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...
THEY GASP Oh, yes!
..back to life.
Oh, my God!
This place is filthy!
In The Repair Shop today...
When you paint any line, you basically just hold your breath.
Kirsten immerses herself in a complex repair.
And breathe!
While Brenton gets his hands on THE Victorian must-have gadget.
I'm going to have some fun with this.
Look at that!
These are brilliant.
But first to arrive at The Repair Shop,
Claire and Graham Rowe from County Down, in Northern Ireland.
Hello. Hi. How are we doing? Pleased to meet you.
How's it going? Hi there. Hi.
How do you do? Hi.
So, what have you got for us? We've got a rocking horse for you.
A rocking horse? Yes.
Yeah, I got it. Got it?
They've brought along a much-loved family heirloom
for furniture conservator Will Kirk to cast his expert eye over.
It's working. It's working, yeah, exactly. It's working.
It's a bit wrecked. It's rocking. It's rocking!
What's the history behind this one, then?
The rocking horse itself came into our family...
My nanny, she remarried - Grandad Wesley.
It belonged to him, so it's kind of known
as Grandad Wesley's horse.
Right. He sadly passed away shortly after, but the rocking horse
has been in our family ever...
..ever since. I played on it as a kid. Right.
My brother did, my cousins,
and everybody from the street used to come round, and then
we would all play on it. But obviously, as the years have went
on and on, it's become a little bit more sort of battered.
And we've got our own children who play on it.
There's a lot of flaking, a lot of peeling off.
That's not... Yeah. ..really great for children, I would say.
Whenever the kids play on it, plaster starts to fall off.
So usually after they've played on it, you have to HOOVER.
It's not much fun holding a hoover. THEY LAUGH
I quite like it in the state it's in now.
Yeah? I think it's got a lot of age to it.
But what would you want us to do to this?
I just want to be able to keep it rocking. Oh, I like that!
Keep it rocking, we can do that. So, Will?
I really like it, and I like
the sort of natural patination over the years.
Yeah, we can get someone to have
a look at the leather-work and the flakes.
That's the only thing that concerns me, because I think it
could be the tip of the iceberg.
There's a chance there might be more paint that's actually
come away from the surface.
Yeah. But it's a functional piece, this is. Yeah.
Completely different to some of the pieces we do work on,
this one is going to get used by your children.
As much as the kids have got all-singing, all-dancing toys and
stuff, they still are drawn back... This is a proper toy. ..to this.
That's what this is. Yeah.
It would be a pleasure to work on. Oh, brilliant.
And I'm sure that we can get it to a state where you can still use it
and it still looks lovely. Brilliant.
Yeah, definitely. Cool.
Something that we don't have to hoover after. No, no, no.
Not at all. Course not.
Thank you. Thanks. Thank you. Bye.
Lovely horse, though. I know, I do like it.
A lot.
I always wonder how many children have played on it before it got
into your family. And to be able to keep it going for more children
to keep playing on it... It'd be lovely, wouldn't it? It'd be lovely.
I really like this horse, but I definitely
think before anything, this leather-work needs to come off,
and I think Suzie is the right person for that.
Suzie. Yes?
Would you mind having a look at this horse, please? No.
Suzie Fletcher is a master saddler.
What have we got going on, then?
It's a horse. Yeah, it's lovely, isn't it? Lovely.
It needs a bit of attention, doesn't it?
Well, you can see why I called you over. Yeah.
That doesn't look right.
That doesn't look right. No.
Obviously, the reins and the head strap, that needs to be replaced
cos the kids are going to pull on that.
We can re-use the rest of the saddle, I think.
If you can get the leather-work off,
then it will be easier for me to tackle the horse.
I can certainly do that. Yeah? Yep.
The first thing I'm going to start tackling is taking the studs out
that are holding the saddle on.
Hopefully, I'll be able to re-use them.
But it is interesting, as you start taking things apart,
what you find underneath.
I can see, actually,
looks like there's a little bit of damage up in here.
And there is a crack running all the way along the horse here.
