.
The jacket is lot worse
than the trousers.
There's holes under the arm here.
But Alison did say she wanted him
to look really smart and dapper,
so this is what I'm going to do.
I am going to remake these trousers
but inside-out,
so the check will show much
brighter.
In that way, I've used as much
of the old as I can,
and then he's going to have a really
beautiful new blazer.
We decided we would give him
a whole new head of hair.
This new hair is wool.
It's very curly and crinkly,
so we just have to iron it through
and then place it onto very strong,
double-sided sticky tape.
Once it's all lined up on his head,
you won't see the strips,
and Amanda's amazing hairdressing
skills will come into play
when she gives him a lovely style.
I've glued the new piece of leather
onto George's lower lip.
What I'm trying to do here is get
the leather into position
so that, when his mouth is closed,
the chin is nice and flat
but also, when his mouth opens,
the leather doesn't fold
in an awkward way.
And it needs to be right,
because this is the focal point
of George's face.
This is where Alison speaks
through George.
This really is the trickiest moment.
I've got these little folds which I
really need to manipulate out
so that it's not so obvious.
Considering I've not done anything
like this before, I'm quite pleased
with the outcome.
I've just got his top lip to do
and then his eyelid
and then he'll be ready to reattach
the strings to the levers
on his stick.
I've finished George's trousers
now and they're looking
really, really smart,
and it's come together exactly
how I was hoping.
So now I've moved on to making him
his smart jacket.
The fabric is absolutely beautiful.
It's a wool fabric, so it's got
this lovely weight to it.
So, yeah, he's going to look
really dapper.
SEWING MACHINE WHIRS
Well, I've managed to get
all of George's leathered
parts back on.
His jaw is now working.
So the next thing is to try
and figure out how to re-thread
all of these.
VENTRILOQUIZED: Could I get finished
now, please?
We'll do our best.
VENTRILOQUIZED: Cheers.
The next hopeful visitor
is Nick Webb from Somerset,
who has a daunting challenge
for upholsterer Sonnaz Nooranvary.
Hi! Welcome.
Thank you. Hello. How are you
doing? Very well, thank you,
very well indeed.
So this chair... Um, cor blimey.
I like it a lot.
It's beautiful and very kind
of striking already,
even though it's in pieces. Yes.
So whose is it? It's yours?
Well, it is mine now, yes.
It was my father's
favourite chair. OK.
And when he passed away
it came to me. Right.
We're a farming family
and we had a large kitchen
and there was a large kitchen table
where we had our family meals
and that was at the head
of the table
and he would sit there and just
relax with the family
and it was a very chaotic sort
of kitchen, lots of noise.
I'm the youngest of six. Wow!
So my memory is always him
sitting in that chair
and laughing and joking with the
family. Yeah.
Sometimes I'd sit on his lap, and,
yes, so very fond memories of it.
What was Dad's name?
Richard. Richard? Yeah.
He passed away in 1969. Oh. Wow.
So how old were you, then? 11.
My mother passed away when I was six
years old.
That must have been really difficult
for you as a young child.
It was, yeah. It was quite a shock
for everybody. Mm.
So then your dad was left
with the farm and also with a family
he's got to look after.
Yes.
I went into boarding school
because he had a terminal illness.
He realised he couldn't
continue looking after us.
I didn't know how ill he was.
I just thought a few days
in bed and he'd be better. Yeah.
Then one day I was asked to go
up to the matron's office
and that was when my world ended,
as it was then, for an 11-year-old.
It was the 14th of February,
Valentine's Day, 1969.
Yep. A day I won't forget.
Oh, yeah. Hmm.
The last time I saw him was the day
before we had to go back to school.
Yeah.
And I spent the morning up in his
bedroom and was talking to him
and sitting on his bed and he said
to me,
"I love you...and work hard and
you'll be successful."
Ah.
Then we said goodbye and I never
saw him again.
That was it. Wow. That day and the
words have always stuck with me.
Without my dad being there,
I didn't know what was going
to happen next.
He was my focal point.
He was the person I went
to for everything.
So you two had a really strong bond?
Very.
Yeah, he was... He was quite a man.
And, yeah, it's full of memories,
that chair, for me. Yeah.
How did the chair
get into this condition?
I went to Australia many years ago
and took my belongings with me.
I think the heat and the climate -
it just basically deteriorated it.
Why's there only three legs there?
Unfortunately, one is missing.
It was in a removal box
for quite some time
and, when I unpacked it,
there were only three legs.
The leather has deteriorated and
there's holes on the front and the
back. Right.
There's a big hole in the seat,
and all the pins on the side
and the front and the back, they're
corroded and need a clean-up
or something. I don't know. Yeah.
How would you like to see
it restored?
Any character that can be retained,
fantastic,
but I appreciate that it may
be difficult to do that.
It's something that I can physically
show our children and talk
about the man, their grandfather.
Mmm.
Well, thank you for bringing
this in. Thank you.
It will be an absolute pleasure.
Thanks very much indeed. Take care.
Bye-bye. Take care, won't you?
Wow. Wow. Yeah.
THEY LAUGH
So, what have you got to do?
The seat base definitely
needs to be stripped off
and then also decide what leather
can be kept. OK.
Then, if you can, get it over to
Will, cos he's got to make that leg
again. Yeah.
You all right with that, Will, this
frame's coming over to you?
That's great.
Take your time and enjoy it.
Yeah, thank you. All right?
This design of chair is a
Roman-style chair,
and a general, a Roman general or
somebody of high stature
would sit on this style of chair.
And I have always wanted to work
on one before, but I never
really thought I'd get the
opportunity.
Before I do anything, I will
very gently take these studs out
and unpick the back and then
strip the base
right back to frame.
I'm trying to be as careful
as I possibly can.
Ooh, this is not going to plan.
Unfortunately, they are breaking
as I'm lifting them
out of the frame here.
So far, quite a lot of them
aren't going to be reusable.
Another reason
why I'm being so careful
is because I really want to preserve
the leather on this back here.
Years of Nick's dad sitting back
here, around that kitchen table.
I think it would be really lovely
to retain that if I can.
Brass master Pete is also preserving
the historical integrity
of the 20th century cornet,
using a time-honoured method
to remove the dents.
It's quite a simple system.
We've got a lot of different sized
balls here.
To start with, I put a bracket on
to hold it in shape because, working
the metal,
it can go out of shape, that bend.
Terrible to put back.
So it's nice and solid.
We can start putting the ball down.
We just pop them in and then pop
the driver in.
We've got to drive that ball
round there now.
RATTLING
It's quite a big dent in it
but, slowly and gradually,
we're taking it out.
It seems like a very painstaking
way of doing it.
It takes ages, but it's just sit
there,
grab yourself a cup of coffee,
get on with it.
RATTLING CONTINUES
When I had a good look at the bell,
this one here had actually thinned
down quite a bit
and had a nasty fold in it.
So what I decided to do was actually
make a new piece.
I've tapered this piece of brass,
polished it up, all looks nice.
It fits on there absolutely perfect.
The only problem is this one.
Because the tube is getting thinner
there as it tapers down,
I've had to do it to the thickest
part, but it leaves a great big gap.
So we're going to shrink
it a little bit so that it fits
on this tube correctly.
Now, shrink plate is a great tool.
We use it a lot for
musical instruments.
If you haven't got a piece of brass
tube the diameter you want,
you can hammer it through a slightly
smaller hole and then it shrinks
it down to the size that you need.
Some days you really get lucky.
That's gone really nice.
Now the next thing to do is
solder it up.
So you need a bit of heat.
Be airtight in no time at all.
Quite happy with that.
The main thing is it's airtight.
So how we're going to try that
is just to pour some water
down there. Fill it up with water.
