The Repair Shop (2017–…): Season 7, Episode 37 - Episode #7.37 - full transcript
Jay and the team bring three treasured family heirlooms, and the memories they hold, back to life. First through the barn doors is a small, wooden child's chair gifted to a boy with cystic fibrosis. Sam was diagnosed as a toddler and passed away aged 39. Now his father Ian hopes furniture restorer Will can revive the broken childhood chair to pass on to Sam's young son who has never seen it in one piece. It takes three experts to restore a musical wedding album that symbolises the deep love between a young Jamaican couple embarking on a new life together in the UK. Sybil and George came to Britain in the 1950s as part of the Windrush Generation. Following his mum's death, son Owen is now determined to get the album fixed for his father but when he returns to the barn he has some very sad news. And metal expert Dominic and electrical whizz Mark undertake the mammoth repair of a vintage seaside children's ride in the shape of a camel. Humpy has been weathered by a lifetime of living outdoors by the sea but with a whole village expectantly waiting for him, they need to get the precious camel back on his feet.
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 is lovely.
That is 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!
Go on!
..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,
it's just the most wonderful thing
and I'd like to do it forever.
..the team will restore the items...
Whoa!
..the memories...
I'm so happy to see it
..and unlock the stories
that they hold.
That's made it all worthwhile.
Aw!
In the Repair Shop today...
I'm going to service all the parts,
and I'm also going to make a key.
I don't know how I'm going to do
that yet.
..it takes three to restore a
musical memento
of a lifelong romance
rescued from a fire...
I can just see
how much the heat has made
the leather constrict.
..while a ride-on relic is a beast
of a challenge
for both Dom...
Oh, wow! OK.
This is not great.
..and electrical specialist Mark.
Mm, diddly-squat! No!
This is what I was worried about.
Outside, Jay is awaiting the Barn's
first visitors,
father and son,
Ian and Stuart Smith from Leeds.
How we doing? Hiya!
You all right? Yes, thanks.
I see you lugging that box,
what's that?
That is a chair.
In you go. Thank you.
Wood restorer Will Kirk
has a flair for chairs.
Will, don't mind joining us?
Got a chair here.
All right, let's have a look at
this.
I've got a few different
pieces here. OK.
Oh, it's so small!
That is really tiny.
LAUGHTER
OK, so who's chair is this then?
This is my son, Stuart.
It was given to
his eldest brother, Sam,
when he was two years old.
So, who gave the chair to Sam, then?
It was made for him
by his great uncle,
a guy called Fred Heywood.
That's amazing. That's cool.
Yeah. Really?
So, the chair was made for Sam
and tell us about Sam, Sam isn't
here with us?
Well, Sam died in February 2019,
aged 39.
He was diagnosed with something
called cystic fibrosis
when he was, oh, about two.
The lungs, deteriorate to a point
where the body isn't getting
enough oxygen to survive.
Ultimately, that's where you get to.
He never let his condition
stop him doing anything.
Yeah. He travelled around the
world,
he went to Japan, Australia.
Oh, wow.
He's got a partner, got a son.
So, as a family, we feel quite
lucky really
that he got like extra
bonus years out of it. Yeah?
So, growing up with your brother
that had this condition, how was it?
When we were younger, we were we
were super close. Yeah.
And I never treated him any
different
to any other older brother, you
know, used to fight
and you know and play
with each other.
Yeah. We used to throw each other
around and that's where the chair
kind of came into it, because we
used to, you know, we used to use
this as like a little wrestling
moves, you know?
Did you guys break the chair then?
How's...?
No, I'm surprised we didn't break
the chair, but, no,
we cannot be held responsible for
that. Yeah, yeah.
Back in 2005, we were having some
work done at home and unfortunately
a workman accidentally tripped
over the chair
and managed to break off the back.
A local "handyman", as he was
described,
offered to get
the chair repaired.
Unfortunately, he managed
to break the chair even more.
Somehow, he managed to lose
the bottom
piece of that side
of the chair.
But, when it broke,
there's a cavity here
and we found a letter from Fred
that warrants where the wood
came from.
The letter is inside? It's inside.
It's dated January 1982
and it's,
"The mahogany used in this chair
came from
"the first Cunard liner
Mauritania's state room."
What is the Mauritania?
When it was built, it was the
largest cruise liner in the world
in 1906. OK.
And it was only superseded when
the Titanic came along. Yeah.
And finally got broken
up in 1935.
So, how did Fred get the wood, then?
Fred's brother-in-law, Sam's
great grandfather,
was in the crew of the ship.
Cool! That's all right, innit?
We don't expect it to come back
as a new chair,
but it just be able
to stay in the family home.
And Sam's got a little boy,
who's aged eight,
he's never seen it.
We can see it means a lot to both
of you and the rest of your family.
So... Thanks. Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Thank you ever so much.
Thank you. Nice seeing you.
Bye-bye. Thanks. Bye.
If Sam was here,
I think he'd be really pleased,
because his family meant
an awful lot to him.
Yeah.
And I think it just brings
back a lot of memories, doesn't it?
It brings back a lot of memories.
Yeah.
There's a lot of emotion... Yeah.
..wrapped up in that chair.
Yeah.
What a story and what a chair
as well.
It's really sweet, but it's a bit
of a state.
There's a lot that needs to be done
here, but first of all,
I'm going to clean up the old glue
and dismantle the chair.
The Barn's next to rival is Owen
Brown from Luton with another
long-treasured memento,
which he hopes bookbinder
Chris Shaw can restore.
Hello, how we doing?
You all right?
Hi, hello.
Tell me, what have we got
in the bag?
We have a wedding album and it's my
parents'.
And your parents, their names are?
George and Sybil.
Please, tell us about your parents.
Well, my dad arrived in the UK
in 1958 from Jamaica
and he promised my mum
that he would send for her.
Hold on, hold on!
He came from Jamaica? Yeah.
But he left your mum... was
they married in Jamaica?
They wasn't married, they was
courting, yes. All right, cool.
They were courting. Yeah?
So my dad came over... Yeah.
..on the boat, within three days
he managed to get himself a job.
He worked hard. Yeah.
Saved his money.
Sent for me mum.
And she came over on luxury -
on a plane.
That's a lot of money back
in those days.
Yes, so you can see
how hard my dad worked.
Not only that, he must have loved
your mum. Oh, yeah, 100%.
Mum came over September in 1960
and they married in March '61.
So, this is the album
from that wedding night, 1961.
This is the album from that wedding.
Unfortunately, it got damaged
in 1981,
because we had a house fire.
Thankfully, we all survived. OK.
Unfortunately, my dad got injured.
How did he get injured?
Well, we escaped through the
kitchen, but my dad had to go back
through the flames to get one of my
brothers who was upstairs.
Goodness me!
Burnt his arm, burnt his face, but
thankfully
he's still here today.
Everybody was safe. Yeah.
So where was the album then?
The album doesn't look like it's
burnt up?
No, the album was upstairs in one
of the bedrooms, it wasn't burnt,
but there was smoke damage. Right.
Oh, yeah, the pages I can see
it is smoke.
You can sort of just see the dirt,
but you're very, very lucky.
But how clear the photos are.
I can see most
of the pictures on here...
Yeah.
..my dad's staring at me mum.
You know, you just look at my dad's
eyes
and when he's looking at my mum,
that was his girl.
Yeah. And my mum passed away with
cancer
four years this year,
unfortunately. Sorry to hear that.
From when Mum passed away, my
dad's been looking at this album
every day and he reminisces.
