The Repair Shop (2017–…): Season 8, Episode 9 - Episode #8.9 - full transcript

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

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

Things are definitely going to 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.

..come 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 objects 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...

..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!



How you doing? You all right?

Hey, Jay. You all right?

In The Repair Shop today...
Everyone's heard of the Titanic.

..Chris restores
an extraordinary document.

It's a real kick when you get
some artefact like this,

because it is really special.

It's full steam ahead as David
fixes a harmonium...

It's quite a lot of effort.

This and maybe a can of spinach
and I'll be looking like Popeye.

..and a beloved toy gives the
bear ladies pause for thought.

It's a lot worse than I anticipated,

but I'm up for a challenge.

First, a daunting task for ceramics
restorer Kirsten Ramsay.

What do you think? Oh, dear.

SHE LAUGHS

Terrified. Absolutely terrified.

Rather you than me. I mean,
look at that corner. I know.

HE LAUGHS

Putting all of her trust in Kirsten
is Jayne Marston

from North Yorkshire.

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

I'm very good. Hi, I'm Kirsten.
Hello, Kirsten. Nice to meet you.

This must be yours, then.
Yes, it is my beautiful birdbath.

But it was originally my parents'.

It was in the garden of the
first house that they bought

when they first
got married in 1958.

Oh, wow.

And it sort of moved house
with them ever since.

So, it's been in my life
since day one. Mm-hm.

Whenever they moved,
unfortunately, Dad had the task

of trying to move it.

Poor man. Oh, bless.
And it's very heavy. Yes.

And wherever he put it,
it was usually wrong.

In the wrong spot, yeah.
So, Mum had him moving it again.

But it was always in pride of place
where she could see it and take

pleasure from it.
She had a great love of the birds.

She even had fantail doves. Right.

They used to come and feed
off her hands.

They were so tame. Aw.
What are your parents' names?

Pat and Eric. OK.

I lost my mum about two
and a half years ago.

She put on a very brave fight,
but unfortunately lost her battle.

And also, I lost my dad
last year.

So it's been a really
difficult few years.

So when she was poorly, she used
to sit in the window and watch

the birds feeding.

She took a lot of comfort from it.

One of the lasting memories
I have of my mum is she always

promised me to keep feeding the
birds, putting water in the bath.

Because she said, whenever
the birds are near, so am I.

And that is why I'd like
to keep it going.

That's a really lovely sentiment.
It's like your mum was almost

sort of thinking the future,
wasn't it, saying that? Yes.

Yeah. And it's your turn
to just enjoy it. Yes.

Your turn to fill it with water.

I can watch the birds bathing,
bring a smile to my face,

and hopefully keep it going
in the family. Absolutely.

But I'm just so frightened with all
the cracks and things around it.

I didn't realise how bad it had got.

I would be absolutely heartbroken
if it collapses.

Yeah. Um, I haven't ever
worked on a birdbath.

THEY LAUGH

It's got to be watertight.
It's got a hold water.

Yes. And of course, that's right
where the crack is.

Yeah, so it's...

You've presented me with
an interesting challenge.

Yeah. It's going to be a challenge,
isn't it? It is.

Yeah, without a doubt.

But fingers crossed that you'll
be able to make it a little bit

more secure and looking a bit
happier than it does now.

Absolutely.

Well, it's been a pleasure meeting
you. Thank you.

Thank you. Take care. Bye-bye.
See you later.

The birdbath is really special
to me.

It's part of the family.

It's always been there.

Having the birdbath repaired
keeps my parents close to me,

gives me hope for the future.

Normally, the work that I do
is conservation, it's reversible,

and with sort of prolonged contact
with water, it would actually start

to break the restoration down.

Birdbaths are problematic.

Obviously, it's going to sit
with water constantly on the area

that I have restored.

It's therefore quite challenging.

I'm going to have to think
a little bit outside of my usual

realm of materials. But just
to start off, I'm going to give

it a bit of a clean.

I want to get a nice, clean surface
so that when I actually put adhesive

in there and then fill it,
I've got a good surface to work to.

I think there's actually moss
and stuff like that that's

growing on here.

It's years and years worth of dirt
here, so it's not going to disappear

in five minutes.

Next at the barn are Abbas Qureshi
and his son Asad from Manchester.

They're hoping David Burville's
organ restoration skills

can breathe life
into a treasured possession.

How are you doing?
So, what have we got here then?

Well, it's a harmonium.

Beautiful harmonium. It was given to
me by my friend who had imported it

from India. In early '80s,
he gave it to me.