Water will usually penetrate
almost anywhere.
There's no little dribbles of water
or anything coming out,
so that's great.
All I've got to do now, gradually
work through the whole instrument,
get it all polished up nice,
and off to the platers.
While Sonnaz prepares some leather
for upholstering
the Roman-style chair,
she's asked furniture restorer
Will Kirk
to address the broken wooden frame.
Now, this chair is really badly
broken.
It's an X-frame chair,
so you should have two legs
at the front
so it sort of forms the letter X.
Now, even though I'm missing
one of the back legs,
the fact that the front legs
and the back legs are symmetrical,
I should, in theory, be able to use
one of the front legs
as a template
for the back replacement.
And hopefully, it should fit
exactly like the other legs.
Well, Lewys' cornet
is really looking nice.
It's back from the platers,
the dents are out,
now we can start rebuilding it.
We've got the valves here.
So we'll just slot that in there,
make sure it's all right.
I've got to keep going on this
tonight.
It's getting a bit dark,
it's getting a bit fresh,
but Lewys is coming tomorrow
to collect it
and I want to make sure it's 100%.
So it doesn't matter how long
it takes,
as long as we get the job done
right.
Ooh! If they all start working
like that...
..I'll be a happy man.
When it comes to putting a smile
on the face of George,
the ventriloquism dummy,
the skills of ceramics restorer
Kirsten Ramsay are called for.
That's the fills smoothed back.
I'm now ready to make a start
on retouching George's face.
And I'm going to use the standard
acrylic on the papier-mache finish,
and I'm going to use
a leather acrylic on the eyelids
and the area around the mouth.
Because they are going to be moving,
I need the acrylic to have a certain
amount of flexibility to it.
I'm just going to blend in the new
with the old
and get those final touches,
and then he'll be ready to go home.
For a young man who's approximately
124 years old, something like that,
he's looking pretty fresh.
SHE CHUCKLES
It's taken an awesome foursome
of experts
to tackle George's immobile
facial features
ungroomed hairdo and tired togs.
How's our George?
There he is! Wow!
I love his hair!
Beautiful! There we go.
THEY CHUCKLE
George helped Alison through
some tough times at school,
and has been a faithful companion
ever since.
Hello! Hello! Hi! How are we doing?
We're good! You? I'm good,
thank you. Good. How are you?
Honestly, I am...
I don't know what to expect at all!
Aw. So...
I'm hoping we're going
to have a toy boy here.
THEY LAUGH
Well... OK.
Right, are you ready? Yeah.
Ooh! OK, I'll show you.
You ready?
Oh, George!
SHE LAUGHS
I...!
Oh, George, don't you look so cute!
You've got hair, George!
THEY LAUGH
We reckon we've knocked about 30
years off him. Oh, easy! Yeah.
He looks amazing!
Oh, come here, George!
Oh!
Hi!
How you doing, mate?
SHE LAUGHS
I can't...!
You just look so suave and debonair!
Aw!
THEY LAUGH
Can I just...?
Oh, look! Oh, fantastic!
He opens his mouth properly now.
I just love this little blue blazer.
It's so cute. Good.
You've done an amazing job.
You must do his hair.
Please do his hair.
Ho-ho-ho!
THEY LAUGH
Oh, just... Look, you're not
the centre of attention, all right?
THEY LAUGH
But I-I just...
It cracks me up every time!
..I just love the false teeth!
THEY LAUGH
They've looked after you so well.
AS GEORGE: Thank you, everybody.
THEY LAUGH
We've had so much fun.
Kirsten's not here, but she...she
helped as well.
I'm...so chuffed.
I never thought I'd see him
looking like this ever again.
Aw, little thing, you!
Alison, thank you so much
for bringing George to us.
Thank you all very, very much.
You're welcome.
I shall now take him away.
Bye, George!
Bye! Say goodbye, George. Bye!
THEY LAUGH
THEY LAUGH
That was really good.
That was brilliant. Well done.
Well done. High five.
THEY LAUGH
I think he looks amazing.
It's taken years off him, really.
I mean, everybody should come here
and get a face-lift!
AS GEORGE: Fantastic!
SHE LAUGHS
BIRDSONG
The dawn chorus welcomes
an ornithological treat
for bookbinder Chris Shaw.
Kat has travelled from Lanarkshire
in Scotland,
hoping a modest, yet treasured
keepsake can be saved.
Hello! Hello!
Welcome to the barn. Thank you.
What's in the bubble wrap?
My gran's notebook
that she created between the ages of
10 and 13.
And it's all about birds
and British nature.
It's lovely! Just a really humble
little notebook.
That's a really good way of
describing it.
What was your gran's name? Mildred.
She was a very, very, very
wonderful lady.
Throughout her life,
she lived in Richmond and Kew.
And so, she created this
from her observations.
Oh, goodness! She's written quite a
few things down and what she's seen
of when she was in Kew Gardens.
There's illustrations,
which she did herself,
and there's also feathers
in the back, as well.
Look at that! Yeah.
She wrote it between about 1945
and 1948. Oh, wow! Yeah.
We used to spend every
school holiday with her.
She just made us laugh all the time.
Loved her absolutely to bits.
She taught me just how to be
who I am, I think.
And she would take you out
bird-watching? Yes.
So this notebook was the start
of her bird-watching journey,
but she was the start of mine.
And she introduced me to nature,
um...birds in particular.
She sadly died in September 2020.
And my mum said to me
my gran would like me to have this.
I think it was because
it's to do with birds,
and I think she fostered that love.
I sort of look at it and I just
think that's so precious
and it's such a nice memory to have.
Isn't that beautiful!
It's just so lovely!
Do you mind? No.
A watercolour there,
a swift in flight.
This is really nice.
So, what would you like me
to do to this?
I would like it so that it can be
looked through without any trouble.
I'd really like the pages
to be more stable.
I mean, she had hundreds of
bird books
and I've got some of those now,
and I'd just really like to put
her own bird book on the shelf
next to the books that she loved.
Also...
..I stopped bird-watching
after she died. Um...
I think all the love had sort of
been taken out of it a little bit.
Um...and I would like to start doing
it again,
and I'd like to be able to...
Because I quite often will pick up
a feather or something
and I have nowhere to put them,
and it seems only fitting
to add to it. So...
Well, it's in safe hands here.
I'm sure Chris has already come up
with something in his mind.
THEY LAUGH
It's so exciting!
THEY LAUGH
Thank you very much for coming down.
No, thank you.
Lovely to hear about
your grandmother
and what a fascinating person
she was.
Thank you. Lovely to meet you.
We'll see you soon. Thank you. Bye!
Bye-bye. Bye.
What a delightful little notebook.
I'm really hopeless
with any form of birds,
so hopefully there'll be
a bit of an education
as I work my way through.
Pheasant, the only bird I know.
George, my dog, is expert
on pheasant.
He could write a dissertation
on pheasants.
On their habitat, where they hide.
But he can't,
because he hasn't got thumbs.
So this notebook was designed
for the pages to be torn out.
It's got perforations
right at the top.
So the big problem is,
the pages are wearing out
and coming loose over the years,
and I've got to fix that.
There's some war wounds
on the cover,
but I can sort that out.
And I want to be able to hand it
back
with all the strength
that I can put into this
so that she can use it,
and use it way into the future.
I am going to make a little box
for this,
and that's the thing
that's going to protect it.
So the first thing I'm going to do
is remove the staples,
which sounds straightforward, but
they have been in there for years.
I'll just see if it does want
to come.
Goodness me!
No, it really is well and truly
stuck in there.
So I'm going to just sort of
move the pages out one by one.
