10x12 - Elderly Teddy Bear

[bunniefuu]

Welcome to The Repair Shop, where
precious but faded treasures...

Oh, my goodness!

..are restored to
their former glory.

That actually works a treat.

Ah, here we go.

We work on teamwork.
That's what I like to hear.

A dream team
of expert craftspeople...

Yes, that's good.

There we are, look at that.

Hello! Oh, that's amazing.

..using traditional techniques
passed down the generations...

We're using time honoured skills
to preserve history.

Ancient techniques
often work the best still.

..restore irreplaceable heirlooms...

Ah! Thank you, thank you!

Wow!

..and unlock the stories
that they hold.

Oh, my goodness!

Miracles do happen.

That'll be treasured
in our family forever.

Is it working?

That's what he's checking.

It works!

I'll get you back!

In The Repair Shop today...

I'm going to put my felt
into the glue.

Gets really mucky, this.

..an elderly teddy
means sticky business

for the bear ladies and David.

I think it'll just tone
everything down so I get

more of an even colouring.

That's the plan.

Susie and Lucia combine brainpower
to restore a prized school satchel.

This is thinking on the move.

It's just amazing.

And Jonathan is at the sharp end
with some vintage scissors.

I just have to edge
with a bit of patience

and a really steady hand.

First, Vos van Marken,
who's travelled from Leeds.

Originally from the Netherlands,

he's bringing a piece of history
that's not what it seems.

Hello.

Hello. How are you doing?
I'm fine, thank you.

I'm Vos.
Vos.

All right.
And what have we got in the box?

What I brought you is a book.
OK.

But it's more than a book.

You'll have to explain that one.

It's a secret radio.

OK. Mark, do you want to join us?
Look at this.

He's got a radio in a book.

Would you believe it?
Wow!

Mark Stuckey is the man
for radios of all sorts.

How fascinating.

So why is there a radio in a book?

Well, it originated
from the Second World w*r,

when my grandfather
put it in the book.

He lived in the Netherlands
during the Second World w*r,

and the Dutch government
was in exile in London

and they were broadcasting
Radio Oranje from London,

giving the Dutch resistance people
information.

And then the Germans,
they confiscated all the radios

because they didn't want
the people to listen to radio.

So the German army came
and took everybody's radio?

They told people to hand in
their radios.

If you were found to have a radio,

you could be punished even
with the death penalty at the time.

But not everyone did,

like my grandfather,
who was an engineer,

and he decided to put the radio

in the book with a headset with it,
and he would plug the headset in,

and also mains lead,

and then he would listen
to the broadcasts from London

and about the Allied troops
and how they were advancing.

He must have realised the
sort of...the repercussions

which could have occurred
if he got caught.

So was this for only personal
or that information,

did he pass it through
to other friends, etc?

I don't think he was active
in the resistance,

but he was connected with people
who worked in the resistance,

and my grandfather
passed on information.

Yes. Because the radio was
the only means of getting

reliable information.

What was your grandfather's name?
Anton.

Anton Levy.

Incredibly brave.

Can't imagine constantly looking
over your shoulder in fear.

Must have been for them,
absolutely, yeah.

They were hiding a Jewish boy.

It was the son of
some colleagues of his.

And he lived in the attic
behind a false wall.

And unfortunately,
my grandfather's house was raided.

The Germans came and
they stormed upstairs

and they knew exactly
where the boy was.

Our guess is that
he didn't survive the w*r.

Both my grandparents then ended up
in prison, but my grandmother

was released after about a month

and my grandfather spent
a year in a transition camp.

And that radio was
still in the house?

The radio was never discovered
by the Germans.

They took a lot of other stuff
out of the house,

but never the radio.

Have you ever heard this work?

Oh, yes. Yeah.

I can remember listening to
the radio with my grandfather,

which had a headset.

Yeah. And how old was you then?

I think I was about 12 or 14. OK.

And what was he like?

He was a family man.
He was a great man, yeah.

He passed away in 1976,

and then it just
ended up on the shelf.

Brings up lots of memories
of my grandfather.

If he would know
that this would work again,

he would be very pleased as well.

Thank you for bringing this in.

I'm sure we'll have to get
Chris on this as well.

I would say so, yeah.

Don't leave me with the book!

Well, thank you for looking at it.
No problem.

You take care. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.

Wow!

There's a weight.

If they picked that up...

They'll know it's not a book.

Crikey. Once you've got that
radio out, could you get the book

over to Chris?
Of course I will, indeed.

Thanks, Jay.

I can't wait to see what
this really comprises of.

