13x02 - Roald Dahl's garden gate

[bunniefuu]

Welcome to The Repair Shop...

- I'm ready to see some magic.

- ..where precious but faded
keepsakes...

- It's in a bit of a sorry state.

- SIGHS

- Deep breath.

- ..are restored to their former
glory.

- New beginnings and new memories.
- Lovely.

- We could do that.

- A dream team of expert
craftspeople...

- Perfect. Teamwork.

- That's the fun part.

- It's going to look absolutely
stunning.

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

- If someone's made it, then I can fix
it.

- Go on, my son!

- ..restore irreplaceable treasures...

- Ah!

- LAUGHTER

- Take it away, Mark!

- ..and unlock the stories that they
hold.

CHEERING

- Oh, my God!

- It's like it's brand-new.

- You're a wizard!

- WHISPERING:
- Thank you so much!

- So, what do you reckon?

- What is this?
- It's a gate! Well, it WAS a gate.

- Is it supposed to be green?

- Yeah. That's its winter collection.

That's what that is.

- To add to the pressure on Will Kirk,

this mossy mess has links to one of
Britain's most famed authors.

Hannah Smart is at the barn to tell
the tale.

- Hello.
- Hello.

- How are you doing?
- Good, thanks.

You all right?
- Yeah, just about!
- LAUGHTER

- After seeing this...
- You might be. Will might not be.

So this is my garden gate.
- OK.

- The gate to my house that I've just
bought.

And it is the former home of Roald
Dahl's mother.

- Really?!
- Yes.
- Is it?

- And Roald Dahl lived in the house
with his mother after he returned

from World w*r II,

so he may have touched this gate.

I've been a lifelong Roald Dahl fan
from childhood,

and he inspired me to write stories of
my own, and poems,

and songs, and, you know, draw in the
way that Quentin Blake did.

- Yeah, yeah.
- So he was a big part of my
childhood, a big inspiration.

- So living in the house must be like
a dream come true, then.

- It is. It's meant to be.

- Was this hanging on, like, on the
side of the wall or something?

- So, it was... When I went to look
round the house,

I saw a tiny bit of timber poking out
of the hedge.

And then when I moved in, I started to
cut the hedge back.

As I kind of pulled back the bushes,
it kind of grew and grew,

and then there was more and more
structure and gate that appeared.

Many of the village have commented on
the fact that

they can see the gap in the hedge and
the gateway,

and that they can see the house for
the first time for many years.

- Yeah.
- So I think it's a local landmark for
the village, really.

It's so important to the village that
I feel I have to restore it,

and I'm a guardian of the house and of
the garden and the gate,

so I feel it's my duty.
- Yeah.

- I want to put it back to how it
should be...
- Yeah...

- ..and kind of complete the story.

- Now, I'm intrigued what the book's
for.

I'm hoping it's some kind of plan to
how this goes together.

- No!
- No, OK!
- All right.

- So this is Roald Dahl's Going Solo,
his autobiography.
- OK.

- It talks about his time in the w*r

and then his return from the w*r as
well.

The gate is actually mentioned in the
book,

so I can read you a short piece from
the book.
- Yeah.

- "I caught sight of my mother

"when the bus was still 100 yards
away.

"She was standing patiently outside
the gate of the cottage,

"waiting for the bus to come along.

"And I flew down the steps of the bus,

"straight into the arms of the waiting
mother."

And then there's a picture of the
cottage in the front.
- You're joking!

- That's lovely.

- It's like a fairy-tale gate.
- It is, isn't it?

- Unbelievably beautiful.

- It's actually something similar

to what you probably find in one of
his books.

You can see, like, the BFG going
through that...

- Yeah, was going to say.

- ..or outside the Twits' house... I
don't know, in its condition!

I will try my best to get this back
into shape

and recreating that lovely fairy-tale
cottage.
- Definitely.

Thank you so much. Thank you.
- You take care now. OK. Bye-bye.

- Well, I'm a huge fan of Roald Dahl,

so it's a massive honour to work on
this gate.