BIRDSONG
While Will is busy making a perfect
reproduction leg for the Roman chair,
Sonnaz is battling to preserve
the seat panels
that cradled father and son
at the farmhouse table.
I've got the original inside
back-of-the-chair
piece of leather here.
And this is where Nick's dad,
Richard, sat.
But instead of putting it back on
the inside of the chair,
I'm actually going to put it
on the outside.
And that way, it's not
going to damage any more.
But I am going
to have to stabilise it.
And the way that I can do
that is by using this Reemay lining.
It's an absolutely solid foundation
on which to glue onto the leather.
BIRDSONG
Well, I've made the new chair leg
and I've also made two support
struts as well.
I'm going to glue together
the front and back two legs.
Now, one trick I've used is rather
than hammering the doweling in,
we can cause a lot of
unnecessary damage with the impact,
you can actually drill
the doweling in.
That's worked really well.
And when it dries, it's going to be
a really good, strong joint.
Now they're together,
it's time to glue in the struts.
And this adds a lot of
extra stability and support.
Well, that's nice and tight.
And it feels very stable as well,
which is great.
I'm going to let this dry,
then I can get this over to Sonnaz.
Will's done a fantastic job
and I'm now at the stage where
I'm able to apply new leather
to the new leg here
that Will's made.
I'm going to have to cut around
this rail,
creating a V shape.
And that will allow the leather
at the top and the bottom
to kind of hug around that rail
perfectly, I hope.
This is the moment of truth.
I've completed applying
all the new leather to the frame,
and it's gone so well.
I'm thrilled with how it's looking.
I'm going to actually start
reupholstering the inside sections
now, starting with my black and
white seating webbing.
For an authentic finishing touch,
the metal magic of Brenton West.
Sonnaz has asked me to make some
studs for the chair that she's
repairing.
And the first thing I need to do
is to make a disc of brass.
We're going to see if I can make
the domed shape.
I now need to solder a nail
into that,
and that will become
the very first stud
that Sonnaz can use on her chair.
And there we go,
we've got our first stud.
And that's, er...one of many
I've got to make.
Instrument restorer Pete is giving
the century-old cornet
its final shine.
You all right, Pete?
You're in your own little world
there, aren't you?
I am, yeah, yeah, yeah.
A genie will come out in a minute.
HE LAUGHS
I've made you a little stand.
Hopefully it fits.
Look at that! Look at that!
Just the job, innit? Perfect!
For Lewys, this instrument
is a poignant memento
of his much-loved grandad
who taught him how to play.
Hi! Hiya. You all right?
How's it going, Lewys?
Come in, come in!
Thank you very much.
How are you feeling? Excited.
I can't wait to see
what's underneath.
Do you want to have a look?
Yes, please, yeah.
Go on, Pete. He's getting excited!
I am. So am I!
Wow!
Wow!
HE EXHALES EMOTIONALLY
I can just see it in his hands now.
My hands are where his hands
would have been.
This sounds silly, but I can
almost feel him with it.
It doesn't sound silly at all.
It really doesn't.
I can just see him
playing his heart out. Yeah.
Yeah.
That's amazing. Thank you very much.
Now, Lewys, I know it looks
the part... Yeah.
..but we need to hear it.
Yeah, of course.
Did he teach you on this one?
He did, yeah. He taught me bits
and bobs on this. Yeah.
HE PLAYS
HE CHUCKLES
It's been a while since I've played
myself!
It's so nice to hear it.
Oh, wow, yes. Thank you.
I can't thank you enough for it.
You're so welcome.
Having it restored now, will that
inspire you to carry on playing?
Definitely, yeah.
It will be used.
Good. Even if it is
me playing it quite poorly.
THEY LAUGH
We all start somewhere.
Practice makes perfect.
Yeah, yeah. Exactly.
Brilliant. It's all yours. Thank you
very much. Thank you so much.
Enjoy it. Thank you. Bye. Bye.
To think that my hands and my mouth
were exactly where Grandpa's
would have been,
it's just an amazing feeling.
That cornet symbolises
everything he was.
It's amazing to have
that part of him back.
BIRDSONG
Chris has carefully disassembled
the bird-watcher's notebook
and is ready to cast his eagle eye
over its fragile contents.
To overcome
this perforation problem,
I'm going to back it with
some Japanese tissue,
which is super strong.
So by putting the Japanese tissue
along the back of the tab,
it's actually stopping it
being perforated any more.
It's creating a solid bond
between the tab
and the detachable page.
Oh, goodness me!
"I measured a blackbird's footsteps
once and I sketched it."
Oh! It is lovely.
I mean, it's so nice.
Once I've got all these pages
mended,
then the exciting bit of actually
binding them all together
and getting them
back into a notebook form.
I'm going to do a very traditional
stab sewing,
and that's a method of joining
all the single sheets together.
Sort of like a running stitch
of linen thread.
This is going to be far stronger
than the staples.
I'm just going to sort of try
and drill as straight as I can
all the way through.
All the holes have come through
nice and neat,
and now I'm going to do
a running stitch all the way along
using a nice linen thread.
That will sort of tie
the whole block together.
Well, that's now all a block again.
It feels just like a notebook.
I'm really happy with that.
Now I'm going to go on to...
It was the first thing
that really jarred at me,
was that missing R and the D
on the birds of Mildred's label.
I'm just sort of playing around
to get sort of an approximate shape,
and then I'm going to ink it in.
And it's actually blending in
quite nicely.
Kat wanted to put her notebook
on her book shelves,
so I've made a box for it
to house in.
And the final thing I have to do
is put a title on it.
And the title's going to be
Mildred Perkins' Birds.
I'm putting goldleaf on it.
And the process is gold tooling,
which is a heat process.
The combination of heat, pressure
and the adhesive.
You don't really know
how it's come out
until you actually start
wiping it off.
Wow! That's really nice.
I'm really happy with the way
it's going.
I've just got to finish the letters,
do a decorative little edging
just to finish it off,
and then I can stick it onto
the box.
Some expert teamwork has seen
the Roman-style chair transformed -
fit for an emperor.
It feels so nice to be able to get
these studs back on the chair.
Brenton's done an amazing job
of making the new studs,
and he's also aged them
absolutely perfectly, too.
It's going to be such a joy
to watch Nick sit in this chair
for the very first time
in such a long time.
And I can't wait to see
what he thinks.
This chair arrived at the barn
a pile of tattered pieces,
with a missing leg
and fragile leather panels.
For Nick, the chair holds
powerful memories of his father,
who died when he was
just 11 years old.
Hi, Nick! Hello!
How you doing? You all right?
Very well indeed, thank you.
Very well. Excited.
You're excited? I am.
Cos it's been with you everywhere,
really, hasn't it? Oh, yeah.
You've never left this alone?
No. It's, er...it's a good friend.
So, when was the last time
you sat on this?
Oh, good question.
I would say probably 25 years ago,
30 years ago, something like that.
Wow!
Seriously? Yeah.
So, you ready? Yeah.
My God!
That is absolutely amazing!
You've kept the character perfectly.
It looks like a chair that has,
you know, has age to it.
It is truly magnificent.
Yeah. Oh, that is absolutely superb!
You're so clever. Thank you.
She is, isn't she? I couldn't
have done it without my compadre.
Thank you, Will. Absolute pleasure.
I mean, it's exactly
as I remember it.
And it represents family,
and family, um...good times
and, er...togetherness, really,
I suppose. Mm.
So, are you ready to follow
in Dad's footsteps and sit down?
Yes, I am. Thank you very much.
Ah, that is excellent.
That is perfect!
It's so comfortable.
It is a handsome chair. Yeah.
And in fact, the inside back,
you could see where your dad
had sat over the years.
