05x07 - Wind-Up Train

[bunniefuu]

Welcome to the Repair Shop,

where precious but faded
treasures...

It's in a bit of a sorry state.

..are restored
to their former glory.

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

Furniture restorer Jay Blades...

Now the fun begins. I know!

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

..and a dream team
of expert craftspeople....

Looks absolutely amazing.

Wicked.

You really start to see the thought
that went into making it.

..come together to work their magic.

Teamwork? Absolutely.

Yes!

Beautiful.

Employing heritage craft skills
passed down the generations.

It's my duty to make sure that this
all goes back in working order.

Preserving irreplaceable heirlooms.

It's absolutely amazing!
It really is.

It's like keeping a bit of our
family history alive.

The team will restore the items...

SHE GASPS

..the memories...

Yes! Yes!

..and unlock the stories
that they hold.

Bye.

SHE GASPS

It's touched my heart.

It's amazing.

In the Repair Shop today...

It's back to school for Will,

restoring a piece that's seen
some serious swotting.

I can preserve the history.

Every single scratch,
I'm sure, tells a story.

And it's a joint effort to wrestle
control over a beast of a book.

It actually snapped the needle.

And because it's messing me around,

I am having to show it who's boss.

The Repair Shop's first arrival
is Graham Young from Aberdeenshire.

He's brought along a truly
one-of-a-kind item

which he hopes engineering whizz
Steve Fletcher

and art conservator Lucia Scalisi

can restore to full working order.

Hello.
Hi, I'm Steve.

Hi Steve.
I'm Graham - nice to meet you.

I'm Lucia. Hello.

Nice to meet you.

Ooh! What do we got in the suitcase?

This is very James Bond.

A bit of a challenge for you,
I think.

Really?

Ooh!

Oh, my good... Oh, wow!

That is amazing!

Here's a train that my dad made many
years ago when he was in the Navy.

And it was around
when I was a child.

We were fascinated enough
just by the fact of

the little bits that moved.

And by the fact that
when the wheels went round,

you can actually see
the whole mechanism

and I'm just fascinated
at the skill involved in it.

Right.

And then I hadn't seen it
for many years.

And when I was clearing out
my eldest brother's loft,

I came across it in this
rather sorry condition.

So your dad made it?

Yep. In the Navy he was
an Electrical Artificer.

What is an Electrical Artificer?

It's somebody who's got to deal
with all the electrics of the engine

or generator on a warship.

So you could make the missing parts
as well,

if anything needed replacing? Yeah.

He must have had to learn the skills

of how to make things out of metal.

It's stunning.

Did he make it for you to use?

No, he made it before I was born.

And then he died just before
my seventh birthday. Oh!

So he weren't around for very long.

So I don't have many memories
of him.

There's very few things that I've
got that directly relate to him.

So this is very, very important
to you? Yeah.

Can you remember it in a better
condition than this?

Yeah. Yeah.

It had wheels, an axle
and it had a wind-up mechanism...

Oh, right! ..that never worked
in my childhood.

This is a lovely piece.

It's absolute one-off, isn't it?

It's British racing green.

Yeah.

And these lovely red straps on it.

It's just so unique and beautiful
and very personal to your father.

What would you like us to do?

I'd like you to do whatever you can.

I would just like it to be back
in a state which is worthy

of the person who made it,
so that when I say to people,

"My dad made that"...

..and to be able to see it
like he made it would, I think,

be a fitting tribute to him.

Thank you so much
for bringing it in.

And we'll see
what we can do for you.

Thank you so much. Thank you.

Thank you, Graham.
Thank you.

Bye-bye, now. Bye.

I think my dad would be sorry to see
the state that the train's in now.

I'm really excited about leaving
the train here.

To have people who have got
similar skills

to the skills my dad must have had

being able to work on it.

Because I never saw my dad
use those skills.

That's going to be really
special to me.

So, Steve, there's quite a lot of
mechanical stuff

to do, isn't there? Well, there is.
I've got to work out how to

take out the mechanism and then
I've got to make up

some new wheels.

Once I've done that, I can just
hand it over to you

to do all the paintwork. But it is
a real challenge... It is.

..as to how far to go because you
don't want to lose

a lot of this surface. No.
Particularly with the lettering

on it. You've got your work cut out
on this. Yeah.

