04x08 - African Painting

[bunniefuu]

Welcome to The Repair Shop, where
much-loved but broken treasures...

This is amazing.
It is absolutely brilliant.

..are brought back to life.
Welcome to my universe.

It's pretty marvellous. Furniture
restorer Jay Blades... It's so nice

that we can be part of that kind of
history to just keep things going.

..and a dream team of some
of the country's most

skilled craftspeople...

I'm having a lot of fun and I'm
really liking the end result.

Sounds like teamwork.

..bring their talents to bear on
beloved pieces of family history...

Look at that. I'm liking what I see.
Yes. It's working.

You beauty! ..utilising expertise
passed down the generations...

I'm going to teach you how to do it
the old-fashioned way.

..transforming priceless pieces
of family history.

Oh, my goodness me!

The Repair Shop team will resurrect
the items... Oh, gosh!

..the memories...
I'm going to have to hug you.

..and the stories behind them.
Look at that!

Oh, thank you so much. I can't see
it because of the tears in my eyes.

This is a very emotional job to do,
but incredibly worthwhile.

CHEERING

In The Repair Shop today, Suzie
employs all the tricks of her trade

to rebuild a 65-year-old
leather briefcase...

So this strap, it's going to have
what we call a church-end window.

So you just line it up there and
then whack it with a mallet.

So you have your church end.

..while Steve struggles with some
cryptic clockwork.

I've got...

..one shaft there that doesn't seem
to have a place,

and, er...

..a bit worryingly, a wheel.

But first, a rare and
marvellous machine.

Wheeling his penny-farthing
into The Repair Shop

is Peter Swash,
along with his wife Beryl.

How we doing? Good morning.
Good morning.

Here, I'll help you with that.

Tim? If you don't mind joining me.

Tim Gunn will be the man

nursing this Victorian velocipede
back to health.

Hello. Hello, Tim. Hello, good to
see you. Good to see you.

Tell us about it. I acquired it in
1955, when I was 17.

Next door were a couple
we became very friendly with. OK.

And one day the couple came to us
and said, "In the old shed

"at the bottom of our garden,

"we've found the remains
of a penny-farthing."

So I immediately showed interest.

I was playing a lot with bikes
and doing things of that nature.

Right. I said it was really
rather rusty and far gone,

and could I beg it?

And happily she agreed.

Why did you want the penny-farthing?
I wanted to ride it. OK, right.

Was it ridable when you first saw
it? No. It wasn't? No, no.

So did you ever ride it?
I did at that time.

We lived in the country, so... OK.

..and there weren't so many
cars about in 1955. Right.

So my friend and I were able
to ride up and down the lane

with no problem...

..and then it got to the point
where I became confident

and, at the end of the summer school
term in 1956,

I rode to Chester to school on it.
Yeah. OK.

Not only did the press turn
up and take some pictures... Right.

..but, at break, somebody
from the police came along.

Did you get into trouble?

No, I didn't get into trouble.
OK, that's good.

So, what would you like us
to do to your bike?

I would very much like you to get
it in a condition

where the wheels will run freely.

Do you want to ride this again? Yes.
We have a village festival... OK.

..with a procession. Right.

So I'd like to be in a fit condition
with the bike to ride it.

OK, right. Beryl, what does this
mean to Peter?

Oh, I think it means a lot to him
to be able to ride it again. Right.

Would you let him ride this again?

Reluctantly. OK.
SHE LAUGHS

So, Pete, if you don't mind me
asking, how old are you now? 80.

80? Yeah. Wow! Yeah.
You're a brave man.

But it does require the wheel

to rub free and not stop.
LAUGHTER

So this saddle, this is not an
original saddle, is this?

Is this something you've added?

When I got the bike,
it was just a plain rod, a backbone,

so there was nothing there,
no clues.

Originally, it would
have had a spring that went down.

I've seen quite a lot of bikes
over my time

and I've never seen anything quite
in this sort of style.

What year would you guess it?

1875, '76.

Quite a primitive bike, but
they never knew any, any different.

So thank you both for bringing
this in -

and I love the stories,
and I love the bike.

Please look after her. No, we will.
We will. Tim, thank you.

The penny-farthing in running
condition

will bring back many happy memories.

What I would really like is the two
penny-farthing wheels

put in full working order so that
the thing will run freely.

I've had the penny-farthing
a long time

and I'm hoping to have it a long
time into the future.