There was a darker patch.
So we've actually saved
that piece of leather for you,
but we've put it
on the outside back,
where you can still see it,
but it won't get any more damaged.
Oh, thank you. That really...that
really tops it off.
Yeah. So thank you so much.
No, not at all.
Sitting in my dad's chair
really brought back memories of him
and the time I used to sit
on his lap.
The family at the farmhouse table
for Sunday lunch.
A lot of emotions and memories
came rushing back in,
and that's what's so special
about it.
Bookbinder Chris has been using
his featherlight touch
to restore the near-80-year-old
ornithological journal
and the observations
held within its pages.
So this is the final bit
on the notebook,
reattaching the front cover.
So I'm hinging it
on a piece of Japanese tissue,
which is really strong,
and I'm just going to glue this now
back on top of the sewing.
I'm using PVA instead of paste,
purely because...
..I want it to dry
relatively quickly.
And then, over the top of this
unsightly piece of Japanese tissue,
I'm going to glue a more-appropriate
colour piece down.
So that when you open the notebook,
you won't see the Japanese tissue.
So I'm just going to put a weight
on this, leave it to dry,
and then it's all ready for Kat
to come and collect.
This precious record of birdlife
in Kew Gardens
connects Kat to her gran Mildred,
and their shared love of nature.
Hello. Hello. Hello.
Welcome back. Thank you. You OK?
I'm just very, very excited.
I didn't realise
how much I missed it.
I've thought about it
the whole time, actually.
Yeah.
SHE CHUCKLES
Have you enjoyed working on it?
I really have.
It was really enchanting.
It was really beautiful, I thought.
Yeah.
I'm really excited to see
what you've done, really.
Chris?
WHISPERS: Oh, my God! Look at that!
Can I touch it? Of course you can!
SHE LAUGHS
Oh, my goodness!
I'm really shaking.
Oh, my goodness!
You can turn all the pages
and they don't break any more!
SHE LAUGHS
It's magic!
I can't s...
I honestly can't stop looking at it!
This is incredible!
What do you think your grandmother
would think
of this now in its lovely condition?
She'd be really chuffed to see it.
I wish she was here to see this.
I know that when she passed away,
it was very hard for you. Yeah.
Are you inspired to start
filling those pages in?
So what I would like to do
is go back to Kew Gardens,
and I will start actually picking up
feathers when I see them,
because I've got
somewhere to put them.
It would be really nice to
contribute to it in that subtle way.
It's a lovely notebook,
but where's it going to go?
Yeah, I'd really like to put it
on the book shelf.
I think I'll, um...have to think
about what to put it in.
Well... Well, Chris...
Well, Kat...
SHE SHRIEKS AND LAUGHS
Oh, my God, look at that!
Oh, my God!
I love the colours!
Even the colours are just...
On the front of the little notebook,
there's a goldfinch.
And that's the colour scheme I chose
for the box.
Oh, I'm going to put it
on the book shelf
and I'm going to look at it
all the time!
You can take it to Kew Gardens
with you now.
Oh, I can. Put it in your bag,
take it out and collect
those feathers. I will.
Let's go and find some.
It's lovely to see you again.
Thank you so much.
Can I genuinely take this home?
Yes. It's yours!
THEY LAUGH
Thank you. Thanks a lot, Kat.
Thank you, Kat. Thank you.
Bye! Bye.
It's really, really special.
Words can't describe it, really.
It's...amazing.
So many memories.
She taught me so much,
and she taught me how to love
the outdoors
and birds and nature, and...
Yeah, just...
Yeah, like...really good memories.
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.
Zhooshing. Zhooshing.
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 RINGS
Happy tears.
It feels more magical.
I just want to hug everybody.
Morning.
You're going to love this one. Hey!
You're smiling already.
I know you're going to love it.
Putting her trust in master
of mechanisms David Burville
is Alison Gunn Robson.
She and a very dear friend
from her school days
are in need of assistance.
Hello. Hello.
Ooh! I thought you were going
to tell me not to come in.
No, no - of course you come through
the door,
you've got to come in here.
What have you got for us?
Um, I've got George. In the bag?
OK.
George usually sits on my left hand,
and then I make him work
with the right.
George, are you happy about this?
VENTRILOQUIZED: Not really.
VENTRILOQUIZED: I think I'm all right
as I am.
No, no, George, I can't take
you out in public anymore.
You're a complete disgrace.
VENTRILOQUIZED: Disgrace? No!
So why have you got George?
I had an aunt.
She had this ventriloquist's doll
which was given to her
by a man who used to do
the music halls. Right.
I acquired him when I was 11.
So how old is George then?
How old is he?
1898 he was born - well, made.
I think it's amazing to take
an inanimate object
and just bring it to life. Yes.
Do you want to see how he works?
Yes, please, yeah.
Right.
Have you got to take his head off?
Yeah. Look away now.
Julie and Amanda, look away.
I don't want anybody passing out.
So these are all his workings,
and this has all gone a little bit
whatsitty.
He moves his eyes.
OK.
That's freaked you out, hasn't it?
Yeah, that has freaked me out a bit.
He blinks, and then he speaks
like this
but this is a bit stiff.
And actually...
Hi.
You just sort of move his head
and talk to him.
And, when you say something
really hairy, the hair comes up.
Yeah. So have you ever performed
with George?
So I used to do the school intervals
at school plays and things
and talk about teachers and people,
pupils that have been naughty
and things like that.
George could say what he liked.
It wasn't me saying it,
it was George.
Did he ever get you into trouble
at school?
Well, no, because I would just say,
"I don't know how that happened."
So he's a real cheeky chappy then.
Oh, yeah! Yeah?
I think he helped me through quite
a bad time.
I was very dyslexic. Yeah?
And so you have quite a big
inferiority complex, I think,
and you're shy.
And I think, having George, it meant
that I could talk freely
and with confidence.
Wow.
That brings it into perspective.
And actually, also,
when you live alone,
you're not talking to yourself
because, you know,
if people come and they think,
"Who the hell's she's talking to?"
And I go, "Oh, I'm talking to
George."
I know he's maybe not
everybody's cup of tea,
but he's just such a dear
old fellow.
So what would you like us to do
to your old friend George?
It's just so sad. He's thinned out,
been in a few fights.
It would be nice if his workings
worked... Yeah. ..properly.
I just want him to look
a little bit dapper. Yeah.
If you leave George with us, we'll
see if we can spruce him up for you.
Aww.
Be good.
Thank you ever such a lot.
All right, see you later.
Bye-ee!
How are you doing?
I had to come have a look.
You want to see George? Oh, yes.
Hello, George.
You're not good at making
suits, are you? No, definitely not.
You're going to need help on this.
Yeah, I think it's going to be a
team effort, definitely.
Julie and I can take the clothes
and hair.
Once you've done the mechanism,
bring him back to me. Yep.
It's like a relay, isn't it?
That's great.
Then I can do the face. Pass the
baton over to you. Yeah? Yeah.
JAY: Perfect. I'll leave it
to you guys.
I'm really quite excited
to be working on George.
He really is quite a cheeky
little chappy.
His lips and his eyelid are actually
done using a very thin leather.
It's dried out.
It's gone stiff.
And also, where George
has been overpainted,
it's just gone hard and crackly.
So I'm going to have to replace
all of those parts.
But the first thing that I've got to
do is perform a bit of brain surgery
and try and find out what's
actually going on in there.
It looks like there's actually
an access panel
on the back of his head...
..and that is quite
a complex system of springs
and levers, and that's quite
frightening.
All of these string linkages
will need to be replaced.
I'm going to mark what goes where.
We don't want his eyes
going left and right
when his mouth's supposed
to be going up and down.
