The Repair Shop (2017–…): Season 7, Episode 17 - Episode #7.17 - full transcript

Welcome to The Repair Shop, where
precious but faded treasures...

This is bad!

I don't think I've ever seen
a chair quite so broken as this.

..are restored to their former
glory. That's lovely. Isn't it?

That's lovely, isn't it?
Furniture restorer Jay Blades...

Bringing history back to life is
what makes The Repair Shop

so special. ..and a dream team
of expert craftspeople... Amazing!

It's a bit like brain surgery!

..come together to work their magic.
Yahoo!

When you look at something that
looks so hopeless like this,

it makes me even more determined
to get it back. That's teamwork!



Employing heritage craft skills
passed down the generations...

It is a privilege to be able to do
something for somebody that

means so much to them. ..preserving
irreplaceable heirlooms...

To bring those pieces back to life
is just the most wonderful

thing and I'd like to do it forever.

..the team will restore the items...

Wow! ..the memories...

I'm so happy to see it.

..and unlock
the stories that they hold.

That's made it all worthwhile.

In The Repair Shop today,
handmade history,

as Julyan tackles
a century-old instrument...

Stringing this up, I feel like I'm
following in Francis' footsteps.

I'm experiencing exactly
what he experienced.



I've got missing feet,
missing tails.

..and animal magic with Kirsten.

I think I'm going to have
a lot of fun making those up.

But, first,
another childhood delight,

but on a rather larger scale.

Charlotte Lovelock from Devon
is here to see

metal maestro Dominic Chinea.

Let's have a look at what
you've brought. OK.

Dying to see what's in here!

Oh! Look at that!
Fantastic! Let's get it inside.

This is so exciting!
Honestly, it's... Tell me about it.

It's brilliant. OK. So, this was
my late grandfather's childhood toy.

It's not a pedal car, it's a pedal
aeroplane. It's a pedal aeroplane.

I've never worked on one like this.
Never really seen one.

I think it's probably quite rare.
Yeah.

So, this was your grandad's. Yes.
When did he get it?

So, we think he got it
for about his fifth birthday.

He was born in 1930, so will have
got it about 1935. Amazing!

And it was a much-treasured toy.
Yeah, I can imagine! Yeah!

And, then, when my mum
and my uncle were children,

they used to play with it as well.

She remembers pedalling it up
and down in their garden,

so when my grandmother was
downsizing from her house

to a bungalow... Yeah.
..one day, I was in the back bedroom

and I found a bit of aeroplane. OK.

We've got here, propeller,
and we found bits of wing.

Like a treasure hunt. It was!
And, anyway, eventually, I realised

we had a whole toy aeroplane.
We found the chassis.

Do you know why she kept hold of it,
or...? Just a special toy.

As soon as she saw me with it,
she said, "Take it for the kids."

Perhaps she didn't realise quite
how poor repair it was in. Yeah.

What made you want to restore it?

So, it's part of my family
history... Yeah.

..we've had it from new,
back in the 1930s,

my grandfather got to play with it,
my mum got to play with it...

I'm the missed generation, but I've
got three children and Phoebe,

who was with me on that day,
was desperate to play with it and

she's the same age as my grandfather
would have been when he got it...

When he got it new. ..which just
seems absolutely lovely.

Oh, that's perfect, isn't it?
I've got one major thing

that's bugging me in my head
the whole time we've been talking.

It's, like, what to do cosmetically.

In an ideal world, you shut
your eyes, what does it look like?

We don't know what colour it was.

So, when I found it, it was almost
bright red with rust. OK.

And I just painted it with
a rust stop chemical,

but my mum can't remember
what colour it was,

if it was silver or if it was
a painted plane and, sadly,

we don't have any photos to show us
what it was like at the time.

But I would love it to look as close
as possible as to how it did

look originally. Yeah? Yeah.
Thank you so much for bringing

this in and explaining the story.
It's awesome! I just can't wait

to get started. Thank you.
Lovely to meet you. Bye.

