Welcome to The Repair Shop,
where cherished family heirlooms are brought back to life.
This is the workshop of dreams.
Home to furniture restorer Jay Blades.
Nowadays, everybody spends a fortune on stuff that, once it's broken,
they just bin it. But everybody has something that means too much to be
thrown away, and that's where we come in.
Working alongside Jay will be some
of the country's leading craftspeople.
Every piece has its own story,
it's amazing to think that some of my work becomes part of that story.
I've always played with things, I've always repaired things,
and I just love it. There is a real pleasure in bringing people's pieces
back to life again.
Each with their own unique set of skills.
I can't wait to get started.
They will resurrect...
..revive... Come on, man!
..and rejuvenate...
..treasured possessions
and irreplaceable pieces of family history.
Wow!
Bringing both the objects...
She's fantastic!
That's just taken me back 50 years.
..and the memories that they hold...
Oh, yes!
..back to life.
Oh, my God!
BELL RINGS
In the Repair Shop today,
Sonnaz and Will get their hands dirty
with a very old piece of furniture.
While silversmith Brenton tackles a tricky fix -
two metal ladies destroyed in a World War II air raid.
They're made of spelter.
It is very fragile, and they're certainly not built to be bombed,
I'm afraid.
First into the Repair Shop are Hilary and Mike Elphinstone.
With them, a much-loved member of the family.
Hello! Hi, welcome.
They're hoping that soft-toy experts Amanda and Julie
can help bring him back to life.
OK, what have you got in there?
Oh, wow.
Hello, you! That's Fred Bear.
Hello, Fred Bear.
Fred Bear! He's lovely.
Tell us a little bit about him.
He's 50 year old, he was bought for Maria, our eldest daughter,
for her first Christmas, and he was about the same size as her, I think.
Maria then had two more sisters and a brother,
hence the very battered look,
because he was carried around by his ear a lot.
Yeah. Yes, I know, I see that's gone, you haven't got that.
Oh, dear.
But Maria's...
..emigrated to Australia.
OK, and she didn't take him?
She couldn't take him because he's full of straw.
So customs won't allow Fred in.
Won't allow Fred in. He might be contaminated.
To prevent the introduction of pests and diseases,
Australian Customs has strict rules about importing plant materials,
which includes Maria's bear Fred and his wood-fibre stuffing.
Since then, one of her daughters, Lauren, has had a little boy,
Elijah Jay. Congratulations!
And I would really love him to belong to Elijah now,
cos he's part of our lives.
Part of the family. It sounds a bit corny, doesn't it?
No, no, it doesn't. Not at all. It doesn't. So it's getting him out
there. It's getting him out to Australia.
OK, so where did you buy Fred, or where did you get him originally?
We bought him from the Co-op in Chesterfield,
and I think I paid a ridiculous amount, like £5,
which was an awful lot of money in those days.
He is a good quality bear, he's a German bear.
Oh, is he? Yes, he is, by a company known as Schuco.
The Schuco company, better known for making miniatures and things
like that, so it's quite nice to see one of these bigger bears.
He does growl.
Does he still? Well...
You've got to have the knack.
TEDDY PURRS SOFTLY
He does! She's got the knack! Clearly I have!
What would you like him to look like? Like to see him furry.
Furry? Please, yeah.
What I'm concerned about at this time is we're going to be giving you
a new Fred Bear back - not Fred Bear.
Perhaps we could just do the tummy, the body, keep his original head,
legs and arms. So, he's got a little bit...
We could age down some fabric so he's got a little bit of fur coming
through, so it's in keeping with the rest of him.
And what about a new ear?
Is that possible? Absolutely.
We will do that for you.
We know he's a bit of a challenge.
We like a challenge. We like a challenge.
But he'll be safe here.
And we'll let you know as soon as he's ready to come and collect.
Lovely. Thank you very much!
I'm really glad that they're actually not going to make him look
like a really modern bear,
that he's still going to look like Fred, isn't he?
And that is the main thing.
Can't wait to tell my daughter, can't wait to show her.
When Fred Bear goes to Australia...
..it's going to be a mixture of emotions, definitely, because...
..he just reminds me of the children so much.
Amanda and Julie's mission is to get Fred fit to pass Australia's
strict custom controls.
We've basically got to get the stuffing out.
Now, this is wood shavings.
Normal circumstances, we would always replace like-for-like,
to keep him authentic, so it's really unusual,
but we are going to replace it, aren't we, with...