He must have been in love big time,
yeah? Yeah.
That was his sweetheart.
Sounds special, man.
Yeah, very special.
So, with regards to restoring it,
what would you like Chris
to do to it?
Obviously, all of this was
all white. OK.
And the cover was all white
as well? Pure white.
Now this here is
a mechanics that winds up and that
used to play Here Comes The Bride.
So there's a music box inside?
There's a music box inside. OK.
Now I don't know who broke this -
I never done it!
Right!
I don't know what you guys
could do with it.
Yeah. It'd be nice to have it
restored again
to present it to my dad.
Yeah.
He'd be over the moon.
Yeah.
It'd just brings back
memories for him. OK.
And, obviously, he would be thinking
of Mum.
She should be here with him
seeing his restored.
Owen, thank you for bringing this
in, we're going to do our best to
get it perfect.
OK? Thank you. You take care, man.
Yeah. OK.
Cheers. Thank you.
See you around.
I'm doing this for my dad
and my late mum.
It'd mean a lot to me and my
siblings
for my dad to look at the album
like it was gifted to him yesterday,
brand-new, and that would
make his day.
Now, that is history right
there, isn't it?
It's a real treasure.
It is absolutely beautiful.
So, what are you going to do?
Well, it definitely needs a clean.
Yeah! I'm slightly concerned,
obviously, there was a huge
amount of heat. Yeah.
And it's actually shrivelled,
or pulled the leather away
from the inside here.
I'd be really happy if I
could get that re-stuck.
Obviously, the mechanism
will need sorting
and the pages, because of the smoke,
could do with a clean.
So, then it sounds like you're going
to need the help of Steve Kember
and also Louise on the paper front?
Yes. Okey dokey.
Yeah, I'll get them on it, I'll get
it organised, OK? Brilliant.
It is a beautiful album
and it's a beautiful skin,
it's sort of pigskin.
The main things I'm really worried
about are, obviously, the colour
on the outside and then replacing
the inside pages,
just because of the acid damage
that's been caused by the smoke.
You can feel the paper has got
a sort of brittleness to it.
Over a period, the paper would
disintegrate and also it would
affect the photograph.
And, so, by replacing these,
it's actually the best thing
you can do.
We're going to keep the first two
pages, because it's obviously got
the writing on it, and Louise
is going to clean this.
So, what I'm going to do
is I'm going to remove
the inside pages and then take
the little mechanism out.
Which should be relatively
straightforward.
Will has got his hands full
dismantling the child's chair,
complete with secret compartment,
crafted from wood
reclaimed from one of the great
British-built
liners of the Edwardian age.
Now that I have taken the chair
apart,
I've cleaned out all the old glue.
Before I can glue it all back
together,
I need to sort out this broken
chair leg.
Now, mahogany is
quite hard to come by.
The Edwardians used a lot of it,
but unfortunately, you know,
it's pretty endangered now.
So, in the spirit of what Fred
has done with this chair,
I'm going to use an old broken
chair leg to patch it.
I'm going to take it over to
band saw and measure out exactly
what I need and cut out the piece.
Now, I need to cut out
the rest of that damaged break on
the bottom of this leg here.
Get myself a nice, crisp, flat line
and flat surface,
then I can splice on the new leg.
And I'm through!
Lovely!
Look at that!
How you doing, Will? Hey, Jay,
you all right?
What I thought would be a good
idea is to write
a letter about the work
that you've done and put
it in the chair as a time capsule.
That's really nice. That would be
cool. Really nice idea.
It'd be exactly like what
Uncle Fred. Lovely.
So, let's give this a go.
So, I'll sign this and I'll pop
it inside. Thank you.
The majority of the joints
on Sam's chair,
are made up of mortise and tenon
joints.
So, you've got a hole on one side.
And you've got a piece of protruding
wood on the other
and they just slot together.
Most of them are broken
off, which is a real pain,
because I'm going to have
to excavate them much
like a root canal.
Take those out and replace them
with new mahogany pieces.
There we have it.
The chair has been glued
and clamped.
It's really good to see it back
on its four legs again.
I will leave that to dry, and once
it has,
I can give it a clean and a polish.
That's the chair sanded back now,
it's nice and smooth.
I'll apply a really thin coat
of polish on the chair.
This will give the wood a nice
shine and also protect it.
It's a lovely colour. It's really
bringing out the nice grain
of the wood, and it's definitely put
a bit more life back into that mouse
on the chair.
I'll carry on polishing
the rest of the chair,
then I can move onto that secret
compartment underneath.
Outside, a hefty challenge
has arrived for metalwork
expert Dominic Chinea.
Look at this!
It's been sent ahead by
Cassey Simpson Foord from Sussex.
There she is. Hello!
How are we doing?
Hi there, nice to meet you.
So this is your camel? Yes.
I've never said that before.
THEY LAUGH
I've always wanted to say that!
Where have you got this from, then?
He's always been in the village
that I live in.
He was outside our local
shop. Apparently, he was put
there in, sort of, 1960. Right.
And then when the shop was taken
over in the '90s, my family
purchased him cos he was such
an iconic part of the village
and he has been in their garden
since.
I guess he used to move
at some point? Yeah.
He just sort of moved
up and down and things, but I just
remember being picked up from school
and rushing
to the shop to go and get
your sweets and save some money
to have a go on Humpy as well.
And how much money did you put in?
I'm sure it was 10p.
You'd get a lot of sweets for 10p,
though. You could, yeah.
I bet that was a tough decision.
Not for me.
I think I loved riding him more!
THEY LAUGH
This is unreal, I mean, absolutely
unreal, cos I normally
associate any ride
like this with the seaside.
Yeah, but we are a seaside town.
Oh, you are? Whereabouts? Winchelsea
Beach. OK, that kind of makes sense.
I was going to say, do you live
by the coast? Looking at the rust!
Yeah! It looks like that sea air,
all that salt, has definitely
taken its toll. Yes.
So what's your plans for Humpy now?
I would love for my little boy
to be able to ride him,
just cos I have so many
happy memories of him. Aw!
And then we have a caravan site
that we'd like to put him on,
so that children of people
that used to ride him when they were
kids could ride him as well. But you
want him to be working, ideally...
Yeah, ideally, working if we could.
..going up and down again?
Everyone's very excited...
Oh, really? ..at the thought
he might be back.
And then the colour on him.
I guess for the kids, it would be
nice if it was brightened up again.
OK. This is quite a lot of pressure,
then, we've not only got
your and your family's memories,
we've got the whole village
that remember Humpy.
Definitely. OK.
Can't wait to get in there
and see what's in there.
Well, it's a first for us, having
a camel, isn't it? Yes, for sure.
THEY LAUGH
Can't thank you enough
for bringing him in.
Thank you ever so much!
Thanks so much. Take care.
I remember being able to ride
him, and it was such fun,
and I would love to be able
to see my little boy have a ride
on him, and I would love
to see him back in the village
and all the other children
riding him as well.
It's a big job, innit?
The first thing I'll do is try and
get the camel off the stand,
then we can really see what we're
working with. All the mechanism and
everything is going to be inside
there. Right.
There's also going to be
lots of electrics in there,
which is a bit beyond me.
No problem, I can get Mark
on the electrics.
And then this base is another issue.
That is going to need quite
some surgery there. OK.
As soon as you get Humpy
off the stand, I'll let Mark know,
all right?
Leave it with me. I'll try, anyway.
JAY CHUCKLES
Come on!