My grandfather died about
six or seven years ago.

This would be an absolutely lovely
way to remember him,

so that my children can play with it

and they'll have a little connection
to him, cos they've never met him.

Charlotte is
so lucky to have this toy plane.

I just think it's such an amazing
thing and I'm really pleased

to hear that she wants to be
able to use it again.

I can already see it's got some
serious issues.

This wheel is completely rotten
and definitely not safe to use.

I can literally
put my finger inside of it.

The first thing I'm going to have to
do is take this apart completely

because there's all sorts of moving
parts inside underneath here

and I need to make sure
that is all working.

Oh, God! OK.

That's it,
first piece off and, actually,

it's worse than I was hoping.

Look, it's completely gone,
all the way round.

I'm going to have to remake a much
larger section of this wheel.

Great.

That's all done. Brilliant.

The next visitor is Kate Sargeant
from Leamington Spa. She's hoping

The Repair Shop can help her
play sweet music once more.

Dom, do you play any instrument?
I used to play in an orchestra.

I used to play tenor sax.
Did you really? Yeah. Wow!

I was in a brass band. Fantastic.
Yeah. Don't tell anyone, though.

Luthier Julyan Wallis is
the man tasked with getting her

antique instrument hitting all
the right notes again.

Hello. Are you OK? Hi, there.
I'm fine, thank you.

It's lovely to see you both.

I'm dying to see what's in this bag?
Right. Well...

In this bag, I have a ukulele.

Wow!

Look at that! This was made
by my dad in 1926... He made it?!

He made it in entirely and it's made
from an old cigar box. No! Yeah.

Something like this
came along in the Great Depression

when people had to make instruments
because they didn't have any money.

That's interesting.
Is this a common thing, then?

People did make them out of cigar
boxes? Yeah, yeah. Really?

You'll see a lot of them
wouldn't have taken the labels off,

you would just see a label on,
you'll see a brand of a cigar...

Cool! He loved it.

It was his pride and joy.

PLUCKS THE STRINGS

He always thought it was
a beautiful tone,

very proud of himself
for having made it.

He stuck a piece of paper inside
the box with an inscription on it,

which says, "By Francis S Brown,
1st of November 1926."

Played lots of instruments,
guitar, Spanish guitar,

Hawaiian guitar, banjo mandolin,
piano. He played...

Just loved music.
Very versatile chap. Yeah.

He was obviously a carpenter,
I guess?

Well, that was his hobby.
It wasn't his job.

He just loved making things,
inventing things.

He was always to be found in his
workshop. OK. But he had a desk job.

He was a chartered accountant by
profession. He was an accountant?!

And it was the last thing
my father wanted to do,

he really just wanted to play
in a band. He was quite a man.

A clever man,
to be able to make that as a hobby.

I think to have lasted all of those
years, it had a lot of use...

I mean, you can see by its...
You know, how worn it is.

Oh, is that from his fingers?
Yeah. From his fingers.

I thought that was a pattern on it.
No, no. Fingers. Oh, my goodness!

Marks of fingers and then
my fingers as well, probably,

when I started to play it.
He taught me to play it, too,

when I was about
eight or nine years old...

Oh, really? ..which was lovely.
Oh, bless!

So we played at New Year parties.

I would be wheeled out to play,
you know, "Play a tune, Kate!"

I'd play away, and he and my mother
would play duets on the piano,

and his sister would sing,
and, sometimes, my grandmother,

his mother, would sing. My goodness!

Those Christmas
and New Year occasions...

A thread of music
going through the generations.

Yes, all about making music
together, which is lovely.

Happy memories for you.
Very happy memories.

Yes. Well, it's so sweet.

So, if Julyan's able to...
Well, yes. Do you think...?

Is it something you think...?

Because I know it's trickier because
it's all... It is all just handmade.

The pegs are very loose,
very difficult to get them

to hold the tuning.
I see. Need some help.