I think we both have. Right.
Well, I'll take it away

and I'll bring you the main body
when I've got it all apart.

OK. Thanks.

This is a really nice train.

I used to have clockwork trains
when I was a kid.

I used to love it because they were
under guarantee

and they would break and I would
send them off to be repaired.

Whenever they came back, they came
with a brand-new key

and I used to love that key.

SCRAPING SOUND

That's really not a good sign.

I was hoping to hear a...

..click-click of a ratchet.

I'll just have a quick look
down here.

There's a broken wheel inside.

Instead of being nice and solid
on the shaft,

it's actually slipping around it.

I think what I'll do is take
some of the wheel work off

so that I can get to the mechanism.

Good. What I'm trying to do is keep
getting into the head

of Graham's dad because this isn't
a sort of standard build at all.

But I'm sure I'll be able to
get it apart.

Good, I can see right down into
the mechanism now,

so I think I can drill a hole
in the wheel

that's slipping on the shaft.

So, I'm going to carefully drill
between two teeth

of one of the wheels and through
into the shaft,

and then put a pin through there,
really jam it in there,

and hopefully, that's going to
hold it.

DRILL WHIRRS

In any clockwork mechanism, each
wheel or cog is vital.

It only takes one to malfunction
for the whole thing

to grind to a halt.

These are taper pins, so when
I push it in,

I will then really hammer it
in tight.

Steve hopes that making a solid bond
between the broken internal wheel

and the shaft will be the first step
in getting the train

back on track again.

Good. That's gone in really,
really well.

Good.

Yeah, it's coming on well.

Next to arrive at the barn is
Mary Brown from Derbyshire.

She's hoping the talents of
bookbinder Chris Shaw

can keep an extraordinary piece
of her family's history

from being forgotten.

Hello. Hello. I'm Jay.
Nice to meet you.

I'm Mary. Chris. All right,
Mary? Hello.

So, what have you got wrapped
up? Wow.

This is my mum's scrapbook.

Oh, looks nice and 1950s.

Yes, 1954. Whoa.

It's a scrapbook with...?
What's in it?

Yeah, tell us... Yeah, so my mum
made this when she was

a little girl. It's a scrapbook
of my grandad.

He was a policeman. OK, this is
your grandad here.

That's my grand... Yeah,
my grandpop, yeah.

My mum passed away about five years
ago, so she left this to me.

Yeah. It's literally my grandad
in a book.

This is all paper cuttings about
my grandad and three bears

escaped from the circus. Oh!
Whoa, hold on a minute.

What do you mean, "three bears"?
Like, real bears? Yes. Real bears.

Very, very large bars.

Two of them were recaptured. OK.

One of them, unfortunately, made its
way into Newcastle city centre,

and his job, basically, was to go
and try and get it back.

And... OK. ..he went into a local
shop and he got some custard creams

and some ginger snaps. Some biscuits
for the bear! Biscuits!

And the idea was he was going to try
and lure it back to the circus.

That would've worked with me, but
not with a bear. It did for a while.

I think it ate a few of them.
Oh, did it?!

But then, unfortunately, this lady
managed to get in the way

and this bear grabbed a hold of
her, so... What?! Yeah.

At that point, he had absolutely
no choice. Yeah. He had to go

and try and wrestle the bear.

The trainers came and they managed
to get it all sort of,

like, tied up to railings,
completely unharmed.

The bear was absolutely fine.
What about your grandpa?

Yeah. Was he unharmed? He was
all right, yeah.

And up until the end of his career,
he was called Goldilocks...

OK. ..because of the three bears.
Right, yeah.

He got an award for bravery from
the Queen. That's really impressive.

And he was awarded the Silver
Laurel Leaf.

Silver... Wow! OK.

So your mum made all of this.

So she must been over the moon
with her dad.

She's been keeping cuttings for
years and years and years.

She obviously really cared.
She kept every item.

It was just such a wonderful
link to my grandad.

And still now, this is such
a wonderful link to my mum.

Phew. What would you like us to do?
The main thing that I would like

to see is just that it's not
falling to bits. OK.

I would love it to stay in
the family,

but at the moment, as you can see,
it's definitely...

It's been loved. ..worse for wear.
Yeah. Yeah.

So, Chris, what do you reckon?
Yeah. It's going to be

a challenge, but, yeah, I'm looking
forward to it. Yeah?