So as I reveal more about the horse, we'll be able to see how extensive
any damage underneath the saddle is.
Next to arrive is Janice Pinder with a set of precious keepsakes
from her childhood to show ceramics conservator Kirsten Ramsay.
Hello. Hi there.
Hi. I'm Kirsten. Oh, pleased to meet you.
Very carefully take these out.
Oh, gosh, that's beautiful! These are... That's one.
Gosh, aren't they stunning?
But sadly, not all of them are in such good shape.
And this is the culprit.
Oh!
So... OK.
Well, firstly, they're absolutely beautiful, aren't they?
They are, they are real treasures.
I absolutely love them.
The day I was born, my nana gave these to me.
I was the first grandchild,
and they hung on the wall above my cot.
Oh, really? Yes.
So is that one of your first memories, then? Yeah. Oh, wow.
And then in a house move, my mother took great care to wrap them up in
tea towels, and unfortunately, as she got out of the car to go in
the house... Oh, no! ..this one dropped on the floor.
And that was 57 years ago, when it got broken.
Goodness gracious me!
Have you had these ones on display and just kept this...? Yes.
Yes, you have. I've had the two.
They're on display in the hall.
And this has just gone in different drawers
over the years. Oh.
I would think this sort of around the 1890s, something like that.
Oh, right.
They're actually an earthenware.
And, you know, they've been glazed.
So that's what's so lovely about ceramics.
If they're well looked after
they can endure and keep that lovely colour.
So it looks to me like someone's had a go at repairing this.
SHE LAUGHS Guilty!
It's a shame it's broken through her face, actually.
I mean, it's... Couldn't be in a worse place, could it?
Well, it could, it could be through her eyes.
I always find that quite difficult. Oh, really?
I know there's bits chipped out the side here as well. Yeah.
I guess that's where it hit the ground. Yes, probably.
Tell me about your grandmother, then.
She didn't have very much at all, financially.
She lived in a little two-up, two-down terraced house,
but she used to like nice things. Right.
And she collected blue glass where I can remember that
being in the windowsill, all sparkly and polished.
I mean, I don't know how old they are.
I don't know whether my nana bought them second-hand
or she inherited them...
Yeah, I'm sure I can make something up for you.
If you'd like to leave them with me... Sure.
..then I will see if I can get that back together for you.
That would be wonderful. I really appreciate that, thank you.
Thank you very much. Thank you.
I'm feeling quite excited at the thought that I might get
to see this plaque back together, in one piece.
I was really close to my nana.
She would be so pleased to think that it meant so much to me.
The plaques were made by Royal Doulton
and are commonly known
as the Blue Children series.
There are 24 different scenes in the series, which were reproduced
on a wide range of ceramics up until the 1930s.
Having the opportunity to have a really good look at Janice's
lovely Doulton plaque,
she's actually had a go at sticking this together,
and that has left this residue of glue along the breakages.
So I'm hoping that, actually, I'm going to be able to pick
this adhesive off.
But hopefully I can
get this cleaned up,
get it stuck together
and hand paint in that little area there, and
put some of the gilding back on as well.
So I'm just initially going to see if I can just
mechanically pick this off
along the edge with a scalpel.
It's not until I remove all this adhesive
and I offer the two pieces together
that I can really see the full extent of the damage.
Because this is an earthenware plaque,
and earthenware is actually very soft,
I don't want to risk damaging it, so I'm just going to try a little
bit of acetone on a cotton-wool swab,
and see if that will just soften the adhesive for me.
That's coming off really nicely now.
We're going to make a start on the other side now.
And hopefully this will come off as easily.
Next to arrive at the workshop,
Ronnie and Rita Fell from Merseyside,
with a box of childhood memories for the attention
of antique photography expert Brenton West.
Hi. Hi there. Hi, how are you? I'm Brenton.
I'm Ronnie. Hi, Ronnie. Rita. Hi, Rita.
So, what have you brought for me?
It's a stereoscopic viewer.
Wow, stereoscopic viewer. That makes me excited. Wow.
I love these.