And there's a little brass
nut at this end,

which has gone astray as well. Ah!

It's missing frets and, in fact,

this one fell off
just before I came.

That's a luthier's dream.
Four frets? That's amazing!

A nice easy job for you!

I've got to contend with 24,
30 sometimes, you know!

30? Goodness! Do you?

So, if I can get this playable,
will you give us a tune? Oh!

I'd love to hear you play a little
tune, if you could. I could strum...

I could strum a few... That's all
we need. Yeah. I'd love to hear it!

Well, it's been a pleasure.
Yes, well, thank you very much...

Thank you. ..indeed. And we'll be
in touch. Bye-bye, then.

Thank you so much. Goodbye.
See you now. Bye-bye.

Playing the ukulele holds
so many memories for me.

It symbolises a lot of lovely things

and I think, as you approach
the latter days of your life,

the fact that you can somehow
link back with the very young

days in your life is a really,
really nice thing to do.

That's cool, isn't it?
It's been well used, hasn't it?

That's a lot of wear.
I mean, you've got to do

a lot of playing to get it
to look like that.

To wear through the varnish
with your fingers. Yeah, yeah.

Brilliant. Where would you start,
then, with something like this?

I'm going to strip it back, let
the strings off, and pop these out.

They're stuck in there and I think
just a gentle persuasion... Yeah?

What I'm not going to do, right,
is if they're really stiff,

just twist them... It's going to
snap. It's going to snap

cos the wood could be really brittle
and dried out.

Construct these wooden frets
and glue them on... Yeah.

..and put some new strings on
and get her in tune.

That's going to look good
and, hopefully,

it's going to sound even better.
Yeah. Yeah.

Be lovely to hear the old girl
sing again.

Good luck with it. Thanks, Dom.

First thing to do is get the strings
off and I can crack right on.

So, now, the pegs are out,
they need to be sanded smooth

because the wood has expanded
and contracted, perhaps hundreds

and hundreds of times
over the last nearly 100 years

and they've changed their shape
a little bit, so they're sticking.

That's nice and smooth.

And we apply a little lubricant.

This is actually called a peg soap

and its job is to hold
it in place so it can move freely,

but not jam up.

So I'm just going to pop it back in.

And I need to keep twirling

and now that's lovely. Look at that.

That's really turning nice
and freely. So I'm happy with that.

It's just three more to go.

It's chocs away for the repair
on the 1930s pedal plane,

but the scale of the operation means
Dom has radioed for reinforcements.

I'm so glad you started on this one.
I'm well into it now.

It's coming on well. OK, cool.

I'm now at the point where we need
to deal with this black overpaint.

This is where Charlotte... When she
found it, it was covered in rust.

Right. So she painted
this stuff over it.

She preserved it, basically.

That has stopped the rust, converted
it and left us with a nice...

So it's not rusting any more. Right.

Problem is, we can't paint over
this. Yeah.

So how do you get this stuff off,
then?

I'm just working now with a little
bit of very, very fine wire wool,

just to try and take off
the black... OK.

..to reveal the original
paint underneath,

and if we can find enough of
a patch, like, that sort of size...

I hear a job. ..fingers crossed...
That I go get it colour-matched.

Exactly. OK. So it's a good thing
I've got my gloves on.

You've got to be very careful

because we don't want to remove
that original paint. I'm with you.

Because this stuff is not supposed
to be going over paint,

it's only supposed to go over rust,
so, actually,

over the painted areas, it should...
Just lift off. ..lift off, yeah.

A lot of elbow grease, this is,
isn't it? Absolutely.

That's that squeaking. My...
My elbow! You're not that old!

You're not that old. Don't even
go there! I'm much older than you!

And I'm not squeaking.

Dom, look at this colour.
I think... I think that's grey,

actually. Yeah, that's it. Yeah,
that patch there, that's brilliant.

Tell you what, I think that's enough
for me to get a colour match.

