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!
In the Repair Shop today,
silversmith Brenton restores a precious piece
that's testament to a lifetime of love.
My father-in-law and mother-in-law passed away within a day of
each other, having been married for 60 years.
Furniture restorers Will and Rachael unite on a project
where time is of the essence.
Obviously, I want to try and get it done
because we've got a baby on the way.
Have we?!
First through the doors today is Kelly Bishop
with a possession that's very close to her heart.
I'm Jay. Hi. Kelly. All right, Kelly?
Oh, it's in bits. What is this?
Well, this is a clock that my grandfather left me
when he passed away last year.
OK. Steve, if you don't mind joining me.
Hello, I'm Steve. Hi. Kelly. Nice to meet you. Hi, Kelly.
Let's have a look.
Right, what do you know about the clock?
My grandad had it from his mother
and, before that, it was his grandfather's and before that
we just don't know. It's a German clock. I can see that straight away.
It's probably made around about the turn of the century
so, yeah, a good, sort of, 100 years old.
I can just stand it up, like that.
So, this would go on top in the slot, like that.
And then the horse...
..goes in the little hole at the top, like that.
I see it's got a tail missing.
Yeah, we don't know what happened to it.
It's never had a tail as long as anyone can remember. Right, OK.
And you'd like us to pop another tail on? Erm, I don't mind.
I quite like it without the tail. OK.
You've never known it with a tail.
Yeah, it'd look strange. What would it be? Yeah.
A lot of these horses aren't original. Oh, really?
Most of these clocks had an eagle on top. Oh, right.
But during the war, because of the association with the Germans... Oh!
..they put the horses on top.
They changed them for the horse. Oh, right.
Was your grandad an important part of your life? Hmm-mm, yeah.
So, my mum brought us up pretty much on her own.
My grandparents were really supportive and then,
when I was a bit older, I lived with my nan and grandad
so, my grandad, he was a good friend.
Yeah. That's nice. Yeah.
Who was the smoker? My grandad.
Because this is absolutely yellow from nicotine.
Yes, he used to smoke a lot of rollies.
In the same room as where the clock was? In every room.
Oh, in every room. He was a smoker.
When my nan and grandad used to go on holiday when I was 16,
they used to say, "You can have a few friends over,
"but the rule is, 'Don't touch the clocks',"
because my grandad liked his clocks.
Anyway, so they went away, had a few people round.
They were all crashing so I thought,
"I'm going to take all the clocks off the wall, turn off the chimes,
"hang them back up and,
"you know, turn them all back on before my grandparents get home."
Nobody knows, except for I forgot to turn the chimes back on
and so I got into quite a lot of trouble,
not because I had a party,
not because we'd drunk all the tequila,
but because we hadn't turned the chimes back on the clocks.
That sounds like something that you would do. Never!
If I were to get this clock working and striking,
would that be an annoyance to you? No, I would love to hear it.
You'd love to hear it strike?
I would really love to hear it
because you'd go round my grandparents'
and you hear it every half hour and, at the time,
"For goodness' sake!"
But now I'd really like to hear it again.
And that sound would evoke memories... Yeah.
..of your grandparents? Yeah.
So, can we do something with it?
At first glance, it looks as though this hasn't been serviced
for donkey's years.
I would suggest at least since my great-grandad died.
Right. And that was early '80s. OK.
It's probably extremely worn and I hope it's not REALLY worn.
But we can look into that. Yeah. And we can get it sorted if it is.
Yeah.
This is so important to you, it's going to give me a great pleasure
to get it working again for you,
and get it striking and sounding good again.
So, thank you for bringing it in. Thank you.
We'll let you know once it's all sorted. Thank you very much.
OK, you take care now. Bye-bye now.
The chime always meant something like bedtime or dinner time.
If I can hopefully get the clock working again
and I could hear it chiming, my son could hear it chiming...
That was in my house all the time.
It's just exactly my grandad, really.
Right. We'll have a look at the movement now. Yeah.
This is the important bit.
Voila!
As I suspected, absolutely filthy dirty. Yeah.
It's no wonder it wasn't working.
It's very poor condition.
There's a fair bit of wear there in the holes. Yeah.
The teeth are slightly worn but not too bad, actually.
I might have to tidy some of them up.