Oh, wow. This is one of the
wonderful things I've ever had.

It goes with my voice.

When you pick a harmonium,
it has to match your voice.

So, obviously,
you're very musical, then.

Semi-classical. Wow.

And do you play? Not as well as him.

THEY LAUGH

I'd sneak in when
he was done practising,

and I'd just, like, have a go.
You know, I'm from

the mountainous part of Pakistan,
and this guy used to play flute

on the mountains, and when he used
to play flute,

you could hear the echoes.
Oh, beautiful. Yeah.

And that fascinated me. Yeah.

That's when I got into the music.
People started saying,

you've got a nice voice. So, that's
how I got into singing then.

Earlier, my first stage show
was when I was eight,

and then we moved to the UK,
1965. I was 10, 12.

And then later on, in mid-'80s,
early '80s,

we performed the band. Oh, wow.

And what was the band called? Shaka.

We used to play right across
the scope, from English

to semi-classical.
And you would use this instrument?

This is my forte, yes.

I would take this with me
everywhere.

We played all over England. Cor.

We used to be so busy. Yes.

We slowly, slowly started drifting
off, because I wanted to spend

more time with my family.
Yeah. We just called it a day.

So, what's actually wrong
with the instrument?

Well, it has come to the point,
it's...

Not really playable.
Does it actually make any noise?

It makes, but you've got to work
very hard for it.

IT PLAYS SOFTLY

See how hard you have to pump? Yeah.

There's a lot of air leaking
all over the place.

Some of the notes don't work
as well.

There's nothing.

IT SQUEAKS

Ah, I see.

And then there's smaller things,
like the keys aren't level.

Some of them stick sometimes
as well.

Yeah. I'd love
to have this back again.

It's such a huge
part of who he is. Yeah.

And we found a bunch of different
other harmoniums over the years,

but none of them have really matched
his voice the way this one has.

So, if I am able to get this
fixed... Yes.

..what sort of songs would
you want to play on it?

It's called the Mast Qalandar.

It's known all around Indian
subcontinent,

from Bangladesh
to Pakistan to Burma.

I'd love to sing that.
I'd love to hear that.

Yeah. So would I.

Thank you so much
for bringing it in.

Thank you very much.
You're very welcome.

Look after yourselves.
Thank you. Take care. Bye, bye.

Harmonium is important to me,
because it does take me back.

The sound, the feel.

I'd love to be able to get
that back again.

As a singer,

I don't think Dad's really complete
without having his harmonium.

So, it'd be really great to have it
back in full working condition.

I've never worked on one of these
little Indian harmoniums before.

I'm really impressed with
the thing. It's quite a work of art.

Abbas said that he was definitely
concerned about the air leaks in it.

Looking at the actual bellows
themselves,

they don't appear too bad,
but I think it's the valves

are leaking, and maybe also the gas
gets inside.

And then we've got some
missing knobs on the front.

So, I'm going to have a go at
turning some new ones up

on the lathe.

I think the first thing I'm going
to do, all of this celluloid-type

material is very, very
yellow and dirty.

So I'm going to clean that all up.

I'm just using some French chalk

and just a little bit of water

and just some mild soap.

It is quite a lot of effort.

This and maybe a can of spinach,
and I'll be looking like Popeye.

With a tough workout of her own,
Kirsten has scrubbed the birdbath

clean and stabilised
the damaged surfaces.

I'm now going to start filling
these chipped areas

and try and press some of the filler
actually into the crack as well.

I'm going to use an exterior
stone filler,

and I'm going to try and tint that
with some pigments

to make it blend in with this glaze.

I'm going to make the colour
before I add the hardener,

so that I've got plenty of time to
actually get the colour to match.

Right, I'm just going to see
how that looks.

I think once I've got some flecks
on the surface to mimic this glaze

as well, that's probably
almost there.

So, I'm now going to add
the hardener.

I'm just going to mix that in.

Right, I'm going to start putting
that in here now.

I always feel slightly apprehensive
before I start new things like this,

but this feels like it's working.

Very satisfying.

This flower has really sort of
suffered with the weather damage.

The great thing here is that

I've got the leaf on this side

that I can look at and I can use

to reference for the new leaf
that I've got to make up.

I'm using two-part epoxy putty.
It's really great

for modelling shapes.
But I've really chosen this

just because it's going
to go outdoors.

And, in fact, this can actually
sit underwater.

So, it's quite suitable.

Once that's gone hard, I can then
add a little bit more and start

to shape it and adjust it,
putting in these details here.

I really enjoy modelling.