I think it's.... Yeah, a really
lovely, lovely item.

Mary, thank you for bringing it in.

You are very welcome. Thank you,
Mary. Oh, thank you.

And, yeah, good luck.

Cheers. Thank you. Thanks.
Take care now.

This is my family history.

The feeling of, like, my mum
glueing it together

and knowing that she actually did
this out of love,

and to have that link to my family
is really, really important to me.

Wow. Well, that's a hero, isn't it?
It's amazing. Hey.

What a story. A bear catcher.

Yeah, you don't come across that
very often.

What have you got to do to
this, then?

Because this is... Well, I can
kind of see it,

it's falling apart. Yes. I can
put a new piece of paper

around the back of the outer
cover, underneath,

joining that... Oh, you're going
join that back together. Yeah.

OK. No problem. But I do need a bit
of help with the tape, the tears.

Like that on the front cover,
that needs to be...

So that's more of a paper restorer,
isn't it? Yes. Yeah? Yes.

OK. So I'll get Louise on the case
with that because I believe

she can do all of that. Yeah.

And then I can put it back
together again.

All right. Well, what I'll do is
I'll take it over to Louise

and once she's done, we'll get
it in your capable hands.

All right? Thanks, Jay. No problem.

Back in the 1900s, scrapbooks were
leather-bound and expensive.

But later in the century,
as the materials used

became more affordable, they became
a popular pastime,

where people would display their
personal memorabilia.

How are you doing, Louise?
Oh, hi, Jay.

And paper conservator Louise Drover
is the perfect pair of hands

for this tattered example.

What have you got there? What I've
got is a lovely bear book.

Oh, wow. Fantastic.

But as you can see... Yeah. ..like,
you've got tape here

holding it together. Chris is
going to do...

The binding. ..like, the binding.
OK. But it's just to get you

to try and make this a bit stronger
than is. Yeah.

Secure all the tears and...

All of this just needs to be
preserved. Yeah.

So, if I leave that with you, then
we can get it over to Chris.

Yes, perfect. All right?
Thank you, Jay.

First thing I'm going to do is
remove this tape from the spine.

Tape's terrible, actually. As it
ages, the adhesive left behind

is what stains, unfortunately.
And as the paper ages,

it's harder and harder to take
it off as well,

and this paper's very delicate.

So this one is slightly more tacky.

So, just with a little bit of
acetone on the cotton swab,

I'll just put it near and it's
almost the vapours

that should lift the tape off.

Let's just see if we can...

Yeah, see that's slightly tacky,
that one.

It's slightly sticky.

It's quite a slow job, this.

It's going to take a while,
actually.

On his workbench, Steve's
now tackling

the home-made mechanical train.

The tender has lost two of
its wheels,

but before he can craft
the replacements,

he needs to make tiny new brass
suspension blocks.

Good. That should just slot down
into that little unit nicely.

That's moving up and down
absolutely lovely now.

What I need to do is make a spring
up for it just to

stop it from going all the way
down and that'll give it

the suspension.

Using a length of brass wire,

Steve meticulously hand-winds
the springs by eye

into the perfect shape.

I'm just going to snip off the end.

How are you getting on with
the train, Steve?

Do you know what? There's much...so
many little bits and pieces

that I've got to do to it.
There's...there's...

I'm done making the suspension
unit for the...

Oh, for the wheels. ..axles. Yeah.
Yeah, for the wheels. Wow.

Um... Do you need a hand?
I'll tell you what,

you could help me clean
the main body of it.

All right. So it's basically getting
into all the little nooks

and crannies and then drying it off
with that as much as you can,

so that Lucia can do the sort of
paintwork or whatever she's...

The paint will hold on to it.
Yeah. Exactly.

So you're still going to be
working here. I am, yes.

Well, there is loads in there. Wow.

Voila. Steve, do you know what?

I think I've done this.

Is that all you wanted?

Yeah, absolutely. Lucia can then do
the paintwork on it.

OK. I'll take this over to her.

And I'll take that over when
I've finished. OK. OK.

Thank you very much. I'm going to
sort it. Cheers.

While Steve fashions the two
new wheels out of brass...

..it's down to Lucia to touch up
the train's patchy paintwork.