Looking at it, it's obviously a
one-off, which makes it even harder,

and there will not be any real
information available for me to use

as a source of reference.

So this is going to be
quite a tricky one, I think.

The vanes on the tuning dial,
as that rotates, these vanes

should move in and out.

And at the moment, this here
is not doing the job any more

because the cord is actually broken.

So there's that to look at.

Large smoothing capacitor acting
as part of the power supply.

I would automatically change

known culprits in electronics

and the capacitor is
a well known culprit

for causing difficulties and issues,
if you don't replace them.

You've got to not only ensure

that we can get this functioning
again, but we've got to have

an element of reliability to it.

To me, this is like
an archaeological dig.

I've got to go through
layer by layer by layer.

It makes it rather exciting

to be able to sort of
work it all out

and then rebuild it.

And to get this back into life again
will be quite an achievement.

Nerys Kendrick has come to the barn
with an elderly companion

and she's looking to Julie Tatchell
and Amanda Middleditch

to lavish him with care.

Hello!
Hello!

Hi, I'm Nerys, and this is
Goldie Bear.

Oh, hi, Goldie.

Goldie was my mum's bear.

He is 74 years old and Mum remembers
having him when she was about



What is your mum's name?

My mum's name is Judith
and she would dearly love

to see him restored
to how he was originally.

Obviously, he was far more handsome
then than he is now.

He's had a lot of years
of love and cuddles.

When I was little, I played with
him, and now my daughter's got him.

Wow!

Mum and my daughter are
only children, so he was

very, very important to them
as a playmate.

And there's nine years
between my sister and I.

So actually, we both grew up almost
on our own in our childhood years,

and he's just been a real companion
over the years for all of us.

That is all history there, isn't it?

All wrapped up in that little bear.

That's right.
He's been to every party.

He's been at every Christmas,
every birthday.

He's been that bear that we've taken
everywhere with us and cuddled

when we've been sad
or a little bit nervous.

First day at school, definitely.

He was in the bags.

He's been the person...

The person!
You see how we feel about him.

We understand that, don't we? Yeah!

Can you imagine how he must have
looked when your mum first saw him?

He had gold velvet paws and
of course, lovely plush gold fur,

hence the name, Goldie.

His paws have been replaced with
some brown fur and quite crudely

stitched on, and apparently I
bit his nose off when I was little,

about two,
so my Nana Evans darned it.

Is there anything specific
that you would like to see

when you come back?

Well, when I was growing up,

my nana made him
the raincoat and rain hats

out of mum's yellow 1960s PVC coat

and that, with his little scarf
to keep him warm... Yeah?

..he's a bear for all occasions.

Why is it so important to you
that we do Goldie for you now?

Unfortunately, Mum has a condition

that's making her
eyesight deteriorate.

So, for me, this is the right time,
that she's got the opportunity

to see Goldie just the way
that she remembers him,

or as close as we can get him.

But with having him refurbished,

I'll lose all these
little bits of history.

It's a bit bittersweet
for me, sorry.

It's OK, it's OK.
We understand that.

I know that my mum is going
to be over the moon

and that's what really matters.

This is the part where
you have to leave him, I'm afraid.

This is the hard bit.

We will look after him.

Bye, Goldie.

See you soon, Nerys.
Thank you. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.

What are you thinking?

Think we're going to have to take

a real belts and braces approach
with this one. OK.

Because areas where we normally see
wear are going to go

very, very quickly and
this tummy's very thin.

As I turn him over, I can
hear the growler clunk.

That's not good.

Definitely not!

But I think we can definitely
do something to improve it.

We've got to retain his character,
but make him strong.

I think we'll have to
take him apart. OK.

If I get his head away from his
body, I can concentrate on that.

Sew the nose here and pass
the body to you. Perfect.

You can do something
with his furry paws.

I think so.

Oh, Goldie, I think we should
get started, don't you?

Absolutely.

There's his growler.

CLUNKING

Poor thing!

He's got a bit of a tummy ache.

As you've got so much to do there,

shall I pop it over to David and
see if he can fix it? Great idea.

There's more clever thinking
on Chris Shaw's bench.

The radio concealed in a book

has the bookbinder impressed.

I'm flabbergasted.

This is totally unique and
I have discovered the actual

journals are a series of educational
monthly editions, and you can

just see the exact volume
I've got here at the end there.

What a great idea of hiding
the radio in a book where there's

loads of them, all the same,
hidden in plain sight.

It's just so ingeniously simple.

That's what's so fantastic about it.

So, the original spine is broken.

I mean, you can see
it's in two halves.

So the first thing I'm going to do
is take the spine off so I can

just sort of start working out
how I'm going to actually mend this.

