The Repair Shop (2017–…): Season 8, Episode 11 - Episode #8.11 - full transcript

Welcome to The Repair Shop,

where precious
but faded treasures...

There's an awful lot of work
to do here.

Things will definitely have to get
worse before they get better.

..are restored to
their former glory.

Look at that!

Furniture restorer Jay Blades...

Bringing history back to life

is what makes
The Repair Shop so special.

..and a dream team
of expert craftspeople...

Solid as a rock.



It's actually quite miraculous,
to be honest!

..coming together
to work their magic.

Look at that! Tailor-made.

Just got to keep calm and carry on.

OK, here we go.

It's going to look great.

Employing heritage craft skills
passed down the generations.

This is how it was, so this
is how it will be again.

Preserving irreplaceable heirlooms.

Some object can have so much
emotional attachment to the family,

and that's what pushes me
to want to get it right.

The team will restore the items...

Oh!
..the memories...

So that's the link
between you, your grandad...



..and now my son.

..and unlock the stories
that they hold.

I'm just blown away!

I'm flying!

In The Repair Shop today,
a '60s icon...

There's actually 88 keys,

so it really is patience
that wins over on this.

..gets its groove back.

I've got quite a way ahead of me,
so wish me luck!

A bit of silver powder down there.

Steve cooks up a plan...

This is normal
cooking cream of tartar.

..alchemising silver from brass...

This just stabilises the silver
and brightens it slightly.

..and a freedom fighter's diary

is preserved
for the next generation.

I get an immense amount of pleasure
working on something like this,

because it's so unique. It's sort of
survived. It's a survivor.

But first, a very special mission.

Hayley Fellows and her mum Wendy

are putting their trust
in cobbler Dean Westmoreland.

Hi there. Hello! Are you OK?

I'm good, thank you. Good. I'm Dom.

I'm Hayley. Hayley. I'm Wendy.

Brilliant. What have we got today?

Yeah, please show us! Come on.

They look amazing.
What are they, motorbike boots?

Yes, so my dad, Mike, rode speedway,
sort of the mid-'70s.

What kind of racing is it?

I've always explained that
it's riding around on a track

without any brakes, and you stop it
by using these boots. Ah, right!

So these are literally the brakes.

So that's why they're so special.

That's some skill, is that.
Yes, exactly. Yes.

His parents bought the boots
for him, which was a struggle

for them in that time, because
they didn't have very much money.

It was a complete surprise.

And even now, when he talks about it
and when we've asked questions

about them, he gets very emotional.

So when did Mike start racing?

He started professionally
racing in 1975.

And how long did he race for?

Right up until 1978.
Brilliant.

Has he not come down with you, then?
He hasn't. My dad,

in the end of November,
was diagnosed with a brain tumour.

He did receive some treatment, but
the tumour was just too aggressive

and it had grown
despite the treatment.

It didn't work.
Yeah, it didn't... Didn't work.

OK. Oh, I'm sorry to hear that.

At that point, we were told that
he probably had weeks left to live

and we all decided
that he would stay at home

and that's where he'll...
He'll be until he passes away. Yeah.

He's a fantastic husband.

He really is,
and he's a very special man.

I wish I could meet him.

He really wanted to be here.
Yeah. He really did.

I guess that really means time
with him now has just become

a whole lot more precious.
Yeah. Very, very.

I imagine. Every day is a blessing,
every single day. Yeah.

When I sat him down and said to him,

"Do you have anything
on your bucket list?"

And by that point,
I'd had my son Harrison,

so he had said, "I would love
to give the boots to Harrison.

"They mean so much to me,

"but I would like to look into
getting them restored."

What do you reckon, Dean?

I think it's telling how much
they meant to him

by the fact that
they were on his bucket list.

Do you mind if I have a look?
Yeah. Is that OK?

Wow. They look like they've...
Proper boots, them! Look at them!

The feel heavy, don't they?
Yeah, they do. Yeah.

You've got that steel plate on.
That's on the left foot...

That's right! You don't lift
your foot off the whole time,

just skidding around.
That's right, yeah! Yes!

But when he initially explained
what the boots looked like,

he would say they were blue,

and everybody would walk past
and say, "Yeah, that's Mike."

"There's Mike. There he is."
"They're Mike's boots. That's Mike."

Yeah.

So would you like them
looking how they did

when he was in his prime?
Yeah, yeah.

Like a full restoration?
Can you even do that?

They look so far gone!
I think with the quality of boot,

I think they should
come up pretty well.

Yeah. Lovely.
Because he's so poorly,

there is a really strong possibility

that Dad might not be able
to see the boots.

But for us as a family, they...

Because they mean so much to him,
they mean so much to us.

We've got to make sure we get these
back to Mike as soon as we can.