..polyester? Yes.
At the end of the day, Fred Bear belongs to Hilary,
and she wants to get him to her grandson,
and we want to do our utmost to make sure that happens,
so, whatever it takes, really, to get him there.
Oh, poor Fred!
But it's all for the good. Absolutely.
There we go.
So I'm going to take the arms off.
His limbs are held on with a pin and washer,
and Fred's not parting with them without a struggle.
This is proving more difficult than I anticipated,
this one is really rusty.
Oh, come on, Fred.
Give me your arm.
Yay! Yay!
There it is, that's what's given me all that trouble.
I've got another four of those joints to wrestle with,
and Julie can carry on unstuffing them and getting them all ready
to be cleaned.
Many items that arrive at the workshop have been passed down
through generations of the same family...
..and the next is no exception.
Hi. How are you? I'm Sonnaz.
Sarah Allen from Staffordshire is hoping furniture restorer Will Kirk
and upholsterer Sonnaz Nooranvary can rescue her family piano stool.
So, this belongs to you.
It does. What's the story behind it?
Cos it looks very well-used.
It is, it's about 112 years old.
Ah.
It's been in my family since 1905,
you can sort of see the date on the plaque,
although it's a little bit dirty.
Oh, gosh. It was awarded to my great-grandfather,
William Henry Tappenden,
who was a mason, and he lived in Margate in Kent,
and they wanted to build a new lodge, a new masonic lodge,
so, he became the secretary of - it does actually say an there -
the Debenture Association.
It was for his esteemed duties that he carried out really well,
as being the secretary of that,
from the masons, so it was awarded to him. He was presented with this.
And obviously it's been in the family
ever since then. It survived two world wars.
Gosh. Amazing.
And, then, when my grandad died, it went to my mum,
so, then, they gave it to me, so, I've had it for at least 20 years.
Wow. Is it used today at home?
Occasionally.
OK. But, unfortunately, I don't play so...
Are there any budding pianists?
My son does, he'd play the piano, my sister used to play as well,
so, she's played it. OK, and they used this stool?
Yes, yeah. Oh, lovely.
It does look as though it has had...
It has! ..a really hard life. I mean,
have you ever had it reupholstered or restored before,
or is this exactly how you have had it?
And this is how you remember it?
Yes. It looks as though there was some carving...
Yes. Hmm, carving.
This would be Will's department.
Yes, you're missing some carving there, aren't you? Broken there.
And is that missing underneath there as well?
So, was this broken when this came into your...?
I don't remember having the carving on there.
Would you like to see it...
..in the same fabric again, as you know it?
I did speak to my mum, she's 84,
and I said to her about changing the upholstery -
she did say it would be nice to see it just as it was, really.
Yeah, as it should be. Yeah, and for me to see the plaque,
cleaned up so you can actually read what's on it.
That is lovely, isn't it? Yeah. I think we've got our work cut out.
Yeah. Lovely. Thanks a lot for coming down.
Thank you. Thank you very much. Bye-bye.
I feel quite responsible for it, it's been in the family 112 years,
quite emotional to see somebody else walk away with it,
to leave it here and go home without it.
My mum's really quite excited about getting it repaired,
then she'll know as well,
that it will be able to carry on down the family for however long,
another 112 years.
Lots of work to be done. Lots of work to be done.
Somehow, I feel like I've got the most work.
I agree. Do you?
OK, fine! Yes, but I have got no idea how to take his seat base out.
It looks like it's dropped in, but it's a bit tight,
so whether there's a hidden screw up underneath it or not, I don't know.
Shall I take it over to your bench? Yes, please. OK!
First job - prising out a seat pad which has lain undisturbed
for several decades.
I think it might be glued in there.
What's this?! This sharp stick you're waving around!
Sorry, it's my regulator.
Your regulator. I've used it to sort of pry this up a bit.
OK. If you go that end...
Shall I use it like that?
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, and I'll go this end.
WILL SPLUTTERS
Look at that. That is a...
Oh!
Eugh.
Look at that! Wow, look at that!
Those must be the original green colour there. Hm, yeah.
That is really nice.
So are you going to try to replace that...
Yeah. ..back to that original green,
as opposed to the bleached-out, yellowy green?
Yeah, definitely. I'll let you get on with...
Stripping this back. Stripping that back. OK.
I'll be careful not to breathe it in.