I'm going to start at
this edge here and just see

what's going to happen.

Vos' grandfather, Anton,

he obviously knew his stuff
because he's done a remarkably

good job to get this to fit
in such a small space.

All electronic circuitry like this
will have a number of capacitors

in there and they're renowned
that they will absorb moisture

over many, many years, makes
them physically break down.

So it's prudent to replace them now.

Every little movement and every
piece of wire being fitted,

that's a signature of Anton himself.

I'm trying to sort of
maintain the essence

of what was there originally.

Anton is still here
within this radio.

The title page is missing
quite a chunk there

so I'm going to repair it.

And I do have an awful lot of
vintage paper that I squirrel away

in endless boxes around the house.

It's extremely handy, and it's
just a matter of moving the page

across the vintage paper to find
a particular spot that you feel

you're happy with.

I'm going to use
a very sharp needle,

and that's going
to give me the shape.

And then I'm going to
tease the paper apart.

And then join it together
with some Japanese tissue.

So it does really amaze me
how a bit of Japanese tissue,

a bit of vintage paper

and a bit of wheat paste
can sort of mend it

even after all these years.

The tuning dial cord is a thing
which regularly breaks, due to age.

So next task, just remove the old
one and to put some new modern nylon

on there so I can actually

move and tune
the radio stations coming in.

Right, that's the old wire.

What we're going to do...

That's one end.

Making sure that I don't
overlap it so it jams.

It's a bit like sewing, and
I wasn't very good at that at all.

So that's on there and it returns.

That's it. It's really good
because if it can't tune in

then it doesn't do anything.

A bit of fettling,
as we call it, to get it right

and then it'll be working
smoothly and perfectly.

Just lining the spine piece up.

It's as fiddly as I thought it was
going to be, but it has gone

into place, which is a relief.

I'm just using this sort of
heavy-duty spatula

to sort of tease the cloth down.

I'm pleased with that.

The two boards now are
joined together,

Starting to feel like a book.

So the standard I suppose
I'm looking for in this repair is

will this fool me?

And I know it would.

The barn's next arrival
is Merlene Wright from Kent

with an heirloom that needs
the skills of scissor maker,

Jonathan Reid.

Hello. Hello, there.
How are you doing?

I'm doing fine. Yourself?

Very well. Can't complain.

So what have you got?

I've got some scissors for you.

Please, let's have a look.

They belong to my mother, May.

Mum was a seamstress by trade.

That's what she did back in Jamaica.

She sewed.

People would come and order stuff.

As a young child, I remember
Mum making me my school blouses.

She would stitch curtains,
she would make cushions,

bridesmaid dresses.

The dress she wore to my wedding,

she made that. Wow!

I was really fascinated
watching Mum using the scissors.

You know when you watch someone
doing something, where you're...

..you're just amazed by it because
you don't have that...that skill.

But when Mum came here,
she wasn't able to carry on

in her trade because Mum had been
taught to cut just free hand,

without a pattern,

so what she found was that
not having that experience,

she wasn't able to continue
doing that work.

So when did she come over? In 1960.

It would have been the time
of the Windrush. Yeah.

OK. She still sewed.

I could literally say to Mum,

"Mum, would you make me this?"

Something I'd seen maybe, someone
else wearing or in a shop window.

I could just describe it
and she would just fold it

and cut it and you know...

And that was it? And that was it.

And it's there.
Imagine that, Jonathan.

You have your own tailor.

What? Yeah.

So what was she like as a mum?

She was very strict,
but she was great.

She was strong and she was
very, very central to the family,

and I think that's why
she's just missed so much.

She passed a month short
of her 100th birthday.

And when Mum passed, I was just
going through a box of her things

and when I brought these
scissors out, they just, like,

evoked so much emotion.

And that's why you kept
hold of them.

And wanted them repaired.

And do the scissors work?

They don't function as scissors
for cutting, but what I'd like

is for them to shine again,

because Mum shone.

And, like, if the sun catches it,
it will just be a moment of...

She's there. Yes.

So that paint work,
do you want it to stay that way

or would you like them to look
how Mum might have received them

when she first got them?
I'd like them to look how Mum...

I think she would want
to see them that way.

All right, cool.

Thank you for bringing these in.
Thank you. And telling us about Mum.

Thank you, Jonathan.
You take care now. And you.

OK. Bye-bye.

Bye-bye. Take care now.

And these have well been used.
Look at that.

All right.
So what are you going to do?

Well, they need
the full works, really.

So it's grinding, painting,
taking them apart.

But also, if you look there...
Cor blimey!

Yeah, they're not together.