So this is a Victorian item
that everybody had, and you had stereo pictures
that you could look at, and they became three dimensional
when you looked at them.
I mean, I remember as a child at school on a rainy games day,
the teacher brought one of these in, and I can remember that
from many years ago, vividly.
And I've had one for a little while myself.
So it's... And they're fantastic things.
Have you got any cards for it? Yeah. There's a few in the box here.
You've got some pictures? Oh, brilliant.
Well, let's have a look at those.
Oh, wow.
These are brilliant. I love these.
But some of them are a little
bit naughty, aren't they? They are. Oh, yep. That one there...
The butler... What the butler saw.
That one there's a little bit naughty.
That chap looks very guilty. These are brilliant.
Between the 1840s and 1930s, stereoscopes could be found
in most households.
The scenic pictures, or stereographs,
provided cheap entertainment
but also covered news events of the time,
such as parades, disasters and politics.
I believe Queen Victoria saw one
at the Great Exhibition in 1851,
and she approved of them.
Because she approved of them, everyone had to have one. Yeah.
So this particular one, what seems to be the problem?
We've had this a long time in the family,
and the handle's come off here.
And it was held on, I think, by a ring,
but that was lost some time ago.
There should be a brass ferrule on there, I reckon, don't you?
It has been well loved.
So you get these out and the kids are thrilled by it...
Yes, even in these computer days,
they still, "Wow, it's magic," and they look behind...
So how long have you had this?
My father, who died about 17 years ago,
he had it when he was a child.
This would have been quite old even then. Yes.
So this would have been probably his father's before that,
do you think? Yes. Yes, it was. It was.
Oh, you know it was his father's, OK. Yeah.
Brings back happy times with my grandparents and my father.
So this has been broken off it for...
We're not sure when it happened.
I don't know if when it came into my ownership,
but... Did you break it, or...?
No, we don't know. It came out of the box broken.
Honest, it came like that!
THEY LAUGH
Well, leave that with me, and I'll try and do my best with it, OK?
All right. Excellent. Thanks very much.
Pleasure to meet you. OK, I'll be in touch. OK.
Thank you, bye. Bye now. Bye-bye.
Oh...
Oh, I'm going to have some fun with this. Look at that.
I first remember these pictures, the stereographic pictures,
at Christmas time when I was about five,
and my grandparents would get
to the stereoscope out.
It was magical because of all these far-off places.
They sort of came alive on the stereoscope.
I hadn't seen one before until I met Ronnie,
and then when he got it out and showed me,
I've been in the love with it ever since.
It's such an old family heirloom
that we want to protect it so it doesn't get lost.
On closer inspection,
there's a fair bit to do to this stereoscope.
Brass ferrule is missing off the handle.
It needs the brass ferrule because it will give it some integrity
and some strength.
A ferrule is a metal band or ring that reinforces a joint or holds
a component in place.
On the bottom of the slider here...
..someone's put what looks like a carpet tack in there.
That has split the wood, and it's not really done the job anyway.
These two things are meant to be bent down
to make a sort of spring
so that this is tighter on here,
so it doesn't sort of fall like that.
I've just got to be very careful of it because it's quite frail
in its old age.
So the first stage for me is to make the brass ring,
the ferrule, for the handle.
So what I've got is an old piece of brass
out of an old camera, so it will be quite appropriate
recycling it and
keeping it in photography for a little bit longer.
So I've cut my brass.
I'm just going to bend this into a ring.
Bending this one is a bit like making a wedding ring,
and...I made my own wedding ring and my wife's wedding ring.
And it's a really nice skill to have.
Nearly good enough, I've just got to make sure those two
are really close together for soldering.
The handle will be under control very shortly.
On the other side of the barn, Suzie has uncovered a problem
with the rocking horse. Hey, Will, are you busy? No.
Um, I've got the saddle off. Right.
And I'm taking the bridle off. What I'm finding is,
as I'm removing the leather,
we have a split in the wood down the horse's head here.
There's extensive damage around the chest of the horse here,
where it's all peeling away. Oh, my gosh. I am shocked
by the damage in the front.