I'll get cracking.
Yeah, for sure. Yeah.

Lovely. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Thank you.

Brilliant. Nice to meet you both.
See you later. See you later.

The speedway boots
mean so much to us because

we're not going to have Dad
for that much longer,

but we can still
keep his memory alive

by knowing that we've got the boots
and the story behind the boots.

This will always be part of
our family history,

and that is so, so important to us.

They look in such bad condition.
What can you do?

You seem quite confident that you
can get them looking shiny again.

It'll be a challenge, but I think...
I think we can do it.

If the rest of the boots
are going to look new

like they were in the '70s,

do you reckon I should give
that bottom steel plate

a bit of a... Bit of a polish?

If you can do that, yeah.
We better get going.

I'll take this outside. Thanks.
Yeah. Get cracking, yeah? Nice one.

So we're removing the metalwork,
we're replacing the zips,

we'll condition
and clean the leather,

and then we can re-dye it and
get some nice colour back in there.

So there is quite a lot of work.

I'm just taking the zip out now,

and the skill really

is getting the zip out
without damaging the boot.

And I think
we're nearly there with this now.

Just one last stitch...

Yeah!

But that's only half the job.

So, we've got the same thing
to do again on the other boot.

Next, a job for master of
all things keyboard David Burville.

Dave, have a look at this.
Crikey!

Wow, look at that.

Shiny, shiny!

Johnny Green from London

has brought a musical heirloom
in dire need of a tune-up.

All right? Hello there!
How you doing? Hi.

Now, you must be in a band
or something, is it?

Is that what this is here?

Well, it's actually my dad's. OK.

He got it when he was 16
from my grandparents.

It was a birthday present.

It's a birthday present!
Cor. Yeah.

My dad was a keen pianist

and played the organ
in a couple of bands

when he was younger.

So this makes a very
distinctive sound, then?

Yeah, yeah. Bands have used this,
then? Oh, all sorts! I mean,

Beatles, they used them... Really?!

One of the most, probably,
recognisable is The Monkees'

I'm A Believer. Yes.
Oh, yeah, yeah!

That's right. Yeah, yeah.

So this is... This is like
the bee's knees.

So your dad was in a band, yeah?

Yes. So he was very into this,
sort of, this psychedelic rock.

Had this sort of long hair.

Course he did!

He was probably committed,
then, yeah? Oh, yes. Oh, yes!

Yeah, he played this until it broke
some time in the '70s, I think.

He never found out
what was wrong with it.

It's just got a few keys
that aren't working.

So he's tried to get
this repaired or something, and...?

It travelled with him to every
house, every one-bedroom flat...

THEY LAUGH

He always promised to fix it, but...

My mum says, it's sort of
an ongoing joke,

because he'd always say,
"Oh, I'll get to fix it."

So this went everywhere? Yeah.

Since his 16th birthday,
he never parted with this?

Yeah, well, not really!
OK! Yeah.

He obviously felt
very strongly about it. Wow.

Yeah. Unfortunately, he passed away
in August last year.

Oh, sorry to hear that. So he never
got to...

Never got to fix it, unfortunately.
Yeah.

So your intention is to get this
finally repaired for him?

Yeah. Yeah. Well,
it's his legacy. It was his passion.

He... I mean, some of
my earliest memories of him

was around the piano. He was always
playing boogie-woogie and blues,

and he actually taught me how to
play piano when I was much younger.

And are you hoping for this
to be playable? You want...? Yes.

Yeah, oh, yeah. I mean,

I've got a newborn daughter
who's four months old.

Unfortunately, my dad obviously
never met... Never got to meet her.

But I'm hoping that the musical
gene passes through

another generation and she's able to
take this on from me. Yeah, yeah.

Take this on. Got to get this...

No pressure! None whatsoever!
THEY LAUGH

If Dave's able to get this working,
how do you think it's going to feel,

like, retracing
your dad's footsteps?

Because you've never heard this,
never played it.

Yeah. It's... I mean, I
think it's going to be quite...

Quite an emotional experience.
knowing that he's used this

and been able to...
Been playing this when he was 16.

It's going to be a very great
experience. Course it will.

Course it will. Yeah. Johnny,
thank you for bringing this in

and hopefully,
going to get it working.

Yeah, it's going to be
an interesting challenge, for sure.

Take care now. All right? Thank you.
Thanks. Cheers. All right.

My dad was my role model.

He drove my passion for music.

It's infectious!

My dad never
got to meet my daughter.

I think being able
to have this organ,

have it working and
letting her play with it,

it brings them closer together.

Yes, it's part of him
that she can...

She can hold and she can relate to.

It's a nice thing John is doing
in memory of his dad, isn't it?

Yeah, really lovely. But that is
a lot of electrics in there.

Do you do electrics? Not like this!