The history that's in this is
just unbelievable.

Yeah, you can spend a lot of time
on it,

trying to make
it into what it was originally,

or you can just make it usable
so he can ride it.

So what you need to do, then,

is get this to your bench,
get started on this, then, yeah?

Yeah, absolutely. Right. Cool.

The main issues that are
on the bike are,

we've got bent cranks,
buckled wheels,

we've got spokes that don't fit
properly.

You've got no seat spring, no brake.

So the first thing I've
got to do is dismantle it.

I like working on Victorian bikes
because they have a soul.

Someone would have originally made
this in 1875

and it's just nice
to be able to work on something

and do that person that made it
justice.

The next item to arrive also
made its mark on British history.

86-year-old Betty Dillon,
accompanied by her daughter Kieran,

is here to see leather expert
Suzie Fletcher.

Hello. Hello. I'm Suzie. I'm Betty.
Betty, lovely to meet you.

So, what have you brought
for me today?

It's a much-damaged briefcase.

There's an extra bit in there
that came off there.

Oh. It's in need... It's very badly
repaired. It is a bit, isn't it?

Yes. I see inside there's
some writing up in here.

Yes, it's my maiden name,
Betty Symes. Beautiful writing.

So tell me, how long
have you had this case? 65 years.

Really? Yes.

It was bought for me by my parents
for my 21st birthday. OK.

And it was because I was studying
engineering and I needed

a briefcase with me.
You were studying engineering?

Yes, I became a structural
engineer. Really? The first lady.

Oh, my word! Wow!

This is a privilege.

When I went to the Institute Of
Structural Engineers for a meeting,

the first time, the chairman called
the meeting to order and said,

"Gentlemen, our lady member is
present." How did that go down?

Everybody turned around and went...

But they accepted you?

Well, they had to. No choice!
THEY LAUGH

Yes, I can see that.
I was a determined young lady.

Sounds like it. And after you'd
studied, you continued to use...?

I continued to use it
through that career, yes,

until I left to have children. Yes.

Then it got put
in the store cupboard

and not looked after very well.

How did it come to have this repair?
How long ago was that?

Oh, that must be about 30
years or more, wasn't it? Yeah.

30 or 40 years ago,

and by that point the briefcase
had started to fall to pieces,

and my mum wanted to repair it

because she was considering using it
in her second career as a teacher...

Ah! ..but unfortunately the repair
wasn't done terribly well

and other parts of it
started to fall to pieces as well.

She still kept hold of it because
it means so much to her. Yes.

Memories of my first career, and of
my parents, too, who gave it to me.

Right. Apart from the repair,

it's looking a little bit...
Bruised. Yeah, a little bit bruised.

Straps... Straps are broken.
Yes, yes.

So, Betty, I have to ask, if I'm
able to put it back into working

order... Mm-hm. ..what are you
going to do with the briefcase?

Hold on to it while I'm alive
and it goes to my grandchildren

if they want it after I've gone.

I think that's lovely.

They definitely knew how to make
cases back then.

Oh, yes.

So, Kieran, your mother,

you must be so impressed with her
and the stories that she had.

Very proud of who she is
and what she's achieved,

and the briefcase is part
of that story.

Well, in the short time that
I've been here with you,

I just want to sit down with a cup
of tea and listen to your stories.

You are absolutely fascinating.
I could keep you going for years.

To do your case
for you will be wonderful as well.

Feeling a little bit of anxious

because I haven't parted
with the case for 65 years,

and I'm handing it over
to somebody else.

I hope Suzie will be able to bring
it back

to looking something like normal.

It means my past, my career,
my parents,

and also being able to pass
it on to my grandchildren.

It's a lovely leather briefcase.
I'm proud of it.

The more I'm looking at the case,
the more I'm seeing

it has had multiple repairs,
which is only to be expected.

Very thin thread was used in the
repairs instead of a heavy-duty one,

so it's just as well
I'm having to replace

all the stitching, it's all rotten.

The thing with Betty's briefcase
is that it's had an incredible life,

and I think it shows -
it's been well used,

and that's what it was intended to.
I love this briefcase.

It is fantastic.

It just needs...

..to be remade.

In the metal workshop,
Tim is working on the elements

of the penny-farthing that gave
it its curious moniker -

the large and small wheels

that resemble the biggest
and smallest coins of the day.

There we go.

He needs to assess the back
wheel, or farthing.