So, you've got to take that all apart... Yeah.
..have a look at the teeth. Yeah.
Definitely got to clean that window.
That's just like yellow, isn't it?
In this case... Yeah. ..we don't need to make this super-perfect.
She doesn't want a tail. I know.
I can completely understand why she doesn't want a tail on it. Yeah.
Because it's never had a tail as long as she's known it. Yeah.
So, it wouldn't be her grandfather's clock if it had a tail on it.
If it had a tail, yeah.
Well, I'll leave you to it. Okey dokey.
Pop the case over there and get started.
This is quite a good quality German clock.
I think actually in my 45 years of doing clock repairs,
I've probably done getting on for a thousand of these.
Looking at this, it's a typical clock that's been left for a long,
long time without any work being done to it.
The build-up of dirt is incredible.
How this clock was ever working, I don't know.
So, I've got to strip it down, rectify any of the wear,
put it all back together and, all being well,
it should be OK and Kelly can have her working clock.
The Repair Shop restores many heirlooms
to be passed on to future generations.
Hi. Hi, there. Hi, there.
Could you give me a hand, please? Yeah, sure. Thanks.
But not many of them are in need of fixing
as urgently as the one that Helen Sage is delivering.
Right, if you'd follow me.
Right.
I see you have some caning work here. Quite a lot of it.
I think I'm just the person. Fab.
Rachael, I've got something here for you.
As well as furniture restorer, Will, this delicate cradle calls
for the expert help of upholsterer and cane specialist Rachael South.
Hi. Hello. Hi, there. Hi.
Oh, I see, some of the caning's gone through here.
This is absolutely stunning, though, isn't it? It's lovely.
It's a bit of a family heirloom. It's much-loved. Yeah.
Been well used. Yeah.
I was so shocked when we unwrapped it. Ah.
We kept it in a very cool, dry place
and, when I unwrapped it, I found this.
Just completely gone. Ah.
I'm heartbroken really at the sight of it. It's a beautiful piece.
It's unbelievable. It's really something very special.
How did you come by this?
Well, this, we believe, was given to my, I refer to her as my
Great-Aunt Clarice but she's really my Great-Great Aunt Clarice. Yeah.
She was lady's maid to the Duchess of Portland. Hmm!
That's really how her and Horace met, her husband,
because he was a gentleman's outfitter for the Duke.
After Clarice and Horace got married, when they were having
a baby, this was a present from the Duchess of Portland to them
and this cradle has come down through the generations of
the family to be mine and now I'm feeling the weighty responsibility
of actually owning it.
Is this going to go back into action once it's been restored?
That's the hope.
My daughter and her wife are due to have a baby in the next
couple of months, so I'd really love to be able to let them use it
in the same way I was allowed to use it.
So, looking at the cane here, it's particularly fine, this cane,
so it's a Victorian piece, isn't it? Yes, it is.
Gothic style with this lovely shape here.
So, what would you like us to do to it then?
It would be really lovely if it was restored to its former glory.
If the panels were checked and back without holes.
It's lost parts of it. It used to have finials just on the top.
I don't know where they've gone.
I really don't know where they've gone.
Do you remember roughly what they looked like? Yes, I do.
Quite similar to what's on the top of the base. They sort of matched.
Sort of about that size of it. Yeah.
There were two on the top at one time.
It sounds like a huge shopping list
and baby's due in two months' time, so...
Right.
Well, on that note, Rachael,
you'd better get it back to your bench now.
Yes, I think so. Thank you for coming down.
Thank you very much indeed.
It's been a pleasure to meet you and we'll let you know when it's
ready to be picked up. Brilliant. Exciting. Thanks so much.
Thanks so much. Thank you very much. Bye-bye.
Lots of work.
Yeah, I'm going to have to get some of my really fine tools out,
but I absolutely love this and the whole story that goes with it.
It's a really unusual piece of furniture to have lasted this long.
You're going to re-cane the entire panel, are you? I am, yeah.
I'm going to take the whole panel out and obviously I want to
try and get it done because we've got baby on the way.
Have we?!
There's a baby on the way, yeah. What about you?
So, the finials would be handy.
The finials would have had a cord attached to them,
so that Mum gets to sit down and have a rest and she can just
use the cord to rock the baby. So clever. It's lovely, yeah.