Get Mark on the case of that, then.
I reckon so, yeah.

There's a lot of damage with springs
and keys and all that sort of thing,

so... Yeah. These are all broken.
Oh!

Yeah! No, I didn't break it!

HE LAUGHS

Well, I'll leave it with you,
let you get familiar. Great. Lovely.

All right? Cheers!

So the first thing
that I've got to do

is to disassemble and actually
get down to the electronic parts,

so that I can give that to Mark.

Then I've got to get
the keyboards out,

which are unfortunately
quite badly damaged,

so I can start to do
some cosmetic work

and actually get the keyboard
in a playable situation.

So, yeah, quite a lot of work!

Having removed the broken old zips
from the speedway boots,

Dean's called upon an old friend
to help sew in the new ones.

So this machine is my baby, really.

It's 106 years old,
and I use it on a daily basis.

Still stitches beautifully
despite its age.

They're a beautiful thing.

A feat of engineering, I think.

Slow and steady's
really important at this stage.

It's the complete opposite
of what Mike would be doing,

speeding around the track
at ridiculous speeds.

It's just sort of seeing all of
these scrapes, all these scars

from Mike literally
sliding around that racetrack.

I just love it!
There's so much history

and happy memories and excitement
in this piece of metal, you know?

I've got this solution here,

which I'm just going to
submerge this boot in,

and it's going to remove and
neutralise all of that rust.

It's just a simple case of
submerging it in there.

So now I'm ready
for the acrylic paint.

Now, the original colour is
neither navy nor royal.

It's kind of somewhere in between.

So I've mixed them to come up with
this really nice rich,

sort of deep royal blue,
which I'm happy with.

And I think it's of the era.

This is acrylic paint for leather.

It's flexible once it's dried,

so it won't crack,
and it's waterproof as well.

So when Mike was racing, these
will have been really bold colours,

and it's so satisfying
to see it change from this

to this bold blue.

Well, it's quite clear that
this metal has definitely

been in here for long enough.

I mean, look at
the swampy black colour

that the solution has turned.

Oh, yes!

Oh, I love this stuff.

Look at that! The rust has all
been completely removed.

That is... I mean, just look at
that.

All that really needs now
is a good little clean-up

with some wire wool just to burnish
up the surface and then,

most importantly, an oil,
which is going to stop it

from going rusty again, and that is
ready to go back on that boot.

Brilliant.

I'm really happy with the colour.
I think that '70s sort of vibe

is coming through
with the white and the blue,

really rich blue.

So originally it had blue stitching
around here, decorative stitch,

so I'm going to copy that,

just going over the original
stitches in a nice blue.

So, sometimes this quest for
authenticity and detail

can make things
a little bit difficult.

But I think when you're working on
things with such a story

and such heritage behind it,
it's really important to keep that.

Preserving heritage is also the
watchword of horologist

Steve Fletcher, as he prepares
for the next challenge.

It's a grandfather clock.

Why's it in bits?

Laying claim to
this intriguing pile of bits

is Suzanne Payne from Shropshire.

Hello. Hello.
How are you doing?

Very well, thank you.

What can you tell us about this
clock, and why is it so many pieces?

My father took early retirement and
always sort of tinkered with clocks

and decided that he wanted to make
a clock for my father-in-law.

My dad would source
all the mechanism

and all the bits and pieces,
really, before the internet,

and it was all
through catalogues, etc. Right!

And in his retirement,

my father-in-law
was going to make the case.

So it was a proper collaboration,
between the two of them.

A proper collaboration
between the two of them.

So why did your father want to make
something for your father-in-law?

Did they get on?
They got on fabulously well.

We went on holidays together.

Yeah, they were very good friends,
both of them,

and they'd known each other
since I'd known my husband, Ian.

He had come to one of my
twin brother's birthday parties

when he was a tiny tot. OK. Yes.
Yeah, we were childhood sweethearts,

so... Awww! So, the family...
The two families knew each other?

Yes, they did.
My father made the mechanism.

Yeah. And then, very sadly,
my father-in-law died suddenly,

so my father said to my husband,

"I'll carry on making the mechanism

"for you and Suzanne,
if you can source the case."

And we said, "Yep, that would be
absolutely fabulous."

And then, sadly, my father died.

So it was left then to myself
and my husband Ian

to finish the clock off,

and then Ian made
all of the bottom of the case,

and then, sadly, Ian died...

..in a traffic accident
nearly three years ago,

and he was 49 years old.

The loss of Ian was devastating.

I'll never get over that,
I don't think.

And I miss him every day,
completely, all the time.

Bless him. Yeah.

I'd give everything back to have him
back by my side, desperately so.

And so it's left to me now,
the clock,

and I would dearly, dearly like it
to be finished. I can see that.

Yes, yeah.