Even when I was a kid, I was,
like, playing and shaping things

in clay and stuff like that.

It's fun.

So, that's all the filling
now completed.

With the retouching,

I have got a paint medium which is
suitable for using outdoors,

and it's clear, so I'm going to add
to that some dry ground pigments

and try and achieve
my colour that way.

With this first coat, what I was
really trying to do

was block out that bright white
fill.

There's not just one colour
in a glaze.

Some bits are more transparent,
some are more opaque.

So it's a process of building
that up and recreating that.

That seems to have done the job
really well,

so I will move on to some other
areas

and I'll come back to that
when it's dry.

Harry Dymond and his daughter
Kathryn

have travelled from Southampton

with an heirloom that's logged a
fair few miles of its own.

They're relying on bookbinder
Chris Shaw to restore it.

Hi. Nice meeting you.

Harry, what have you got in there?

Well, it's officially called

a continuous certificate of
discharge. OK.

In other words, it's a record
of all the sailings of a seaman.

And the importance of this
particular book is that it shows

that my grandfather was a survivor
from the Titanic.

What, THE Titanic? THE Titanic.

Wow! Wow!

His name was Frank.

My father's name was also Frank.

OK. So we tend to call my
grandfather Titanic Frank.

Oh, God.

How did he survive?

He was a fireman,

which meant
he kept the boilers going.

He was actually on his way
to the stokehold

when the accident happened.

He described it as a knife
being shorn with a rasp.

Ooh. It was that sort of noise
that he heard. Yeah.

And when he heard that noise,
he knew it wasn't normal.

And so he ran up to the boat deck.

He was in charge of the lifeboat
number 15,

the last one to leave on the
starboard side.

It had 68 passengers on board. Wow.

When he went into the lifeboat,

of course, he was ready to go
on to his shift in the stokehold.

So he was just wearing a pair
of dungaree pants and a sweater.

God. And it's freezing. Tough going.

Yeah. He was in the lifeboat
for about six hours.

Wow. He's probably tough. Tough
man.

Yeah. A tough man.

And so he had that on his person?
Because that doesn't look

like there's any water damage to it.

No, he didn't have that book
with him. He lost his sea. Ah.

If you look at the very beginning,
it actually tells you, there,

that it's a renewal book,

the original lost due to shipwreck.
Oh, goodness.

And it says, "Destination -
intended New York."

Wow.

So, what's actually wrong with it?

It's complete... Yeah.

..thankfully. All the pages are
there, but as you can see,

the pages are themselves loose.

Now, the cover, unfortunately, it's
held together

by bits of electrical tape.

At the moment, it's locked away
because over the last ten years,

probably, I've seen it becoming
more and more fragile.

If Chris is able to keep
his integrity and put it all as one,

what are you guys looking to do
with it after?

What are you going to do with it?

I'd like that book to be able to go
down through my generations

so that in 100 years' time
from now... Yeah.

..they'll be able to still see it.

It must mean quite a lot to the
family... It really does.

because this is history.
It's just like, wow.

To save 68 people...

Yeah. ..is quite an achievement.

Thank you for bringing this
in and telling us about Frank.

Sorry... Titanic Frank. ..Titanic
Frank.

A true hero.

You're very welcome. Now leave it
with us.

I'm getting older and I want
to make sure that that log book

sees its way into the future.

It's a really special piece
of history.

How many people can actually say
that their great-grandfather

was on the Titanic and saved
68 people?

We're very, very proud of him
as a family.

It's an absolutely beautiful book.

It is just amazing. He's gone
all over the place.

It makes me feel really quite
boring, the sort of,

the life of adventure and
travelling,

and all I've come from is
Basingstoke to Oxford.

The main issue is it has quite
seriously come to pieces.

I can repair the edges of the paper,
but there's an awful lot of work

that I have to do before
I can then reconstruct it.

The damage to the cover
is quite extensive.

The cloth is quite badly frayed

and I can see that his name

obviously married up with that
little window.

It doesn't quite marry up
at the moment

because the tape's stopping it.

The first stage, I'm just going
to dismantle the binding.

Just snipping this sewing
thread.

And I'll... Hopefully,
it should be coming away now.

The next stage, really, is

I'm going to take this tape off the
covers.

Actually, that's a lot easier
than I thought.

Snip that off.

Just need to try and get a bit
of purchase on it.

Oh, there we go.

There's a slight mark,

but I think
that will polish out.

I'm going to continue sort of
cleaning this

and then I'm going to take the
boards and detach them completely.

David has cleaned the keys
of the harmonium

and on a close inspection of the
valves,

found something he didn't expect.