They don't even touch, these two
blades, so they're not

going to cut anything.

So I'm going to have to reshape
them and then sharpen them up.

You're going to sharpen
them up as well?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I'll put the edge on.

Get them nice and sharp
and cutting as they did the day

they were bought. Put the edge on.
is that what it's called?

Yeah, yeah.
And then that'll be it, sorted?

I could do with a hand
with the nickel plating.

And the nickel plating is going
to give it that shiny look? Yeah.

Cool. Oh, well, I'll have a word
with Brenton and then I'll

get him to give you a hand.
Perfect. No problem.

You can really tell a lot
from the shape of a scissor.

And this one's a classic
dressmaker's scissor.

It's defined by its large bottom
bow, its small top bow

and the long shank.

The blades are also asymmetrical,
with a wide bottom blade

and a tapered top blade.

You can really tell that May put
some hours in with these scissors.

The paint is mostly worn away
on the inside,

so we need to redo that.

Yeah, these spent a long time
in her hands.

Here at the end of it,

this gouge at the point
of the scissor,

that might have something to do
with why this bottom blade's bent.

That's not something that happens
with regular wear and tear.

I feel like this scissor
has been chewed up by a machine.

So now we can actually see

how crooked that bottom blade
actually is.

It lifts away from this ruler
by a lot.

But before I get to straightening
that crooked bottom blade,

I'm going to hammer that gouge down,
make the blade a bit more safe,

and then take that over
to the sanding drum,

blend that in, make it
a bit less visible.

So I'm happy with that now.

I've taken that down enough.

It should be safe.

So now I'm going to go on
to the bows, take the paint off,

and get the surface
smooth and round again.

While the bear ladies make a start

on restoring Goldie's
youthful figure,

David Burville is fine tuning
his restoration skills

on the teddy's vocal cords.

These growlers are really
a very simplified version

of a harmonium.

They contain a little tiny weight,
and as you tip the bear,

the weight then drives the bellows
and compresses the air,

and the only way out
is through the reed.

And obviously it makes
the growling noise,

but Goldie's growler
is no longer growling.

What I'm going to do is I'm going
to start by taking this end cap off

then remove the actual bellows part.

This has to be
an airtight bag, effectively.

And straight away I can see that
this has come unglued here.

So I would think that's a main cause
of it not actually working.

So I'm just going to stick
the cloth back down,

make sure there's no holes,

and then I can coat it
with a rubberised paint

that will seal that up nicely.

My next job will be to
make Goldie a nose.

We know from experience
of this particular maker

that they would have had
a felt nose.

But it's not a soft squishy felt
nose, it has a kind of coating

that makes it firm.

Goldie comes from the late '40s
and I would say nearly

all of the bears we see
of this type, of this era,

have their nose missing.

So I've got a plastic nose here.

I'm going to use this
as a kind of form.

I'll coat that in some really
lovely, sticky, gooey felt

and try and make some sort of
indentations where the nostrils

and things would be.

Really mucky, this.

I'm going to put my felt
into the glue.

I really want it to get saturated.

This will dry completely clear,

but it also dries hard.

So once I've got this all wrapped
around this mould that I'm using,

it will stay in that shape.

It's a bit like making
papier mache, but with felt.

Once it's dry,
this mould will come out

and I'll be able to stitch
Goldie's new nose into place.

So I've decided to cover his foot
pads. Because it's very thin,

the pressure of the stuffing inside
will eventually split this,

so we're using exactly the same
material as this would have been,

and that's a nice cotton velvet.

This stitch I'm using
helps the material to fold,

and it sort of curls in on itself,

and then once it's pulled taut,
the thread shouldn't show.

We're trying so hard to not only
keep Nerys' memories alive,

but also to remind Judith what he
looked like when she first got him.

Right, that's the final stitch.

Perfect.

So now I've done his foot pads, I've
just got to move on to his paws.

That's just had one coat of
rubber paint, but already...

GROWL

..the minimal, minimal movement
of those bellows,

and his growler is already
starting to sound.

So by the time that's dried,
I can put it back in the tube,

and he's ready to growl.

Mark has a little tweaking to do

before work on Vos'
concealed radio is complete.

Chris has done an amazing job
with this book,

and it nicely supports
and protects the radio.

The last thing I've got to do
is to actually give it a test,

so the first thing I will do
is the new leads for the power.

This is for the headphones,
like that.

This is the wire
which will go out,

normally it'll be travelling down
the garden, to receive stations.

That's all that.

I'm simulating that
with this localised transmitter.

All we've got is a pre-selected
frequency being transmitted

with audio from my tablet
to give me some type of sound.