HE GROANS
OK.
Although I don't live there any
more, I grew up in Southend-on-Sea,
and I spent many, many days
of my childhood on rides like this.
This is the motor, so this is
the end of the electrical motor,
and I am over the moon to see
that inside the gearbox...
..look at that,
it's all looking really good.
I mean, everything needs a huge,
thorough clean-up, but at least
it's all moving in there.
It's even still got oil
in there, which is amazing.
This, on the other hand, the poor
old base, has seen better days.
Oh, wow, OK.
It's literally littered with holes.
It's so thin.
I think I'm going to have to make a
whole new base, I've got no choice.
This will be useful for a template,
but I'll be making a whole new base.
I think it's the only thing to do.
Inside the barn, the restoration
of the smoke-damaged wedding album
is well under way. While music box
wizard Steve Kember gets his head
around the broken mechanism, paper
conservator Louise Drover
has started on the stained
front pages.
Just leave it there to soak
and it'll start to release some
of that discolouration.
Chris's task of restoring
the pigskin cover must begin
with a clean.
The type of leather it is has got,
like, a dressing on top,
which I'm hoping won't absorb
the water.
If it gets too wet,
the leather will start moving,
but it has actually taken some
things off,
just needs a bit of a bit of elbow
grease and, sort of, persistence.
It's just like uncovering
an Egyptian tomb. Amazing.
So this sheet was washed, just in
warm water, and now it's dry.
You can still see it's quite
stained, so I'm going to apply
a conservation-grade bleach.
That sounds quite frightening,
but it's been stabilised and the pH
is right for this treatment.
So I'm going to apply it
by spraying the sheet.
You don't see anything straight
away, but gradually,
it will start to lighten.
And it's just a case of leaving
it to work.
Right, so I've taken everything
apart.
Everything seems to be good.
I'll service all parts and I've also
got to make a key to wind it.
All we've got at the moment
is a brass-threaded collar,
and I've got to convert that into
something that is a usable key.
I don't know how I'm going to do
that yet.
I'll think about it while I'm doing
the rest of it.
So what I'm doing is I'm trying
to manipulate the leather
from this area around,
just to get it to stick onto the
board.
You can just see how much the heat
has made the leather constrict.
If I just manipulate it to start
with and then I can glue it,
cos this is where
the major shrinkage has been.
It's definitely going to be enough
to come over.
I think the next thing is I'm just
going to glue it and clamp
it and then just leave it,
and I can come back to it again
when it's dry.
Washing and bleaching has gone
pretty well, actually.
I'll just put these aside to dry,
then I can move on to the next
stage.
There are 15 photographs here.
I'm going to, one-by-one,
just take away this paper
on which they're stuck,
and just gradually pare back
all this card till it's all gone.
I shall carry out the same
process with every one.
And then we're at the stage
where I can reassemble it, put them
into the new album pages,
and it's over to Chris.
So what we've got here is
the remnants of the key.
I can't put a conventional key
on it cos it'll protrude out
the base of the photograph album.
So the plan is to drill a couple
of holes in this
small threaded collar,
and pop my piano wire,
which will be shaped
like that, into the two holes
so it'll hinge and fall back
into the recess.
Anyway, that's the plan.
Ha!
Done it.
So let's try it on the mechanism.
I can wind it, and then fold it flat
when it's not in use,
so it won't dig
into the photograph album.
So that's pretty good, I think.
It works, it's got a key!
Will's been equally successful
with his work on the bespoke child's
chair with the hidden compartment.
I'm nearing the end of the work
on Sam's chair, and before I put
the secret panel back in, I thought
it'd be really nice to tighten
up some wooden knobs that go round
the outside of the panel. Similar
to the leg, I'm actually using an
old, second-hand piece
of mahogany here,
so it's still in keeping
with the rest of Sam's chair.
When this little chair arrived
at the barn, it had suffered
at the hands of rough-and-tumble
brothers, builders and bodged jobs.
Returning to the barn to collect
it is Ian, whose son, Sam, suffered
from cystic fibrosis and died
two years ago.
I'm really excited to be picking
Sam's chair up,
and slightly unsure
what I'm going to see, really.
Hi. How are you doing?
Nice to see you guys.
Lovely to have you back. Thank you.
I can see it seems to be standing
on four legs.
We've got several grandkids who've
never actually seen it standing
on four legs.
They're excited about it.
I think they want to try
and give it a test drive.
Yeah. Are you ready?
Yeah, I'm really ready.
Oh!
Oh! This is great work, Will!
God, I just can't believe it.
And when you brought it in, there
was a letter that you found
inside of it, as well?
That's back in there, is it?
Well, have a look.
Oh, God!
So the panel had been screwed
in place, but I've actually put
these catches on there now so you
can open it up whenever you want to.
There we are. Oh, guys!
HE CHUCKLES
Yeah, that's great. Thanks, guys.
Absolutely amazing.
And what you've actually done
is far more often
than I could have hoped.
And I'm kind of thinking,
well, what would Sam think
about it as well?
And he'd be made-up,
absolutely made-up.
It was a real honour for me
to be able to fix this in his memory
and for the rest of the family
as well.
A lot of people...
..miss him,
and this will help
bring back some really happy
memories. Yeah.
So it's just great to have it back
in one piece.
Thanks so much.
Ian, it's been a real pleasure.
Thanks, Jay. All the best, you guys.
All right, thanks a lot.
Good luck. You take care now.
That's lovely.
Well done, mate, well done.
I'm really proud of Sam,
and he's taught me quite a lot
about resilience and not feeling
sorry for yourself, and living
for today, really.
And you hope you teach your kids
lots of stuff
and they enjoy their life.
But when your kids teach you
stuff...
..that's really, really special.
In the outdoor workshop, Dom's
broken down Humpy the camel's
metalwork into individual parts
to rid them of their rust.
But first, he needs to craft
a study replacement base.
I've had all these pieces cut out.
This is really just the outer
skin of the new base.
Structural strength is essential
for Humpy to be safe to ride.
So I'm going to be putting
in support ribs and a structure
inside here to hold everything
secure.
I really want to make sure that I
get this right the first time.
OK. That's as much measuring
as I can possibly do.
Just got to go for it now.
Inside the barn...
See what little gems we find
inside this.
..electrical specialist Mark Stuckey
has taken on Humpy's inner
controls, including
the rusty old motor.
Not looking very good.
We've got wires literally strewn
everywhere.
The coating around the copper
wires has completely failed.
If you attempted to put
this on, there would be smoke,
it would be dangerous.
I don't even need to test it.
This will have to be taken
apart and sent
off so it can be professionally
rewired.
This is Humpy's control mechanism
for when you put the coin
into the slot, this will activate
the relay. The motor turns,
when it hits a certain point
on a cam, hits the relay, power's
removed and Humpy stops.
Interestingly, you can even
see how popular Humpy
was because it's also got a counter.
There's 82,467 rides. No wonder
why he's in the condition he's in.
I'm going to have a look at it,
just in case it can be brought
back to life.
Basically, this little coil
will have mains across it.
Now, if the coil is going to open
circuit and I don't get a reading,
then it's not going to happen.
All I need to hear on this
particular test...
BEEPING
..is just that beep.
The two are connected together,
everything's fine.
Hm. Diddly-squat.
No. This is what I was worried
about.
It's got damp, it's broken.
So I think, based on this, we go
for a modern counterpart.
So look, we've tried.
We can't do no more than that.
I've now got all of the parts
painted, cleaned,
restored, everything's done.