Yeah, don't breathe it in, whatever you do.
Oh!
There's another clean-up operation over at Amanda and Julie's bench.
Fred Bear is getting a deep clean - his first bath in 50 years.
As you can see, it's proving quite effective.
I will continue to do this,
changing the water and adding new soap until the water runs clear.
That's lovely, that is such a good feeling,
all those years of dirt, and I'm sure I haven't finished yet.
I'll fill it up again and see how much we can get out
with a second wash.
While Julie carries on with Fred's shampoo,
Amanda sets about restoring the other careworn parts.
So, here is my lovely piece of mohair.
We're going to use this piece to make Fred Bear's tummy.
It's not the right colour,
so we're going to have to age it down and colour it and make it look
like it's part of Fred Bear.
So, the first part of the process will be to get some colour into it.
I'm making myself a nice, strong brew of tea here,
I'm going to put four tea bags in initially...
..and just let them brew in this boiling water.
If my tea doesn't get me quite the right tone,
my next step will be coffee,
because that tends to be a slightly different tone, slightly darker,
but I think for Fred, tea is going to be the one.
Mohair is an extremely expensive fabric.
This stuff comes in at about £120 a metre,
and I'm just about to plop it in tea.
Wish me luck.
Mohair is a woven fabric, but it's woven from goat hair,
it's the fleece of a goat.
It's been popular with teddy bears right since the very first ones
in 1902.
Traditional bears were always made out of this mohair fabric.
I lift it up and sort of squeeze.
You can see already we're getting that really lovely, aged,
sort of golden, faded mohair look that I'm wanting.
Right, so I'm going to leave that now to have a soak,
and I'll check it now and then
to make sure I've got the right depth of colour.
And then we'll take it out and have a look, see what we've got.
I'm feeling quite pleased with that, actually,
it's looking really good.
I will check before I go to the next stage, but, yeah,
I think we got it first time. Brilliant.
The fur's now the right colour,
but Amanda still has some work to do to make it match the rest of his
well-loved body.
One of the things that Hilary specifically wanted was to be
able to stroke and feel some fur,
so we've got to get it spot-on so that she's got enough fur that she
feels he's got that nice, soft tummy.
But it's also got to be in keeping with the rest of him.
The first thing I will do is
shave that bit of his tummy.
RAZOR BUZZES LOUDLY
It's quite nice.
It is quite sad,
to see such a beautiful piece of mohair being treated like this.
But he needs to look good.
I feel it is quite artistic, actually,
getting the right balance and getting it right,
and it's literally doing it by eye, just looking,
but you can see already I've started to thin out some areas there.
Chest hair suitably trimmed and ruffled,
Fred can now be pieced back together.
We can see that he's starting to take shape now,
and we can kind of see where we're going with him, so, yeah,
I'm really pleased with the progress.
Hm. And have... You've already done his ears?
Yeah, yeah, I was...
He only had one ear when he came in,
so I split that ear
and used a bit of the tummy that he no longer needs
to make backs for the ears.
Fantastic, so we've used original fabric.
Yes, yeah. A bit of a sort of skin transplant.
Absolutely, moved it from one area to another! Perfect!
Now the most important job - to get Fred through customs,
gone is the wood-fibre filling, and in goes the man-made polyester.
Doing this by hand is more unusual nowadays,
but the good thing about packing it in tightly is that it's not going to
move. If we fill him properly,
there's nowhere for that stuffing to move to.
So it's worth putting that bit of extra effort in now.
And we'll have all his limbs ready to go onto his body,
which is quite exciting, cos he'll start to look like Fred Bear again.
Next to call into the Repair Shop,
Jeremy Harrison from south-east London,
to meet metalworker and silversmith Brenton West.
Hello there, I'm Brenton. I'm Jeremy, nice to meet you.
Hi, Jeremy. So I believe these are yours.
Jeremy has a pair of very precious but very damaged statuettes.
Well, they were my parents',
and they were given to them as a wedding gift when they got married
on 17th August, 1940 so...
So, who gave them to your...?
We don't know, we don't know who gave them to them,
but my mum was from a very large Irish family in Bermondsey.
OK. And my dad came from a middle-class family in Essex,
so we think these are probably from the Essex side of the family.
But, three weeks later, my parents' house was completely destroyed
in the Blitz. Oh, no.
And when they went to the rubble, this is all they could pull out.