So if I put this on here, and...

FAINT VOICES

It's coming over very well,
so I am really chuffed, I am happy.

We've now got
a working wartime receiver,

but it's still a secret.

This radio was a vital but
forbidden source of information

in the n*zi-occupied Netherlands,

testament to the ingenuity
and bravery of Vos' grandfather.

All right? Yes, fine.

So you've got a good clip
lined up, yeah?

I have got an amazing clip lined up

and I think Vos will be
quite impressed with it.

Here he is. Hello, Vos.

How are you doing?
I'm all right, yeah.

Thinking about the radio?

Oh, absolutely, yeah.

Every day,
I wonder if it was repairable.

And the last time you
listened to it was...?

I've been working it out.
It was over 55 years ago,

so it will have been
the early '70s, yeah.

You ready?

Yes.

Go on, then, Mark. Gosh.

Wow. Yeah.

It looks fantastic already.

Yeah.

Excellent. Wow.

So we had Chris work
on the book for you.

An amazing job.
Yeah. Look at that.

He done a brilliant job, Chris.
Yeah, it does look great.

So the big test is that
you want to hear that, don't you?

Well, if we get some sound out
of it, that would be remarkable.

So that will go in there.

That's the aerial. Headphones, put
them in there. Do they still work?

FAINT VOICES

Oh, in Dutch?

Yeah! Yeah.

Oh, it's the Dutch Queen.

So it's Radio Oranje?

Exactly. Radio Oranje.

Fantastic.

Wow. Is that all right?

Gosh, that's...
That's more than all right.

It's absolutely fantastic.

Thank you. I didn't expect that.

I'm thinking about happy times

when I was sitting on my
grandfather's lap as a little boy,

listening to this radio.

And now it is working again,
I can't get over it.

Wow.

Well, I'm glad I played a small
part in its history for you.

Well, a very significant part
for the history to continue.

Thank you.
Yeah. Thank you so much.

Let's put all the cables
into a bag for you.

Thank you very much.

It's been a great pleasure.
Nice to meet you again.

Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.

Well, I'm absolutely amazed,

because I thought
they could fix the book,

but to get the radio going,
I'm just absolutely bowled over.

I think this is a very significant
piece of wartime memorabilia,

which I would like to think the
future generations will treasure.

Bringing in a gift
that shaped his teenage years,

Stephen Carr from Maidstone in Kent.

It's a job for leather expert
Suzie Fletcher.

Hello. Hello, you all right?

Have a seat.

Look at that. She's smiling already.

Yes. Yay!

This beautiful case,
please tell us about it.

Well, my mum and dad gave me this

when I first started
secondary school about 1969.

I was very nervous about
starting secondary school,

because I've got this disability,

I've got one leg
shorter than the other,

and I spent a lot of time
in hospital as a kid,

and Mum always came to
see me every day. Yeah.

My dad obviously was
working during the day,

but he used to come sort of
about 7 or 8 in the evening,

sweet talk the night nurse on duty,

and come and talk to me
for half an hour.

They knew I was very anxious about
making that transition to big school

because I got a lot of bullying
at primary school.

You know, it was just
kids being kids, you know,

being teased and stuff like that.

But, you know, hit the point,
you know. Hit a nerve. Yeah. Yeah.

So it was a confidence builder
to kind of give me confidence

to start this new stage
of my education.

My confidence grew and grew,

and I kind of blossomed
in secondary school.

Oh, lovely. Yeah.

Mum and Dad, what was their names?
Joyce and Charles.

Joyce and Charles.
And what did you think

when they gave you this lovely bag?

I was really pleased, because it was
slightly different from other bags,

so it did give me a bit
of individuality.

The leather was very bright,
red lustre,

I think which you can sort of see.

Oh, was that the original colour?

Quite distinctive colour, isn't it?

My dad wrote my name and address
and telephone number

in his very distinctive handwriting.

I felt very proud walking with that
on my first day at school.

Yeah. Yeah.

I've got a bag similar to this, and
it looks about in that condition.

What's actually wrong with it?

The handles there,
I don't know how strong it is.

And the straps,
it's all a bit rusted.

It's a bit perished
around the bottom.

The writing, my dad wrote my
address, that is so important.

Yeah. I would like, if possible, my
dad's writing to be a bit clearer,

and for that sort of red lustre,

if it could get back
to that original colour,

I'd be really pleased. OK.

And then your intention, if Suzie
is able to bring it back?

I want to use it, because Mum and
Dad were always caring people,

they always said to me, you know,

the important thing is
to help people as much as you can,

and I've carried that through my
life, in my career,

and what I do now.
And what is it? What do you do now?