I've painted out a sample here
on my palette

and it's actually quite a good
colour match.

And then the lovely Kirsten
suggested stippling it on.

You know, not repainting
the whole train,

but actually working around
the surviving paint.

And do you know what? It works.

I can just stipple it on without
covering Graham's dad's paintwork.

I mean, that's the whole point
of doing it like this.

I think I can probably work
quite quickly with this.

I'm steaming ahead with
this paintwork.

And this is very subtle. I mean,
I don't want it to be

the first thing that you notice.

And ultimately, when this is
finished, you don't even know

that I've been there.

Do you know what? If I was to paint
this whole thing,

it wouldn't be Graham's dad's
train, really, would it?

It would be my paintwork.

I've just got to the final stage
of finishing off the wheels

and everything and we're going to
solder it all together now.

This is going to be quite
a tricky...

..piece to do.

This would be a good time to...

..to have a third and fourth
hand helping here.

I am worried that it's all going to
just spring apart.

Anyways, here we go. I'm going to
go in.

Put it there until it sets.

Good. There we go.

I've just got to do the other side
now and then it's all done.

The barn's next arrivals
are Ray Bates

and daughter Louise, who've come
from Surrey.

I'm Will. I'm Ray Bates.
Nice to meet you.

Hiya. Hi, I'm Will. Louise.
Nice to meet you, Louise.

They are hoping furniture expert
Will Kirk can resurrect

a very precious and
once-hard-working gift.

Whoa. Heavy. Right, I'd say,
"What is it?"

I can see that it's a desk when
I get my breath back.

It's desk and it's in pieces.
It's a desk.

Please tell me more about it.

It was a desk that was given
to me by my father.

He wanted to motivate me for when
I was going to take

my 11-plus examination.

My parents, they were born in
the early 1900s,

not particularly well-off,

so they didn't have much education
past the age of about 13 or 14

and they wanted much more for me.

And they bought this desk as
a sort of good luck

and something to work at.

What was your father's name?
Austin. Austin.

What did Austin do for work?

He was a woodworker. Really?

Yeah, he wanted to make a desk
and he started to do it,

but he got sick.

Sadly, he died the evening
before I took my exam.

Everyone wanted to keep,
for my sake,

things as normal as possible.
Yeah. So sent me in to school...

The following day?
The following day.

It was hard. It was hard.
Your 11-plus...

Yes. ..is a tough time
for any child, especially...

Absolutely. ..the day after your
father passed away. Yeah, yeah.

Did you pass your 11-plus?

Yes. And then I went on
to study to become a teacher.

So your father wanting you to go
through the educational system,

it's really kind of gone... Yes.
..into the education system.

I went as far as I could go,
probably on that, yes.

That would have meant so much
to my father,

and this was the symbol of that.

And then my daughter
sort of went to university,

and so she sat at this. So you've
used this as well?

Yeah, I've used it. My memories,
all through my life,

is my dad sitting at this bureau.
I remember it being

a very special piece. When I was
younger, I couldn't go near

and you were not allowed
to open the bureau.

It had all these mystical sort
of little pockets

and compartments in it
that I was fascinated by.

So, how did I end up in
this condition?

Unfortunately, we had a couple of
house moves where it was dropped

and the back legs came off.

And then I tried to replace
the hinges on the inside of it.

Don't look too closely
at them, please.

Oh, my word. Yes.

It's really scratched in there.

You can see that it's been used
quite a lot

and this leather's ripped here
as well.

Would you like to close the lid?
I think we should close the lid.

So, what exactly would you like
me to do?

I would like you to make it
a workable desk again

so it can be used for
future generations.

I'd love to see my kids sit
and work at it.

Really nice to keep it in
the family. Oh, absolutely.

We haven't got that much, really,
from my father. No.

And this is the main thing
we remember him by.

I understand that it means a lot
to your family. It does.

Yes, it does. And I'll do my very
best to get it back on its four legs

for you. That'd be amazing.
Quite a challenge, I think.

I think so too. Thank you very much.
Good luck. Thank you very much.

See you soon. Bye-bye.

When I look at the bureau now,
I actually feel slightly ashamed

because I should have taken
greater care with it.

The desk really motivated me
because it was the last thing

that my father had bought for me.
It was a great motivation.

Whenever I looked at it, I knew
he was there with me.