Everything was destroyed, my mum's wedding dress,
so, they lost all their wedding photographs practically.
So sad, isn't it?
It was just a pile of bricks, and this sticking out.
So, were your parents in the air raid shelter at the time?
Yes, yes, but it didn't seem to faze them, they just said, well, look,
it was what happened in those days.
It is what happened, isn't it? Yeah. Imagine that now.
So, this is the one link we've got to 17th August, 1940.
Really, really important.
We didn't know about them,
my parents boxed them up and kept them in the loft until 1979.
Right. And, then, when we moved, these materialised.
But she kept them because she wanted them fixed.
And my dad died in '97, and Mum died in 2010.
And we never got them fixed for them, cos we didn't know how.
I mean, they've gone through the wars - literally - but
there's a snapped piece there.
Oh, someone's had a go at glueing this, haven't they?
Cos that bit of stone is broken and then is back on again there.
Oh, right. So someone has stuck that bit of stone back on.
Probably me dad. And then he probably lost heart with it all,
didn't he, thought, "I can't do this!"
"This is too much," he said. "I'll stick that in a box in the loft."
So, getting these fixed - what would that mean?
It would mean a very great deal,
it would be like a memorial to my parents,
cos they went through such a lot during the war.
They're looking down, saying, "Go on, do it, come on."
"Get it done." They were very proud of them,
we want to see them in their true glory.
No pressure on me, then!
Yeah, there is lots of pressure!
Well, they're really nice items, and I will do my best for you.
I know you will, I've got every faith.
Thank you! Thank you very much and good luck.
OK. Bye!
I'm feeling surprisingly anxious,
now the statuettes have been kept here.
They've not left the house since 1979,
so I feel like I've lost a talisman,
and I'm hoping that when they come back,
they'll bring good fortune to the house.
Seeing them mended would be absolutely fantastic.
I can't actually imagine it,
because I keep thinking that they look a bit drunk,
the way they are on the floor, and, well, let's hope they've sobered up
by the time you bring them back.
I've got Jeremy's statues here, which were damaged in the Blitz
in 1940, and they've had a good old bashing.
They're made of spelter, which is a zinc alloy.
It is an economical casting metal,
similar to bronze,
but it melts at a lower temperature,
and it is very fragile,
and they're certainly not built to be bombed, I'm afraid.
The metal the statuettes are made from makes this repair a minefield
for Brenton.
Spelter is very difficult to solder and easy to damage if you get it
too hot, so, on this occasion, I know how precious these are,
I'm going to be glueing them together.
So, the first thing I've got to do is to repair this part of the base.
There's a crack there, I've got to put some glue in that,
and then I've got to clamp it closed so that the glue makes a good
contact and have that piece repaired first.
I'm mixing epoxy glue, which is a two-part glue.
So mixing the two parts makes a chemical reaction
that makes the glue start to set.
I'll put some more glue in there.
Because the more glue, the merrier, as far as I'm concerned.
Back in the barn,
Sonnaz and Will have divided the renovation of the 112-year-old
piano stool into the upholstery and the woodwork.
Jay's checking in on how the young duo are doing.
What do you need the timber for?
That's a bit loose, that's a bit loose.
So, you're going to replace them? Yeah. Going to carve them out
with that? I am. All right. I'm actually really excited.
If you're going to carve all of that, it's got to look
very similar to that. Very similar. So those are the only bits
that need doing on this, then?
They are the main bits.
It just needs, like, a good old clean.
Yeah, it is quite dirty, isn't it? A clean and a polish up.
OK. Get carving!
Get carving, thanks, Jay. All right.
Next, over to Sonnaz,
and a chance for two upholstery experts to put their heads together.
How are you getting on with that piano stool? Very well, thank you.
You're here just at the right moment, actually.
Am I? A few more tacks to take off,
and then we can see, kind of, what's going on underneath.
It's a bit dusty. Yeah, it will be dusty.
Can I do the glory run of tack lifting?
Yeah, this is loads of dust, innit?
I know, it's just years and years -
I don't think it's ever been reupholstered,
and I think that means that this is the original velvet.
And look at the difference in colour.
Ooh, cor.
But that's just the sun doing that, isn't it? Exactly, yeah. Yeah.
Wow. It's pretty...dusty.
Yeah. Even though there's nothing wrong with the actual upholstery
itself, it's just nice to replace this with new,
because it will be holding a lot of dust.