It's like a jigsaw puzzle,

but all the jigsaw pieces have been
mangled.

All of the joints are broken off,

nothing seems to be straight.

I know that that's a sort of main
post,

that's a main post,

and this situation here is the gate.

These bits here, I mean, they almost
look like banisters from a staircase

that have been repurposed and turned
into part of a gate.

I know that there will be an end point
where it's sort of back

in situ and working.

It's just that middle part.

I've got no idea how I'm going to get
there,

but hopefully once I've cleaned it
back,

should give me more of an insight to
what exactly is missing.

- From the garden to the sea...

- Have you ever been fishing?

- When we were kids and that, yeah.

Yeah.

Never caught anything really very big,
though.

Mind you, I'm sure it was this big
when I was a kid.

- Yeah, it probably was. Yeah.

Moby d*ck size, yeah?

- Yeah!
- All right!

- What David Burville lacks in fishing
skills

he makes up for in model-making
expertise,

much to the delight of Jon Keogh from
Glasgow.

- Hello. How are you doing?

- Great, thanks.

- Now, that is cool.
- That's lovely, isn't it? Cor!

- This is a replica of a prawn trawler
that me and my father

used to work on, that my father owned.

- Wow!
- OK.

Where did you get it from?

- My father built it.
- He built it?!

- Oh, wow!
- You're joking!
- Cor!

- From his memory.
- Cor!

- He was a craftsman.

Could repair anything.

- Is Dad still with us?

- No. Unfortunately, he died in 2007.
- OK.

And what's Dad's name?

- John.
- John?
- Yeah.
- OK.

- My dad got into fishing during the
summer school holidays

with a fisherman.

- How old was he then?

- Probably 15.

He got the bug for being on the water,

so that's when he joined the Merchant
Navy.
- OK.

- And he was in the Merchant Navy for
about five years.
- Right.

- And then he met my mother, got
settled down.
- Yeah.

- And moved into the shipyards as a
shipwright,

where they built the ships.

- What sort of ships were they
building?

- Frigates, mostly. OPVs, offshore
patrol vessels.

- Wow!
- At that time, in the late '60s,
early '70s,

there was plenty of work on the Clyde
shipyards.
- Yeah.

- Late '70s into the '80s...
- Yeah.

- ..that's when it declined.

- At the beginning of the 20th
century,

there were over 200 shipyards on the
River Clyde,

with many famous ships built there,
including the Queen Mary.

After the Second World w*r,

peacetime and the advent of air travel

reduced the demand for ships,

while competition from overseas yards
increased.

- So what was the effect on your dad
with the decline of the shipyards?

- Once he was made redundant from the
shipyards,

he decided to buy this fishing boat.
- Yeah.

- It was his dream to have a fishing
boat one day.
- Right.

- And then me and my dad went fishing
on it, for prawns, in the Clyde.

- What's it like, fishing?

- Well, you get your good days, you
get your bad days.
- OK.

- You get force-ten gales, you get
calm days as well,

where you can jump overboard,

have a wee swim about as well.

- So, what's the biggest catch you've
ever had?

- Round about 15, 20 boxes of prawns,

and we also caught a big copper bath
that day as well,

which went to the scrapyard that
night.
- Right!

So you were quids in, then. That was
all right.

- We got £80 for that as well.

- THEY LAUGH

- Wow!
- Had a good drink on it.

- Yeah? God! Oh, wow!
- Love it.

- It was fun while it lasted.

I think he just wanted a physical
memory

of having that fishing boat.

That was the boat he owned.

And that just says it all, really,

that it's sitting here now.

It's a good memory.

- Yeah?
- Very good memory.

- So, what would you like David to do
to this?

- Just tidy it up and bring it back to
life a wee bit.
- OK.

- Bit of a clean.

Get these hooked on, so it's holding
the net back.

Be nice if the lights were on.

- Yeah.
- I like the lights.

- Where's the lights on this, then?

- The lights were on here.
- Oh!
- What they call navigation lights.

- Yes, yeah. So they're red and green,
aren't they?
- Yeah.
- Yes.

- Would be nice to pass it down the
family.