That would be quite confusing.
From strings to the brass section.
Lewys Brill from south-east Wales
is hoping instrument restorer
Pete Woods can save a precious
memento that means the world to him.
Hello. Hi, are you all right?
I'm very good. How are you?
Yes, good, thank you.
What have you got wrapped up there?
I've brought my grandfather's
old cornet.
Wow. So that's your grandfather's?
Yes.
What was his name? Keith.
Keith? Yeah.
He's not with us anymore, is he?
No. No, unfortunately, he passed
away on Boxing Day just gone.
Sorry to hear it. That's all right.
So where did he get it from?
From the Salvation Army,
that he was with in Cwm,
which is a Welsh valley
just south of Ebbw Vale.
He played it every Tuesday
and Wednesday evening
and then Sunday mornings
and afternoons in the church.
At the age of ten,
he started to learn to play.
So it's been with him
for over 80 years. 80 years?
80 years, yeah. Wow.
And then it was passed on to me.
So what was he like?
I think the simple way to put it is
he was my hero.
Um... When I was born, my mum
and dad both worked full-time jobs
and my nan and grandpa took it upon
themselves to raise me.
He taught me how to play my cornet.
I was around five when I first
picked one up.
I went as far as to learn
until I was about the age of ten.
And, unfortunately, Grandpa
couldn't teach us anymore.
How come he couldn't teach
you anymore? What happened?
He unfortunately fell on his arm
and he broke it.
He had an operation and had a stroke
on the operating table.
The blood clot then caused him
to have vascular dementia,
and the dementia eventually
took its toll.
Playing an instrument was a big part
in your grandpa's life,
so how did it affect him
when he couldn't do it anymore?
It almost felt like he lost a bit
of himself,
and it then became a big part
of our lives then,
when it came to making sure
that he heard it,
especially in the later stages.
We knew the one way to get
a smile on his face was to play
a brass band in the background.
Yeah.
And, when we went to the funeral,
all of it was played
through a brass band.
And we hope that he heard it...
..and he was still smiling
up there with us.
Yeah. But, yeah...
Your grandad sounds like quite some
character.
Yeah, definitely.
What would you like Pete to do?
I just want to make sure
that it's what he had, and almost
bring back the colour to it.
The instrument now itself has a
little bit of dents and nicks in it,
and that wouldn't be him.
But, yes, I'd like it to look nice.
I dare say, when he used to go
out playing with it,
he used to give it a good shine-up,
didn't he?
Yes. Yeah, he'd be there for hours
on end and it'd be pristine
because he'd take good pride in just
making sure that it was perfect.
It brings back happy memories
of just him filling the room
with that beautiful sound.
And what I'd do to hear
that sound again.
OK. So I just want to get it to the
place
where I can play it and make him
proud.
Well, we're going to do our best
to get this... Thank you very much.
..looking and sounding perfect,
just the way you remember it.
Thank you for bringing this in and
telling us about your grandad.
Thank you very much. OK. Thank you.
Take care now. Bye-bye.
I've had a good look at
this instrument now.
I think it was made early 1900s,
which, when you consider
the condition of it now...
It's 120 years old, possibly.
It hasn't done bad.
It's a good, solid instrument
but there's quite a few nasties
on it.
This cornet belonged to Lewys's
grandfather,
who seems to have been a great
influence on his life.
I know my grandad was a great
influence on my life.
He was a joiner, carpenter.
I suppose that's where my use
of the hands comes in.
Now, looking at it, I've got quite
a few dents in the bell section,
a nasty fold there, which I've got
to get rid of -
means I've got to take
the bell actually off.
Lewys said he wanted it to look
like it was when his grandad had it.
So really we're going to have
to re-silver plate it
to get it all nice and bright
and shiny.
So the first thing to do is finish
taking it apart and give
it a good acid clean to get it
all nice and clean inside.
Poor George. I really do feel awful
doing this to him,
but I think the fact that he's going
to be able to natter away
once this is done
will hopefully redeem me.
As David
begins some reconstructive surgery
on veteran performer George's
aged face,
the Bear Ladies are in charge
of hair and wardrobe.
George's clothes had a really
good wash
and seem to have got lots of dirt
out of them.
They're still looking a bit
faded and a bit mucky.
The jacket is lot worse
than the trousers.
There's holes under the arm here.
But Alison did say she wanted him
to look really smart and dapper,
so this is what I'm going to do.
I am going to remake these trousers
but inside-out,
so the check will show much
brighter.
In that way, I've used as much
of the old as I can,
and then he's going to have a really
beautiful new blazer.
We decided we would give him
a whole new head of hair.
This new hair is wool.
It's very curly and crinkly,
so we just have to iron it through
and then place it onto very strong,
double-sided sticky tape.
Once it's all lined up on his head,
you won't see the strips,
and Amanda's amazing hairdressing
skills will come into play
when she gives him a lovely style.
I've glued the new piece of leather
onto George's lower lip.
What I'm trying to do here is get
the leather into position
so that, when his mouth is closed,
the chin is nice and flat
but also, when his mouth opens,
the leather doesn't fold
in an awkward way.
And it needs to be right,
because this is the focal point
of George's face.
This is where Alison speaks
through George.
This really is the trickiest moment.
I've got these little folds which I
really need to manipulate out
so that it's not so obvious.
Considering I've not done anything
like this before, I'm quite pleased
with the outcome.
I've just got his top lip to do
and then his eyelid
and then he'll be ready to reattach
the strings to the levers
on his stick.
I've finished George's trousers
now and they're looking
really, really smart,
and it's come together exactly
how I was hoping.
So now I've moved on to making him
his smart jacket.
The fabric is absolutely beautiful.
It's a wool fabric, so it's got
this lovely weight to it.
So, yeah, he's going to look
really dapper.
SEWING MACHINE WHIRS
Well, I've managed to get
all of George's leathered
parts back on.
His jaw is now working.
So the next thing is to try
and figure out how to re-thread
all of these.
VENTRILOQUIZED: Could I get finished
now, please?
We'll do our best.
VENTRILOQUIZED: Cheers.
The next hopeful visitor
is Nick Webb from Somerset,
who has a daunting challenge
for upholsterer Sonnaz Nooranvary.
Hi! Welcome.
Thank you. Hello. How are you
doing? Very well, thank you,
very well indeed.
So this chair... Um, cor blimey.
I like it a lot.
It's beautiful and very kind
of striking already,
even though it's in pieces. Yes.
So whose is it? It's yours?
Well, it is mine now, yes.
It was my father's
favourite chair. OK.
And when he passed away
it came to me. Right.
We're a farming family
and we had a large kitchen
and there was a large kitchen table
where we had our family meals
and that was at the head
of the table
and he would sit there and just
relax with the family
and it was a very chaotic sort
of kitchen, lots of noise.
I'm the youngest of six. Wow!
So my memory is always him
sitting in that chair
and laughing and joking with the
family. Yeah.
Sometimes I'd sit on his lap, and,
yes, so very fond memories of it.
What was Dad's name?
Richard. Richard? Yeah.
He passed away in 1969. Oh. Wow.
So how old were you, then? 11.
My mother passed away when I was six
years old.
That must have been really difficult
for you as a young child.
It was, yeah. It was quite a shock
for everybody. Mm.
So then your dad was left
with the farm and also with a family
he's got to look after.
Yes.
I went into boarding school
because he had a terminal illness.
He realised he couldn't
continue looking after us.
I didn't know how ill he was.
I just thought a few days
in bed and he'd be better. Yeah.
Then one day I was asked to go
up to the matron's office
and that was when my world ended,
as it was then, for an 11-year-old.
It was the 14th of February,
Valentine's Day, 1969.
Yep. A day I won't forget.