Seems like we've both got a lot of work to do... Exactly.
..so better get rocking.
Come on, I'll give you a hand over to your bench.
Thanks very much, Will. Cheers.
Rachael's first job is to remove all of the damaged canework
from the side panel.
I'm just going to begin to cut through and you can actually
see how dry and brittle that is because I'm hardly putting
any pressure on it, at all, and it's literally just breaking away there.
That is actually come off quite nicely.
It always looks a bit brutal, I think,
sort of cutting into the whole panel.
Right.
So, next thing I'm going to cut these little loops.
Then you can begin to see underneath are the holes
and that's where the canes are actually woven into the frame.
I feel a little bit apprehensive cos when you're sort of taking
everything off I'm really aware of the rest of the piece of furniture.
With things like this,
I don't want to run any risk of doing any damage,
but I think once I've sort of got everything cleared out and
it's all cleaned up, then I'll begin to feel really excited.
Next into the Repair Shop, Jo Everett with a treasured memento
that plays a part in a romantic love story.
Hi, there. Hello. I'm Jo. Hi, I'm Brenton. Hello, Brenton.
What have you brought me?
It's a powder compact in the shape of a small grand piano.
Oh, we'll need a small piano player to play that, won't we?
Very small. This is a lovely piece.
How have you come to own it? Tell me about it.
So, we found it in my parents-in-laws' home
after they passed away... Right. ..and we were clearing the house.
OK.
Both Carrie and Sam, my father-in-law and mother-in-law,
passed away within a day of each other... Oh, dear.
..having been married for 60 years.
Carrie passed away in hospital
and then Sam passed away the following day at home,
we suspect of a broken heart.
He just didn't really want to go on without her.
But we found it in with a bunch of cards that Sam had given to Carrie,
anniversary cards and birthday cards.
So, it would have been a gift almost certainly from him to her?
Yes, I think so.
I think the fact that it's broken and she kept it...
So what's wrong with it? Well, it's quite dirty on the outside... OK.
..but inside this little clasp is broken... OK.
..and the mirror is missing.
And then is there another thing that goes on there for the...
There should have been a little powder sponge really that
would have gone in there... OK. ..which is missing.
I'm not au-fait with powder, I'm afraid.
SHE LAUGHS
Unfortunately I am!
What's really nice about it is it would have sat on your
dressing table, or if you were out of the night you would be
able to put that down and then apply your powder.
That's amazing and then you just fold the legs back up and pop
it in your bag. Fold it back up and pop it away. Brilliant.
So, we need to make a mirror for it... Hmm-mm.
..and make that so it stays down on its own? Yes. Lovely. Hopefully.
And I'd like to get it repaired for my daughter,
who is the youngest of their eight grandchildren.
So, she was only six when they passed away... Right.
..and we thought it might be a nice memento to give to Charlotte
to remember her nanna and grandad and the love that they had.
So, this would be really nice
if this was in tip-top condition for her...
Absolutely. ..to remember them by? Yes.
The piano's got a great amount of sentimental value to us
because my father-in-law would have given it to my mother-in-law
and it sort of signifies the special relationship that they had
and the fact that they were married for 60 years.
But it's also a testament to how much they loved each other.
What a lovely piece this is and what a lovely story, as well.
I've got to establish whether
this is brass or white metal first of all.
Secondly, I've got to get a magnifying glass and see why
this little clasp isn't working here
and make a template for the mirror, cut a mirror, fit a new mirror.
That's the easiest part of it.
And then maybe put some powder in it and powder my head,
stop that shining.
Outside in the metalwork shed,
Brenton starts by doing a careful test clean on the delicate object.
It's a nice piece in good condition. It's just had a bit too much love.
Very, very, very gentle polishing should bring this back to
a nice gold colour, fingers crossed.
So, the little bit I've polished up there looks OK.
Until I've got it all done, I won't know.
The Repair Shop is caring for a 100-year-old clock that was
crying out for a little time with horologist Steve.
It was so tired and dirty that it had completely given up the ghost.
A real build-up of thick, gooey dirt.
The mechanism is now free of all the clogging oil and dust
and Steve can begin turning back time.