You can see the buckle.

Straighten the rim out
as best as we can

and then, when I build the wheel,
it should be a lot straighter.

Now it's the turn of the penny.

First impressions is that I can see
that the front wheel

is in slightly worse condition.

So if you ride it down the road,
the front wheel will collapse.

So we need to replace all
the spokes.

The penny-farthing was the first
machine to be called a bicycle.

There we go.

The large front wheel
meant a more comfortable ride

than earlier incarnations,

with the saddle perched
high up on the seat spring,

which is missing from this one.

This is actually the original piece
of the original saddle spring.

The saddle spring basically sits
the saddle on

and it clamps to the saddle spring.

The original bike would
have had a long seat spring

that went over the top, out the
front of the bike

and then back down here.
As that was missing,

I've got to make a complete
brand-new seat spring for it.

I've drilled a hole now

that will slide
over the headstock of the bike,

but I need to make it bigger

and the only way I can do
that without losing any metal

and keep some strength around
that area

is to take it over to Nick
in the forge.

Nick Wedlock
is the resident blacksmith,

crafting metal with fire and anvil.

Hello, Nick. Hello, Tim.
I wonder if you can give me a hand.

I want to enlarge that hole. Yeah.

I'm told that you're the man
to do the job.

Yeah, I reckon I can do
something with that.

When heated, the metal becomes more
pliable,

allowing Nick to enlarge
the hole to the correct size.

OK. Turn it over.

A measure. Yeah. That's perfect.

That's probably originally
how it would have been done.

I'm sure it is, yeah. OK.

The next stage for Tim is to bend
the saddle spring into shape,

using his template as a guide.

I'm absolutely chuffed
because all of those measurements,

all of that bending, all of that
work, now it's in the right position

for me to make the whole
seat spring work.

The penny-farthing is beginning
to take shape,

but, to get it on the road again,

Tim's got to rebuild the large
front wheel.

It's an awkward part of the job...

..so shed-mate Dom is enlisted
as an extra pair of hands.

That's it. Right, what we've got to
do is, I've got to get it tight.

I've got to adjust all of these.

Yeah, if you can just spin it
around like that.

Spin it around some more. Hold it.

I can't even imagine what it
must be like riding this.

You must be up, what, super-high.

Yeah, when you're riding it,
your head's nine feet in the air.

Wow! That must be terrifying.

Yeah, it's certainly a different...
different perspective on life. Yeah.

Now Tim must replace every single
spoke in this gargantuan wheel.

Right, I've made all the spokes now.

They're both headed at each end.

All I've got to do is just put
the hub in the centre

and then start...

..screwing all the spokes in.

I've had to replace a lot
of these spoke adjusters -

purely because they
were just worn out.

They were over 150 years old -

and the moment you ride something
like this

after putting it back
together again,

the whole soul
of the bike comes back into play,

and then you start wondering
about who made it,

who rode it,
the journeys they did on it,

and then you can start to enjoy
those journeys yourself.

Oh! Something looks promising.

Pedals are going on. Yeah.
So, have you fixed it, then, yeah?

Um, yeah. Just about to give it
a test ride.

You've ridden one of these before,
though, haven't you? Yeah.

Not quite as early as this one -
this is pretty primitive -

so it's going to be...it's going
to be a bit of a wobbler

when it gets going.

All right, I'm going to get the
others to have a look at this.

All right, OK. Cor blimey!

Guys, Tim is about to ride
the penny-farthing. Oh!

You've got to come and see this.
Come on.

He's going to come zooming
down here. Oh, right, OK.

So we're behind here for safety?

Yeah, for safety, just in case.
THEY LAUGH

Here he is.
THEY CHEER

Oh, my word!

That is quality.

From bikes to trains - and next
into The Repair Shop

is retired railway electrician
Bob Arrowsmith from Peterborough.

Hello. Hi, I'm Steve. I'm Bob.

I'm Jay. Hello, Jay. All right?
How are you? Yes, good. Very good.

So, what have we got in here, then?

Right, this is my old clocking-on
clock from the railway works.

Right, let's get it out, then,
shall we? Yes. Right. OK. OK.

Yeah, I've got it.

Come on into the barn, Bob.
Thank you.

Right.

So, Bob, what have we got here?

It's my old clocking-on clock...
Right.

..from the railway works at Crewe,

and I bought it for the princely
sum of £28. Wow!