Oh, yeah. Hmm.
The last time I saw him was the day
before we had to go back to school.
Yeah.
And I spent the morning up in his
bedroom and was talking to him
and sitting on his bed and he said
to me,
"I love you...and work hard and
you'll be successful."
Ah.
Then we said goodbye and I never
saw him again.
That was it. Wow. That day and the
words have always stuck with me.
Without my dad being there,
I didn't know what was going
to happen next.
He was my focal point.
He was the person I went
to for everything.
So you two had a really strong bond?
Very.
Yeah, he was... He was quite a man.
And, yeah, it's full of memories,
that chair, for me. Yeah.
How did the chair
get into this condition?
I went to Australia many years ago
and took my belongings with me.
I think the heat and the climate -
it just basically deteriorated it.
Why's there only three legs there?
Unfortunately, one is missing.
It was in a removal box
for quite some time
and, when I unpacked it,
there were only three legs.
The leather has deteriorated and
there's holes on the front and the
back. Right.
There's a big hole in the seat,
and all the pins on the side
and the front and the back, they're
corroded and need a clean-up
or something. I don't know. Yeah.
How would you like to see
it restored?
Any character that can be retained,
fantastic,
but I appreciate that it may
be difficult to do that.
It's something that I can physically
show our children and talk
about the man, their grandfather.
Mmm.
Well, thank you for bringing
this in. Thank you.
It will be an absolute pleasure.
Thanks very much indeed. Take care.
Bye-bye. Take care, won't you?
Wow. Wow. Yeah.
THEY LAUGH
So, what have you got to do?
The seat base definitely
needs to be stripped off
and then also decide what leather
can be kept. OK.
Then, if you can, get it over to
Will, cos he's got to make that leg
again. Yeah.
You all right with that, Will, this
frame's coming over to you?
That's great.
Take your time and enjoy it.
Yeah, thank you. All right?
This design of chair is a
Roman-style chair,
and a general, a Roman general or
somebody of high stature
would sit on this style of chair.
And I have always wanted to work
on one before, but I never
really thought I'd get the
opportunity.
Before I do anything, I will
very gently take these studs out
and unpick the back and then
strip the base
right back to frame.
I'm trying to be as careful
as I possibly can.
Ooh, this is not going to plan.
Unfortunately, they are breaking
as I'm lifting them
out of the frame here.
So far, quite a lot of them
aren't going to be reusable.
Another reason
why I'm being so careful
is because I really want to preserve
the leather on this back here.
Years of Nick's dad sitting back
here, around that kitchen table.
I think it would be really lovely
to retain that if I can.
Brass master Pete is also preserving
the historical integrity
of the 20th century cornet,
using a time-honoured method
to remove the dents.
It's quite a simple system.
We've got a lot of different sized
balls here.
To start with, I put a bracket on
to hold it in shape because, working
the metal,
it can go out of shape, that bend.
Terrible to put back.
So it's nice and solid.
We can start putting the ball down.
We just pop them in and then pop
the driver in.
We've got to drive that ball
round there now.
RATTLING
It's quite a big dent in it
but, slowly and gradually,
we're taking it out.
It seems like a very painstaking
way of doing it.
It takes ages, but it's just sit
there,
grab yourself a cup of coffee,
get on with it.
RATTLING CONTINUES
When I had a good look at the bell,
this one here had actually thinned
down quite a bit
and had a nasty fold in it.
So what I decided to do was actually
make a new piece.
I've tapered this piece of brass,
polished it up, all looks nice.
It fits on there absolutely perfect.
The only problem is this one.
Because the tube is getting thinner
there as it tapers down,
I've had to do it to the thickest
part, but it leaves a great big gap.
So we're going to shrink
it a little bit so that it fits
on this tube correctly.
Now, shrink plate is a great tool.
We use it a lot for
musical instruments.
If you haven't got a piece of brass
tube the diameter you want,
you can hammer it through a slightly
smaller hole and then it shrinks
it down to the size that you need.
Some days you really get lucky.
That's gone really nice.
Now the next thing to do is
solder it up.
So you need a bit of heat.
Be airtight in no time at all.
Quite happy with that.
The main thing is it's airtight.
So how we're going to try that
is just to pour some water
down there. Fill it up with water.
Water will usually penetrate
almost anywhere.
There's no little dribbles of water
or anything coming out,
so that's great.
All I've got to do now, gradually
work through the whole instrument,
get it all polished up nice,
and off to the platers.
While Sonnaz prepares some leather
for upholstering
the Roman-style chair,
she's asked furniture restorer
Will Kirk
to address the broken wooden frame.
Now, this chair is really badly
broken.
It's an X-frame chair,
so you should have two legs
at the front
so it sort of forms the letter X.
Now, even though I'm missing
one of the back legs,
the fact that the front legs
and the back legs are symmetrical,
I should, in theory, be able to use
one of the front legs
as a template
for the back replacement.
And hopefully, it should fit
exactly like the other legs.
Well, Lewys' cornet
is really looking nice.
It's back from the platers,
the dents are out,
now we can start rebuilding it.
We've got the valves here.
So we'll just slot that in there,
make sure it's all right.
I've got to keep going on this
tonight.
It's getting a bit dark,
it's getting a bit fresh,
but Lewys is coming tomorrow
to collect it
and I want to make sure it's 100%.
So it doesn't matter how long
it takes,
as long as we get the job done
right.
Ooh! If they all start working
like that...
..I'll be a happy man.
When it comes to putting a smile
on the face of George,
the ventriloquism dummy,
the skills of ceramics restorer
Kirsten Ramsay are called for.
That's the fills smoothed back.
I'm now ready to make a start
on retouching George's face.
And I'm going to use the standard
acrylic on the papier-mache finish,
and I'm going to use
a leather acrylic on the eyelids
and the area around the mouth.
Because they are going to be moving,
I need the acrylic to have a certain
amount of flexibility to it.
I'm just going to blend in the new
with the old
and get those final touches,
and then he'll be ready to go home.
For a young man who's approximately
124 years old, something like that,
he's looking pretty fresh.
SHE CHUCKLES
It's taken an awesome foursome
of experts
to tackle George's immobile
facial features
ungroomed hairdo and tired togs.
How's our George?
There he is! Wow!
I love his hair!
Beautiful! There we go.
THEY CHUCKLE
George helped Alison through
some tough times at school,
and has been a faithful companion
ever since.
Hello! Hello! Hi! How are we doing?
We're good! You? I'm good,
thank you. Good. How are you?
Honestly, I am...
I don't know what to expect at all!
Aw. So...
I'm hoping we're going
to have a toy boy here.
THEY LAUGH
Well... OK.
Right, are you ready? Yeah.
Ooh! OK, I'll show you.
You ready?
Oh, George!
SHE LAUGHS
I...!
Oh, George, don't you look so cute!
You've got hair, George!
THEY LAUGH
We reckon we've knocked about 30
years off him. Oh, easy! Yeah.
He looks amazing!
Oh, come here, George!
Oh!
Hi!
How you doing, mate?
SHE LAUGHS
I can't...!
You just look so suave and debonair!
Aw!
THEY LAUGH
Can I just...?
Oh, look! Oh, fantastic!
He opens his mouth properly now.
I just love this little blue blazer.
It's so cute. Good.
You've done an amazing job.
You must do his hair.
Please do his hair.
Ho-ho-ho!
THEY LAUGH
Oh, just... Look, you're not
the centre of attention, all right?
THEY LAUGH
But I-I just...
It cracks me up every time!
..I just love the false teeth!
THEY LAUGH
They've looked after you so well.
AS GEORGE: Thank you, everybody.
THEY LAUGH
We've had so much fun.