For the next stages, I'm going to go through it and check and see exactly
where all the wear is
and then I can start working on rectifying.
I've got one wheel here that's got worn trundles,
which are the teeth the main wheels run into.
Basically, in clockwork, the teeth are supposed to roll round each
other and if you get excessive wear,
then the teeth will then rub on each other.
Not only does that create a lot of friction,
but also it creates a lot of wear, as well,
and that's why it's important to have a clock overhauled regularly.
It's not just the wheels that need a service.
This pivot goes into this hole here
and that hole is basically worn across the plate like that
and I need to bring it back to that point by rebushing,
and that's putting a plug of brass into the right position so that
that pivot will be nice and snug,
and work properly in the right position.
Just got to measure up the pivot
and then put the correct bush in for the job.
There's a whole array of different sizes.
One of these bushes.
I'm now going to use the bushing tool. Just pop it in there.
Now we have the bush in place.
There we go and this wheel fits in there beautifully.
There are over 100 intricate working parts to this clock,
most of which need renovation.
So, I've just got to replace all of these bars now
and, once I've done that, I'll seal the end,
and it will be as good as new.
That should run now for hundreds of years.
Over at her bench,
cane expert Rachael is working on a piece of Victorian history.
This cradle was originally a gift from the Duchess of Portland
and Rachael must now attempt to replicate the original
intricate canework.
I've got this super-fine cane.
It's 1.7 mill because I want it to match the rest of the panels.
It's quite important that everything is exactly the same as the
other panels, but it is very fragile.
Hopefully when it's complete, Helen won't know which panel has
been re-caned.
So, just to start, cane's gone through the hole there,
down into the corresponding hole here
and then it loops back through.
I've got to fill in the whole of this panel
and then I'm going to be on to stage two.
So, off to a good start.
Following in her father's and grandfather's footsteps,
Rachael is the third generation of her family
skilled in the caning craft.
She's going to have to call on all of her years of experience
for this job.
Things really slow down at this stage and it's really quite fiddly
to begin to put this weave in.
I'm trying carefully to keep my verticals straight
and the horizontals straight
but, actually, it's really lovely at this stage
because you can begin to see this small intersection here
of all four strands and that is one of the main characteristics
of this traditional six-way cane pattern.
When all the weave actually comes together, it's really satisfying.
It may be that you would think, with a small baby, you know,
putting its fingers in here and picking at the cane,
it might not be that practical but, actually, it's really tough.
While Rachael continues to weave her magic,
Will is puzzling over a tricky new addition to the cradle.
Helen did mention that it did used to have two finials on the top.
What I've done is, after doing a bit of research,
finding out what it originally looked like,
I've come up with a drawing of what I'm going to make.
Finials are small decorative ornaments placed on the tops
or ends of furniture.
Will must craft the new ones from scratch on the wood-turning lathe.
So...
..slowly trying to get into more of a cylindrical shape.
What I'm trying to do is get it closer to the maximum width
of my new finial and once I get to that size,
then I can start marking off the other bits of detail
that I need to start carving in.
So, hopefully, those different sections there will end up
looking like those different sections there.
It's really tricky because, if the wood is quite brittle,
you have to be really careful when you're turning it
to quite fine pieces because any sudden pressure in the wrong area
and it can split.
I have rounded off the squared edges on the wood, carved in the detail
and now I'm using some sandpaper just to smooth it all in.
The smoother the surface, the better the polish.
That looks pretty good.
I'm pretty chuffed with that, actually.
A century-old German wall clock has been keeping Steve very busy,
but now the end is in sight.
So, the last job I've got to do on this clock is to re-hole this main
spring because it's ripping out.
You can see how it's ripped here and here.
Basically, that's the broken end of a main spring that could
cause a lot of damage to the clock if that goes with a bang.
I'm just going to snip off the broken end.
Going to heat it up to red-hot
and then I'm going to draw the heat away very, very slowly
and that's basically softening the steel.
If I were to leave it hard and brittle,
it's likely to break off at the end.
There we are. Now the clock is all ready to go back together again.
Will and Rachael have been working in tandem to repair and restore
the Victorian cradle.
Its owner Helen is due to welcome the arrival of a grandchild
in just a few weeks' time,
and keen to keep things on track is repair foreman Jay.