We have got to get this going and
together and looking good. Yes.

This is so important.

Yeah, yeah.

It's a bit more than just a clock.

It's brought the three of them sort
of together, and that's what I like.

And then I'm hopefully
going to get it finished.

It's going to make me think
of my father, my father-in-law,

my darling husband,
and to have it there completed,

it'll just bring a smile to my face

and remind me every time I walk in
of the three chaps.

Desperately so. Yes, yeah.

I want to get this
repaired for you ASAP.

Thank you. Thank you so much.

Take care. You too.
ALL: Bye-bye.

The clock is a tribute, really,
to the three men in my life.

I feel very important
that it should be finished,

and it's up to me to get it finished

and to get it back
up and running again, definitely.

I can see this is an amalgamation
of lots of different clocks.

Originally, this chapter ring
would have been silvered,

so I think I'll resilver that.

The teeth on all the wheels
are quite rough,

so I'll need to polish those up.

So I think the first thing
I'm going to do is just...

I'm going to strip the whole
thing down, clean it all

and then make sure
that each individual part

is working correctly.

The 1960s electric organ has been
passed into the expert hands

of wiring guru Mark Stuckey.

This keyboard, like all things,
can look quite complicated.

It's loads of
the same type of boards.

These individual boards
literally are notes,

and each board
is specific to a note.

So this one here is the key of C,

and then we have dividers
along here,

so it will be the same C,

but an octave lower
or an octave higher.

I am randomly going to
take a couple of these boards out

and I will do
some of what we call static tests.

Here we go.

Yeah, the tester
uses a set frequency.

It puts in a known voltage
to a known current.

It then sees what comes out
the other side, if you like.

And that's come up at 40,

and the reading on the case says

it should be in the order of 39.

So one difference in, what,
60 years is pretty good.

I'll carry on working my way
along all these boards

and get an idea as to
how many may be good.

That will then give me
the probability of success.

There appears to be probably
six, seven, maybe eight keys

that are in pretty poor condition.

So the keys are all broken
at a particular point,

and that is where the key hinges.

I'm going to make
some little wooden ends.

Those will fit into this little
dimple on the back and I can glue

and screw those. That will take
the mechanical force required.

We just offer it up...

We've got a nice square shoulder

and the lines are almost seamless.

All I've got to do is cut that down
to the correct length,

paint them black and match them in.

So, then, that... Not a bad match.

Get them glued and screwed in,

and then hopefully we can
get the keyboard back together.

Right. I've tested now
all the boards,

and the conclusion is,
out of all these boards here,

only two are actually
functioning correctly.

So I will take
all those faulty boards out,

replace what I believe is
the suspect components,

which in this case will be
capacitors, change them,

put them back in,
and then hopefully,

if I get it right,
we'll be online.

The oscillator and
all the other sections

now seem to be working
perfectly well.

That means one down,
only 11 more to go.

Now, I've got the electronic organ
back from Mark,

and the first step is to put
the keys back into the key frame.

This is quite a fiddly job,
because they're sprung

with these little tiny springs
which hook on at the back.

It's a bit of
a laborious task, this.

There's actually 88 keys
in this instrument,

and so it's... It really is
patience that wins over on this.

So I've got quite a way ahead of me,
so wish me luck!

The chequered flag is in sight
for Dean's restoration

of the speedway boots.

This has been one heck of a ride

to get these
looking like they do now.

So the final flourish now is to put
this metal shoe on,

which Dan's done a great job
of cleaning up.

And I think it's really
in keeping with the boot now.

I think these are a fitting tribute
to Mike's racing days.

Hopefully, they'll be a centre point
for Wendy and Hayley's stories

when they tell Harrison
as he grows up.

These boots helped speedway champ
Mike skid his way to victory

around the tracks during the 1970s.

Fixing them was
on Mike's bucket list

after he was diagnosed with
a brain tumour.

But it's fallen to wife Wendy
and daughter Hayley

to collect them today.

We're excited to see the boots.
Obviously going to be very difficult

for us because, unfortunately,
my husband Mike passed away.

Sorry.

OK? Yeah.

I think it will actually help me
get through these next few weeks

or few months and possibly
a few years,

so I'm really, really excited.

We knew that he was very poorly

and it would be likely
that he wouldn't see them,

so it's made it more special for us
as a family to have them.

Hello! Hello.

How are you doing?
Not too bad, thank you.

Hello, are you all right?
BOTH: Hello.

Sorry to hear that Mike's
passed away, from all of us.

Yeah. Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Have you been thinking about the
boots since you've dropped them off?

We have. Even though, at the end,

he wasn't actually able
to understand what was going on,

we still talked to him,
and I'm absolutely sure

that he understood and was
equally as excited as we are today.

I'm glad to hear.
And it was on his bucket list.

It was. So, yeah, it was a...