Isn't that...? It's enormous, isn't it?
There's so many cracks, and it's peeling off.
How... How on earth are you going to do that?
I have no idea. I mean, it's a big job.
I didn't realise that there's so much damage. Yeah.
My feeling is, let's replace all of the leather.
It's... It's really dry and brittle.
The flaps of the saddle just disintegrated.
At least then it all matches, it's all even, and it's
going to last a lot longer rather than you try to get
something back on that isn't really good. Yeah.
Sounds great. Thanks, Will.
Whilst Will ponders how to repair the extensive damage,
Suzie makes a start on the new leather-work for the horse's tack.
At the moment, I'm cutting out the skirts for the saddle
from this soft leather, and then I'm going to line it.
I've started also cutting out all the strap work here
for the bridle work.
You can make the saddle and the bridle exact miniature replicas
of the real thing. In this instance, I'm just replicating
everything that was originally on there,
just to make sure that it's going
to last for many, many years for the children
that are going to use it in the future,
which I think is quite exciting, really.
Outside, Will is attempting to dismount the horse
from its rocker...
Ugh! There's always one, isn't there?
..and take a closer look at the wood and plaster.
This rocking horse
is in such a sorry state of repair.
I think that the wood has actually shrunk on the inside,
and in doing so,
it sort of pulled the wood away from this finish on the surface,
and that's why it's started to crack.
It just needs a lot of love, a lot of TLC.
There we go.
It's coming off.
Will's come up with an ambitious plan to tackle the flaking paint
and plaster.
What I'm going to do is use some of this pearl glue
that I'm mixing up here.
It's a hot glue.
It's actually quite watery.
And the reason that I need it like that
is cos I'm going to apply it behind a lot of that loose paintwork,
and being watery, it can then seep behind into all the areas
that I couldn't get to just with a brush, and hopefully stick
what is loose back on to the surface.
That looks an absolute perfect consistency.
It's almost like honey - not too thick and not too watery.
Some of this will flake off and be lost, but if I can save
the majority of it, that'd be absolutely perfect.
The traditional wood, plaster and horsehair heirloom
was manufactured by FH Ayres,
known as the Rolls-Royce of rocking-horse makers,
and they are highly sought after.
Now I'm really glad that I kept my rocking horse all of these years.
It's exactly like the one that we're working on here.
And no doubt it's in pristine condition.
It's not bad...
I'll be replacing the bridle and saddle at some point.
LAUGHS: Cos I like working on them.
Must be nice. Such a challenge!
I'm hand-stitching the skirts of the rocking horse,
and decided to do it double-hand hand stitching.
And in order to do that,
I need an awl which is very, very sharp,
and just angle the awl in, push it in, and you don't look
at the back, you're finding the awl with your left hand
and the needle, and hook the left needle through,
grab it with the right needle.
Push that through, pull the thread back with it.
And pull it up. And you'll notice as I'm doing it,
I never put the awl down.
You have to be a little bit ambidextrous for this job.
I'm really looking forward to this all being completed,
and more so when I can put it on the rocking horse,
but I have to wait.
I've got to be really patient till Will has finished
with all that he has to do.
He has a huge amount to do on that rocking horse.
The glue that I've used has now dried,
and I can actually feel that...
..the paint feels more stable on the surface.
And it should be ready to be filled now.
Cos this needs to be more hard-wearing,
I'm going to use some wood filler.
It dries quite quickly, so I need to work with a lot of haste.
I'm trying not to cover too much of the surrounding area
cos I dearly like to keep as much of the original paintwork
surrounding the cracks as I can.
That...is definitely starting to thicken,
so I'm actually going to leave that now,
wait for that to dry.
Once it's dried, I can then start sanding it down, making sure it's
flat with the surrounding area,
and hopefully be then ready for painting.
So that's going well.
It's really nice and smooth.
And...it feels durable enough that when this is used again,
it should be able to withstand a lot of...
..children's feet kicking on the side and things.
Now, the next challenge is painting that to make it look
like the original horse.