I'm not sure what it's worth now...
THEY LAUGH

..and it wasn't until I was given
the documents for it

did I realise that I'd clocked on it
as an apprentice.

That's a coincidence, innit?

Yeah, amazing. Do you know how many
times you would have clocked on

to this particular clock, then?
It would have been four times a day.

How many years? Quite a few years.

About 25 years. Oh, my goodness!
Yeah.

So, it was in in the morning,
out at dinner time. OK.

Back in in the afternoon.
Yeah, right.

And the good one,
out at teatime, so...

How many people worked there?

There was quite a few
hundred people there.

There's a part there that's worn...
Yeah.

..and that's how many hands
have put a card into there.

Right.
And it was always a little ceremony.

I always felt everybody would gather
on the clock going home.

Yeah. There'd always be
a story told, a joke told. Yeah.

And then, of course,
five o'clock, everybody gone.

It's got a good piece
of railway heritage. Yeah.

When I see it now at home,
I think again of all my workmates,

and of course some that have...are
long passed...

Yeah. ..so, it's a...it's a
sentimental piece of kit to me.

Right. Right, OK.
Would be good to see it going again.

Shall we have a look inside?

Yeah. All right.

So we've got a good-quality,
heavy pendulum. Very heavy.

A plastic bag full of...
Bits. ..bits...

..and another bag of bits there.

Lots of parts.

There's a good, solid key there.

That's the winding key. Yeah.

So we've got all the bits here.
I'm pretty sure.

Hopefully. And a few more, I think.
THEY LAUGH

Let's have a look in here.

There, of course, is the
clocking mechanism. Good.

Looks as if it's all there.

What about stuff like this,
because...what's that?

Do you know?
I think it's a birthmark.

LAUGHTER

I've never known what that is.

It's like a plant pot
or something's been on there.

Someone's cup of tea.
Honestly... Not mine.

LAUGHTER
Yeah.

Well, thank you for bringing it in.
It's my pleasure.

Thanks very much.

I hope Steve will be able to get
the clock mechanism working

and it'd be nice to see it
ticking again.

A little bit sad to leave it
behind.

There's a big space on my
wall where it's come from,

but I know it's in good hands.

It was part of our lives
in the railway works,

to have that clock there every day,

so it's still part of my life now.

It's keeping the past going,
isn't it?

And it's just nice to see
things restored and kept.

Clocking-on clocks were widely used
in the early 20th century.

These Gledhill-Brook clocks
first appeared in 1912

and were used throughout both
World Wars and up until the 1980s.

There's actually three parts
to this repair.

The first is the clock mechanism
itself.

I need to go through that,
give it an overhaul.

There's the printing mechanism

that I've got to go through.
I'll clean it.

I'm not going to strip it down,
I'll just clean it through.

And then probably
the most difficult part...

..is... Bob's given me a whole
load of bits and pieces

that have been taken out
at some stage of its life.

Bit of a jigsaw,

but with no picture on the front
of the box

to show me where everything goes.

You never know
what you're going to find

when you start taking a clock
like this apart.

There we go, it all looks intact.

I'm sure it's going to be fine
with a, with an overhaul,

but I won't be able to tell
until I take it completely apart.

While Steve puzzles over
the railway timekeeper,

his sister Suzie has been working
on her own piece of history.

She has completely stripped
apart the leather briefcase.

While I've been taking it apart,

I realised this whole panel
at the gusset is very, very weak.

I can see that it's been resewn
multiple times

and that in itself
has weakened the leather

because there's not just one line
of holes,

but two, and, in some areas, three.

I'm now feeling that the best
approach that I have

with this section is to line it all
and give it some extra support.

These, you can clearly see,
have rotted over time -

many, many years of use.

So I've made a pattern and I'm going
to mark out,

ready to cut with my knife, and just
carefully following the pattern

that I've made.

And this is beautiful leather.

It's a really nice quality
that has a lot of strength to it.

So the end of the strap is going to
have what we call

a church-end window. So you just
line it up there

and then whack it with a mallet.

There you have your church end.

The front section of the briefcase

has the buckles on -
and I'm doing these by hand,

rather than on a sewing machine,
because I want the sewing

to be very, very strong.

There is something about hand-sewn
that looks a bit different

and, if it's done well,
it can look really rather lovely.

This is one of those jobs
that I do that I absolutely love

because you can see...

..the item begin to evolve.

Betty asked that I keep the original
handle.