It's a tick off and it was
something that my dad really wanted.

So I'm just very excited.

Shall I do the honours?
Yes, please, Dean, please.

THEY BOTH GASP

They're like brand-new!

They're fantastic.

Thank you.

Absolutely beautiful.

How did you do this?!

It was a challenge, but...

It's the colour he always
talked about. The colour!

This is his blue colour.
The bright colour. Yes!

Thank you.
You're welcome.

Oh, Mike.
If you could see these now,

you'd be absolutely thrilled.

TEARFULLY: Really, really lovely.
Thank you so, so much.

I can't believe that.

They are still Mike's boots,
aren't they? They are.

They are!
They're still Mike's boots.

Even this bit here, look. Yeah.

Look at all that!

Unbelievable.

Absolutely unbelievable.

I tell you, the first thing Harrison
will do is put them on!

THEY LAUGH

And his...

His legs would come to there! Yeah!

THEY LAUGH

Yeah.

And I think whenever I'm having
a little moment,

I'll just go and get them
and I'll just look at them.

And although it's a really,
really sad time for us,

this is also happy memories.

They really are absolutely
beautiful. They are brilliant.

Absolutely fantastic. I couldn't
have wished for anything better.

Thank you so much. Thank you.

Thank you. You take one
and I'll take the other,

because they're quite heavy.
Ta-ta. Bye-bye.

I feel...
It's a little bit bittersweet.

I really wish more than anything
that my dad was here.

I wish that he could see them.

I wish that he had been the one
to see that cover being taken off.

We did it. We did it for him. Yeah.

Good old Mike. Yeah.

As precious memories
are carefully carried home,

more projects are arriving.

Jasmine Asher from Preston
is hoping metal expert Brenton West

can revive treasured belongings
salvaged from her past.

Hello! Hello! How are you doing?

I'm doing good. How are you doing?
I'm very good. I'm Jay. And you are?

Hi, Jay. I'm Jasmine.
All right, Jasmine.

So what have we got in the bag?

This is my grandfather's
writing slate and diary.

What's a writing slate?

He would have this on his lap
and he would write on it.

So something to lean on?
That's right.

In those days, we didn't have
any tables and chairs.

We were all traditionally sitting
on the floor for everything.

So where was this house?
This was in India.

I was always fascinated by it,

because he would not let
any one of us touch it.

OK! And I would...

THEY LAUGH

..and I would steal it
when he wouldn't be around

to do my homework! OK! Right!

So it has always had
very fond memories of him.

We had a very, very
close connection.

I was his favourite grandchild.

Do you miss him?
Very much. Very much.

And it's a diary as well?
That's right. That's his diary.

He's recorded all the major events
that has happened in his life -

births, deaths, any major
occurrences in the family,

and everything is recorded in this.

It starts in 1936...

Whoa! Wow! ..and goes on to '89.

He was quite well-known
in his community.

He was a very ardent follower
of Mahatma Gandhi

and his ideologies
about non-violence.

He was also a member of

Mahatma Gandhi's
close circuit team. OK.

And he was
a freedom fighter himself,

fighting towards the freedom of
India from the British Raj.

And he would have obviously wrote
those kind of historical things

down in these diaries.
Yes, that's right.

So how come you've got
these two items?

When he passed away,
we were rummaging through some of

the other old things. I found
this diary in there. Wow.

My brother found about
103 fully written diaries.

And where are they?
They've all been disposed of. Whoa!

So this is the only record
that you have

of your grandfather writing?
That's right, yeah.

How would you like us
to restore the diary?

If it can be bound, and
I'm terrified to straighten

these dog ears over here,

because I'm scared
it might fall off in some way.

And then the writing slate.

Originally, it was
a beautiful metallic pink

with not a scratch on it! OK.

But at least if all this damage
can be straightened out,

and I'm hoping that
if it can be restored,

I can then carry on to record
everything. So write in the diary?

That's right. Yes, I hope so.

Jasmine, can't thank you enough
for bringing this in.

I'll leave it in your care now.

Thank you very much. Thank you.
Take care now. Bye. Bye-bye.

Having the diary and the slate
restored is my tribute

to my grandfather and his memory,
so I'm very much hoping

that they will get passed on
to the next generation

and the generation after,
and the legacy lives on.

That is an amazing story.

It was. I'm just amazed
he kept every detail of the family,

and wrote it all down.
I've got a plan for this diary.

I'll get Chris to bind it all up
and make sure it's nice and safe.

Great. Absolutely beautiful.

That, I believe, is yours.
Thank you very much.

I love this colouring on here.
It looks nice, doesn't it? Yeah.

I think we'll leave
a few of the marks on it

because it's part of its life,
isn't it? Yeah. It's part of

its history. Yeah. Jasmine will
like that. Nice one. OK. Cool.