Now it comes to the nice part.
This is probably one of my favourite
bits to do.
I'm taking here a tracing
of the original Humpy text
that I'll be able to transfer
onto the new base.
On this piece of tracing
paper, I'm rubbing
over the back with charcoal.
I'm now going to flip it over,
put it the right way round again.
At this point, I've got the charcoal
sandwiched between the tracing paper
and the paint.
I've got a nice, sharp pencil,
and when I draw over the front,
I'm going to follow
the original lines.
That pressure from this fine point
is going to transfer bits
of that charcoal onto the painted
surface.
Then when I pull this tracing paper
off, I should be left with a nice,
crisp charcoal line
that I can paint up to.
That's all worked perfectly,
I'm really, really happy there.
Now all I need to do is paint
it back in.
Inside the rewired part
of Humpy's motor has arrived.
I've now got to remember,
and I'm just looking around making
sure everything's present,
I've got to put him back together.
And when I think it's all in its
right position, then we've got
to make sure that it works.
HE PUFFS
This is Humpy's gearbox.
I'm now about to rebuild it.
It's not quite as straightforward
as just sliding on gears
onto the shaft because they're made
with such tight tolerances.
It's all a very tight fit.
The idea behind what I'm doing
here is heating up the gear,
which is going to expand it.
The main shaft has been
in a freezer overnight, that's
going to have the opposite effect
and hopefully contract the metal
and make it shrink ever
so slightly.
And I'm really hoping that with
a combination of both processes,
they're going to fit together
nicely.
Fantastic! That has gone
in really, really well.
That was definitely the most
nerve-racking part
of rebuilding this gearbox.
The rest of it should go together
fairly straightforward.
Inside, on Chris's workbench,
the team effort on the restoration
of the musical wedding album
has paid off.
So the photos have all come back
from Louise and Steve.
He's mended the musical mechanism
and I've just got the simple job
of removing the posts, attaching
the album, and then it's done.
I think Owen's going to just
be amazed.
I think, from what it looked
like at the beginning, I don't think
he'll believe it's the same album.
This wedding album symbolises
the deep love between two newlyweds,
Sybil and George.
Now the repaired is complete,
their son, Owen, has returned
with some sad news.
My dad sadly passed away, so he's
not able to see
the finished product.
Having the album back will mean
a lot to me and my siblings
and the rest of our family.
It's a sad point that my dad
can't see it, but hopefully,
it's been restored and back to new.
Here he is. How are you doing?
Hi. You all right?
Not bad, thank you.
But, unfortunately, Dad passed away,
so he's unable to see this.
I'm sorry to hear that. Yeah.
How did the family cope with that?
Well, I don't think...
No-one's really got over it yet,
especially me. Yeah.
It's a big shock to us all. Yeah.
So, yeah. Really tough.
Yeah, tough time. Yeah!
I do you feel for you, and also the
family. Thank you.
So how do you feel
about picking this up today?
Nervous. OK.
Excited as well.
You ready, Owen?
Yeah, I'm ready. Yeah. Yeah?
Wow.
Is that the same album?
HE LAUGHS
Yes. Seriously? It is.
May I? It's yours, go for it, yes!
HE EXHALES
ALBUM PLAYS THE WEDDING MARCH
Wow, I can't believe it.
This is just...I mean, all this was
just, like, stained,
smoke stains.
I mean, my siblings, they'll be
amazed with it.
It looks brand-new, and you've got
the mechanics working,
the tune playing. Thank you.
This must have even more
significance to the family now.
Yes.
To have this, it's breathtaking.
Words can't express it.
Just look at them.
Have a look, look! I know!
Look at my mum, she's so pretty,
and my dad's so handsome.
Yeah. It's unbelievable.
It's like they're here with me,
if that makes sense. Perfect sense.
Like they're standing right
here with me. Yeah. Thank you.
It's been lovely, and it's just
been a great honour to play such
a small part in it.
It's been a real joy. You take care
now. Cheers, thank you.
I just can't believe how amazing
this wedding album was.
I'm excited to get it home
so my siblings can see it.
It celebrates their love,
their marriage, so I'm excited
to show it off to the rest
of our family.
Thanks to Dom's dedicated paint
skills, Humpy the camel is also
looking spick and span.
Hi, Dom. Mark, good to see you.
Just getting the hump, actually.
HE LAUGHS
The old ones are the best.
LAUGHING: Yeah!
That is amazing!
Once Mark's connected up all
the inner workings, it'll be clear
if this historic children's
ride can be enjoyed again
by a new generation.
I've got to do a fiddly little
bit, but it's very important
because if this doesn't all come
together, and Humpy sits
there and doesn't do anything,
I'm going to have egg on my face.
HE CHUCKLES
So, hopefully, we'll get this
working properly.
There we go. One. Two, look at that.
Then, when I activate the switch,
and the coin drops down,
it then tells that to start
doing its countdown. Ding!
Right, Dom, we are ready to give
it a go. Really?
Are you ready? Three, two, one.
ENGINE STARTS
Hey, look at that!
Brilliant! That's good.
Can't think how long it's been since
Cassey's seen this
spinning like that.
Yeah, how many years - decades?
Yeah. Wow!
There you go! Let's get the old boy
on! It's time.
Come on, then, Humpy. Right.
DOM GRUNTS
I'll tell you what, that paint
job is absolutely amazing.
When Humpy arrived at the barn,
he was a crumbling relic and a
shadow of the ride that once
entertained Cassey and friends in
her village.
Now she's back with the perfect
person to try him out.
I'm hoping that Humpy's
usable again.
My dream is that he is working
and that Albie
can have a ride on him.
How are you doing, Cassey, are you
all right?
Who's a little one, who have you
got?
This is Albie, my little boy.
So how are you feeling?
Yeah, I'm really, really excited.
Yeah?
I'm so excited for him to see Humpy.
Dom, let Albie see Humpy.
Albie, are you
ready? Cassey, you ready?
Yes, I think so.
SHE LAUGHS
Oh, my God!
You lot are amazing!
THEY LAUGH
I don't think I've ever
seen him look that good!
Look!
Aw!
I hope he looks a little bit more
like he did when you were a child.
He looks better than
he did when I was a child. Oh!
He really does, it's unbelievable,
he looks like brand-new!
Oh, you've done such a good job!
Are you going to get on him?
Ride? Yeah!
On you get. Look at that!
This is the first
ride as well! Woohoo!
Press the button. Press the button!
THEY LAUGH
He wants to have a go.
There's 10p on the on the side
there. It'll go straight away.
SHE GASPS
Oh, wow!
THEY LAUGH
Look at that! Oh, wow!
Now, that is a smile - look at his
face!
Oh!
THEY LAUGH
It's brilliant! Is it nice to see
Humpy going again?
It is! He's just like me being
sat up there! It's amazing!
Just so happy!
SHE LAUGHS
And you've made a little boy
very happy as well!
It won't be long before
he'll be riding him on his own.
You'll be jumping up there,
won't you, with all your friends?
SHE GASPS
I want to get off. You want to get
off now?
That's it, he's had enough.
THEY LAUGH
It really brings back my whole
childhood, and I know it'll do
the same for so many people
in our village as well.
The fact that he can be enjoyed
for so many more years
is just amazing. Cassey, thank you
for bringing Humpy here.
It's been a real joy for Dom,
I think, innit? It absolutely has.
And we'll get him shipped up to you.
Lovely, thank you.
It'll be so nice to have him home.