I'm really enjoying working with this horse because it's not just
my usual woodwork - the plaster work and shaping that back in,
and now with all the colouring, it is a challenge,
but a challenge that I'm actually really enjoying.
Ceramic expert Kirsten has been entrusted
with a cherished Royal Doulton plaque.
It has waited patiently in pieces for 57 years
for some specialist attention.
But it looks like mending it may not be as straightforward as hoped.
It does go together quite nicely.
But unfortunately, there do seem to be a few little chips
in the glaze, along the breakages.
Particularly bad across the shoulder of the young girl. And it's a shame
because it means that I'm actually going to have to fill those areas
and paint them.
But first things first -
the long-awaited moment where two become one.
I'm going to have some tape ready.
And this is sort of going to act
as a spare pair of hands, really, to pull the two sides together.
The adhesive that I use is air drying
so I have to work reasonably quickly.
I'm just trying to get a really nice tight join here,
and I'm balancing
one piece on top of the other, using gravity to hold these
two pieces together.
If the edges aren't held perfectly flush,
then the plaque's repair may not stand the test of time.
I'm actually applying quite a lot of pressure,
pulling these two breakages together,
just running my finger over the join,
just checking all the way along.
Feels absolutely fine. I'm happy with that.
So I'm just going to leave that now to cure.
That's it.
With the main fracture firmly fused,
Kirsten can begin the painstaking task of ensuring any trace
of the fix completely vanishes.
So I'm going to add some hardener to this filler.
And, um...
It'll work relatively quickly.
And I'm just going to work that along the breakage.
So this filler is just going to fill in to any sort of tiny...
..chips, and it gives a really lovely sort of smooth surface
for me to paint.
I've got these large areas that are missing here as well.
I'm just going to pop some filler in there.
Although the little girl depicted on the plaque may have been reunited
with her body, she is left with an unsightly scar.
And to rid her of that,
Kirsten is going to have to reach for her trusty palette.
It's always tricky when you've got a line going through someone's face
cos it's quite easy to make the painting look clumsy.
But actually, I think it's... It's going to be OK.
And it's not just the location of the break
that's going to be a challenge.
I do find that blue is actually the most difficult colour
to colour match.
It's just a question of trial and error, really, with this.
That's just straight ultramarine.
And that is looking fine, actually.
The next stage in Kirsten's repair vanishing act
is the precarious task of replicating the gilded trim,
which is tense -
even after decades of experience.
When you paint any line, you basically just hold your breath
and try and get as smooth a line as possible.
And breathe!
You basically get one go at that, really.
You have to get it right pretty much first time.
But I'm happy with that.
On the neighbouring bench,
Brenton is forging ahead with a new brass ferrule ring
for the stereoscopic viewer.
I'm mixing up some borax flux.
I just need to paint a little bit on the joint.
The borax flux stops the brass oxidating
and it helps the solder to run when it's hot.
Oh, that's a nice flame.
I have a little tiny bit of solder in there
that I've put on top of the flux.
As soon as that melts, then it just fills the gap up.
There it goes. Brilliant.
So the ring now has to be made round so it will fit on to the...
..on to the wooden handle.
OK, so that's a really, really tight fit.
And now I know that that fits,
that's ready to be polished now
and...put on the handle. We can put the handle back on when we're ready.
There was, I think, millions of them sold.
Because people have looked after them, quite a few of them survive.
I know it's really important to Ronnie. It's been in his family
for probably a century now.
Just a precious thing that's lasted a 140-odd years.
So it's important that we get this right for him.
But on an antique with 140-year-old moving parts,
any repair needs to be tackled with caution.
There's a split here where this large carpet tack has been banged
in, and it's split the wood.
There you go.
A great big nasty, nasty carpet tack that someone's put in there.
So I'm going take this brass piece off.
There you go. That one's...
That's the size of nail that should be in there.
A little tiny baby nail.
I've got a little bit of glue now. I'm putting it in the hole there.
That's going to be where my little screw goes.
And...
Just leave that to dry.
And...that's that done!