- Yeah.

Really looking forward to getting
started on it and...

Yeah, absolutely wonderful.

- Well, Jon, thank you for bringing
this in.
- Thank you.
- OK.

- See you soon.
- See you.
- See you soon.
- Bye.

- This is a beautiful, detailed little
model.

You can really see that Jon's father
transferred his skills

in shipbuilding into this.

It had working lights on it,

so I'm going to have to go through

and replace the little light bulbs

and that sort of thing.

But the first thing I'm going to do is
clear the decks for action

and then I can actually give it a
really good clean

and hopefully get it looking a little
bit better.

- Will's been doing his own cleaning
on the dilapidated garden gate.

- Now that I've managed to clear off
all that green mould and moss,

I've laid all the pieces out on the
bench,

and I've realised pretty much all the
pieces are there.

It's just all the joints that aren't
there.

I need to clean out these little holes
here,

patch a lot of these damaged areas and
make fresh new joints.

They're really bad.

I mean, this one here, this should be
a sort of traditional

mortise and tenon joint.

If I flip this over...

..you can see, on the other side,
there's this opening here.

And what should happen is there should
be another piece of wood

that then just slides in place.

And that's what joins everything
together.

Unfortunately, parts of the wood are
really soft and brittle.

A lot of these joints have actually
broken off.

So I've cleared these out.

I'm now packing out the...inside of
this real badly damaged area

here with a fresh piece of wood.

It'd be a lot quicker and easier for
me just to cut this piece off

and splice on a new piece of wood,

but I really want to try and keep as
much of the original as I can.

Ooh!

That's feeling good to me.

OK, well, I'm pleased.

I've still got a few more bits on the
bottom

that I need to excavate.

Once I've done that, I can add some
glue, hammer this into place,

and then I can start creating my new
mortise hole.

- Here to see silversmith Brenton West
is Mayassa Reip

with a precious piece of history

that's played a part in generations of
family weddings.

- Hello.
- Hello.
- How are you doing?

- Oh!
- That looks heavy.
- Very!

- LAUGHTER

- Can you tell us about it?

- Well, this is my grandmother's
marriage mirror.

- Marriage mirror?

- Yeah. My grandparents, Fareeha and
Mustafa...

- Yeah.
- ..had an arranged marriage.

My family come from Iraq...
- OK.

- ..and this was part of the ceremony.

The day of the wedding,

all the ladies of both the groom and
the bride's family

would congregate in one room,

because the sexes weren't allowed to
mingle.
- OK.

- And the bride would sit in front of
this mirror,

and in another room would be all the
men of both families.
- OK.

- And my grandfather basically walked
through the ladies' area,

looked into this mirror, saw my
grandmother for the first time,

she saw him for the first time,

and then he signed the marriage
contract.

And they were married until his death
in 1971.

- Wow!
- That's amazing.
- That is amazing!

So they never saw each other
beforehand?
- No, no.

- And that's what an arranged
marriage...

- Arranged marriages are, yes. Back in
those days.

- So when you say "back in those
days", what year are we talking?

- Well, we're talking around the


- Everybody who was involved in an
arranged marriage

would have had a mirror, they would
have met in that way?
- Yes.

- And then you get to keep the mirror?

- And then, yes, the bride gets to
keep the mirror.

- So did you ever meet your
grandparents?
- Oh, yes. Yes, I did.

- And what were they like?

- Oh, they were beautiful, kind, nice
people.
- Yeah, yeah.

- They had a hard start in life, when
they first married,

because they lost four out of their 11
children in infancy.

It used to happen back in the early
part of the 20th century.
- Yeah.

- But they had 18 grandchildren as
well,

so we kept them busy!

- LAUGHTER

- We all used to turn up, all the
family,

and my grandmother would make the most
incredible meals for us,

a table full of food.

- Lots of ornate workmanship on here.

The frame looks absolutely fantastic.

- Yes, it is a beauty, but the beauty
is actually in the back.

It's an extremely ornate mirror.

- Whoa!

- It's over 100 years old.
- Yeah.