Getting broody yet?
Getting broody!
Look at the amazing job that Rachael's done on the side.
Rachael has done a blinding job but she's going to stain it up,
as well, to marry it all into the rest. Yeah. OK.
So, I've made up the missing finials
that would have been originally on the top.
Cos we think of everything, don't we, and I like that? Well done.
Jay, would you do me the honour of gluing them on for me?
So, if you pop a bit of glue in there... Teamwork. In there?
Yeah, just a tiny bit in there.
That's one. Was that slow-moving glue?
Cor blimey!
That's it.
Lovely. Beautiful.
A real team effort.
That is a real team effort. Rachael, myself and now you.
That's nice, though. It finishes it off well, don't it?
It takes your focus to the top,
but really what you're going to be looking at is the baby in there.
The baby.
Silversmith Brenton is repairing the metalwork
of a beautiful vintage powder compact
but, to bring it back to full working order,
he needs a little help from soft toy restorers Julie and Amanda.
All right, ladies? Hello. I've got this little powder compact... Wow!
Gosh, that's adorable.
..and it's missing its puff, which goes in there.
I believe that you're quite good with a needle and thread.
Who told you that?
Well, a rumour got out and it's way beyond my skill set,
so do you think that's something you could do?
Absolutely.
The little sifter inside is pink,
so if we can go for the same sort of colour as that... Can I have a look?
Of course. Cos that's got velvet edging, I think.
Would you like it velvet?
I'll take your advice on that. OK.
It's amazing, isn't it... Yeah. ..that it's all still...
Still there 60 years later. That's still in there.
So if I made a template the same size as the sifter...
Yeah, definitely. That's no problem. We'll do that for you.
I'll make you a template. Thank you very much. Thanks a lot. OK.
As well as making a template for the powder puff, Brenton has also made
one for the missing mirror that once lived in the lid of the compact.
The mirror has been cut to fit the piano.
It now...copies my template I made.
However, the edge of the mirror is sharp and the edge of the mirror
on this piano should be bevelled.
Bevelling is cutting a small 45-degree on there.
So, the reason we need to bevel is, one,
it takes the sharp edge off and, two, it actually looks really nice.
That extra 45-degree cutting round the edge
just makes the mirror look really pretty.
Now there is a machine that does this.
However, because it's such a small piece of mirror,
I'm doing it by hand.
I'm using wet and dry paper and slowly working away at it.
Once I've got all the way round
I can fit the mirror back into the piano.
Inside the workshop, Amanda has volunteered for powder puff duty.
I've never actually had to make a grand piano-shaped compact
puff before, but there's always a first time for everything.
I'm using really nice cotton velvet that is this lovely pale
powder pink.
It looks kind of faded so it looks a little bit aged, so I think
it's quite nice cos it will sit well with the age of the compact.
From what Brenton was saying,
I think it's a good job that he's handed this over.
We do most of the sewing
and he's not confident in the sewing department.
He needs a little bit of help on this one.
Outside in the metalwork shop,
Brenton's addressing a minor malfunction.
So Jo's asked me to make the little clip inside work.
The clip isn't catching.
Looking at the edge here, there's a slight bend up on it
where it's been pressed down against this clip.
Ideally, the clip needs to be pulled back before the lid's pushed down
and what's happened is someone's pushed it down and it's bent
this little tiny edge of the lid,
so all I need to do is see where it's just slightly going up and,
with my parallel pliers, just gently straighten it.
And now that should clip together nicely.
And that's it. Perfect. That's closed now.
Steve has taken a German wall clock under his wing.
He has spent hours transforming the filthy worn mechanism,
but although the clock workings may now be tip-top,
the same can't be said for the rest of it.
This case is so nicotine-covered.
All I'm going to do is polish the case, fit a finial on so it's
tighter, and polish the glass up
and it's going to make so much difference.
It's very, very yellow at the moment.
I'm using wire wool and I'm just going to clean it up.
I can see the water is turning yellow already.
Squeaky clean.
I'm just going to pop the mechanism back in,
then I can hang it up and test it to see if it works right.
So, I've got to go and hang it on the wall.
And the tail-less horse.
There. Good.
Kelly's going to be so pleased with this.