Kirsten's not here, but she...she
helped as well.
I'm...so chuffed.
I never thought I'd see him
looking like this ever again.
Aw, little thing, you!
Alison, thank you so much
for bringing George to us.
Thank you all very, very much.
You're welcome.
I shall now take him away.
Bye, George!
Bye! Say goodbye, George. Bye!
THEY LAUGH
THEY LAUGH
That was really good.
That was brilliant. Well done.
Well done. High five.
THEY LAUGH
I think he looks amazing.
It's taken years off him, really.
I mean, everybody should come here
and get a face-lift!
AS GEORGE: Fantastic!
SHE LAUGHS
BIRDSONG
The dawn chorus welcomes
an ornithological treat
for bookbinder Chris Shaw.
Kat has travelled from Lanarkshire
in Scotland,
hoping a modest, yet treasured
keepsake can be saved.
Hello! Hello!
Welcome to the barn. Thank you.
What's in the bubble wrap?
My gran's notebook
that she created between the ages of
10 and 13.
And it's all about birds
and British nature.
It's lovely! Just a really humble
little notebook.
That's a really good way of
describing it.
What was your gran's name? Mildred.
She was a very, very, very
wonderful lady.
Throughout her life,
she lived in Richmond and Kew.
And so, she created this
from her observations.
Oh, goodness! She's written quite a
few things down and what she's seen
of when she was in Kew Gardens.
There's illustrations,
which she did herself,
and there's also feathers
in the back, as well.
Look at that! Yeah.
She wrote it between about 1945
and 1948. Oh, wow! Yeah.
We used to spend every
school holiday with her.
She just made us laugh all the time.
Loved her absolutely to bits.
She taught me just how to be
who I am, I think.
And she would take you out
bird-watching? Yes.
So this notebook was the start
of her bird-watching journey,
but she was the start of mine.
And she introduced me to nature,
um...birds in particular.
She sadly died in September 2020.
And my mum said to me
my gran would like me to have this.
I think it was because
it's to do with birds,
and I think she fostered that love.
I sort of look at it and I just
think that's so precious
and it's such a nice memory to have.
Isn't that beautiful!
It's just so lovely!
Do you mind? No.
A watercolour there,
a swift in flight.
This is really nice.
So, what would you like me
to do to this?
I would like it so that it can be
looked through without any trouble.
I'd really like the pages
to be more stable.
I mean, she had hundreds of
bird books
and I've got some of those now,
and I'd just really like to put
her own bird book on the shelf
next to the books that she loved.
Also...
..I stopped bird-watching
after she died. Um...
I think all the love had sort of
been taken out of it a little bit.
Um...and I would like to start doing
it again,
and I'd like to be able to...
Because I quite often will pick up
a feather or something
and I have nowhere to put them,
and it seems only fitting
to add to it. So...
Well, it's in safe hands here.
I'm sure Chris has already come up
with something in his mind.
THEY LAUGH
It's so exciting!
THEY LAUGH
Thank you very much for coming down.
No, thank you.
Lovely to hear about
your grandmother
and what a fascinating person
she was.
Thank you. Lovely to meet you.
We'll see you soon. Thank you. Bye!
Bye-bye. Bye.
What a delightful little notebook.
I'm really hopeless
with any form of birds,
so hopefully there'll be
a bit of an education
as I work my way through.
Pheasant, the only bird I know.
George, my dog, is expert
on pheasant.
He could write a dissertation
on pheasants.
On their habitat, where they hide.
But he can't,
because he hasn't got thumbs.
So this notebook was designed
for the pages to be torn out.
It's got perforations
right at the top.
So the big problem is,
the pages are wearing out
and coming loose over the years,
and I've got to fix that.
There's some war wounds
on the cover,
but I can sort that out.
And I want to be able to hand it
back
with all the strength
that I can put into this
so that she can use it,
and use it way into the future.
I am going to make a little box
for this,
and that's the thing
that's going to protect it.
So the first thing I'm going to do
is remove the staples,
which sounds straightforward, but
they have been in there for years.
I'll just see if it does want
to come.
Goodness me!
No, it really is well and truly
stuck in there.
So I'm going to just sort of
move the pages out one by one.
BIRDSONG
While Will is busy making a perfect
reproduction leg for the Roman chair,
Sonnaz is battling to preserve
the seat panels
that cradled father and son
at the farmhouse table.
I've got the original inside
back-of-the-chair
piece of leather here.
And this is where Nick's dad,
Richard, sat.
But instead of putting it back on
the inside of the chair,
I'm actually going to put it
on the outside.
And that way, it's not
going to damage any more.
But I am going
to have to stabilise it.
And the way that I can do
that is by using this Reemay lining.
It's an absolutely solid foundation
on which to glue onto the leather.
BIRDSONG
Well, I've made the new chair leg
and I've also made two support
struts as well.
I'm going to glue together
the front and back two legs.
Now, one trick I've used is rather
than hammering the doweling in,
we can cause a lot of
unnecessary damage with the impact,
you can actually drill
the doweling in.
That's worked really well.
And when it dries, it's going to be
a really good, strong joint.
Now they're together,
it's time to glue in the struts.
And this adds a lot of
extra stability and support.
Well, that's nice and tight.
And it feels very stable as well,
which is great.
I'm going to let this dry,
then I can get this over to Sonnaz.
Will's done a fantastic job
and I'm now at the stage where
I'm able to apply new leather
to the new leg here
that Will's made.
I'm going to have to cut around
this rail,
creating a V shape.
And that will allow the leather
at the top and the bottom
to kind of hug around that rail
perfectly, I hope.
This is the moment of truth.
I've completed applying
all the new leather to the frame,
and it's gone so well.
I'm thrilled with how it's looking.
I'm going to actually start
reupholstering the inside sections
now, starting with my black and
white seating webbing.
For an authentic finishing touch,
the metal magic of Brenton West.
Sonnaz has asked me to make some
studs for the chair that she's
repairing.
And the first thing I need to do
is to make a disc of brass.
We're going to see if I can make
the domed shape.
I now need to solder a nail
into that,
and that will become
the very first stud
that Sonnaz can use on her chair.
And there we go,
we've got our first stud.
And that's, er...one of many
I've got to make.
Instrument restorer Pete is giving
the century-old cornet
its final shine.
You all right, Pete?
You're in your own little world
there, aren't you?
I am, yeah, yeah, yeah.
A genie will come out in a minute.
HE LAUGHS
I've made you a little stand.
Hopefully it fits.
Look at that! Look at that!
Just the job, innit? Perfect!
For Lewys, this instrument
is a poignant memento
of his much-loved grandad
who taught him how to play.
Hi! Hiya. You all right?
How's it going, Lewys?
Come in, come in!
Thank you very much.
How are you feeling? Excited.
I can't wait to see
what's underneath.
Do you want to have a look?
Yes, please, yeah.
Go on, Pete. He's getting excited!
I am. So am I!
Wow!
Wow!
HE EXHALES EMOTIONALLY
I can just see it in his hands now.
My hands are where his hands
would have been.
This sounds silly, but I can
almost feel him with it.
It doesn't sound silly at all.
It really doesn't.
I can just see him
playing his heart out. Yeah.
Yeah.
That's amazing. Thank you very much.
Now, Lewys, I know it looks
the part... Yeah.
..but we need to hear it.
Yeah, of course.
Did he teach you on this one?
He did, yeah. He taught me bits
and bobs on this. Yeah.
HE PLAYS
HE CHUCKLES
It's been a while since I've played
myself!
It's so nice to hear it.
Oh, wow, yes. Thank you.
I can't thank you enough for it.
You're so welcome.
Having it restored now, will that
inspire you to carry on playing?