It looks like it's in good
enough condition

that it can take some wear and tear,

so I'm quite happy to follow
her wishes.

So, now that I've got that sewn on,

I have to rivet on the
supporting plate

that goes on the underside here.

Make sure that's supported on the
back there.

I'm really, really happy
with how it's turning out -

and hopefully, by the time
I've completely finished with it,

it'll look like a beautiful...

..mellow colour all over.

It's also giving me the opportunity
to think more about Betty's life.

Being one of the first
female structural engineers

is really quite a phenomenal
achievement on her behalf.

I hope that Betty's going
to be very, very pleased

with the end product.

I will have a huge sense of relief
when I get it finished

and back into her hands.

Tim is also making the final tweaks
to his repair

of the once-rickety penny-farthing.

I like to keep true to the original
builder of the bike,

and just doing it in this method
helps me, in my heart,

feel that I'm doing
the original builder justice.

Hoping to see his antique
bicycle roadworthy again,

Peter Swash has returned
to The Repair Shop -

along with his wife Beryl.

Having met Tim

and heard he'd worked on a lot of
old bikes and penny-farthings,

I'm really interested to see
what he's been able to achieve.

I'm hoping the wheels
will be true and sound,

and beyond that I shall be surprised
at whatever else has been possible.

Hiya. Hello. Hi.
Great to see you again.

You looking forward to seeing it?
Full of excited anticipation, yes.

Ready? Yes.

Wow! Gosh, that does look good.

Oh, you have done a lot of work!
Thank you very much!

It looks superb!

That is quite breathtaking
by comparison.

The wheel builds were quite
difficult

because I had to make
every single spoke.

So, how does it feel,
seeing it back in this condition?

Brings back memories of acquiring it
as a pile of rusty metal.

It looks as though it should feel
much easier to ride, much smoother.

It's a lot straighter. I'm sure.
THEY LAUGH

And after all this work,

have you done a test run on the
penny-farthing, Tim?

I have ridden it, yeah. You have?

It was quite a scary moment.
It was quite a moment, yeah.

It was quite scary. After hearing
about Tim's nerve-racking ride,

how do you feel?
Nervous, but if he wants a go...

Are you going to let him?
..I can't stop him.

I mean, it'll be a dream
come true for him.

So, do you remember any of
the history

of other people working
on this bike? I've got a notebook...

OK.
..which details work that was done.

I would very much like everybody
who worked on the penny-farthing

here to sign my little notebook.
Oh, absolutely. That's really nice.

I'm thrilled that it looks
like a penny-farthing.

Better than I've ever seen it.

I was really surprised

that Tim had been able to make a new
saddle spring for it

and had the rear brake operating.

I'm thrilled to bits.

Clockwork specialist Steve Fletcher

has begun to deconstruct
the clocking-on device...

..but with no manual to refer to,
he's got his work cut out.

So, this isn't a straightforward
clock repair.

I've done time recorders before.

I haven't actually done
this make of time recorder,

so it's a bit alien to me -

and, of course, I've got to check
the bag

of wheels and bits and pieces,

and see which ones fit in this
position here.

Everything about this clock
is such good quality.

Everything's heavily built.

I guess it has to be such good
quality

because it's an important
timekeeping instrument,

because it's people's livelihoods.

It sort of records the amount people
are going to get paid,

and sometimes you'd get hundreds
and hundreds of people,

you know, in a factory
that are using a clock.

Just got to give all of
this a wash through now.

Scrub it up.
Put it back together again.

Get all the other pieces
that are in the plastic bag

and figure out where it all goes.

With the prospect
of dismantling, cleaning

and reassembling the interior
of the machine,

Steve needs help with the exterior.

All right, Dom? Hey, Steve,
you OK? Yeah. I need a favour.

What have you got? I've got this
part from a clocking-in clock...

Oh, OK, OK.
..and it's been laid down

and someone's stood something on
there, something damp - you can see.

Yeah, what a shame.

It's handy we've got this nice
border. It is.

We won't need to sand the whole
thing down - we should, hopefully,

I should just be able to just repair
that little section. Yeah, yeah.

Might need to take these brass bits
off, though.

Is that OK? Yeah, that's good.

Yeah, you can polish them
at the same time.

THEY LAUGH
Very clever.

Thank you very much.
No problem. Cheers. Thanks, Steve.

Looks good.