Not only that - this isn't up to fire regs, is it?
Because that... That is a very good point.
This is very flammable, this stuff. Yeah, it is.
So, yeah, replacing it with new stuff.
You've got it covered, then. I've got it covered! See, eh?!
Jay! I'm going to leave you to it, I'm going to leave you to it.
OK. All right.
So, right now, I am mapping out the drawing for the replacement carving.
I can actually see down the bottom here there's a really faint outline
of where the old carving used to be, and, looking at that,
it seems to be almost a reverse of the carving that is on the top.
So using that,
I can actually work out what needs to go where and what the detail's
going to be like because I've got a great example here.
Now he's got a plan,
Will trims a piece of wood down to size with the band saw,
before clamping it to the desk, ready to carve.
It really helps when you've got a really sharp chisel.
It's almost like cutting with, like, a hot knife through butter.
If your chisel isn't sharp,
then you see that the wood begins to splinter off and crack.
On the neighbouring workbench,
Sonnaz is beginning to build the seat pad.
The first thing is really to get some black wadding on this base.
I need two layers. I think I'm going to use that as my...
..biggest bit.
This lays on here.
So, what I'm going to do, I'm going to pull this edge -
or, in upholstery, it's called teasing,
I'm going to tease this edge. That just gives it a really...
..a much softer...
..softer edge, and I can feel the difference in that already.
I'm constantly having to check the detail on the piano stool,
just to make sure that what I am doing is exactly what I need.
It's quite easy to get carried away with the chisels, because they're so
sharp, it's really easy to take off more than you actually need.
I don't want to rush it, cos when you rush it,
that's when you have problems and breakages.
Next, Sonnaz is ready to cover the seat pad.
Now, this is really the moment of truth as to whether I've chosen
the right colour for Sarah,
cos not only did she want it to not look different in terms of
the padding, she didn't want the colour to be very different either.
And I'm hoping...
..that this velvet I've chosen is as close as possible.
I'm pretty happy with that, and I think it's going to work well.
Good. Really happy with that.
It's actually really nice to see it in new velvet as well,
cos it's the start of you kind of giving it this new lease of life.
Snip into this.
So, really, the objective with corners is to secure it
so that you've got as little bulk as possible in the way.
I'll pop a staple in there.
Job done.
The rail is going to sit into that lovely.
So, I have finished all the carving.
I've glued the new pieces back onto the front of the piano stool,
and I've just filled and touched in some other cracks
and loose bits of wood.
It's all on there, it's solid, it's good to go.
I just need to get into the colour matching now.
So, usually with colour matching, I do lots of different samples,
make sure I'm confident with the colour that I'm going on with.
But with this...
..I've got a good feeling that the colour I'm matching is sort of
a general brown, umber colour, so that is what I'm using here,
and with quite a thin wash...
..it's beginning to blend in quite well.
Amanda and Julie are coming to the end of their makeover of Fred Bear.
He's almost ready for his trip to meet his family down under.
Happy? Yeah, really happy, you?
I am too, yeah. He's going to last longer, isn't he?
And he just looks like Fred Bear.
Yeah.
Fred's owners, Hilary and Mike,
are back at the Repair Shop to see if their beloved bear is finally
ready to fly the nest.
Hello! Hello, welcome back.
Thank you. How are you?
We're fine, how are you? Lovely to see you.
How are you feeling? Mmm!
A little bit...
Yeah, a little bit nervous, aren't we, yeah?
Do you want us to put you out of your misery, then?
Mm, yes, yes, please. Are you ready? Are you sure?
No, you can't cover your eyes!
No!
Are you ready? We're ready.
Oh, look at him!
Oh!
How did you do that?
Give him a cuddle.
Oh, he's solid.
Isn't he? Oh, he's gorgeous.
He is, isn't it? Oh, he feels lovely.
I was expecting him to be a lot softer.
TEDDY PURRS
Oh, still got his flatulence! I didn't think...
I didn't think I would be
like this when I saw... Well, look at you!
You've filled up as well!
We're just two softies, aren't we?
Oh, he's lovely. Sorry.
Oh, bless you. Thank you so, so much.
That's fantastic. Thank you, thank you.
So much.
Look at him! Oh, look, all his fur on the back!
We did that specifically because I know you said you wanted to be able
to feel the fur,
so we aged and sort of distressed it to make it look realistic.
Yeah, that's right. It just looks like Fred Bear!