Aw! Pleasure. See you later, Albie!
See you later! Thanks so much.
Take care, bye-bye!
OK, bye-bye. See you later,
bye-bye!
I just can't believe how
good he looks, and the fact
that he's up and working
as well is just incredible.
I just want Albie and lots of other
children around the village to feel
the same magic that I did
when I was little.
Join us next time for more expert
craftsmanship...
This oyster knife is one
of my favourite tools.
..and extraordinary
transformations...
Oh, would you look at that!
..in The Repair Shop.
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 is lovely.
That is 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!
Go on!
..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,
it's just the most wonderful thing
and I'd like to do it forever.
..the team will restore the items...
Whoa!
..the memories...
I'm so happy to see it
..and unlock the stories
that they hold.
That's made it all worthwhile.
Aw!
In the Repair Shop today...
I'm going to service all the parts,
and I'm also going to make a key.
I don't know how I'm going to do
that yet.
..it takes three to restore a
musical memento
of a lifelong romance
rescued from a fire...
I can just see
how much the heat has made
the leather constrict.
..while a ride-on relic is a beast
of a challenge
for both Dom...
Oh, wow! OK.
This is not great.
..and electrical specialist Mark.
Mm, diddly-squat! No!
This is what I was worried about.
Outside, Jay is awaiting the Barn's
first visitors,
father and son,
Ian and Stuart Smith from Leeds.
How we doing? Hiya!
You all right? Yes, thanks.
I see you lugging that box,
what's that?
That is a chair.
In you go. Thank you.
Wood restorer Will Kirk
has a flair for chairs.
Will, don't mind joining us?
Got a chair here.
All right, let's have a look at
this.
I've got a few different
pieces here. OK.
Oh, it's so small!
That is really tiny.
LAUGHTER
OK, so who's chair is this then?
This is my son, Stuart.
It was given to
his eldest brother, Sam,
when he was two years old.
So, who gave the chair to Sam, then?
It was made for him
by his great uncle,
a guy called Fred Heywood.
That's amazing. That's cool.
Yeah. Really?
So, the chair was made for Sam
and tell us about Sam, Sam isn't
here with us?
Well, Sam died in February 2019,
aged 39.
He was diagnosed with something
called cystic fibrosis
when he was, oh, about two.
The lungs, deteriorate to a point
where the body isn't getting
enough oxygen to survive.
Ultimately, that's where you get to.
He never let his condition
stop him doing anything.
Yeah. He travelled around the
world,
he went to Japan, Australia.
Oh, wow.
He's got a partner, got a son.
So, as a family, we feel quite
lucky really
that he got like extra
bonus years out of it. Yeah?
So, growing up with your brother
that had this condition, how was it?
When we were younger, we were we
were super close. Yeah.
And I never treated him any
different
to any other older brother, you
know, used to fight
and you know and play
with each other.
Yeah. We used to throw each other
around and that's where the chair
kind of came into it, because we
used to, you know, we used to use
this as like a little wrestling
moves, you know?
Did you guys break the chair then?
How's...?
No, I'm surprised we didn't break
the chair, but, no,
we cannot be held responsible for
that. Yeah, yeah.
Back in 2005, we were having some
work done at home and unfortunately
a workman accidentally tripped
over the chair
and managed to break off the back.
A local "handyman", as he was
described,
offered to get
the chair repaired.
Unfortunately, he managed
to break the chair even more.
Somehow, he managed to lose
the bottom
piece of that side
of the chair.
But, when it broke,
there's a cavity here
and we found a letter from Fred
that warrants where the wood
came from.
The letter is inside? It's inside.
It's dated January 1982
and it's,
"The mahogany used in this chair
came from
"the first Cunard liner
Mauritania's state room."
What is the Mauritania?
When it was built, it was the
largest cruise liner in the world
in 1906. OK.
And it was only superseded when
the Titanic came along. Yeah.
And finally got broken
up in 1935.
So, how did Fred get the wood, then?
Fred's brother-in-law, Sam's
great grandfather,
was in the crew of the ship.
Cool! That's all right, innit?
We don't expect it to come back
as a new chair,
but it just be able
to stay in the family home.
And Sam's got a little boy,
who's aged eight,
he's never seen it.
We can see it means a lot to both
of you and the rest of your family.
So... Thanks. Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Thank you ever so much.
Thank you. Nice seeing you.
Bye-bye. Thanks. Bye.
If Sam was here,
I think he'd be really pleased,
because his family meant
an awful lot to him.
Yeah.
And I think it just brings
back a lot of memories, doesn't it?
It brings back a lot of memories.
Yeah.
There's a lot of emotion... Yeah.
..wrapped up in that chair.
Yeah.
What a story and what a chair
as well.
It's really sweet, but it's a bit
of a state.
There's a lot that needs to be done
here, but first of all,
I'm going to clean up the old glue
and dismantle the chair.
The Barn's next to rival is Owen
Brown from Luton with another
long-treasured memento,
which he hopes bookbinder
Chris Shaw can restore.
Hello, how we doing?
You all right?
Hi, hello.
Tell me, what have we got
in the bag?
We have a wedding album and it's my
parents'.
And your parents, their names are?
George and Sybil.
Please, tell us about your parents.
Well, my dad arrived in the UK
in 1958 from Jamaica
and he promised my mum
that he would send for her.
Hold on, hold on!
He came from Jamaica? Yeah.
But he left your mum... was
they married in Jamaica?
They wasn't married, they was
courting, yes. All right, cool.
They were courting. Yeah?
So my dad came over... Yeah.
..on the boat, within three days
he managed to get himself a job.
He worked hard. Yeah.
Saved his money.
Sent for me mum.
And she came over on luxury -
on a plane.
That's a lot of money back
in those days.
Yes, so you can see
how hard my dad worked.
Not only that, he must have loved
your mum. Oh, yeah, 100%.
Mum came over September in 1960
and they married in March '61.
So, this is the album
from that wedding night, 1961.
This is the album from that wedding.
Unfortunately, it got damaged
in 1981,
because we had a house fire.
Thankfully, we all survived. OK.
Unfortunately, my dad got injured.
How did he get injured?
Well, we escaped through the
kitchen, but my dad had to go back
through the flames to get one of my
brothers who was upstairs.
Goodness me!
Burnt his arm, burnt his face, but
thankfully
he's still here today.
Everybody was safe. Yeah.
So where was the album then?
The album doesn't look like it's
burnt up?
No, the album was upstairs in one
of the bedrooms, it wasn't burnt,
but there was smoke damage. Right.
Oh, yeah, the pages I can see
it is smoke.
You can sort of just see the dirt,
but you're very, very lucky.
But how clear the photos are.
I can see most
of the pictures on here...
Yeah.
..my dad's staring at me mum.
You know, you just look at my dad's
eyes
and when he's looking at my mum,
that was his girl.
Yeah. And my mum passed away with
cancer
four years this year,
unfortunately. Sorry to hear that.
From when Mum passed away, my
dad's been looking at this album
every day and he reminisces.
He must have been in love big time,
yeah? Yeah.
That was his sweetheart.
Sounds special, man.
Yeah, very special.
So, with regards to restoring it,
what would you like Chris
to do to it?
Obviously, all of this was
all white. OK.
And the cover was all white
as well? Pure white.
Now this here is
a mechanics that winds up and that
used to play Here Comes The Bride.
So there's a music box inside?
There's a music box inside. OK.
Now I don't know who broke this -
I never done it!
Right!