There's a lot of memories with this
of Ray working on this desk

as a young boy,

and everyone else in the family
that has used it since.

I really want to keep the leather.

It's really worn. I don't want to
replace that.

So once I've glued back that
rip there,

I'm going to have think about what
I can do to that

to nourish it again.

It looks really tired and it needs
a lot of TLC.

The first thing I want to do is make
sure it's structurally sound.

This front right leg is quite
wobbly, so I'm going to

take that off because it's
pointless me sticking

the back two legs back on if there's
a third wobbly leg as well.

So, before I glue everything
back together, I'm just

making sure they're all going in
the right place.

The last thing you need to do is
start glueing something

back together and realise the pieces
aren't in the right place

because everything starts to dry

and then it becomes
an awful mess to undo.

Everything has slotted in together
really nicely.

And I'm just hoping this last
panel here on the back

is going to do just the same.

These back legs have been broken
for quite a while,

so it'd be really nice to have it
finally back on all four legs.

Oh, that goes together really
nicely, actually.

On her workbench, Louise has been
busy painstakingly repairing

and strengthening all the rips
and dog-eared edges

of the 1950s scrapbook.

Now I've got to go back and do this
large repair on the front cover.

It's all sort of jagged little
bits of paper.

So to do that, you just roll over
all these small fibres

to make sure that all this detail
on the cover lines up properly.

It's quite precise work because
there's this nice detail

of the scooter.

So I want this tyre all lined up,
with the tear on the other side.

I'm going to pick up the pace now

and just paste up
the tear from underneath.

It's just a wheat starch paste,
conservation grade, and it'll

just soften the paper a little bit,
enough to ease it into place.

And then,
I just need to lift it the other way

because the bevel
is on the other side.

And paste the other side.

It's come together quite nicely.

No more splits along that fore edge
and they're nice and strong.

It's really ready for Chris
from here and he can re-sew it.

How are you doing, Chris?
Ah! Fine, thanks.

Louise has done wonders on this.
Yes! Beautiful!

The sticky tack's gone. Yeah.
And the big tear, that's all done.

Well, listen, I know your attention
to detail is second to none,

so it's all yours now. Thank you.
All right? Yeah. Thanks. No problem.

Hundreds of thousands of these were
produced and they used this

cheap sort of sugar paper,
that's exceptionally brittle.

It's originally stapled
with two staples.

What I'm going to do is I'm going
to actually sew it,

so it's much more
forgiving for the actual scrapbook.

Using a linen thread, Chris is going
to stitch in a length of paper,

known as a flange, to give the whole
book extra strength.

So, this is my first piercing.

And I'm just going to see where
it should come out.

LOUD SNAP
It actually snapped the needle,

then, because there's
so much paper you're going through.

This cumbersome bear of a book
calls for a much thicker needle.

Because it's messing me around,
I am having to show who's boss!

Yeah, I think I'm happy with that.

Because so many things have been
stuck in over the years, the book's

obviously got bigger,
so I'm going to have to put a small,

little spine on it, which
is going to be visible.

And it's going to be painted.

Going to use watercolour,
as opposed to sort of acrylic

because just trying to make it
visually as close to the original

without sort of shouting out,
so it's not going to need too much.

Sort of a dirty colour at the top.

I do like scrapbooks
because it's an interesting

snapshot of people's lives,
especially with this one, in 1954.

It's lovely getting it back
together again, I think,

because it's so important.
I'm really pleased with that.

But it's just going to be a bit of
time sort of building the colour up.

On the other side of the barn,
Lucia has almost finished her

part in the restoration
of the homemade clockwork train.

With all of Steve's new additions
blended in with her

meticulous paintwork, there's just
one more thing for her to do.

Just going to sort of do a little
bit of reconstruction

on the lettering - not too much,
I don't want them

to look brand new - so hopefully,
you'll be able to read it properly,

but not know that
anything's been done.

Hi, Steve. A beautiful locomotive.
Oh, wow! It's done.

That is stunning!
Absolutely stunning!

And it looks old, it looks the part.

See, I knew you would do a good job!

All his father's paint is
incorporated into this paint

finish, none of it is lost.

Right. To all intents and purposes,
my job is done. Excellent.

Thank you so much.
I'll leave you with it. Brilliant!

Oh, wow!