This is an amazing writing slate.

It is just a scrap of aluminium,

but the history, where it came from,

I find astounding.

It needs to be protected
and looked after

and it can go
on through the family.

First, I'm going to bend
these corners straight

with a pair of parallel pliers.

I have got to be very careful
with this aluminium,

because it will have age-hardened
and might be brittle.

So I'm keeping a really good eye,

see if any little cracks appear.

Tasked with completing the project
dreamt up by three family members,

Steve is assessing
the grandfather clock.

I've got all the parts clean enough

so I can see exactly
what I need to work on.

Nearly all the teeth
are really, really rough,

but they're just not
the correct shape at all.

In clockmaking, it's important

that you get the correct
shape of a tooth,

because the teeth are supposed to
roll round each other like that,

and at the moment, they're just
rough against each other,

and it's just not
going to work like that.

So I'm going to try my best

to file up all these teeth
to the correct form.

Because you have to be
so, so gentle,

because you have to make sure
that you don't take too much off.

So you have to just check
after every stroke of the file.

There's about 100 teeth
in this wheel,

so I've really got my work cut out.

Steve may be a dab hand with
the gears and cogs,

but tackling the wooden case falls
to The Repair Shop's wood whiz

Will Kirk.

This is a lovely clock case.

Ian has done such a great job
with the base of this.

It's really solid, really sturdy.

It needs to be polished up to match
the rest of the casing.

But before I can start polishing
that, I really need to make sure

that surface is nice and smooth.

The smoother the surface, the better
it takes the polish and the stain.

I'm now going to resilver
some of the dial parts,

and silvering is basically

putting on a silver powder
onto the clean brass.

It leaves just a very fine layer
of silver on it.

Put a bit of silver powder
down there.

Just start rubbing it on.

And as I rub it, the silver then
comes out of the powder

and sticks to the brass.

This is taking really...

..very well on here.

Now I need to just
swill it off quickly.

If I don't, it'll start going pink.

Just going to clean that off there

before I put some
cream of tartar on it.

This is normal cooking
cream of tartar.

This just stabilises the silver
and brightens it slightly.

You can see there
the difference in the colours.

Lovely.

So I'm going to now start on
the big chaptering

and see how I get on with this.

I've just mixed up
some pigment and some stains

with some shellac polish.

Just starting to go over the base
in a really light wash.

If I put too much colour
in the polish all at once,

there's a high chance
it can look really artificial,

so nice, thin coats
to really build up

that lovely colour is where it's at.

All right, this is
the moment of truth.

You always test a longcase clock
like this before getting it back

into the case, just in case
there are any issues.

That's great. I'm so pleased
there's power getting through

and it's ticking away like this.

I need to test it for a little while

before getting the dial
and hands back on,

then I can get it back over to
the case once Will has revived it.

Also at the fine tuning stage,
David.

At long last, the electronic organ
going back together,

and we found out that this one
was actually a very early model,

and subsequently, it used
a really pioneering circuit board

which are no longer available.

There is no modern equivalent.

We decided to call in
an old work colleague of myself,

so he's gone over it,

and so, between the three of us,

we've managed to actually
get the thing back up and running.

So the last thing left is to
pop the covers back on

and give it a nice little buff up,

and then it's ready to go back
to Johnny and hear that first tune.

I can't wait.

Johnny's father played
this instrument for decades

before passing it on to his son.

He's brought his wife Tori
and daughter Ava

to share the experience.

I'm hoping that, most importantly
today, that David's able to make it

create a sound and to sound
like it would have done

back in the day in the '60s.

It'd be great to be able to
teach Ava how to play it

and hopefully pass it on to her
eventually in the future.

Hello! Hello!
How you doing, Johnny?

Doing all right, thanks.
How you doing?

You didn't tell me
you was bringing anybody!

Yes, today I've brought my wife Tori
and my daughter Ava with me.

Aw! Hello.

Hi!

So, how are you feeling, Johnny?

I'm shaking!
You're shaking!

I'm excited,
I'm nervous, everything.

I'm really looking forward
to seeing it.

It's nice, because
it's something that his dad played

when he was younger, and so it'll be
nice to bring back part of his dad,

which would be... Yeah!
I know! You excited as well?!

You ready to see it?

I think so. Yeah? Dave,
you want to do us the honours?

Here we go. Here we go.

TORI: It looks great!

How does it feel?

I... Words can't describe it.

HE SNIFFS

You OK?

He'd love it.

He would.

I can see it means a lot
to you, Johnny. Yeah?

You've done him proud, for def.

If he was here, he would have been
absolutely ecstatic to... Yeah.

Can I...?
Yeah! Go for it.

HE PLAYS
I'M A BELIEVER

It's fantastic! Isn't it?!
Oh, it's fantastic, really!