Before Brenton can reassemble the repaired parts
of the stereoscope,
he needs to finish off the brass ferrule ring.
This has fit on here.
Look at that. That's absolutely spot on.
That's really good. That's how it would have been originally.
That'll never split, that piece of wood now,
with that ferrule on there.
I've got a little bit of glue now. I'm putting it in the handle.
And just pushing the handle into place.
And that will stay on there.
Tomorrow that will be solid as a rock.
That'll be good for another 140 years.
Job's a good 'un!
Kirsten is lovingly repairing a Royal Doulton earthenware plaque
that holds so many fond memories for the owner.
It is part of a series of three, but since the fateful day
it was smashed 57 years ago,
it's been kept in a drawer.
It'll be really nice to get this finished so that Janice can actually
display the three plaques together again,
after...after all these years.
These plaques are really important to me because I've got such a lot
of lovely memories that my nana gave to me.
My nana was the most lovely,
kind, caring,
selfless lady.
I just want to...
..put these back together,
as they were as a group of three,
in her memory, really.
Hi, Janice. Hello. Nice to see you.
And you. How are you doing?
So, have I set you a challenge?
A bit, yes. I can't wait to see.
I can't wait to see. All right, well, I won't keep you in suspense.
Oh, my Lord! How have you done that?!
Oh, my goodness!
EMOTIONAL: Wow.
Aw...
Are you all right?
I didn't know I'd get that emotional.
Thank you. That's all right, you're very welcome.
I don't know how you've done that.
That's amazing.
I can put that up on display now.
Yeah, that's wonderful. You can, yes!
So, to have hung on to it for all those years, broken,
it's obviously something that's very precious.
Yeah, it's wrapped up in a lot of memories.
WHISPERS: I wish I wasn't crying!
Aw...
Yeah, just... Just so pleased.
Just wasn't expecting quite that emotional a reaction.
And yet, I don't know why cos she was very important to me,
so why would I not? Yeah. That's the thing about these pieces,
you know, we sort of invest a lot in them, really.
And also, they're a vehicle to sort of talk about family,
and we continue that family line so... Yeah. Yeah.
Anything's possible.
Well! We try.
Thank you. Thank you very much. You're very welcome. It's wonderful.
It's been a great pleasure.
OK. Well, I'm going to pop that in a box for you,
if that's OK. Yeah, that's lovely.
And I shall take it away very carefully. OK.
Thank you.
I'm feeling quite emotional, actually,
because the plaque was broken 57 years ago.
Here it is, all in one piece and repaired and looking amazing.
Couldn't be happier.
Brenton is putting the finishing touches to the stereoscopic viewer.
I've straightened this brass spring.
That's ready to screw back on there.
I've got some old screws out of an old camera.
So it's not too new and shiny-looking.
See if that's all right.
Yeah, that's a nice action on there.
I'm going to try one of Ron's pictures,
see if it works.
Oh, brilliant.
Yeah, that's fantastic. That's absolutely amazing.
He's going to be made up by that. The handle works, the slider works.
I think that's...back to its old glory.
But before it's returned to its owners, someone else is keen
for a sneaky peek.
How we doing? Yeah, good, mate.
I've been dying to have a go on this,
but you haven't let me have a go. Well, it's fixed now.
Yeah. So what we do is we get one of Ron's pictures,
we hold it by the handle,
we move that backwards and forwards as you look through it.
And should see... 3D. 3D.
OK.
Wow.
Good, innit? That is unbelievable.
So this is because of the two pictures that are together...
Yep, and it fools your brain into thinking it's three dimensional.
Now, that is amazingly. Good, innit? It is very good. Yeah.
I need one of these in my life. You need one.
Everyone has to have a stereoscope.
Before Jay can get too attached,
Ronnie and Rita are back to claim their prized family heirloom.
Hello, Rita. How are we doing?
Fine, thank you. How are you doing, Ron?
Hi, Ron.
Right, well, I've been at it, hard at it, working on fixing it.
Good.
Rita, have a look. Oh!
Wow!
Look, all shiny. Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, and the handle's back on again. Yeah, yeah.