Before the locomotive can
make its first journey in decades,

it needs one more tiny addition.

I've just turned a brass whistle up,
so I'm going to pop this on top.

I hope I don't destroy
any of the paint she's done.

Otherwise, I'll be in real
trouble with Lucia.

So, just heat up
the top of the whistle

and then the heat will transfer
through and then melt the solder.

There we are.

Good.

Nice.

Graham's returned,

hoping that his late father's
homemade train that had stopped

working before he was born can now
pay proper tribute to the

skills his dad used to build it.

Hello, Graham. Hi, Steve.
How are you? OK, thank you.

Good, good.

It looks like the shape of the
train that I brought in! Yeah.

And I expect it's had a fair
bit of work done on it.

Lucia and I have been so,
so careful in what we've done

because we've really respected the
workmanship of your father. Yeah.

So, I'm going to show you now,
so I hope you like what we've done.

Wow!

Wowee!

Special!

Wowee! Well done!

Where I come from in the north east
of Scotland, we just say, "Nae bad!"

Which sounds like a putdown, but
it's actually a great compliment.

Thank you very much.

We've been so wanting to respect
what your father did.

The mechanism was broken. Right.

But I have actually
fixed the mechanism.

We did a run about that far.
So, I do have a key.

You can wind it up, if you like.

OK. Would you like to wind that now
and...?

It's an easy wind, isn't it?
I think that might be enough.

So, this is what I've never seen.
There we go.

Wow!

It works! It goes about that far!

In some ways it'd be a bit of a job
if it went further,

wouldn't it, because...? Yes.

He obviously made it just to be
able to see with the wheels

and the attachments to see all
the coordination of those things.

Yes, exactly.

So I am so impressed. You should
be very proud of your father.

Thank you. I am.

I don't know how he did some
of this, so well done, your father.

Yeah. Yeah, I agree.

Getting it done, it wasn't
for me to have some

sort of memory of how it was,
it was to have it being put right.

Yes. And it's been put right.
Wonderful!

Hey!

Thank you, Steve. You're welcome.

Enjoy it. I will.
Bye-bye now. Thanks, bye.

When I first saw the train,

I just thought it was looking
just as it should do, really.

And to see it moving as well
was very exciting,

which I never thought would
ever happen.

I think my dad, if he was around,
he'd be happy because I'm happy.

Across the barn, Will's got
the 1950s bureau firmly back

on its feet and is ready to start
the cosmetic stage of the repair.

Traditionally, this would have had
a French polish finish.

At some point, someone has put
one not-so-amazing

coat of varnish on there.
That's now been sanded off.

This is nice and smooth,

so I'm going to apply a really thin
coat of French polish.

When I brush this on here,

you'll see all the lovely
grain will pop out.

Inside this French polishing pad,
I have shellac polish,

a bit of methylated spirits,
and I have some oil on the surface.

The mineral oil allows me
to move really nice and freely.

If this pad sticks
to the surface for too long,

the methylated spirits will start
eating back through the polish.

So the idea is to keep a really nice
fluid motion, not stay in one

place for too long, and then you're
guaranteed a really good result.

With the bureau destined for many
more years of use, Will wants

to ensure that the tired writing
surface will stand the test of time.

But leather restoration is
not his area of expertise.

Suzie? Yeah?
What you got going on there?

So, this lovely bit of leather here,
I don't want to replace

because it's got
so much history to it. OK.

It looks really scratched and I'm
wondering of there's anything
I can put on there to nourish it.

A lot of the surface has come off,
hasn't it? Yeah.

And I think if we can just stabilise
the surface with like a wax, then

that will just stop
it from losing any more colour,

but it'll tone down where we've got
these lighter patches.

Yeah, this is exactly what
I'd recommend.

Yeah, fantastic. All right.
Thank you, Suzie.

One of the great things about this
wax is that it means

I can preserve the finish.

And all the history. Every single
scratch, I'm sure, tells a story.

I'm actually finding this old
bit of leather quite charming.

On his workbench,

Chris has almost finished binding
the scrapbook that told

the tale of policeman Stanley
and his well documented bravery,

capturing an escaped bear.

So, this is a protective box that
I'm giving to Mary, so she can

keep the scrapbook and all the bits
and pieces that she hasn't stuck in.