Right, I'm going to get that sorted.
Brilliant. No problem.

This whole plane is going to be
sandblasted, which is

the best thing to do for the metal
because it will remove any rust.

The problem is that's going to
remove all of this old paint,

but I do just want to double check

and make sure that I'm not
missing anything.

Luckily, I've got an original
sales catalogue from

when this was new,
which is kind of mind-blowing.

There is a little RAF roundel
on the back wing.

I didn't notice this first of all.

On one of them, it's completely gone
and it's just rust.

But, on the other one, I've removed
the black and actually revealed

another blue and red RAF roundel,
which is really, really good news.

So, there really is not much more
I can do now at this point.

Jay's got the paint
for the colour match.

I've found all
the details on the roundels,

and the information that I need.

I think this is all ready
to be sandblasted now.

While the large body panels
are sent away,

the wheels are small enough to fit
inside The Repair Shop sandblaster.

Now I've sandblasted these front
wheels for the pedal plane,

I can see properly what
I'm actually working with

and the good news is one wheel
is perfect. It's ready to paint.

The other one, on the other hand,
is not quite as happy.

Amazingly, I've managed to
get my hands on a replacement.

It's in really good condition,

but it's obviously a bit different,
so I'm going to sort of blend the

two together and make some
kind of hybrid wheel out of the two,

so what I'm going to do
is cut this out now

and that should remove
the rotten pieces.

Brilliant. All I need to do now is
the same thing again, basically,

on the replacement rim
and make one out of the two.

Now that's all done, hopefully...

..the new wheel rim... Yes! Once
that's pushed down... Look at that!

Brilliant! That's the original hub,
the original back side and rim,

with the new outer.
They're all lining up perfectly.

All that I need to do now is
weld that in place.

I've finally got all of the pieces
of the bodywork of the plane

back from being sandblasted,
hung up here,

primed and ready to paint, which is,
honestly, a really nice feeling.

The grey paint that I've got here
is as close a match as I could

possibly get to the original.
Now, the pressure's really on me

to do a good job of this
final top coat

because all those hours of prep,
now it really matters that this

final sprayed coat is going
to go on really nicely.

The next visitor also has
a much-loved childhood

treasure in need of some
expert attention.

Amy Revel from Exeter is hoping
Kirsten Ramsey's skill in modelling

in miniature will help to get some
cherished items back on their feet.

Hello! Hi! Hi. I'm Kirsten.
Hi, Kirsten. I'm Amy.

Amy, lovely to meet you.
And what have you brought?

I have brought some zoo animals
that are in a little bit

of a need of repair.
There's 11 of them.

Some of them have cracks,

some of them have missing legs,
like this poor hippo.

Some, like the giraffes,
have some very delicate legs.

Oh, I can see that one's about to
topple over. Yeah, it's going...

I'll lean her against there.

So, where did these
animals come from?

Well, they were bought, I think,
in about 1945 by my grandpa,

who was serving
in the British Army in Germany,

and my dad at the time was
a toddler, and he bought them,

and sent them
back to England to show him,

I suppose, that his daddy was there
and was thinking of him,

but just wasn't with him
in the same country.

What was he doing during the war?

He was in the Royal Artillery.
Towards the end of the war,

he got seconded into this other
group called T Force and they were

a group of different
people from different

parts of the services that got
joined together towards

the end of the war to try to take
documents and people

and machines as Nazi Germany
was falling,

and, because my grandpa spoke fluent
German and fluent French, I think

he was quite useful with
the document side of things,

and it was only at his funeral,

one of his friends mentioned that
he had been one of the first

soldiers to liberate
the concentration camp Belsen,

and I had known
nothing of that before.

He obviously didn't want to speak
about a lot of things... Of course.

..like many people
didn't want to during the war.