I'm just reassembling
the valve unit.

The valves are very specific
to which holes they go over.

The lower notes in the harmonium
have larger holes,

and the smaller notes,

the higher notes, have smaller
holes.

I'd numbered them as I disassembled
it

and as I was starting
to reassemble them,

I realised that actually the order
of the valves

was completely wrong.

The keys, of course, were all up
and down,

and that was actually caused

by the valves not
being in the right places.

And this was causing some
of the notes

to actually sound without pressing
the key.

But fortunately, I've managed
to marry up the correct valves

with the correct holes.

So hopefully, it should've cured
quite a lot of the problems.

I'm just having a look at the bottom
part of the harmonium,

and the gaskets that actually make

the lower section airtight,

with the upper part, are in pretty
poor condition.

They've had some sort of water
damage, I think,

and they've just gone very

compressed and hard, so probably

responsible for a lot of
the air leaks.

Normally, the gaskets in harmoniums
and organs and that sort of thing,

they typically use leather.

So I'm just going to remove
all of these old strips of leather

and cut some new ones and stick
those on, and hopefully that's

going to make it nice and airtight,

so when Abbas is playing it,
hopefully he won't be having to do

too much work pumping the air.

You have to work quickly,
because I'm using hot glue.

One cut straight down to the wood,

and that gives a nice,

really precise, airtight seal.

Great, so the gaskets are now on.

Unfortunately, four of the little
stop knobs along the front of

the instrument have gone missing

and you just can't get hold
of them any more.

So what I'm going to do is
I'm going to use my little lathe

to turn the missing ones
out of a form of resin.

Please with that.

Restoring the cracked
and crumbling birdbath has tested

Kirsten's formidable skills, but now
she's on the home straight.

I'm quite fortunate that the glaze
effect on this birdbath

is quite speckled.

It's like lots and lots of little
dots, and that makes it slightly

easier for me to actually

blend the paint effect

into the original.

Just popping a few browns in there.

I want to dry my brush a little bit
to get that stipply effect.

That speckled effect is blending
in really nicely.

Once I've finished that, it's really
just a coat of clear waterproofer

to go on and then it's ready
to go back to Jayne.

The birdbath was weather-beaten
and on the brink of breaking in two.

But to Jane, it remained a priceless
reminder of her beloved parents

and the joy it gave them.

I'm quite nervous, but I know mum
and dad would be... Oh, they'd be

so pleased that I've brought
it to somewhere where, hopefully,

somebody can do something
with it to keep it for many

years to come.

Here she is. Hello, Jayne.

Hello there. Hi there, Jayne.
Nice to see you again, Kirsten.

Yeah, lovely to see you too.
How are you doing?

Feeling a bit emotional.

I sit and look out of my
window into my garden,

it's not been there and it's just
been really strange. Yeah.

Ready to see it?

Yes.

Take a deep breath. Going to be
fine. Yes. OK? All right.

Wow!

I don't know how you've done it.

It's beauti...

VOICE CRACKS

Thank you so...

Sorry. It's OK.

My mum suffered for a lot
of years...

..with her illness.

But this is saying to me...

..all my mum's pain
and suffering's gone.

I'm sorry.

It's beautiful.

Thank you so much.

You're incredibly welcome.

It means an awful lot.

It's my mum and dad's life in here.

What do you think Mum and Dad
would think of it now?

Oh, my dad would be totally and
utterly amazed,

how you've managed to do it, because
he wasn't at all practical,

wasn't my dad. Yeah.

But Mum would
just be absolutely blown away.

Yeah. She really would.

I just can't believe it.

Thank you for bringing it in.

Thank you.

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

I'm just absolutely blown away
by how beautiful it looks,

and to other people, it's just a
lump of stone.

But to me, it's my family.

Birds particularly meant so much
to Mum, and all you can hear now

is the birds singing.

So I know...

I know they're with me.

Maria Naylor from Lancashire
is bringing in

an adored childhood companion.

He needs some tender care from
teddy bear experts Julie Tatchell

and Amanda Middleditch.

Oh! Hello! Hello!

Hello! Welcome to the barn.

Thank you. I'm Maria.

Hi, Maria. And this is Teddy.

Hello, Teddy.

He's adorable! Lovely.

What can you tell us about him?

He was given to us in 1956.

We came from Hungary.

You actually lived in Hungary?
Yes.

My parents and my sister
and my two brothers.

Right. And it was the 1956 uprising.

The Russians had taken
over control of Hungary,

and my father decided that,
you know, it wasn't the place

to live for us.