Kelly and her sister Claire lost their much-loved grandad last year
and the clock he was so proud of came to Kelly.
The clock was in quite a bad way, I would say.
It didn't work, which was a bit of a shame. Didn't chime, didn't tick.
It was a little bit yellow.
My grandad was quite a heavy smoker.
Smoking rollies.
Nobody was allowed to touch the clocks
so my nan was not even allowed to clean it -
which annoyed her somewhat, I'd say.
Ooh!
Now every cog, pivot and spring has been lovingly refurbished...
Oh, wow!
..it will be a constant reminder of the man who meant so much to Kelly.
It goes in here.
Me and my grandad were pretty good friends, I would say.
It's not your typical grandfather granddaughter relationship.
We used to have good chats
and I used to ring him up and ask him for advice.
I thought my grandad was awesome.
I'm excited to get it on the wall now.
There we go. It's on. Wow.
Looks a lot better? It does. It looks a lot better, doesn't it?
It looks just like I remember it.
Oh, I should wind it up, really.
SHE WINDS CLOCK
CLOCK TICKS
There you go, that's good. A good sign.
It's cool, right? Like it?
Happy? Really happy. Wait for the chime.
CLOCK CHIMES
There we go.
Oh, my goodness, it's just like being at nan and grandad's.
Happy? Yeah, I love it.
Grandad would love it. He'd be so pleased.
How do you feel having it up on the wall,
having that memory of grandad in the house?
Such an important one, as well, to him.
It's really nice, it's really nice.
I get to sit on the sofa and the clock will be there.
I'll wake up in the morning and the first thing I'll see when
I come down the stairs is the clock.
It's chiming and it looks fabulous.
It's nice to have a piece of my grandad in the house.
Over the moon.
Back at the workshop, Rachael is putting the final touches
to the restoration of the Victorian cradle.
The last part of this restoration of this cane crib
is to actually reproduce the colour of that panel
that was there originally.
It's quite important because it needs to match these existing
panels which, as well as being dyed originally, have also, over time,
got their own patina to them, as well.
The cane will need many layers of colour to match the existing panels.
This coat that's going on is an umber pigment
and I think it's really bringing out this lovely rich quality,
this rich colour, that really ties in
with the existing panels on the cradle.
So, I'm quite excited at this stage,
just to get this last little bit of colour on here.
Once the final layer has dried, the cradle is ready to be reassembled.
Right.
OK. Careful. Carefully ascend.
Don't want to knock that canework.
Easy. That's it.
Ooh!
THEY LAUGH
Ooh, look at that. Oh, look!
That is SO nice. Such a smooth rock, as well.
The cradle has been passed down through five generations
and is now restored and ready to welcome the sixth.
Now owner Helen is back to collect it.
It was a very sad item, the cradle.
It was in complete disrepair.
It wasn't functional any more, but looking forward to seeing
just the work that Rachael and Will have both done.
Hello, Will. Hello, Rachel. Good to see you again.
Nice to see you. Hi, Helen. Lovely to see you. Gosh!
This is quite frightening, actually...
Oh! Really? ..cos I'm really excited to see what you've done,
cos it was quite a job, wasn't it?
You've had your work cut out. Yeah. We have indeed.
Let's show you what we've been up to. Fabulous.
Oh, wow!
Gosh, that's just amazing!
That's wonderful. Thank you so much.
It's beautiful again.
What can I say, you've just done some amazing work on it
and I haven't seen it look like this,
I truly haven't seen it look like this.
It's a real rebirth for this piece of family history for us.
How long has it been since you've seen it rocking?
I suppose, when Sarah herself was born - and that's 30 years ago now.
It's the last time it truly rocked properly as it does now.
It's just such a long time, but it's magnificent really.
Do you remember which panel it was that had the hole?
I think it was this one here. It was, yeah.
You can't actually see there was ever a hole there. No.
This panel, I took the whole panel out and recaned it for you.
I really loved doing it so it was a real pleasure for me to work on it
and also knowing about your family history and also that there's
a baby coming along... Yes, very soon.
..so that was a really very motivating thought
while I was working. Rachael has done a fantastic job
of the panel there.
Yeah. It was a pleasure to turn these new finials here
because I think it actually makes it. It does.
It really makes the piece.
It's almost like the cherry on top of the cake. Yes.