Brilliant. Well done,
Johnny, well done. Honestly, I...

It's just absolutely
phenomenal to...

To be able to play, and obviously,
I mean, to be able to keep that...

The passion for music going
through the family.

Oh, bless her.

Yeah, do you want to play?

Aw, wow.

SHE PLAYS

Oh!

THEY LAUGH

Good girl! Well done.
Yeah! Well done.

I think the both of you are
going to be fighting over it. Yeah!

I mean, I can't thank you enough.

It has been an honour,

because it was an iconic instrument.

No, really appreciate it. All right?
Thanks very much. Thank you.

DAVID: You're very welcome.
All the best. You take care.

Bye-bye.

He was happy, wasn't he? Yeah.

To be able to play the instrument
and to hear it, finally, it was...

..really something special.

It's such a fantastic way to be able
to celebrate his life

by being able to play his...

This musical instrument
that he used to own.

It's fantastic. It's unbelievable.

You can't... Can't describe it.

Brenton's efforts
to straighten the corners

of the Indian writing slate
have paid off.

Now he can clean
the tarnished metal.

So I've got some degreaser here
that's not very aggressive,

and it should take any sort of
grime and grease out of the board.

That's cleaning quite nicely.
You can see how dirty it is.

It keeps me fit, anyway!

With Brenton in charge of the slate,

expert bookbinder Chris Shaw

has taken possession of
the tattered diary.

Well, I'm really impressed that
the little pamphlet's survived.

It's truly amazing,
considering there's no protection.

There is some slight damage
around the edge.

The corners have been bumped,
which isn't a surprise.

By wrapping it around with
some new endpapers and a board,

it'll give it huge strength.

I'm going to start using the
Japanese tissue to repair the paper.

I'm going to place this
over the holes, and when it's dry,

I can then sew through it...

..and it won't tear.

You can say it sort of just
blends in amazingly to the paper.

I don't want to cover up the text.

So now I've mended this one page,

I have to go through
the whole pamphlet

and mend every single rip,

so that at the end,
it'll all be nice and strong.

So all the pages are repaired.

Yes, I'm going to choose
some endpapers now.

And the endpapers wrap around
the book and protect it.

This nice sort of tanny-brown
colour goes with the paper.

So I'm just going to cut
the paper down to a rough size.

This is the first process,
bookbinding-wise, that I learned,

you know, 40 years ago.

As long as you can bind this,
you can bind any book,

so it's a real stepping stone.

To actually stick the boards on,

I'm going to use
a slightly heavier weight of paper.

It just will give added strength.

They look about right.

So I'm going to sew
all of these together next.

There, that's finished.

So I'm really happy with that.

To spend a bit of time and effort
recreating a lovely binding

that's going to protect it,
I just think it's so worthwhile.

I get an immense amount of pleasure
working on something like this,

because it's so unique, it's sort of
survived. It's a survivor.

With the stately casework
restored by Will

and his sparkling mechanism
running like a dream,

Steve can rebuild
the handmade grandfather clock.

This is the best part of doing any
repair or restoration to a clock.

Seeing what it looks like
when it's all together.

Just going to swing
the pendulum there.

CLOCK TICKS

That's great.
Got that lovely, lovely tick.

It's like a heartbeat.

I'm so pleased with that.

And this will be the first time that
Suzanne has seen this completed,

so I know that
this will mean so much to her.

The clock was a collaboration
between three men

who meant the world to Suzanne,

but they never
got to complete the project.

Now she's returned, determined
that their legacy be fulfilled.

I'm thinking today is going to be
an extra special day,

because to see the clock working and
to think about the people it's made

so much difference to in my life,
like my father-in-law, my father,

and Ian, my husband, as well.

It's all of their work in that clock

and I just can't wait
to see it finished.

How you doing, Suzanne?
Hello. You all right?

I'm very well, thank you, Jay.
How are you? Very good. Good, good.

Hello. Hello, Steve. How are you?
I'm good, thank you.

I can't wait to see it!
It's really, really exciting.

It's going to be
a bit emotional, I think,

but, yeah, it'll be great to see it.

So it wasn't working.
It wasn't working.

The bottom wasn't finished. No.

And it just needed, like,
an overall... It did.

It needed a lot of TLC, definitely.

OK. You ready?
I think so!

Oh, gosh.

SHE GASPS

Oh, guys. Gosh. That is amazing.

Oh, Steve, thank you so much.

Oh, gosh, guys,
that is out of this world.

Oh, I can't believe it. Oh, wow!
Gosh, look at the bottom.

Oh, gosh.

Gosh, look at the... the...

..the second hand going.

SHE GASPS

CLOCK TICKS

You hear that? I can!

Wow!

Gosh, that's such a soft sound
as well, isn't it?