Good. But he's lovely!
That's our job done.
Yeah, if you can say that, that's what makes us happy,
to hear you say that.
So, tell me, what's the next part of his journey?
We're seeing Maria for a big family do...
..and then I'm going to give her Fred.
He's all yours. So, behave yourself!
Say bye-bye to the ladies. Bye, Fred!
Thank you, bye! Bye!
OK.
Absolutely amazed.
And delighted, we can't believe it.
I became overwhelmed, because Fred looked like Fred...
..and it was everything that I wanted.
I just know how my daughter will feel,
she will feel exactly the same.
She won't look at Fred and think,
"What's my mother done to that bear?"
A few weeks later, Fred was reunited with Maria
and completed his epic journey
to Australia, where he met his newest owner,
Hilary and Mike's great-grandson Elijah.
Out in the metal workshop,
Brenton is getting to grips with a pair of war-torn statuettes.
One needs her feet reattached to the pedestal,
the other has lost her basket.
This lady here has got less damage.
We've got her basket of fruit and flowers that's become detached.
Just to glue that on there, it wouldn't be strong enough,
so what I'm going to do is I'm going to put a couple of wire pegs coming
out of her arms and make corresponding holes in the basket
so that should sit there by itself without glue, and then when I put
the glue on, that'll be an extra sort of strength.
The spelter figurines were made by Limousin,
a prolific French manufacturer of Art Deco ornaments.
What we need to do now is make corresponding holes in those.
The company stopped production in 1940, during the Second World War,
around the same time that this resilient pair were caught up
in the London Blitz.
That goes in that hole now,
and that actually stays on there with just one pin,
so, when I've got the other pin in, that will be nice and strong,
and then that little bit of glue in there
will make it good as new again.
Now the statuettes are prepped,
Brenton is giving them a final clean before fixing them back together,
and Jay is lending a hand.
So, you've worked with spelter before?
I have, yeah. How do you know to identify that as spelter?
When you scratch it, which I've done behind there,
in a bit you can't see, it goes silver coloured.
So if I just give that a bit of a scratch...
Oh, yeah. That's silver coloured.
If that was bronze... Yeah. ..that would be gold coloured.
Oh...
Yeah, they're nice things, and they deserve to be repaired nicely,
looked after. So, in here is just soapy water, yeah?
Just really, really mild detergent.
I don't need any chemicals.
The worry of putting chemicals on, this has got a patina on it,
and if I get any sort of violent chemical on,
that is going to fetch that off and they're going to go silver.
Yeah, don't want that. And I don't want that.
So we'll be really gentle with them.
It's quite therapeutic out here.
Yeah, it's good. Doing a bit of cleaning. Yeah, nice and quiet.
Away from the barn.
With the statuettes spick and span,
Brenton users the strong epoxy adhesive
to secure the broken basket.
So, that is in the right place,
so, I've just got to let that set.
Now the difficult one.
So...
..glue round the foot.
And that's going to be screwed up through the stone,
up through the base...
..into the feet, and that's going to hold that in position
while I glue that.
That's actually quite happy down like that,
so I'm going to leave that like that, I think, to dry,
and a big sign saying, "Don't touch", and come back and we can
polish them up.
It's been a team effort in the Repair Shop today.
Sonnaz and Will have been working their magic on a century-old
piano stool.
Now they're ready to reunite their parts of the project.
Finished the top! Lovely.
Look at that! Yeah.
Beautiful! Looks great, doesn't it, that green against your wood?
Look at your carving!
Oh, please. Incredible!
Well done. It's actually come up really well,
and look at the brass plaque as well,
you can actually see all the writing now. That's incredible.
Can you guess which bits I've replaced as well?
I really can't, actually, I can't guess which ones you've replaced.
Have you moved them around or something?
Have you? No, I haven't. Well, let's get that on,
cos I need to get this over to Sarah. Yep, great.
I think it's a great joint effort.
Really lovely. She's going to love it.
She is going to love it.
When Sarah brought her great-grandfather's stool to
the Repair Shop, it was looking all of its 112 years -
threadbare upholstery,
missing carving, wood and brass lacking lustre.
Really looking forward to picking up the piano stool,
really looking forward to seeing it.
Obviously, a little bit nervous.
Obviously, in my lifetime, it's only ever looked how it did, really,
when I dropped it off,
so, really looking forward to seeing it again and excited.