I'm glad these are solid brass, not
just plated or something like that.

So this means I'll be able to polish
this up really nicely.

I will now sand off the clear
varnish, back to the wood,

and then reapply a clear -

in a gloss that matches
the rest of the box.

After dismantling the clock,

Steve now needs to clean
the multiple components.

His next task is to tackle
the time recorder -

the part of the machine
he's least familiar with.

I know how the actual printing part
of it is turning.

The problem I have is that I think
that there are bits missing...

..but I'm wondering whether
the basics can still work.

There are lots
of mysteries with this...

..time recorder. I'm just going
to wash this through.

I'm not going to strip it down
at all.

This machine has logged thousands
of timestamps over the decades,

and hasn't been apart since
its retirement.

I'm just using a stiff paintbrush
to remove all the grime.

Some of the numbers are clogged
up far more than the others -

at eight o'clock or
at five o'clock -

when they were most commonly used.

Now what I need to do is actually
find out where all these bits

that Bob has left actually
go in the clock.

Because I didn't actually
take all these bits out,

I don't know where they all go,
so there's no plans for this,

so I've just got to work it out.

Good. At least all
the wheels are spinning.

At least we'll get
the clock working.

It is a bit of trial and error.

These two bits go in there.

Now, this rack actually runs
into this wheel here.

I think this is actually
where it turns one of the wheels

in the time-recording mechanism.

OK, that's good. That all
lines up, that's really good.

That means that the bracket's
in the right place as well.

I've got one shaft there that...

..doesn't seem
to have a place and...

..a bit worryingly, a wheel.

What I'll do is, I'm going to
get it all back in the case

and see if it all works,

and if it doesn't work
for some reason,

it may be because of this wheel.

What I'm going to do is get
the clock mechanism in.

I'll get the time-recording
mechanism in

and get all the linkages sorted out.

I've just got to get everything
set up correctly.

After years of silence, the clock's
finally upright and ticking,

but it needs its
wood and brass case.

Hi, Steve.

Finished that little repair for you.
That's good.

I was a bit worried about the colour
match, but I think it's all right.

It's absolutely spot-on. Yeah?

Is this what it's going on?
It is. Got the main drive here,

coming down there, that drives
the clocking-in mechanism. OK.

When it was brought in,
Bob presented me a bag of bits

and... Tried to fix it before.

..I don't know whether this was a
joke or not, but...

Missing bits left. This is all...
I've got an extra wheel...

THEY LAUGH

OK. ..that it's working without.

I'm not sure whether someone
put it in as a joke -

we certainly used to do
that to apprentices.

Oh, you didn't!
Put an extra wheel in

and they'd be struggling to find
where it went. Oh, that's cruel!

I'm glad I'm not your apprentice.
THEY LAUGH

On the other side of the workshop,

Suzie is carrying out the finishing
touches on the leather briefcase

which belongs to pioneering
structural engineer Betty.

The final part of it is giving
it a really good feed

and get some of the good oils
and greases

back into this rather tired leather.

It's interesting, when you're
working on something of this age,

and you start putting all
these finishing touches on,

how the item all starts
to take on a new life.

Betty and her daughter Kieran
are returning to The Repair Shop

to collect Betty's old briefcase,

used when she was blazing a trail
as a female engineer in the 1950s.

As the time has gone on,

I've thought more and more back
to when I first had it.

It was 65 years ago.

More and more memories have come
back, which is really beautiful.

I know that Suzie has a fantastic
reputation and skill,

but how far that skill can go and
whether it can go back to the case

as it originally was, I don't know,

so I'm looking
forward to finding out.

Hello, Betty, it's lovely to see
you again. Lovely to see you.

Hello. Hello. So, do you remember
what it looked like

when you brought
it in, Betty? I can remember,

to my shame, what it looked
like when I brought it in, yes.

You ready? Ready. Yes. OK.
BETTY GASPS

One, two, three.

Oh, boy! Wow!

Oh! Look at that!

Oh! Goodness!

It's rich leather, too, now.
BETTY LAUGHS

I'm excited at this.

Look at that. O-o-o-oh!

And your name and address are still
there. Still there.

Yeah. That's absolutely lovely.

Thank you so much. It's come
up beautifully. hasn't it? Yes.

Did you have to do it by hand?
I did.

The leather was so fragile

in areas, to where it was just
absolutely falling apart,

so I had to do some strengthening
and lining,

and, yeah,
just had to be sewn by hand.