I volunteer for the Samaritans.

Oh, good on you, man. Great.

To have that case again in my hand
would kind of celebrate

what Mum and Dad always wanted me
to be, caring and help other people,

so it would be a symbol of that.

Yeah. Yeah. Stephen,
thank you for bringing this in.

And I can't wait to see
what Susie does to this.

I'm so looking forward to getting
this into a better condition

for you. Thank you very much.

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

This is a beautiful case.

But I don't know how you're
going to get that colour back.

How are you going to do that?
Well, yes, I have no idea.

That's not the answer I wanted.

What I need to do is really
get this cleaned up

so I can see how
the leather's going to behave,

and then I'll look into seeing
if I can get that tint back.

And then inside, I know Stephen
wants that to be a bit brighter,

so I'll have a word with Lucia.

Oh, amazing idea.
Yeah. See if she can do that.

OK. I'm sure she can. Yes. Lovely.

Don't be looking in it. You know
you've got to work on it, Suze,

come on. OK, well,
I'll get to work, then. All right.

Just looking over
Stephen's satchel,

and there is evidence that
it's had quite a life.

When I look at the handle,
the chape itself,

which holds everything onto
the case, has split.

Probably best to replace this
with a brand-new chape.

When I look at this corner here,
I can actually see

it's had a stitching repair
in the past,

but that's also an indication
that the thread itself

is beginning to perish.

Therefore, I'm going to
re-sew everything.

The first thing I need to do
is remove all the stitches.

I'm going to use a nice, sharp
scalpel blade,

so a little bit of tension,
and it just should pop open.

It's so brittle, so dry.

Such a satisfying thing to do.

There we go.

I just need to do
the same to the back

and then I can start
cleaning and conditioning it.

Jonathan is removing the final
traces of old nickel and paint

from the seamstress' scissors,

but there's a crucial job to do

before they're re-plated
and painted.

So now I need to start putting
the shape back into these blades

so that they cut perfectly.

And I'll do that
using a hide hammer.

So, a lot of people think
that scissor blades are straight

but, in fact,
there's a very subtle curve to them

so that they bow in the middle
and there's always a gap.

And that means that when they open,
the scissor will curve around itself

to allow it to only touch
at its cutting edge.

So that's what we're trying
to recreate now with the hammer.

So this stage is putting together,
or "putting" for short,

and this is where we tap that shape

that we want the scissors to be
into the blades.

I learned to do this process from
the two remaining master putters

in the UK, and they're
both approaching 80 now.

It wasn't an easy few years.

I mean, it's very difficult to
explain how this actually works,

and you really are just going off
a feeling, so it's all experience.

You can't write this stuff down.

Oh, this is looking good.

Perfect.
I'm happy with the shape of those.

All I need to do now is
polish them up for Brenton.

Hiya, Brenton. Hi, Jonathan.

Here you go.

I was hoping you could put a nickel
plating over the entirety of them.

I can do that for you.
Perfect. Thanks a lot.

OK. Bye. Bye-bye.

OK, I've got a liquid, salt
with lots of nickel particles in it,

I've got a brush
with a nickel anode,

which is the positive side of an
electrical circuit for plating,

so nickel will come from this bar
as well as from the salt.

A circuit will be made when I hold
the negative onto the scissors

and connect the two together,

and the nickel particles
will leave this brush

and go onto the scissors.

I'm never too sure till I start
whether the metal is going to

accept the plating or not.

Some metals are really
sort of argumentative,

and go, "I'm not having
a plate attached to me,"

but this is absolutely fantastic.

These are becoming nickel-coloured
before my very eyes,

and that looks very slightly gold.

That indicates that there's
a good coat of nickel on there,

and I think Jonathan will be really
happy with what I've done for him.

I've got to plate this one now,

and then I can give them
back to Jonathan.

Got all of Goldie's parts back now.

Julie's done a fabulous job
on his limbs.

I think he could do with
a good meal.

He's looking a little bit
sort of saggy,

so I'm going to pop some stuffing
in his tummy.

And also, David has done
a fabulous job on his growler,

so that will be
going in there as well.

I've actually put a little layer
of wood wool into his tummy,

and the rest of the stuffing is sub,

which is a mixture of wool fibres

and all sorts of things
going on here.

But it is what he had originally,

so I've made myself a really nice
little pocket in there,

and I can pop my growler in
like that.

GROWL

Oh!

He's got a lot to say
for himself now.

I think he looks fabulous.

GROWL

Yep. He agrees.

Goldie was an adored companion
to three generations,

but over 70 years of cuddles
had left him worn out.