I don't know what you guys
could do with it.
Yeah. It'd be nice to have it
restored again
to present it to my dad.
Yeah.
He'd be over the moon.
Yeah.
It'd just brings back
memories for him. OK.
And, obviously, he would be thinking
of Mum.
She should be here with him
seeing his restored.
Owen, thank you for bringing this
in, we're going to do our best to
get it perfect.
OK? Thank you. You take care, man.
Yeah. OK.
Cheers. Thank you.
See you around.
I'm doing this for my dad
and my late mum.
It'd mean a lot to me and my
siblings
for my dad to look at the album
like it was gifted to him yesterday,
brand-new, and that would
make his day.
Now, that is history right
there, isn't it?
It's a real treasure.
It is absolutely beautiful.
So, what are you going to do?
Well, it definitely needs a clean.
Yeah! I'm slightly concerned,
obviously, there was a huge
amount of heat. Yeah.
And it's actually shrivelled,
or pulled the leather away
from the inside here.
I'd be really happy if I
could get that re-stuck.
Obviously, the mechanism
will need sorting
and the pages, because of the smoke,
could do with a clean.
So, then it sounds like you're going
to need the help of Steve Kember
and also Louise on the paper front?
Yes. Okey dokey.
Yeah, I'll get them on it, I'll get
it organised, OK? Brilliant.
It is a beautiful album
and it's a beautiful skin,
it's sort of pigskin.
The main things I'm really worried
about are, obviously, the colour
on the outside and then replacing
the inside pages,
just because of the acid damage
that's been caused by the smoke.
You can feel the paper has got
a sort of brittleness to it.
Over a period, the paper would
disintegrate and also it would
affect the photograph.
And, so, by replacing these,
it's actually the best thing
you can do.
We're going to keep the first two
pages, because it's obviously got
the writing on it, and Louise
is going to clean this.
So, what I'm going to do
is I'm going to remove
the inside pages and then take
the little mechanism out.
Which should be relatively
straightforward.
Will has got his hands full
dismantling the child's chair,
complete with secret compartment,
crafted from wood
reclaimed from one of the great
British-built
liners of the Edwardian age.
Now that I have taken the chair
apart,
I've cleaned out all the old glue.
Before I can glue it all back
together,
I need to sort out this broken
chair leg.
Now, mahogany is
quite hard to come by.
The Edwardians used a lot of it,
but unfortunately, you know,
it's pretty endangered now.
So, in the spirit of what Fred
has done with this chair,
I'm going to use an old broken
chair leg to patch it.
I'm going to take it over to
band saw and measure out exactly
what I need and cut out the piece.
Now, I need to cut out
the rest of that damaged break on
the bottom of this leg here.
Get myself a nice, crisp, flat line
and flat surface,
then I can splice on the new leg.
And I'm through!
Lovely!
Look at that!
How you doing, Will? Hey, Jay,
you all right?
What I thought would be a good
idea is to write
a letter about the work
that you've done and put
it in the chair as a time capsule.
That's really nice. That would be
cool. Really nice idea.
It'd be exactly like what
Uncle Fred. Lovely.
So, let's give this a go.
So, I'll sign this and I'll pop
it inside. Thank you.
The majority of the joints
on Sam's chair,
are made up of mortise and tenon
joints.
So, you've got a hole on one side.
And you've got a piece of protruding
wood on the other
and they just slot together.
Most of them are broken
off, which is a real pain,
because I'm going to have
to excavate them much
like a root canal.
Take those out and replace them
with new mahogany pieces.
There we have it.
The chair has been glued
and clamped.
It's really good to see it back
on its four legs again.
I will leave that to dry, and once
it has,
I can give it a clean and a polish.
That's the chair sanded back now,
it's nice and smooth.
I'll apply a really thin coat
of polish on the chair.
This will give the wood a nice
shine and also protect it.
It's a lovely colour. It's really
bringing out the nice grain
of the wood, and it's definitely put
a bit more life back into that mouse
on the chair.
I'll carry on polishing
the rest of the chair,
then I can move onto that secret
compartment underneath.
Outside, a hefty challenge
has arrived for metalwork
expert Dominic Chinea.
Look at this!
It's been sent ahead by
Cassey Simpson Foord from Sussex.
There she is. Hello!
How are we doing?
Hi there, nice to meet you.
So this is your camel? Yes.
I've never said that before.
THEY LAUGH
I've always wanted to say that!
Where have you got this from, then?
He's always been in the village
that I live in.
He was outside our local
shop. Apparently, he was put
there in, sort of, 1960. Right.
And then when the shop was taken
over in the '90s, my family
purchased him cos he was such
an iconic part of the village
and he has been in their garden
since.
I guess he used to move
at some point? Yeah.
He just sort of moved
up and down and things, but I just
remember being picked up from school
and rushing
to the shop to go and get
your sweets and save some money
to have a go on Humpy as well.
And how much money did you put in?
I'm sure it was 10p.
You'd get a lot of sweets for 10p,
though. You could, yeah.
I bet that was a tough decision.
Not for me.
I think I loved riding him more!
THEY LAUGH
This is unreal, I mean, absolutely
unreal, cos I normally
associate any ride
like this with the seaside.
Yeah, but we are a seaside town.
Oh, you are? Whereabouts? Winchelsea
Beach. OK, that kind of makes sense.
I was going to say, do you live
by the coast? Looking at the rust!
Yeah! It looks like that sea air,
all that salt, has definitely
taken its toll. Yes.
So what's your plans for Humpy now?
I would love for my little boy
to be able to ride him,
just cos I have so many
happy memories of him. Aw!
And then we have a caravan site
that we'd like to put him on,
so that children of people
that used to ride him when they were
kids could ride him as well. But you
want him to be working, ideally...
Yeah, ideally, working if we could.
..going up and down again?
Everyone's very excited...
Oh, really? ..at the thought
he might be back.
And then the colour on him.
I guess for the kids, it would be
nice if it was brightened up again.
OK. This is quite a lot of pressure,
then, we've not only got
your and your family's memories,
we've got the whole village
that remember Humpy.
Definitely. OK.
Can't wait to get in there
and see what's in there.
Well, it's a first for us, having
a camel, isn't it? Yes, for sure.
THEY LAUGH
Can't thank you enough
for bringing him in.
Thank you ever so much!
Thanks so much. Take care.
I remember being able to ride
him, and it was such fun,
and I would love to be able
to see my little boy have a ride
on him, and I would love
to see him back in the village
and all the other children
riding him as well.
It's a big job, innit?
The first thing I'll do is try and
get the camel off the stand,
then we can really see what we're
working with. All the mechanism and
everything is going to be inside
there. Right.
There's also going to be
lots of electrics in there,
which is a bit beyond me.
No problem, I can get Mark
on the electrics.
And then this base is another issue.
That is going to need quite
some surgery there. OK.
As soon as you get Humpy
off the stand, I'll let Mark know,
all right?
Leave it with me. I'll try, anyway.
JAY CHUCKLES
Come on!
HE GROANS
OK.
Although I don't live there any
more, I grew up in Southend-on-Sea,
and I spent many, many days
of my childhood on rides like this.
This is the motor, so this is
the end of the electrical motor,
and I am over the moon to see
that inside the gearbox...
..look at that,
it's all looking really good.
I mean, everything needs a huge,
thorough clean-up, but at least
it's all moving in there.
It's even still got oil
in there, which is amazing.
This, on the other hand, the poor
old base, has seen better days.
Oh, wow, OK.