I've had this paper made

because Stanley tried to lure
the bear away with some biscuits,

as I thought it would relate nicely
to the... Stanley and the bear.

Hello, Chris. Nearly finished? Yep.

Oh, nice! Yeah, I'm really pleased
with that. You are a real gent!

Look at that! What do you think?
Do you think she'll be pleased?

I think she's going to be more
than pleased, mate.

That is amazing!

The scrapbook arrived dog-eared
and full of tears

and the only thing holding it
together was tape.

Mary's come to collect her precious
item, put together by her

late mum, hoping it's been saved,
along with the story it tells.

I have no idea what they might have
been able to do with the scrapbook.

I'm not entirely sure how they fix
paper, so I can't wait to see it.

I'm really excited.

Hey. Hello.

How are you guys doing? Very good.
How are you, Mary? Really good.

Nice to see you again. Hello. How
are you doing? Very well, thanks.

Oh! You OK? Yes!

You're just straight in on that,
aren't you? I am!

I'm really looking forward
to seeing this.

We're going to show you. OK.

Oh, that looks amazing!

And the tear!
Where's the tear gone?!

How did you do it?

Well, Louise did an amazing job
with the paper. Can I open it?

Is that all right? Course you can!
Am I allowed? Course you can!

Oh, my God!

Oh, it looks absolutely amazing!
Thank you so much!

I'm actually going faster than
I normally would cos I'm not

worried about bits
falling off any more.

So, what do you think Mum would
make of the book now?

She'd be really happy.

Yeah? I mean,
this meant the world to her.

She absolutely adored him.

Honestly. She'd be over the moon.

I know it's very important, so I've
made you something to protect it.

Oh!

Oh, jammie dodgers!

The perfect paper!

You OK? Yes.

More than OK.

So, put that in there.

Perfect fit.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. You take care
now. Cheers. Bye-bye. Bye.

Very emotional, if I'm honest.

My mum would have absolutely loved
that. I wish she was here to see it.

She would have... She would have
been really, really happy.

I can't believe it, they've done
an absolutely amazing job.

It looks beautiful.

Inside, Will's on the final
chapter of his restoration

of the 1950s writing bureau.

Well, this is the final
part of this journey.

It's almost like the cherry
on the top of the cake.

All the polishing's done,
the woodwork's been cleaned up.

Finally, I can get
the brass work back on.

There we have it. Finished.

I really hope that Ray and Louise
are going to be as happy as I am.

I like it so much, I don't actually
want to give it back!

When Ray's late father bought him
this bureau,

he hoped studying would bring
a better life for his son,

but after decades of use,
it fell into serious disrepair.

With his daughter Louise, Ray
has come to collect the desk,

where he swotted as a boy
for his 11-plus.

The bureau was the last
thing my father ever gave me

before he died,
so it means a lot to me.

Hello. Hello, there. Hello.
Lovely to see you again.

Lovely to see you, too.

Do you remember the state
the desk was in?

I'm ashamed to say I do remember.

It wasn't a desk, it was a few
pieces of wood, really, wasn't it?

I'll put you out of your misery.
Ready? Yeah.

I now feel 11!

Yes, sitting ready...

No, it's not the same one. You've
shopped and found another one!

That is unbelievable!

It's just exactly how I remember it.
It's exactly how I remember it!

No, I don't believe...
Thank you. That's OK.

That is absolutely superb!

I left the original
leather on the inside. Oh, wow!

That is amazing!

Yeah. Oh, I remember...
This is crazy. It's just...

I'm so pleased you left that
because there's

so many memories of sitting there,
sort of, fiddling with it.

That is... Wow!

So, do you think that
your dad would be pleased to see it?

Oh, absolutely!
This is such a link with him
that I feel that it's almost

bringing him back to us, in some
way. Thank you is not enough.

It's not enough words, is it?
It's not enough words, no.

Well,
it's been an absolute pleasure.

I promise we will look after it.
It's going to be looked after.

It's going to be looked after.
Wonderful!

It's perfect.

It's exactly as it was
when it was given to me.

I'm almost 70 and I could not want
a better 70th birthday present

than that. It's superb.

Join us again, as the nation's
neglected possessions...

Projects like this,
got to try and work out exactly
where everything goes.

..are lovingly rescued...

Oh! That's fantastic!

Thank you so much!
..in the Repair Shop.