Oh.
Oh, it's just like...
..when we used to do it, when we were children, really.
I want to reach out and grab the boat.
Yeah, look at that.
You've not used that with the handle. No, no.
Even the lens is clean.
All right... Oh!
Yeah, it's one of my favourite photographs, this.
So that takes you back to your grandparents' house.
Can't remember if it was ever that shiny.
You can see the detail on there. It's nice, isn't it? Lovely, yeah.
How do you think your grandfather'd feel if...
I think he'd be proud, really, that we'd had it repaired, really.
We'll get it out again.
My boys, you know,
and future generations, now they'll be able to use it, really. Yeah.
We've made a little picture for your collection.
Oh, right. An extra picture for you.
Oh, my goodness. Of The Repair Shop team.
Yes. Oh, that's fantastic.
Wow.
Cor, that's really amazing. Honestly.
So you've got one more for your collection. Yeah. Look at that.
It was great getting the stereoscope back.
It was so bright and repaired,
and that gives us the confidence to use it now.
We've not been able to do that for, what, 30, 40 years?
Which is amazing, really.
Thanks for all the hard work.
My grandparents would be really happy that I've had
this repaired, really.
You know, they saw the joy it brought to me as a child.
And I've seen the joy that my children have had with it.
And, you know, hopefully it'll go on for generations.
Over on the leather-work bench, Suzie has taken back the reins
on the rocking-horse restoration.
Hello. Hello. What do you think of the horse?
I'm so impressed with what you've done.
I have some horsehair. Oh, beautiful.
I was wondering if you'd like to do a hair transplant for me.
I'd... Well, not to me...
Actually...
I knew you'd have to start a new look.
And that will really...
..finish him off beautifully. Oh, yeah.
But before Suzie can start on the mane, she needs to refit
the blanket and the new leather tack.
So it's beginning to come to life now.
Just need to remove this old mane here.
There we go. Just going to ease this off.
And there's the old mane.
We have a channel that
actually goes off to one side.
If I follow that channel,
it's going to encourage the mane to fall over to the one side.
Beautiful.
It's like stroking a real horse's mane.
Just stay here the rest of the day and does this.
So here we have the final part - putting the...
..the last rosette into him.
When this tired old rocker arrived with flaking paintwork
and crumbling plaster,
he was ready to be put out to pasture.
But with a sensitive restoration and a little grooming,
he is certain to win Best Turned Out.
Now he's heading back to County Down, in Northern Ireland,
and owners Claire and Graham.
CLAIRE: The horse, it was wrecked.
Graham: Yeah, it wasn't in a very good state at all.
It was played with by all the kids in the street,
all the kids in the family, so... And you could tell by looking
at it that it was well-cherished and well-loved.
I'm so excited!
Wow, look at this. This is well wrapped. Brilliant, brilliant.
Daughters Melissa and Alexandra are also keen to welcome
back their treasured toy. Let's see!
I'm very excited to see the rocking horse.
It's very important because it's been through her family
and everything, so it's really important to us, too.
I can see a tail! Oh, my gosh, look at that.
I'm just excited to get on it, really.
CLAIRE GASPS Oh, my goodness!
Oh, look! Wow. GIRLS: Ooh!
Wow, look at that! Wow!
Oh, my goodness!
It's all smooth, and it won't break!
Oh, that is absolutely awesome.
Oh, that is just class.
I would never have imagined it to have hair that long.
I know, I love it.
I didn't think it would be...
..that good.
It's, like, really, really nice. I really like it.
Go for it.
There you go. Hold on to this.
It's absolutely brilliant.
It's exceeded everything that I thought it was going to be.
We just can't quite believe it's the same horse that went away.
Yee-haw!
It looks absolutely awesome.
I am thrilled.
I can't wait to show it off.
It sounds quite sad, but I really can't wait.
Very, very, very proud of it.
Brilliant.
Join us next time as more precious pieces are rescued...
Oh, blimey!
..and their cherished memories restored in The Repair Shop.
Oh, wow! Oh, gosh!