Now Nerys and her family
are looking forward...

Excited?

..to his next chapter.

Hello.
Hello.

Hello, Nerys. Welcome back.

This is my mum, Judith.

Hi, Judith.

This is my daughter, Aliya.
Hi.

So how are you feeling?

A few butterflies.

I just want to see him.

OK. Ready?

Oh, my goodness.

Wow. That's amazing.
It's beautiful.

Oh, Mum!

Oh, gosh. Goldie!

You've done a wonderful job.

Thank you.

He definitely needs a hug.

Someone's going to have to
come and give him a hug.

Oh, Goldie.

GROWL

Did you hear him?

That's the growl!
That's the growl!

Oh, my goodness. Is that the first
time you've heard that? Yeah.

I can't believe it's the same bear.

Is he how you remembered him, Mum?

All stuffed and plump?
Yes. He's got his tummy back.

The nose.

It's just absolutely beautiful.

It is. Look at his paws.

Oh, he's so handsome.

Oh, he's lovely.

He's absolutely gorgeous.

Thank you so much.

You're so welcome.

It's taken me right back.

Yes, he's an old man.

He's just going to be loved and
loved a lot, isn't he? Yeah.

I just want him to carry on
to future generations, hopefully.

Just one more thing that we've done.

Apparently he used to wear...

Oh!

Oh, Mum.

Oh, that's amazing.

It's absolutely gorgeous.

Oh, my goodness. You are clever.

It's exactly like it.
It is, it is.

Oh, look at him!

Thank you so much
for bringing Goldie to us.

No, thank you for repairing him.

You've done a fantastic job,
haven't they, Mum?

Absolutely marvellous.

Thank you very much indeed.
Thank you. Bye-bye.

It's a dream come true.

And it's been on my bucket list
for quite a while.

He is still our Goldie, but
just a much better version.

Definitely going to pass him on to
my children, and they'll be able

to play with him now he's
nice and friendly and cuddly.

Suzie is laying the foundations
for restoring the once vivid colour

of the old satchel.

Leather is often
coated with a colour,

rather than it being a dye

so, over time, it just flakes off,

as well as can be affected
by the light.

It has lost some of
its depth of colour, so it's

not that vibrant reddy-orangey
that Stephen remembers.

Rather than just paint over this,

I've chosen to apply a conditioner,
which will get absorbed into

the places where we've
got the surface missing

and now I'm going to go
over it with a coloured cream.

And what this coloured cream
is going to do is to disguise

where we've lost the surface,

and without it looking really
blocky and plasticky, I think

it will just tone everything down
so we get more of an even colouring.

That's the plan.

And I can go over this several times

and just sort of build up
layers as I go,

until I get it to the finish
that I'm looking for.

Already, I can see
there's a huge improvement.

I'm very happy when things
start going the right way.

I can now go ahead and make
the chape to hold the handle on.

I've cut the leather to size

and what I need to do now

is to stain this new chape,
using this oil dye.

This is a sort of dye that
is a permanent stain,

so you need to be pretty sure that
this is the colour that you want.

And also make sure
that you wear gloves.

So now that's done, I'm just
going to do what we call

a cold crease and that's running
this edging tool around the leather.

This gives me a line to follow
as I'm prick-marking,

ready for stitching.

OK.

Just wrap this leather
in position...

..ready to be riveted back on.

Lovely!

What I need to do now is
get this chape sewn on.

I love this part,
where I get to reconstruct it.

It just fills me with a lot
of satisfaction because

you know that there's not going to
be an area that's going to be weak.

So this stitch I'm using
is two needle stitching.

It's basically one piece of thread
with a needle on each end.

When I draw the threads up equally,

it allows the thread to
lay in a really neat pattern.

Thoughtful gifts really can be
very impactful and I think Stephen

was given the perfect gift
with this leather satchel.

I never had anything
quite as wonderful as this.

Just a very useful canvas bag
to keep my books in.

Half the time,
I'd forgotten my books

and was always getting into trouble.

I wasn't exactly
the perfect student!

So I've got a fair amount of
stitching to do and then it'll be

ready to hand over to Lucia to sort
out the writing on the inside here.

Jonathan's work restoring the
old scissors is nearly done.

The paint job came up beautiful.

It just looks perfect.

That's the same finish
they would have had

when they were bought originally.

Now, the only thing left to
do on these scissors is put that

blades edge on them
to get them nice and sharp

and cutting as well as they did
the day they were bought.

I'm going to be using a stone
to put that edge on

and it needs to be water-cooled.