Definitely, yeah.
It will be used.
Good. Even if it is
me playing it quite poorly.
THEY LAUGH
We all start somewhere.
Practice makes perfect.
Yeah, yeah. Exactly.
Brilliant. It's all yours. Thank you
very much. Thank you so much.
Enjoy it. Thank you. Bye. Bye.
To think that my hands and my mouth
were exactly where Grandpa's
would have been,
it's just an amazing feeling.
That cornet symbolises
everything he was.
It's amazing to have
that part of him back.
BIRDSONG
Chris has carefully disassembled
the bird-watcher's notebook
and is ready to cast his eagle eye
over its fragile contents.
To overcome
this perforation problem,
I'm going to back it with
some Japanese tissue,
which is super strong.
So by putting the Japanese tissue
along the back of the tab,
it's actually stopping it
being perforated any more.
It's creating a solid bond
between the tab
and the detachable page.
Oh, goodness me!
"I measured a blackbird's footsteps
once and I sketched it."
Oh! It is lovely.
I mean, it's so nice.
Once I've got all these pages
mended,
then the exciting bit of actually
binding them all together
and getting them
back into a notebook form.
I'm going to do a very traditional
stab sewing,
and that's a method of joining
all the single sheets together.
Sort of like a running stitch
of linen thread.
This is going to be far stronger
than the staples.
I'm just going to sort of try
and drill as straight as I can
all the way through.
All the holes have come through
nice and neat,
and now I'm going to do
a running stitch all the way along
using a nice linen thread.
That will sort of tie
the whole block together.
Well, that's now all a block again.
It feels just like a notebook.
I'm really happy with that.
Now I'm going to go on to...
It was the first thing
that really jarred at me,
was that missing R and the D
on the birds of Mildred's label.
I'm just sort of playing around
to get sort of an approximate shape,
and then I'm going to ink it in.
And it's actually blending in
quite nicely.
Kat wanted to put her notebook
on her book shelves,
so I've made a box for it
to house in.
And the final thing I have to do
is put a title on it.
And the title's going to be
Mildred Perkins' Birds.
I'm putting goldleaf on it.
And the process is gold tooling,
which is a heat process.
The combination of heat, pressure
and the adhesive.
You don't really know
how it's come out
until you actually start
wiping it off.
Wow! That's really nice.
I'm really happy with the way
it's going.
I've just got to finish the letters,
do a decorative little edging
just to finish it off,
and then I can stick it onto
the box.
Some expert teamwork has seen
the Roman-style chair transformed -
fit for an emperor.
It feels so nice to be able to get
these studs back on the chair.
Brenton's done an amazing job
of making the new studs,
and he's also aged them
absolutely perfectly, too.
It's going to be such a joy
to watch Nick sit in this chair
for the very first time
in such a long time.
And I can't wait to see
what he thinks.
This chair arrived at the barn
a pile of tattered pieces,
with a missing leg
and fragile leather panels.
For Nick, the chair holds
powerful memories of his father,
who died when he was
just 11 years old.
Hi, Nick! Hello!
How you doing? You all right?
Very well indeed, thank you.
Very well. Excited.
You're excited? I am.
Cos it's been with you everywhere,
really, hasn't it? Oh, yeah.
You've never left this alone?
No. It's, er...it's a good friend.
So, when was the last time
you sat on this?
Oh, good question.
I would say probably 25 years ago,
30 years ago, something like that.
Wow!
Seriously? Yeah.
So, you ready? Yeah.
My God!
That is absolutely amazing!
You've kept the character perfectly.
It looks like a chair that has,
you know, has age to it.
It is truly magnificent.
Yeah. Oh, that is absolutely superb!
You're so clever. Thank you.
She is, isn't she? I couldn't
have done it without my compadre.
Thank you, Will. Absolute pleasure.
I mean, it's exactly
as I remember it.
And it represents family,
and family, um...good times
and, er...togetherness, really,
I suppose. Mm.
So, are you ready to follow
in Dad's footsteps and sit down?
Yes, I am. Thank you very much.
Ah, that is excellent.
That is perfect!
It's so comfortable.
It is a handsome chair. Yeah.
And in fact, the inside back,
you could see where your dad
had sat over the years.
There was a darker patch.
So we've actually saved
that piece of leather for you,
but we've put it
on the outside back,
where you can still see it,
but it won't get any more damaged.
Oh, thank you. That really...that
really tops it off.
Yeah. So thank you so much.
No, not at all.
Sitting in my dad's chair
really brought back memories of him
and the time I used to sit
on his lap.
The family at the farmhouse table
for Sunday lunch.
A lot of emotions and memories
came rushing back in,
and that's what's so special
about it.
Bookbinder Chris has been using
his featherlight touch
to restore the near-80-year-old
ornithological journal
and the observations
held within its pages.
So this is the final bit
on the notebook,
reattaching the front cover.
So I'm hinging it
on a piece of Japanese tissue,
which is really strong,
and I'm just going to glue this now
back on top of the sewing.
I'm using PVA instead of paste,
purely because...
..I want it to dry
relatively quickly.
And then, over the top of this
unsightly piece of Japanese tissue,
I'm going to glue a more-appropriate
colour piece down.
So that when you open the notebook,
you won't see the Japanese tissue.
So I'm just going to put a weight
on this, leave it to dry,
and then it's all ready for Kat
to come and collect.
This precious record of birdlife
in Kew Gardens
connects Kat to her gran Mildred,
and their shared love of nature.
Hello. Hello. Hello.
Welcome back. Thank you. You OK?
I'm just very, very excited.
I didn't realise
how much I missed it.
I've thought about it
the whole time, actually.
Yeah.
SHE CHUCKLES
Have you enjoyed working on it?
I really have.
It was really enchanting.
It was really beautiful, I thought.
Yeah.
I'm really excited to see
what you've done, really.
Chris?
WHISPERS: Oh, my God! Look at that!
Can I touch it? Of course you can!
SHE LAUGHS
Oh, my goodness!
I'm really shaking.
Oh, my goodness!
You can turn all the pages
and they don't break any more!
SHE LAUGHS
It's magic!
I can't s...
I honestly can't stop looking at it!
This is incredible!
What do you think your grandmother
would think
of this now in its lovely condition?
She'd be really chuffed to see it.
I wish she was here to see this.
I know that when she passed away,
it was very hard for you. Yeah.
Are you inspired to start
filling those pages in?
So what I would like to do
is go back to Kew Gardens,
and I will start actually picking up
feathers when I see them,
because I've got
somewhere to put them.
It would be really nice to
contribute to it in that subtle way.
It's a lovely notebook,
but where's it going to go?
Yeah, I'd really like to put it
on the book shelf.
I think I'll, um...have to think
about what to put it in.
Well... Well, Chris...
Well, Kat...
SHE SHRIEKS AND LAUGHS
Oh, my God, look at that!
Oh, my God!
I love the colours!
Even the colours are just...
On the front of the little notebook,
there's a goldfinch.
And that's the colour scheme I chose
for the box.
Oh, I'm going to put it
on the book shelf
and I'm going to look at it
all the time!
You can take it to Kew Gardens
with you now.
Oh, I can. Put it in your bag,
take it out and collect
those feathers. I will.
Let's go and find some.
It's lovely to see you again.
Thank you so much.
Can I genuinely take this home?
Yes. It's yours!
THEY LAUGH
Thank you. Thanks a lot, Kat.
Thank you, Kat. Thank you.
Bye! Bye.
It's really, really special.
Words can't describe it, really.
It's...amazing.
So many memories.
She taught me so much,
and she taught me how to love
the outdoors
and birds and nature, and...
Yeah, just...
Yeah, like...really good memories.
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