It's literally littered with holes.
It's so thin.
I think I'm going to have to make a
whole new base, I've got no choice.
This will be useful for a template,
but I'll be making a whole new base.
I think it's the only thing to do.
Inside the barn, the restoration
of the smoke-damaged wedding album
is well under way. While music box
wizard Steve Kember gets his head
around the broken mechanism, paper
conservator Louise Drover
has started on the stained
front pages.
Just leave it there to soak
and it'll start to release some
of that discolouration.
Chris's task of restoring
the pigskin cover must begin
with a clean.
The type of leather it is has got,
like, a dressing on top,
which I'm hoping won't absorb
the water.
If it gets too wet,
the leather will start moving,
but it has actually taken some
things off,
just needs a bit of a bit of elbow
grease and, sort of, persistence.
It's just like uncovering
an Egyptian tomb. Amazing.
So this sheet was washed, just in
warm water, and now it's dry.
You can still see it's quite
stained, so I'm going to apply
a conservation-grade bleach.
That sounds quite frightening,
but it's been stabilised and the pH
is right for this treatment.
So I'm going to apply it
by spraying the sheet.
You don't see anything straight
away, but gradually,
it will start to lighten.
And it's just a case of leaving
it to work.
Right, so I've taken everything
apart.
Everything seems to be good.
I'll service all parts and I've also
got to make a key to wind it.
All we've got at the moment
is a brass-threaded collar,
and I've got to convert that into
something that is a usable key.
I don't know how I'm going to do
that yet.
I'll think about it while I'm doing
the rest of it.
So what I'm doing is I'm trying
to manipulate the leather
from this area around,
just to get it to stick onto the
board.
You can just see how much the heat
has made the leather constrict.
If I just manipulate it to start
with and then I can glue it,
cos this is where
the major shrinkage has been.
It's definitely going to be enough
to come over.
I think the next thing is I'm just
going to glue it and clamp
it and then just leave it,
and I can come back to it again
when it's dry.
Washing and bleaching has gone
pretty well, actually.
I'll just put these aside to dry,
then I can move on to the next
stage.
There are 15 photographs here.
I'm going to, one-by-one,
just take away this paper
on which they're stuck,
and just gradually pare back
all this card till it's all gone.
I shall carry out the same
process with every one.
And then we're at the stage
where I can reassemble it, put them
into the new album pages,
and it's over to Chris.
So what we've got here is
the remnants of the key.
I can't put a conventional key
on it cos it'll protrude out
the base of the photograph album.
So the plan is to drill a couple
of holes in this
small threaded collar,
and pop my piano wire,
which will be shaped
like that, into the two holes
so it'll hinge and fall back
into the recess.
Anyway, that's the plan.
Ha!
Done it.
So let's try it on the mechanism.
I can wind it, and then fold it flat
when it's not in use,
so it won't dig
into the photograph album.
So that's pretty good, I think.
It works, it's got a key!
Will's been equally successful
with his work on the bespoke child's
chair with the hidden compartment.
I'm nearing the end of the work
on Sam's chair, and before I put
the secret panel back in, I thought
it'd be really nice to tighten
up some wooden knobs that go round
the outside of the panel. Similar
to the leg, I'm actually using an
old, second-hand piece
of mahogany here,
so it's still in keeping
with the rest of Sam's chair.
When this little chair arrived
at the barn, it had suffered
at the hands of rough-and-tumble
brothers, builders and bodged jobs.
Returning to the barn to collect
it is Ian, whose son, Sam, suffered
from cystic fibrosis and died
two years ago.
I'm really excited to be picking
Sam's chair up,
and slightly unsure
what I'm going to see, really.
Hi. How are you doing?
Nice to see you guys.
Lovely to have you back. Thank you.
I can see it seems to be standing
on four legs.
We've got several grandkids who've
never actually seen it standing
on four legs.
They're excited about it.
I think they want to try
and give it a test drive.
Yeah. Are you ready?
Yeah, I'm really ready.
Oh!
Oh! This is great work, Will!
God, I just can't believe it.
And when you brought it in, there
was a letter that you found
inside of it, as well?
That's back in there, is it?
Well, have a look.
Oh, God!
So the panel had been screwed
in place, but I've actually put
these catches on there now so you
can open it up whenever you want to.
There we are. Oh, guys!
HE CHUCKLES
Yeah, that's great. Thanks, guys.
Absolutely amazing.
And what you've actually done
is far more often
than I could have hoped.
And I'm kind of thinking,
well, what would Sam think
about it as well?
And he'd be made-up,
absolutely made-up.
It was a real honour for me
to be able to fix this in his memory
and for the rest of the family
as well.
A lot of people...
..miss him,
and this will help
bring back some really happy
memories. Yeah.
So it's just great to have it back
in one piece.
Thanks so much.
Ian, it's been a real pleasure.
Thanks, Jay. All the best, you guys.
All right, thanks a lot.
Good luck. You take care now.
That's lovely.
Well done, mate, well done.
I'm really proud of Sam,
and he's taught me quite a lot
about resilience and not feeling
sorry for yourself, and living
for today, really.
And you hope you teach your kids
lots of stuff
and they enjoy their life.
But when your kids teach you
stuff...
..that's really, really special.
In the outdoor workshop, Dom's
broken down Humpy the camel's
metalwork into individual parts
to rid them of their rust.
But first, he needs to craft
a study replacement base.
I've had all these pieces cut out.
This is really just the outer
skin of the new base.
Structural strength is essential
for Humpy to be safe to ride.
So I'm going to be putting
in support ribs and a structure
inside here to hold everything
secure.
I really want to make sure that I
get this right the first time.
OK. That's as much measuring
as I can possibly do.
Just got to go for it now.
Inside the barn...
See what little gems we find
inside this.
..electrical specialist Mark Stuckey
has taken on Humpy's inner
controls, including
the rusty old motor.
Not looking very good.
We've got wires literally strewn
everywhere.
The coating around the copper
wires has completely failed.
If you attempted to put
this on, there would be smoke,
it would be dangerous.
I don't even need to test it.
This will have to be taken
apart and sent
off so it can be professionally
rewired.
This is Humpy's control mechanism
for when you put the coin
into the slot, this will activate
the relay. The motor turns,
when it hits a certain point
on a cam, hits the relay, power's
removed and Humpy stops.
Interestingly, you can even
see how popular Humpy
was because it's also got a counter.
There's 82,467 rides. No wonder
why he's in the condition he's in.
I'm going to have a look at it,
just in case it can be brought
back to life.
Basically, this little coil
will have mains across it.
Now, if the coil is going to open
circuit and I don't get a reading,
then it's not going to happen.
All I need to hear on this
particular test...
BEEPING
..is just that beep.
The two are connected together,
everything's fine.
Hm. Diddly-squat.
No. This is what I was worried
about.
It's got damp, it's broken.
So I think, based on this, we go
for a modern counterpart.
So look, we've tried.
We can't do no more than that.
I've now got all of the parts
painted, cleaned,
restored, everything's done.
Now it comes to the nice part.
This is probably one of my favourite
bits to do.
I'm taking here a tracing
of the original Humpy text
that I'll be able to transfer
onto the new base.
On this piece of tracing
paper, I'm rubbing
over the back with charcoal.
I'm now going to flip it over,
put it the right way round again.
At this point, I've got the charcoal
sandwiched between the tracing paper
and the paint.
I've got a nice, sharp pencil,
and when I draw over the front,
I'm going to follow
the original lines.