Hello. Hello. Nice to see you again.
And you, lovely to see you again.
Gosh!
So, here it is. Yes.
As you can see, it's on four legs so...
Yeah! So, that's a positive sign.
Yeah, it's looking good!
Are you ready? I think so!
OK!
Here we go.
Oh, wow.
Oh!
Oh, gosh! Oh, it's lovely.
Oh, I can't believe it, look!
Golly.
A bit speechless, really, to be honest.
It looks really lovely, it's just so shiny.
Thank you so much.
Brilliant job. Yeah, are you pleased?
Really, really pleased.
Sonnaz has done a great job with the upholstery.
We've tried to keep the same green colour that was originally there.
Yeah, it looks really vibrant again, really full of life, yeah, it does,
it's amazing. Finally, the carving.
Yes. The replacement carving.
Yes, it's all back in place,
cos obviously there was some actually missing, wasn't there?
Yeah, yeah. Was it, I think, that piece actually wasn't there at all?
And to get it to exactly the same pattern is...
Stop it!
My mum will be really pleased to see it as well,
she was very keen to keep it green.
To me, to get it back like this sort of feels like I'm starting the next
era with it, and I know that then it will be in a really good
condition. Yeah.
It was a pleasure to work on,
and it was also quite nice for me to work with Sonnaz on such a lovely
item as well. So, thank you very much.
Seeing the piano stool, it's absolutely beautiful.
It just makes you think of all the people, really.
It's my great-grandfather's it was given to originally,
and all the things it's survived, two world wars,
come all the way through, always been in the family,
and hopefully giving the piano stool this new boost will keep it going
for another 100-odd years.
Outside, Brenton has secured the broken pieces
of the war-torn statuettes.
Now he's painting the glued joints to match the patina of the spelter
before applying the final finishing touch.
So, I've got a specialist wax polish which will just brighten them up
a bit and give them a bit of a shine,
and they just need a tiny, little bit just to give them
a bit of lustre.
All those years of being in the loft.
We took lots and lots of dirt off them when we cleaned them,
they were filthy.
So, this will just protect them,
and that's actually coming up really nicely,
lovely and shiny on the leg there.
So, I think that's just about ready,
and it's going to be party time at Jeremy's.
Carefully wrapped, the statuettes are sent home to Lewisham,
where Jeremy and his sister Liz are reminiscing about the original
owners of the Art Deco figurines - their parents, Kitty and Jack.
Oh, look, there's Mum and Dad on their 50th wedding anniversary.
That's right.
That's their first dance.
And our dad hated dancing.
Hated dancing. He hated dancing.
But he had to do the first dance.
His face!
It seems like yesterday.
Oh, we were all very close to our parents.
My mum and dad were the hub.
The statuettes were broken during an air raid. Even though they were
broken and smashed up, she still treasured them.
It's a link to the past.
Oh! Oh, they're here! It's arrived.
Let's have a look. Are you excited? I really am! Oh, my goodness.
Oh, my goodness, look!
Oh... Oh, wow.
It's like Christmas.
Exciting.
Wow.
Aren't they gorgeous? They're lovely.
That's fantastic, look at that!
It's like two little Oscars.
They have not looked this good since 1940.
They look fantastic!
It doesn't look as if they've ever been broken at all.
Everything's fixed. Mum and Dad would have liked to have seen these.
God, they'd have loved this, Absolutely loved this.
The repairs on the two statuettes are unbelievable,
there's no trace of any repair on them.
It looks like how they would have looked 80, 90 years ago.
Shall we put them up on the cocktail cabinet?
Yeah.
Let's...
Right, ladies,
it's the end of your journey.
Oh, look at that.
Now, that looks... Does that look good? Wicked.
I could sit here and just look at them, couldn't you?
You just want to stare at them. They're made for there, aren't they?
They're made for there, they really are. They are made for there.
I love them.
Having these statues repaired is our family's tribute to our parents,
and it's a memorial to both of them, to my mum and my dad.
They're seamless, you wouldn't know the damage that was on them.
I'm really happy.
I'm happy they're complete again, cos they look stunning.
I'm looking forward to every day getting the Pledge out,
giving them a polish every morning
and then just thinking about Mum and Dad while I'm polishing them.
Join us next time as more family treasures are rescued...
You're a clever bunny, ain't you?
..and their cherished memories restored...
Oh, amazing. Oh, I love it.
..in the Repair Shop.