If we heat it up too much,
we run the risk of softening that

blade and a soft blade means that
it might blunt really easily.

So I just have to edge with
a bit of patience

and a really steady hand.

So, sharpening...

..is one of my favourite jobs.

And it adds a finality
to the whole process,

being the last step

and then you can finally use it.

Years of use had seen
the dressmaker's scissors

lose their sparkle and edge,

but for Merline,
they're a powerful link to

a strong and greatly missed mother.

Hello! Hello, there. How are you
doing? I'm doing fine, thank you.

Nice to see you again. You, too.

Are you excited? Oh! I don't know
how I've been able to contain it,

to be quite honest with you!
I've just been thinking about

them... Right. ..and I'm hoping that
you will have worked your magic

on them. Jonathan, do us the
honours, please, sir. Brilliant.

SHE GASPS

Wow!

Oh!

There's just no words. Truly.

Oh!

Oh, wow!

It's more than I could have hoped!

I know they're only scissors,
but they mean so much. Yeah.

Thank you.

So shiny.

And that's what I hoped, that,

as I put them on display,

I hoped as the sunlight comes in
the room, it will just catch them

and that it will just
bring up that sparkle.

So, thank you so much.

I can't take all the credit because
even I was amazed by that finish

and Brenton helped me
with the nickel plating.

Oh, I'm really moved by it!

Mum would have said something like,
"If these scissors could talk,

"they would tell their own story!"

So I'm just so proud to have
been able to honour her... Yeah.

..in this way.

Merline, thank you for telling us
about your mum, first of all,

and bringing in the scissors.
It's been a real joy. Thank you.

Thank you.
Thank you very much, Jonathan.

OK. Bye-bye now. You take care now.
Bye! Bye-bye.

That's what it's all about.

Well done, man.
I like that. Thank you.

With the scissors being repaired,
I really do sense that

a connection has come back,
that maybe I felt had gone forever.

And it hasn't.

It's still there.

With glowing colour restored to
the exterior of Stephen's satchel,

it's now up to painting conservator
Lucia Scalisi to find a subtle

and sympathetic way to make
his father's lettering more legible.

Suzie brought over Stephen's
beautiful satchel with

the idea of looking at the
inscription on the inside flap.

I can see that they've
written it in Biro pen.

My initial response was I could
strengthen some of the letters

that have faded,

but I can see that the leather has
a painted finish on the inside,

so now, I'm doing reverse thinking

and I think what I'm going to try
to do is rather than go over

the faded letters,
actually use white paint

and take it up to the edge of the
letters to make them stand out.

I'm going to start
away from the letters.

Oh...

This is thinking on the move.
It's just amazing.

I was really hesitant about going
over the lettering.

I think this is going to be
a much better way.

By not even touching that
and just putting in this white

background around it, I'm going
to bring it all forward slowly.

Do you know what? That is great.

So, hopefully, we'll be able to
read the whole thing very clearly

without me having written it.

Once I've finished
this name and address,

it'll be a working satchel again.

This satchel gave a bullied child
confidence to thrive

at senior school, a thoughtful
gift from loving parents.

Looking good, Suze. Are you happy?
I'm happy. I hope Steve's happy.

I think he will be.

Many decades on, Stephen
wants this reminder

of his mum and dad to endure.

There he is. Hello! Hi!

Hello! Great to see you both.
Likewise. How are you feeling?

A little bit trepidatious. Are you?

I've been thinking about Mum
and Dad, about how they helped

to support me and how that bag
was my confidence booster.

And it worked.
It did, most definitely.

So...means a lot to me. Yeah.

OK. Ready, Suze? OK. Here we go.

Wow!

That's amazing!

Oh...

Oh, yeah!

That's it. That's my dad's writing.

That means a lot to me.
Thank you very much. Thank you.

Lucia's done a lovely job
of bringing that to life.

It is, thank you. It's beautiful.

I can remember
getting on the school bus

and stuffing my books in
and stuff. Yeah.

I definitely want to use it again.
I volunteer for the Samaritans,

so paperwork connecting
with that will go in that bag.

Keep it all safe and sound.
Keep it all safe and sound.

Well, Stephen,
thank you for bringing it in.

It was such a pleasure to meet you
as well. Yeah, thank you, Suzie.

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

Just to see it how I remember it

when I was first given it,
revitalised, was just so lovely.

My dad had such distinctive
handwriting and, you know,

I know they're just letters but
they just meant an awful lot to me.

It's lasted such a long time.
Now to have it back, it can be used,

and my grandson starts school soon,

so the satchel will hopefully
be passed on to him.

If you have a treasured possession
that's seen better days

and you think the team can help,

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