I used to play with them
a lot at my grandparents' house,

and it would be one of my favourite
things I'd ask to get the box out

with the animals,
and sort of set up different

areas in the sitting room,
different enclosures,

different animals and I also had the
old-fashioned, like,

plastic foliage that you used to
find in butcher's shops...

Oh, yeah! I know!
..and I used to put that round...

Like parsley and... Yeah, yeah,
that! Like, for trees.

And I remember my grandpa trying
to sort of tape together

bits of legs and things which
probably wasn't the best

thing to do with them, but to try
to make them as sturdy as possible.

These are then about 75 years old.
Yeah, that would be about right.

What is it that you're hoping for?

I... I'm really hoping that they
can be played with. OK. That...

Sort of getting them repaired to
an extent that they're sturdy,

they're more resilient. My dad died
quite suddenly 16 years ago... Oh...

..so he never got to
meet my little girls,

who are very keen to play
with these.

I will see if I can
stabilise them... Thank you.

..so that your girls
can hopefully play with them.

That would be absolutely perfect.

Lovely. Thank you so much. OK, bye.

Sadly, both my dad and my grandpa
have died quite a long time ago.

My girls never got to meet
either of them,

so, it will be a nice link that
they can play with something that

was bought by my grandpa, played
with by my dad,

and played with by me
as well, so, hopefully,

they can continue on enjoying them
as much as we all did.

What a lovely collection of animals,
Amy's brought

I think that these are made of a
material called composite, which can

be made up of lots of things, but
I think that this is a wood pulp.

I'm hoping that I can clean these
up, then stabilise any cracks,

fill and make up missing areas.

I've got missing feet,
missing tails, all sorts.

I think I'm going to have
a lot of fun making those up.

I'm not expecting these to
come up really clean.

They're painted in quite
a naturalistic way and I really just

want to remove any dirt that's built
up from handling over the years.

I'm actually going to do
a bit of surgery now.

See if I can remove this tape.

It's a bit like trying to take
a plaster cast off.

Yeah. I'm pleased with that.

While Kirsten battles
to get the tape off,

luthier Julyan is preparing
to put some replacement

parts on to his assignment,
the little ukulele,

handmade by an amateur musician
94 years ago.

There's only four frets on this.

One's not attached
and two are missing.

An instrument with one fret
is like a chair with one leg.

It's completely useless.

So I'm making some frets out of
this little offcut of mahogany

which I have and I just have to...

..trim it to the correct length...

..and then I need to put
it in my little vice,

plane it flat.

Frets are so important

because they're the things
that produce the notes.

I'm happy with the result there.
Looks just like the others.

This is not something I do every
day. This isn't the way...

..frets are installed!

So...

..this is new to me,
but it's still...

..still interesting stuff
and something new to learn.

I think life's all
about learning, eh?

I'm going to trim them back
when the glue's dried.

I can also just run a sanding
block over the top

and that will make them
all the same height.

He may be able to take
the lead on frets and finger boards,

but Julyan will need to recruit
more members of the band

if he's going to perfect
the missing metalwork.

Hello, Steve. You all right?

Yeah, I'm missing a little nut
I need. OK.

I've got maybe the right size but
not the right thread. Oh, right. OK.

Yeah. Let's have a look. If you've
got one, that would be fantastic.

Yeah, I should think I've got
one there. Brilliant.

That's if...

I've got this drawer of small nuts

and bolts that I've had for decades,
and you get good at searching

through, and you know certain nuts
and bolts that you've got.

Yeah, I bet you do.
You've searched through it

so many times that you just
get to know everything.

Yeah, yeah. I know it's nuts, but...

HE CHUCKLES

There we go.
Got something there, mate? All done.

Is that it? You're so quick.
Cheers, Steve.

It's been a heroic effort by Dom,

battling to get the 1930s pedal
plane airworthy once again.

Look at that!
On its wheels, finally.

It's really starting to
look like a plane again.

It's been nice and simple,
no problems.

That's actually famous last words!

We shouldn't speak too soon
because I'm not there yet.