Because you've never heard it work,
you know? No, I never have.

Does it chime as well, Steve,
or not, or...? It does.

Does it?! Yes.

CLOCK CHIMES, SUZANNE GASPS

Wow!

Oh, that's amazing, isn't it?

Will did all the casework.
Did he do all the casework?

Yeah. Wow! Gosh.

So the three men,
if they was able to see this now,

what do you think
they would think of it?

I think they'd be sort
of quite proud, really, I hope.

Yes, yes. Yeah. Yeah. I think so.

To see it sort of finished
and in its glory now.

Ian would be overwhelmed
by this, actually.

He wouldn't be able to believe it.

He'd have thought it was
absolutely amazing. Yeah.

Myself and Ian would have been
married for 30 years

in September of this year.

So this is extra special,
for it to come back to me,

and obviously, it'll be there
on that anniversary.

Perhaps we could even have a little
party around it to celebrate.

Yes! That might be an idea. Yeah.

It's something I can remember him
for the rest of my life,

for him, really, in the clock.

Thank you for bringing this in.

Thank you so much.
It's been very, very special.

Thank you. Thank you. OK. Bye-bye.
You take care now. Bye-bye. Bye.

The clock, now it's finished,

is sort of the next chapter
in my life carrying on.

Throughout the rest of my life,

I will never forget
my father-in-law,

my father or my husband, Ian.

I miss Ian every day.

And every time I come in and out of
the house, which is my forever home,

it will signify those three
special people in my life,

and especially Ian.

In Chris's capable hands,

it's a very important date for
the Indian family diary.

Now the exciting bit
is the covering paper,

and luckily,
I found some vintage Indian paper,

which I'm really pleased with,
because it's two-tone colour to it.

The motif, it's a famous paisley

which does come from
Kashmir originally.

I'm working relatively quickly,
because you don't want the paper

to absorb too much of the glue
and start wrinkling.

And then the tricky bit now
is to tuck it in.

So now I just need
to mould it into the shape.

I'm really happy with that.

Just need to leave that to dry,
and while that's drying,

I think I'm going to make another
little booklet exactly the same,

so they can carry on the family
tradition and write in it.

For Jasmine,
the writing slate and diary

encapsulated her
freedom-fighting grandfather

and his passion for
recording life's events.

Now she's returned to the barn

in the hope of continuing
the tradition with her own diary.

I had always been very attached
to that slate, because I've always

seen my grandfather
using it on his lap to write.

It was special for my grandfather,

along with the diary, and therefore
it's special for me.

I can't wait to see
what magic they have done.

Hello! Hello. How are you doing?
Not bad. How are you guys doing?

Very good. Hello there. Hi there.

How are you feeling? Excited.

Yeah? Really excited.

I just want to hold it in my hands.
And the notebook. Well...

Yes. ..the sheets of paper
that you left us. It was just...

Yes. ..a bit in tatters as well,
wasn't it? That's right, yeah.

Ready? Yep.

Oh, my God!

Can I?
Yes, you can!

Oh, God!

This is beautiful!

I can't believe you guys
have managed to do this.

It's amazing, it's gone smooth
as well, and the colour is there.

It had quite a lot of dirt
and things on it... Yes.

..which cleaned off. Yes.

It brings back so many memories.
But most important of all,

when my grandfather passed away,
I didn't see him.

I couldn't say goodbye to him.
Right.

So I'll be holding this in my hand

like I'm holding
my grandfather's hand.

I'm ever so grateful to you all.

Oh, wow!

All the dog-ears have gone!

JAY CHUCKLES

That's courtesy of Chris.

He's bound it and just made sure
it's a bit more presentable.

Yeah! It's amazing.

Oh, I can't tell you
how excited I am.

And I'm so happy!

It's beautiful.

I'll be able to use it now. Yes.

Just like your grandfather did.
Just like Grandfather did. Yes.

We wanted you to keep
the tradition going,

what your grandfather started. Yes.

Christopher has also made
an empty one there.

Oh, my God!

This is brilliant!

What a surprise!

Oh, thank you!
Continue that tradition.

It will go on, yes.

It is very important.
Thank you for bringing it in,

and hopefully this helps you to keep
the family's tradition going.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

No problem. Bye-bye. OK. Bye!
You take care. Bye-bye.

The slate, I couldn't have
asked for more.

My grandfather would have been
so proud to see it,

and for it to be repaired
at the level that it has been,

it's amazing, absolutely amazing.

History is very important.

The diary will be continued.
Everything will be noted.

I'm never going to let it go
for as long as I'm alive.

It's going to be with me.
It's not going anywhere.

Join us next time,
as more history is uncovered...

That is gorgeous.

..and memories brought to life...

SHE GASPS

Oh, wow!

..in The Repair Shop.