I've never seen the finials on the top, Will,
and I'm just so delighted with what you've done.
It just is absolutely brilliant
and I am truly grateful for what you've done
because this is just such a piece of love.
It's held love. Yeah. It is a piece of love.
Your love for furniture, I can see,
but it will now go on and other generations,
when I'm long gone, will be using it
and I think that's just so wonderful.
Well, it's been an honour to have it coming through the Repair Shop,
so thank you. It really has, yeah.
I'm just overcome really with the whole emotion of it.
It looks so beautiful, the cradle,
and I can't wait for the rest of the family to see it.
It has seen five generations within the cradle
and the next generation is due in a few weeks' time,
and it's just so lovely to be able to take this
beautifully-restored family heirloom back home for the next generation.
Silversmith Brenton has been restoring a powder compact,
a vintage love token that was in desperate need of some love itself.
Amanda, how is the puff going? Just finished it. How about that?
Let me see if it fits. I hope so. I've got everything crossed.
Well, I cut the templates so if it doesn't fit it'll be my fault.
Oh, that's brilliant.
I reckon Jo's going to be chuffed with that... I think so, yes.
..cos she did mention that it didn't have a puff
and she doesn't know she's getting it.
So this will be a little bonus.
She's got her piano fixed and it's complete now.
I think, from a girlie point of view, that finishes it for me.
Just the right colour, as well. Yes, it's perfect. Absolutely.
I think she's going to be really pleased. That's great.
Thank you so much for doing that. Thanks. Thanks.
With the owners of the compact due to collect it,
Brenton still has one final fix.
It's all working now.
So, now I've just got to glue the mirror in.
We don't want to put too much glue on.
One, we don't want it all squirting out the sides,
and, two, someone might want to get this mirror out again if it
unfortunately got broken again.
You don't want it too hard to get out.
So, three little dots will be sufficient to hold this
mirror in place like the original piano had.
The piano is now repaired.
It's back to its original condition and we've made a box up
like the one that the piano would have come in
and I can't wait to give that back to Jo and Lottie.
Jo and her daughter Lottie
have arrived to collect their family heirloom,
once given by Lottie's grandfather to his beloved wife.
Hello. Hi. And you are? I'm Lottie. Lottie.
All right. How we doing? Hi. Tell me what your mum brought in.
A piano compact that was quite broken and dirty.
And was missing a mirror, so we're really hoping...
Not much wrong with it! And it belongs to?
It was my nan, but when she passed away it got passed down to me.
So, it's yours then now? Yeah.
Do you want to see it? Yeah.
JO GASPS
Wow, that's great!
That's brilliant. Look how amazing that looks.
It's so polished and you can see all the pattern.
Now for the moment of truth.
Yes, a mirror. Excellent!
And the powder puff. That's really cool. That's brilliant.
Wasn't expecting that. The pink, as well, sets it off.
The bear ladies helped me with that
cos I'm not very good with that sort of thing.
Helped you with the colour choice, did they?
When we've got all of these skills here we might as well use
every single one of them. You've got something else for them, as well?
I have indeed.
I've got a replica box that I made,
which was a copy of the original box it would have come in.
Cool. Oh, that's amazing.
That's exactly the emblem that was on top of the boxes I've seen.
That will set it off beautifully, won't it? Oh, that's amazing.
Thank you. No problem.
But is Lottie going to be able to use it
when she gets a little bit older then? I don't know.
I might let her use it. She's just bought her first face powder -
and it's a loose powder -
so, actually, you could put it in there and use it, couldn't you?
I could. No, that's brilliant. Fantastic.
So what's it going to feel like
using your grandmother's compact now?
It'll be something else I can relate back to her.
Thank you so much. It's not a problem at all.
It's really gorgeous. Now you look after it.
Thank you. We will. That will be cherished, I'm sure.
That was good, wasn't it? Very nice.
I think Brenton has done an amazing job with it. Yeah.
It's much, much better than we'd expected it to be. A lot better.
What the compact does is it sparks memories
of actually just how much they loved each other,
that everlasting love that they have is really nice to remember
with such a special item.
Join us next time as more precious pieces are rescued...
Oh, yes!
..and their cherished memories restored in The Repair Shop.
Wow!