But...all this has gone on really
well. Time to tackle that propeller.

Ah, typical! OK.
I did speak too soon.

This is the drive for the propeller
and it's supposed to go

through this piece of wood and line
up with a tab on the inside.

And, of course, it doesn't.
That's no problem though.

I just need to make a little
adjustment in there.

We should be OK.

Oh, yes!

Brilliant!

Cor, that propeller actually
does cause quite a draught!

I can feel it. That is a relief.
Oh, I'm chuffed!

I've got a few finishing
touches to go,

then it's ready to give back
to Charlotte.

This little plane
entertained generations,

before falling into disrepair,

so, Charlotte brought
it to The Repair Shop,

in the hope her children would get
to continue the family tradition.

Now she's back
with daughter Phoebe

to pilot its first test flight.

I'm really excited to see it.

I don't think I'm that nervous
because it was in such a bad state

of repair that I'm just hoping if it
even works, I'd be really happy.

Phoebe is the same age as my
grandfather was when he got it.

I can't wait to pedal in the plane!

Ooh. Hello! Hi. How are you doing?
Hiya, Charlotte. Are you OK? Hello.

Good to see you.
And your name is? Phoebe.

Phoebe. How old are you, Phoebe?
Five. Five years old. DOM: Five! OK.

You know, Jay. I think
that's the perfect age. Perfect...

Perfect size. Perfect size? OK.

Shall we show it to you? Yes!
I feel a bit nervous.

DOM: So do I!

OK. Are you ready?

GASPS

Wow!

It looks amazing! Thank you so much!

Look at it. I can't believe it.

What do you think, Phoebe?
The seat's red.

Yeah, to match the wheels.

Do you think it looks like it
might work? Yeah.

I think it does.

So, Phoebe, are you ready
to have a go? Yes! OK, follow me.

Come on. Here we go.

Can't wait for this. I know.

Are you ready? Yeah. Get pedalling.

Oh-ho-ho! Look at that, man!

DOM: That's brilliant, isn't it?

PHOEBE: I'm flying!

It was so much better than
I could ever have hoped for.

It's working,
the propeller looks amazing,

and it's painted, no sign of rust.

Well done, Phoebs!

Whoa! Look at that!

Here we go!

LAUGHTER

That is quality!
She looks so happy. Bless her.

PHOEBE: I really enjoyed
riding the pedal plane

because I went really fast
when I was going down the hill.

APPLAUSE

Well done!

I was so emotional watching her.
She was having such a great time and

that's how it should have been, the
toy is there to be used by children,

as it would have been done years
and years ago. It's a timeless toy.

PHOEBE GIGGLES

AIRCRAFT ENGINE ROARS

As the plane wings its way
back to the West Country, Kirsten is

tending to her menagerie
of ailing animals.

I think I'm now ready to move on to
consolidating some of these pieces.

Because they are a wood pulp,
they're slightly porous,

so I just want to seal the areas
where bits of the limbs have been

lost, but also seal the areas where
the paint has come away as well.

For the consolidant, I've made up
a solution which is

conservation-grade adhesive,
mixed with acetone.

The poor zebra, I think,
has come off the worst,

in terms of losing
the painted surface.

I'm going to take it right the way
up to the edge of the flaking paint

and what it will do is be absorbed
underneath the flakes of paint.

It just gives me
a good, stable surface to work on.

I'm going to leave that now for
the consolidant to soak in

and to harden off, and, meanwhile,

I can make a start on filling
the baby giraffe.

I've had a little go
at straightening its leg.

I've just sort of pressed it
into shape

and I'm now going to fill these
missing areas here.

I'm going to used a wood filler.

It's slightly softer than the filler
I would normally use

for my ceramics, and I'm just going
to add a little bit

of dry, ground pigment to match it
as closely as I can.

Each one of these cracks,
as I put the filler in,

it's going to just help
stabilise it, so that Amy

and her children can enjoy playing
with these figures again.