We had to leave in the dead of
night. My goodness.

We had to leave very little,
which was practically the clothes

on our backs, to get
to the Austrian border.

So your mum and dad sort of decided
just to move the whole family...

Yes. ..leave everything behind to
move the whole family?

That's correct. That's correct.
Goodness me. Yes, it was...

It was a big thing.

What a brave thing to do.

How old were you?

I was two. My sister Elizabeth,
who was eight months old,

and there was Arthur,

he was four, and Ernest,
he was seven.

We were taken to the refugee camp,
and while we were there,

a little girl saw that
we didn't have any toys,

and this is why she gave
us the teddy. Wow!

And then we went from Austria
to Dover.

Right.
And then Dover to Manchester.

I see. It's amazing how people
just take you into their hearts,

and Teddy represents that that,
right down from the little girl

that gave him to us. Yes.
An important teddy.

Yes, he's very important.

As we got older, myself
and my sister,

we used to play dressing up with
him.

Any bits of rags, bonnets

or anything like that.

And our favourite was
a yellow bonnet

that we used to put on him. Right.

Sweet.

Unfortunately, my sister
died in...in February.

Oh, gosh, I'm so sorry.
Oh, I'm sorry. Yes.

So it was very sudden.

So... But... Aw!

It's unfortunate.

So what do you want us to do?

Well, all I want you to do
is to make him fit to last

a few more years. OK.

Because at the moment he's just
falling to bits, so much

so that his arm nearly fell off!
Yeah!

And my mother repaired him that many
times. His eyes fell off.

I can remember him with really dark
brown glass eyes. OK.

And she sewed these buttons on. So
they've got sentimental

value as well. They have, yes.
Yes, they have.

Can I have a look at him?
Of course you can.

Hello. Oh, he is firm, Ted, isn't
he? He is, isn't he? My goodness.

Yeah. Not exactly a cuddly one.

No, these older bears weren't, you
know. Weren't they? No.

Did he ever growl? Not for us,
he didn't.

THEY LAUGH

You're in safe hands.

We will do our utmost for him. Yes.

And for you and for your family.

Thank you so much for coming in.
Thank you.

Bye-bye. Bye. Bye.

Leaving Teddy behind,
I'm so apprehensive.

I just hope that the ladies
will do him justice.

He needs some sort of TLC,
so his story will live on,

and in turn my story and my parents'
story will live on for generations.

I'm really excited about this.

We've got to be really careful.

Velvet is notorious for fraying,

so we're going to have to be really
careful that anything we do undo

doesn't start to go. Yeah.

I'll open him up... Yeah. ..get the
stuffing out of his tummy... Yeah.

..and then we can start taking him
apart and dividing up the work.

Absolutely. Yeah? Yeah.

We're going in.

SHE GASPS

What is it? Have you found
something?

I'm... I knew!

Dun-dun-daaah!

It's a growler!

Thank you.

There's some air escaping somewhere,
but actually looks quite intact.

I reckon Steve
could have a look at this.

At his bench, Chris is starting
to iron out some of the problems

with Titanic Frank's logbook.

This is a serious crease.

So I'm putting some water along
the edge, just to relax the fibres,

so that when I open it,
it's not going to shatter.

Sometimes if you're using water
on paper, it'll sort

of be too absorbent

and then you'll get a tide mark.
It's a nightmare.

You've got to be really careful.

Luckily, the paper's a really
good quality.

The book's been obviously designed
to survive all the punishment

that life on board could
throw at it, and it has.

The heat on this tacking iron,

it's not red hot, but it
just squashes the fibres

down and dries all the water
and just sort of leaves

it totally flat,

and using a silicon release paper

in between stops the iron making

the paper shiny.

So I'm really happy with that.

Before joining the two pages
together, I'm going

to repair this now,

the outer edge, going to support
it with some tissue paper.

I'm using a very fine Japanese
tissue.

If I cut it,
there'd be too much of a sharp edge.

If you pull it, it makes the fibres
come out so that when you paste it,

the fibres will blend
in with the paper.

So I need to leave that to dry now,

and I can move on to the next one.

So all the pages now are together.

They feel sort of a lot more
substantial, and you can handle it

without actually having to worry

about it falling to pieces.

You know, as I go through sort
of repairing it, the more I get

to know him.

I know that he's five foot,
seven and a half inches tall

and his eyes are brown
and his hair is black.

It's just amazing.

So the next exciting thing is start
putting it all back together again.

To hold it into the book,
I need to sew it.

But before I do that,
I have to attach some paper

around the back.