That pressure from this fine point
is going to transfer bits
of that charcoal onto the painted
surface.
Then when I pull this tracing paper
off, I should be left with a nice,
crisp charcoal line
that I can paint up to.
That's all worked perfectly,
I'm really, really happy there.
Now all I need to do is paint
it back in.
Inside the rewired part
of Humpy's motor has arrived.
I've now got to remember,
and I'm just looking around making
sure everything's present,
I've got to put him back together.
And when I think it's all in its
right position, then we've got
to make sure that it works.
HE PUFFS
This is Humpy's gearbox.
I'm now about to rebuild it.
It's not quite as straightforward
as just sliding on gears
onto the shaft because they're made
with such tight tolerances.
It's all a very tight fit.
The idea behind what I'm doing
here is heating up the gear,
which is going to expand it.
The main shaft has been
in a freezer overnight, that's
going to have the opposite effect
and hopefully contract the metal
and make it shrink ever
so slightly.
And I'm really hoping that with
a combination of both processes,
they're going to fit together
nicely.
Fantastic! That has gone
in really, really well.
That was definitely the most
nerve-racking part
of rebuilding this gearbox.
The rest of it should go together
fairly straightforward.
Inside, on Chris's workbench,
the team effort on the restoration
of the musical wedding album
has paid off.
So the photos have all come back
from Louise and Steve.
He's mended the musical mechanism
and I've just got the simple job
of removing the posts, attaching
the album, and then it's done.
I think Owen's going to just
be amazed.
I think, from what it looked
like at the beginning, I don't think
he'll believe it's the same album.
This wedding album symbolises
the deep love between two newlyweds,
Sybil and George.
Now the repaired is complete,
their son, Owen, has returned
with some sad news.
My dad sadly passed away, so he's
not able to see
the finished product.
Having the album back will mean
a lot to me and my siblings
and the rest of our family.
It's a sad point that my dad
can't see it, but hopefully,
it's been restored and back to new.
Here he is. How are you doing?
Hi. You all right?
Not bad, thank you.
But, unfortunately, Dad passed away,
so he's unable to see this.
I'm sorry to hear that. Yeah.
How did the family cope with that?
Well, I don't think...
No-one's really got over it yet,
especially me. Yeah.
It's a big shock to us all. Yeah.
So, yeah. Really tough.
Yeah, tough time. Yeah!
I do you feel for you, and also the
family. Thank you.
So how do you feel
about picking this up today?
Nervous. OK.
Excited as well.
You ready, Owen?
Yeah, I'm ready. Yeah. Yeah?
Wow.
Is that the same album?
HE LAUGHS
Yes. Seriously? It is.
May I? It's yours, go for it, yes!
HE EXHALES
ALBUM PLAYS THE WEDDING MARCH
Wow, I can't believe it.
This is just...I mean, all this was
just, like, stained,
smoke stains.
I mean, my siblings, they'll be
amazed with it.
It looks brand-new, and you've got
the mechanics working,
the tune playing. Thank you.
This must have even more
significance to the family now.
Yes.
To have this, it's breathtaking.
Words can't express it.
Just look at them.
Have a look, look! I know!
Look at my mum, she's so pretty,
and my dad's so handsome.
Yeah. It's unbelievable.
It's like they're here with me,
if that makes sense. Perfect sense.
Like they're standing right
here with me. Yeah. Thank you.
It's been lovely, and it's just
been a great honour to play such
a small part in it.
It's been a real joy. You take care
now. Cheers, thank you.
I just can't believe how amazing
this wedding album was.
I'm excited to get it home
so my siblings can see it.
It celebrates their love,
their marriage, so I'm excited
to show it off to the rest
of our family.
Thanks to Dom's dedicated paint
skills, Humpy the camel is also
looking spick and span.
Hi, Dom. Mark, good to see you.
Just getting the hump, actually.
HE LAUGHS
The old ones are the best.
LAUGHING: Yeah!
That is amazing!
Once Mark's connected up all
the inner workings, it'll be clear
if this historic children's
ride can be enjoyed again
by a new generation.
I've got to do a fiddly little
bit, but it's very important
because if this doesn't all come
together, and Humpy sits
there and doesn't do anything,
I'm going to have egg on my face.
HE CHUCKLES
So, hopefully, we'll get this
working properly.
There we go. One. Two, look at that.
Then, when I activate the switch,
and the coin drops down,
it then tells that to start
doing its countdown. Ding!
Right, Dom, we are ready to give
it a go. Really?
Are you ready? Three, two, one.
ENGINE STARTS
Hey, look at that!
Brilliant! That's good.
Can't think how long it's been since
Cassey's seen this
spinning like that.
Yeah, how many years - decades?
Yeah. Wow!
There you go! Let's get the old boy
on! It's time.
Come on, then, Humpy. Right.
DOM GRUNTS
I'll tell you what, that paint
job is absolutely amazing.
When Humpy arrived at the barn,
he was a crumbling relic and a
shadow of the ride that once
entertained Cassey and friends in
her village.
Now she's back with the perfect
person to try him out.
I'm hoping that Humpy's
usable again.
My dream is that he is working
and that Albie
can have a ride on him.
How are you doing, Cassey, are you
all right?
Who's a little one, who have you
got?
This is Albie, my little boy.
So how are you feeling?
Yeah, I'm really, really excited.
Yeah?
I'm so excited for him to see Humpy.
Dom, let Albie see Humpy.
Albie, are you
ready? Cassey, you ready?
Yes, I think so.
SHE LAUGHS
Oh, my God!
You lot are amazing!
THEY LAUGH
I don't think I've ever
seen him look that good!
Look!
Aw!
I hope he looks a little bit more
like he did when you were a child.
He looks better than
he did when I was a child. Oh!
He really does, it's unbelievable,
he looks like brand-new!
Oh, you've done such a good job!
Are you going to get on him?
Ride? Yeah!
On you get. Look at that!
This is the first
ride as well! Woohoo!
Press the button. Press the button!
THEY LAUGH
He wants to have a go.
There's 10p on the on the side
there. It'll go straight away.
SHE GASPS
Oh, wow!
THEY LAUGH
Look at that! Oh, wow!
Now, that is a smile - look at his
face!
Oh!
THEY LAUGH
It's brilliant! Is it nice to see
Humpy going again?
It is! He's just like me being
sat up there! It's amazing!
Just so happy!
SHE LAUGHS
And you've made a little boy
very happy as well!
It won't be long before
he'll be riding him on his own.
You'll be jumping up there,
won't you, with all your friends?
SHE GASPS
I want to get off. You want to get
off now?
That's it, he's had enough.
THEY LAUGH
It really brings back my whole
childhood, and I know it'll do
the same for so many people
in our village as well.
The fact that he can be enjoyed
for so many more years
is just amazing. Cassey, thank you
for bringing Humpy here.
It's been a real joy for Dom,
I think, innit? It absolutely has.
And we'll get him shipped up to you.
Lovely, thank you.
It'll be so nice to have him home.
Aw! Pleasure. See you later, Albie!
See you later! Thanks so much.
Take care, bye-bye!
OK, bye-bye. See you later,
bye-bye!
I just can't believe how
good he looks, and the fact
that he's up and working
as well is just incredible.
I just want Albie and lots of other
children around the village to feel
the same magic that I did
when I was little.
Join us next time for more expert
craftsmanship...
This oyster knife is one
of my favourite tools.
..and extraordinary
transformations...
Oh, would you look at that!
..in The Repair Shop.