This is filling really nicely.

And, even on that leg,
it's starting to look a lot better.

I've got the hippo here.

What's clearly missing
is one of his legs

and a section of this foot as well.

Fortunately, he's quite a sturdy
chap with quite, sort of,

stocky legs, so there's not a huge
amount of refinement there.

I'm going to make up a paste
and just model him some legs.

So I'm just going for a rough shape
and, as this starts to harden,

I'm then able to maybe add a little
bit more on or refine the shape.

It's really lovely, just to observe
their little quirks and characters.

So, that's the hippo, he's standing
on his own four feet again.

I'm now moving on to the fun bit,
the bit that I absolutely

adore, which is the retouching
and bringing these back to life.

I think with anything like this,
there's a real balance to be had.

I want these to go back to Amy

and to be the animals that
she remembers from her childhood.

However, I do want to freshen them
up and just give them

a little bit of life.

The hippo looks brown, but,
actually,

there's quite a lot of red coming
through, so I'm going to

put out a few different colours

and blend them together
and see what I need.

I'm just going to stipple
the paint onto the hippo

and that's two things.

One, I'm trying to mimic
the surface that's already there,

but, also, I'm feeling my way,

trying to sort of find my way in
to the technique and the colour.

I've got very little to go on.

I'm just using these as sort of
little hints

at how it might have been.

I think he's lovely. I think
he's coming together beautifully.

Julyan has cleaned and repaired
the make-do-and-mend uke.

Now it's time to restore its voice.

So, finally at the stringing stage

and I've never had to bolt
strings on before!

And it works an absolute treat,
when you can get the nuts on.

It sounds so simple, but, boy, is it
the fiddliest job in the world!

HE CHUCKLES

Stringing this up, I feel like I'm
following in Francis' footsteps.

I'm experiencing exactly what
he experienced.

TWANGS STRING

Such a mellow sound to this
little ukulele.

So, that's three down
and now for the last string.

This ukulele was handcrafted from
a repurposed cigar box by Kate's

beloved father, Francis,
nearly 100 years ago.

And it holds dear memories of
playing music together as a family.

I've been looking forward to
this moment for quite a while.

It's like being reunited with
a bit of the past again,

to have it back.

I'm hoping that the ukulele is
going to transport me back to my

childhood, when I was ten years old,
sitting, playing it with my dad.

That would be a lovely thing
to happen, wouldn't it?

Hello! How are you doing?
Fine. Hi, Julyan.

Hi. How are you doing, Kate?

I'm fine, thank you.
Great to see you again.

And you. It's good to see you.

I'm so excited to see what's
under that cover.

Poor little thing, strings all
broken, frets all missing,

tuning pegs...loose and not working.
Yeah.

And just feeling sorry for itself.
Are you ready to see it?

I think I am. Do the honours, Jay.
OK. Mm...

Oh!

Oh, would you look at that!
That's beautiful!

Isn't that stunning?

That is just lovely and the frets...

You had to make some new
ones of those, I guess.

They just look identical,
don't they?

Oh, that is so lovely!
And can I just...?

SHE STRUMS

Oh, listen!

Oh, it's so beautiful!

It's... It's just lovely!
Do you know? Isn't it a sweet sound?

It's beautiful. It's very...
Yeah, it's lovely.

I think... Och, do you know?
That is the greatest thing...

That's just like being
ten years old all over again.

Oh, that's fantastic!
That's brilliant.

Look, isn't it perfect?

And it's got all its character
and loveliness,

from the marks from
just hand...being handled.

You can see where he played it,
you know. Yes.

This is going to have lots of happy
years of playing

ahead of it now, isn't it?

So, Jules tells me he had a little
bit of a deal with you,

that you're going to give us a song
if he's able to fix it.

He did. Is that right?
He did and I said that I would.

Ahem.

SHE PLAYS

I might just need a little...
practice. Yeah!