It's a simple construction,
but very, very strong.

The sewing is going to be sort
of really visible.

I've dyed down this thread in some
coffee and it's come out spot-on.

Just need to get the tension right.

So this is the front board.

I'm going to remove this original
cloth so that I can then re-bind it,

then re-mount this back on top.

It's very important to get his name
lined up, so a bit of a fiddle.

Now the fun starts.

So we're covering it.

I've been very, very fortunate
that, in the workshop, I had a bit

of old buckram.

Buckram, in bookbinding,
is a type of cloth

that's got a surface dressing, so it
becomes sort of, like, waterproof

and it doesn't stain.

So this buckram is from the 1950s,
but it's as close a match

as I'm going to get.

So what I'm doing is re-covering
the whole thing

in this vintage buckram,

and then re-mounting the original
cover back on.

I think it will blend in a treat.

It's a real kick when you get
some artefact

like this, because it is
really special.

Everyone's heard of the Titanic.

It's really important to restore it,

but sort of not obliterate the past.

Think I'm just going to turn
in the corners now.

I have to do lots of little cuts all
the way around, because if I turned

it in, as you normally would,
like a 45-degree angle,

it wouldn't go around the corner.

And I'm going to cut the window.

The buckram's all stuck.

It's a remarkable match.

Going to move on to the back now.

David has almost finished work
on the harmonium,

but now it's reassembled, it's vital
to check that it's airtight.

The real test is pumping the
bellows...

..and that seems to have pumped
right up full, very quickly.

So, moment of truth.

HARMONIUM PLAYS

That's holding air now,
so that's really good.

The last thing to do is just to put
the stop knobs on

and then it's ready to go back.

I'm just hoping that Abbas and Asad

will be as pleased with it as I am.

The harmonium once complimented
Abbas's voice perfectly, but wear

and tear had taken their toll
on the instrument.

Now Abbas is back with son Asad.

I'm hoping that David's done
his miracle on my harmonium.

I'm just dying to see what it looks
like now, what it sounds like now.

Probably cares about it as much
as he cares about me and my sisters.

So it's like leaving a child!

Hello. How are we doing?
David, Jay.

Hi, Asad.
How are you guys feeling?

I'm nervous, excited.
YOU'RE nervous?!

Yeah. Dave, how are you feeling?
Very nervous.

THEY LAUGH

So I think we're all nervous
apart from yourself.

What can I say? I'm NERVOUS
nervous. NERVOUS nervous.

You ready? I'm ready.

Sock it to me.

THEY LAUGH

Here we go.

ABBAS GASPS

Oh, my God!

Amazing.

Well done, David. Thank you.

Look at this, look at this,
all the keys, so clean,

so, so nice. Can I open it up,
have a look? It's yours.

The gaskets are all brand-new.

Oh!

So it's all as airtight
as it possibly can be.

So wonderfully done.

Can I have a go?
It's... It's yours.

HE PLAYS MELODY

Ah!

Ah! Is that a good "Ah"?
"This is beautiful," ah!

Oh. So you did say if it was
working, you're going to give us

a little song as well. You bet I
will. Yeah? OK.

But I'll need a hand with everybody.
There's no rhythm here.

If you can give me a clap,
everybody. OK.

HE SINGS

Thank you. Thank you.

Oh, it was making me sing!

Yeah? Yeah. How's that feel, then?
Good? Oh, fantastic. Yeah?

I could really hear what you meant,
when you brought it in, about the...

Your voice and the instrument blend.
Amazing.

Asad, How did that feel,
seeing Dad play this again?

So incredible. It's hard
to really put into words... Yeah.

..because when he plays it, he
kind of forgets everything else

and it's just him and the
instrument... Yeah. Yeah.

..and it's something amazing which
comes out of it.

You've done... You've done a
fantastic job, David. Thank you.

Thank you. I still can't believe it.
I missed my instrument. Yeah.

Well, it's yours to take home now.
Oh, thank you very much.

You happy? I'm so happy.

Thank you, Jay. David, thank you.
You take care now.

All the best. Bye. Bye-bye.

I don't know how he's done
it, but it looks, sounds

absolutely perfect.

Absolutely perfect!

Taken me back years.

Still got all the character that
it had from my

memories of seeing
it growing up as well.

It's amazing.

When I get the harmonium home,

all of my musician friends
will be coming around,

and then we'll be playing
music, all together.

I'm looking forward to that.

Dismantling the teddy bear given
to a young refugee revealed

a long-forgotten growler.

But Julie's found that he's also
been concealing

something less welcome.