Oh, dear. Oh, that really is lovely.
Bit overwhelmed, actually.

Yeah? Yes, I didn't know it could
come back to this stage at all.

I have to admit, I was a little
more anxious than I normally am

when I'm giving something back,
because I remember you saying

that you did become a school
teacher later on in life. Mmm.

And I was wondering whether
you were going to give me detention.

LAUGHTER
"Must do better next time."

She did have a nickname as a
teacher. Yes, go on. The Dragon.

No! Oh, yes.
LAUGHTER

She would have definitely told
you if there was a problem.

LAUGHTER

Thing's come alive again,
don't they? Yes. This has.

But with it, all your memories.
Yes. Oh, that's lovely.

Thank you so much.

Whee!
LAUGHTER

Thank you.

Oh, I'm feeling absolutely
delighted.

Seeing the briefcase
now that it's been repaired

takes me right back to 65 years ago
when I got it for my 21st birthday.

I'm immensely proud of
my mum's careers,

to think that she was such
a forward thinker.

But I don't think I was a
forward thinker,

I just think I was
a very stubborn young woman.

THEY LAUGH

I'm going to put it out on show
where everybody can see,

not only what I was,
what I had and where I went,

but what I've now got back.

Horologist Steve is completing
the rebuild

of the railway clocking-on device,

which recorded thousands of workers
on their way in and out of work.

After dismantling,
cleaning and restoring,

the clock is almost ready
for collection.

Oh, it seems a bit of a shame
to cover up all this mechanism,

because it's so beautiful.

I'd quite like to see it,
actually...

..but it's the way it was,
so, got to cover it up.

All done.
I'm very, very happy with this.

Excellent.

Former railway electrician Bob
was just 16 years old

when he first punched his card
into this clocking-on clock.

Excited, looking forward
to seeing it.

There's a big space in my hall
where it sits, normally,

so as I come through the front
door I see that space at the moment,

and it'll be nice to see
the clock back on the wall there.

Hello, Bob. Hi, Steve.
Have you come to clock in? Oh, gosh!

I'm hoping so, yes. Yes.

Do you remember how the clock looked
when you brought it in?

A little bit sorry for itself -
and not working, of course. Yeah.

Not telling the time. Yes.

Can you hear something?
TICKING

BOB GASPS
Oh, wow!

Yeah. Oh, Steve!
Let me take the cover off for you.

Oh, lovely! Oh, look!

And the right time, as well!
Hey, that's fantastic!

Absolutely. That's beautiful.
Yeah. Oh, lovely.

We've been together a long time.
Nice to be back with it again.

Would you like to have a quick
look inside as well? Yes, please.

Yeah.
HE GASPS

Steve! That's lovely!

Oh, it's never looked so nice!

That is wonderful. Everything all
polished. It's beautiful.

Would you likes to do the honours?
Oh, gosh! Oh, yes, please.

That side. It's working as well!

Oh, wow! Oh, that's super!

I took the clock apart... Yeah.

..completely, gave it a good,
thorough clean through.

Oh, you're an ace. It's fantastic.

Can you see anything different
at the front there?

Oh, yeah! Oh, lovely!

You've done a lovely job
of polishing that -

and all the
hands that have been in there.

I always think of that.
That's all my mates.

That's all been worn away
by the chaps at the railway there.

Yeah. It's emotional,
part of my history,

and it's just fantastic
to see it back.

It's something I'll treasure
for a long time.

To see it back
on the wall and be able to use it.

Not clocking on, maybe,
but I shall now and again.

Yeah, great stuff.
I'm going to try it again.

It's good. Going to
move it along a bit.

Yeah, well, we're going to...
Oh, that moves nicer as well.

Yeah, that's it, home time.
THEY LAUGH

I can only thank you again.
You're very, very welcome.

It's wonderful. Thank you.

It's nice to be reunited
with the clock.

Steve is a wonderful craftsman,

and I've got great admiration
for him.

He's gone above my expectations
in fixing the clocking mechanism.

It's absolutely fantastic,

and it brings back many
memories

of when I used to work
with the railways.

It was great times.
I loved working there.

It was a great experience,

and something I still feel
very proud of.

Join us next time... Oh-h*-h*!
..as more extraordinary treasures...

I'm in awe of you, mate. I'm in awe.
..are rescued and restored...

Thank you so much!

..in The Repair Shop.