SHE PLAYS

# D'ye ken John Peel
with his coat so grey?

# D'ye ken John Peel
when he's far, far a-way?

# D'ye ken John Peel
at the break o' day?

# With his hounds
and his horn in the morning?

# For the sound of his horn
brought me from my bed

# And the cry of his hounds,
which he oft-times led

# Peel's tally-ho
would awaken the dead,

# Or the fox from his lair
in the morning. #

Oh, wow! Wow!

APPLAUSE

That is beautiful, Kate!

Well done! Oh! That is really,
really good. That's made my day.

And very brave of you. So, when was
the last time you played that?

That would be about 60 years ago,
probably.

This is a lovely way to celebrate
your childhood, your father and his

just making ability, and, now,

you're able to go on
and play some more.

It's just lovely.
I am so, so appreciative, Julyan.

You're so welcome. Thank you
so much. Sweet little thing.

Hopefully, that's going to last for
at least another 90-odd years. Yes!

I hope so! Well, it's been
a pleasure. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Bye-bye.

Take care, Kate. Bye-bye.
See you. Bye-bye.

I can't believe how good it
felt to be playing...

..to be strumming it,
to be playing it.

I think just the sound of it,
that sweet, mellow sound,

really rekindled memories of my dad.

Julyan has restored it to the way
that perhaps it was even

when I first met it in the 1950s,

with all of the loving marks
that my dad has left on it.

It's got all the use and love that
he put into it and that was just...

..that was great.

Kirsten's really earned her stripes

with a meticulous restoration
of the pint-sized animals.

I left the most difficult piece
till last. I don't know why.

I've been painting on all
the zebra lines

and there was quite a few missing,
so it's been a fairly arduous

task, but, I have to say,

it's really starting
to look...like it should.

I'm confident that they are going
to be robust enough for Amy

and the children to play with,

and I hope that she will be
delighted with the outcome.

75 years of enthusiastic play
had left these creatures

looking their years.
Amy is back to find out

if her grandfather's wartime gifts
to her dad are ready to roam again.

It's been lovely, thinking back over
how I used to play with them

and the time we spent
with my grandparents,

and it would just be great
to get them

back to a state where they can be
played with again and hopefully

some more memories can be made,
playing with my girls as well.

Hello. Hi, Amy.
Lovely to see you. Hi.

How are you doing, Amy? Are you OK?
I'm all right, Jay. Very excited!

So, when you brought them in,
they weren't looking their greatest.

No, we had a hippo that happened
to have a missing leg... Yeah.

..some wibbly-wobbly giraffes.
Yeah, yeah.

But the amount of generations that
have played with them... I know!

I suppose, after 75 years, they just
needed a little bit of TLC.

Ready to see them? Yeah.
Go on, Kirst.

Oh, wow!

They're actually...
The little giraffe's standing up!

It's not leaning in a terrible way!

Can I pick them up... Absolutely.
..and have a little look?

Hello, hippo.
You're looking all spruced up!

I can't even remember now
which leg...

..he didn't have.

Wow! That's amazing!

That's like it never lost a leg!

Wow! Well done!

Oh, that is brilliant!
That's unbelievable!

They don't look like they were ever
damaged in the first place.

Oh, Kirsten, you've done
a marvellous job! That's amazing!

Thank you. Oh, my girls are going
to be over the moon with these.

Well, I'm over the moon with them,
but they're going to be as well!

They will be treasured. Lovely.
I'm quite sad to see them go.

It's been a real pleasure, actually.

There we go. Thank you.

I wish you many happy hours of fun,

playing with those.
Bye! Take care. Bye. Bye-bye.

Well done, you.
That's nice. Thank you.

So pleased. They look amazing!

I can't even tell where
any damage was.

I mean, even, like, missing bits.

It's really important for my girls
to be able to play with

the zoo animals. I played with them
and my dad played with them,

my grandpa bought them for my dad,
so the idea of playing with

something that has that link back
to the past is absolutely brilliant.

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