I just need to take off his head
now, and it is a little unusual

to find nut and bolt joints

inside a bear.

They can be a bit fiddly
to take off.

Gosh, that was harder work
than I thought it was going to be!

I don't want to just yank his head
off because it could damage

the fabric further.

I can't budge the metal disc.

He won't beat me.

Oh, here we go. Here we go.

Oh, my goodness!

There you go, buddy.

Aw!

Does that feel better?

That was the most difficult head
removal I think I've ever done.

And now I've got all the joints

on his arms and legs to do as well.

While the bear ladies gear up to
unbolt and unpick the rest

of the teddy, mechanics
wizard Steve Fletcher is getting

to grips with his growler.

The bellows, they're not damaged
at all, so I don't know why

this isn't working.

I think the only thing I can do
is undo this,

have a look inside and just see
if I can see anything from this end.

Well, that's really quite
interesting.

I can see...the reed, and it's...

..stuck up...

I think there's a little bit
of ceramic caught in there,

and because it's caught
in there, the reed won't vibrate

when the air's blown through it.

So what I'm going to do
is remove all the little crumbs

that I can and glue the growler

back into place,

and after that I'm sure
it will work.

I'm hoping it will anyway.

I've finished unpicking Maria's
teddy, and it's a lot worse

than I anticipated.

The previous repairs were done with
a very thick thread,

and unfortunately it's caused big
holes that have...are making the

edges really, really weak.

What I'm going to do is I'm going
to strengthen it by lining it.

This arm has the worst damage
of all of the bear,

so my first plan of attack
is I'm going to lay

all of these pieces onto a nice
wool felt. That will give

me some strength.

And then between the strengthening
fabric and the original fabric,

I'm going to use velvet so that we
don't have the felt showing

through. It'll look nicer, it'll

blend in better with my stitching,
etc. In saying that, this

repair is not going to be invisible,

but it's going to be much stronger.

I think Maria's bear holds
so many memories for her,

it's really important that we keep
the integrity of him

so that when she looks at him,
she's still got those same memories

and that feeling of comfort
that comes with him.

I'm going to have to re-stitch
his nose.

We're going to replace these lovely
little eyes.

We will save those eyes
and we will probably pop them

around his neck.

Maria did say that she thinks

that she remembers dark eyes,

and I have chosen him
a really nice pair.

He's just going to look fab.

When Maria's teddy arrived,
it was really firmly stuffed.

We've got to get that nice
firm feel back.

So I'm using wood wool, exactly
the same as he had when he arrived.

There's a little bit of a knack
to doing this.

I push that down into his hand
and then I twist,

and when I twist, you can hear
that nice sort of crunch,

and that's the end of this tool kind
of locking all the fibres together

and starting to firm up.

I'm going to carry on doing this,
and when they're all finished,

I'll be able to start putting him
back together.

With the 1950s buckram cloth
in place, Chris can move on to the

final stages of reassembling
Titanic Frank's logbook.

I'm really pleased with the way
it's looking.

It looks nice and old already,
because it's a vintage cloth.

The exciting bit now is re-sticking
and remounting the original

cover back on.

Any of the fraying along here, once
I've squashed it, nipped it,

I can then sort that out.

So I've nipped that for a
few seconds,

just to make sure it's stuck.

Now all I've got to do is stick
the edges,

give it a polish and then
Harry can have it back.

When the logbook was left
with Chris, it was fragile

and falling apart, yet still
testament to the bravery of Harry's

grandfather, Frank, who survived
the sinking of the Titanic

and saved 68 lives.

Now Harry and daughter
Catherine have returned

to collect their remarkable
piece of history.

I'm feeling really quite
nervous in a way.

It's the first time it's been out
of our possession, or my possession,

in almost 50 years.

I'm really excited to be back
here with Dad.

I can't wait to see it,

hopefully with no tape on the book,
that would be fantastic.

Hello. Hello.
How are you doing, Harry?

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

How are you feeling? You both
excited? Absolutely excited.

Very excited. I know what it was
like when I brought it in,

I'm just hoping that it's a book
now, not pieces.

You ready?
Yes, absolutely.

Well, lift it off and have a look.

Oh, my God!

That is amazing!

That's incredible!

Wow!

Cor!

There's no sign of the tape.

Whatever you've done, it doesn't
look like you've replaced anything.

It's wonderful. I was really lucky,
I had some vintage buckram,

which was almost spot-on. OK.

It was just, you know, a dream.

Look at that!

I really do not know how
you've done that, Chris.

LAUGHTER

It's just...just astonishing.

And I can tell you, if my
grandfather was here now,

he would be heaping praise, Chris.

Aw! Heaping praise
and congratulations on the way

that's been done.
Yeah. Marvellous.

So, thank you. I've loved it.

Such a nice book. Thank you.
And the history

is just amazing. What a guy.

That is so good.

It's better than I ever
dreamed it could be.

So you've got the history
of Titanic Frank complete. Yes.

You can pass it along now without
fear it's going to fall apart.

Absolutely right. My children have
only ever seen it from a distance,

so it will be so nice now
to actually have them be able

to touch it, and that will be
really special. That's lovely.

Thank you, Catherine and Harry,
for bringing it in.

It's been a real
joy to have it in here,

and it's yours to take home now.
Chris, thank you so much for that.

Thank you. And thank you very much,
Jay. Yeah, no problem.

It's safely away in my pocket.
That's what I like to hear.

All right, well, you guys take care
now. Thank you very much indeed.

Thank you so much. Many thanks.
Amazing. Thank you, Harry.

I'm feeling absolutely elated.

My grandfather would be incredibly
happy.

When Dad pulled the cover back,

it was just a real rush
of emotion to see it whole.

It just meant so much.

It just reflects everything he did.

I can open the book, I can touch it,

I can really appreciate it,

and I'll let the family
do that as well.

The teddy that was given to a child
refugee is almost ready

to be reunited with her.

A team effort means
that he'll be looking

and sounding better than
he has for many decades.

GROWL

In the cavity has to go the growler,
that Steve has fixed for us,

which is really sweet. Listen.

GROWL

He sounds like he's going, "Rowr!"

GROWL

Maria didn't even realise
it was in there, so I think

it's going to be really fun
when she actually realises

that he makes a little sound now.
I hope she likes that.

GROWL

Well, I think he's ready to go
back, don't you?

Yeah.

Your mum's coming to get you.

Teddy was a precious gift
to Maria and her family

after they fled their Hungarian
homeland in 1956.

He gave years of fun to Maria
and her baby sister Elizabeth,

and became worn out as a result.

I'm thinking about my family.

My sister...

..who I used to play with.

And she died four months ago, so,
you know, quite suddenly,

so it was very upsetting,

but it'll be nice to be able to pass

the teddy on to the family.

Hello. Hi! Welcome back! Hello!
How are you doing, Maria?

You all right? I'm very well, thank
you. So what's the dream for today?

It would be nice if he can be like
how I remembered him, when I was

playing with him, when me
and my sister was playing with him.

You're ready, aren't you? Yes.

THEY LAUGH

I really hope
you're going to like him.

Oh!

Thank you!

Is he OK?

MARIA GASPS

The buttons are here!

Yes.

Oh, and his little nose is still
there,

and he's got his brown eyes.

I can remember those brown eyes.
I remembered you saying he had...

Yes. ..brown eyes.
Is that part of the same fabric?

We've done the repair
so that he has got a little scar.

That's part of his life story.
It is.

It is. Where my mum repaired him.

He's lined inside as well
now, so he's... Goodness!

..a little stronger.
He's a little stronger. Yes.

I wish I could show my sister.

I miss my sister. Yeah.

We used to play with him all the
time, and sometimes bickering

over him as well!

THEY LAUGH

Oh, used to put a bonnet on it,
a yellow bonnet.

Funny you should say that.

O-o-oh!

You can do the honours.

Oh, my goodness!

SHE LAUGHS

That is perfect!

THEY LAUGH

Well, there's one more little
surprise, if you pick him up

and tilt him towards you.

TEDDY GROWLS

That's his original growler.
Is it?!

And Steve was able to fix
it for you. Oh, thank you!

You're very welcome.

TEDDY GROWLS

It's just a little "Burp!"

Yes! Yeah.

THEY LAUGH

So sweet!
Oh, it's so gorgeous!

I can't thank you enough.
You don't have to.

We can see how happy you are.

It's just been an absolute pleasure,

and what an important story
he's got to tell. Yes, he has.

He has. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you
very much. Look at that smile.

That's what makes it all, isn't it?
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.

Maria, thank you for bringing him
in. Enjoy him. Thank you very much.

You take care now. Thank you.
OK? Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye, Maria.

Bye-bye.

Teddy being restored is...

..is my childhood, playing

with my little sister.

The memories that he evokes,
of all the kind people

that helped us.

Everything about it,
he's so perfect.

Aren't you?

SHE CHUCKLES

Join us next time as our band
of experts use their skills...

I couldn't be happier.
..to save more treasured items...

SHE GASPS
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