So it's covered in silver around here.
- It is, yes.

And it's birds and flowers, and it
is... It's a piece of art, really.

It's beautiful.
- Have you ever seen a mirror like
this?
- I haven't.

I'm just in awe of it.

And I think it's the most beautiful
thing.

It's absolutely fantastic.

- So, what's actually wrong with it?

- It has a crack, right across here.
- Yeah.

- And on the other side, you can see
there's very sharp edges.
- Right.

- All of this looks like it's coming
off as well.
- It is, yeah. Yeah.

- And what do you want to do with it?
Do you want to have it on display?

- I would like it on display, yes.

- Yeah.
- I have my youngest son, Nicholas,

and his fiancee, Jess, getting
married.

And I just thought it would be
wonderful for it to be

pride of place at their wedding...
- Yeah.

- ..to have it looking as my
grandmother had it,

because we've never, ever seen it like
that.

- Yeah.
- Well, we'll try and do that again
for you.

- Oh, thank you!
- Yeah.

- Thank you for bringing this in.

- Thank you very much.

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

- This is a lovely, lovely mirror,

and I think it's great that it's going
to carry on as a tradition.

It's got its issues.

I'm noticing that the back is held on

with little, tiny steel wood-working
nails,

and these could be a problem to get
out.

The silver is incredibly thin.

And because it's thin, it's quite
sharp.

But being thin means it's also very
frail.

It's got this crack where the back has
been moving.

Looking at the other side...

..again, this is held on with nails.

Apart from this one corner here, where
the nail is missing,

I can't really see what the problem is
going to be

until I've got the back off.

I've just got a little piece of silver
I'm putting behind

so I don't scratch the mirror.

That nail's started to go now.

OK.

Well, that's one nail out.

There's probably 40 or 50 nails around
here.

I'm sure they're not going to all be
as easy as that.

- Well, this here is the bottom of the
garden gate,

and it is in really bad condition.

I'm trying my best to salvage as much

of the original gate as possible, but
something like this,

there's no way that this is going to
stand the test of time.

So I'm going to carve two new pieces
out of solid oak wood.

- It's been far from plain sailing for
David

as he dismantled the model boat.

Leaking batteries have caused a bit of
a shipwreck.

- Jon really wanted the lights to be
working on the boat.

Unfortunately, the damage that's been
done by the acid

is going to cause me some real
problems.

The wiring is really quite badly
damaged

and I'm going to have to replace quite
a lot of that.

I knew that there was some damage on
the outside of the hull,

but the cleaning process has revealed
the true horror of it.

The acid has eaten away at the wood.

So I've got some nice, thick balsawood
here.

I need to bend the balsawood to follow
the shape

of the inside of the hull.

So what I can do is put it in some
warm water

and this will help to make it a little
bit more malleable.

So I'm actually really happy with that
curve now.

So that's now in position.

There isn't an a clamp that exists
that would actually be able

to hold this in the shape that I'm
holding it,

so I'm just having to be a human clamp
until it's set.

Then I've just got the other side to
do,

and then I can actually fill it and
get some paint on it.

- Will is being tested, having to
employ a whole range

of different woodworking techniques to
repair the various sections

of the rotten garden gate.

- So I'm finally turning my attention
to the spindles on the inside.

None of the spindles are symmetrical.

None of them really match.

A few of them I can keep, but some of
them I have to replace.

So, rather than replacing the entire
thing,

my plan is to make up what's missing.

I've got my pair of callipers here, so
I'm just measuring...

..to get the right thickness.

Then I can rest that on the new piece
of oak.

And the idea is...

..when the callipers drop through...

..like that,

then I know that I've achieved the
same thickness

as the original piece of wood.

Lovely. Look at that!

One whole spindle.

Only another eight more to go!

Well, I've finally finished all the
turning for the spindles.

Pretty much all the woodwork is now
done for the gate.

And it's time, finally, to glue this
together.

Everything has its place here.

Nothing's symmetrical.

It's taken me ages to work out what
goes where,

so I've numbered all of these parts.

One...

..three...

..and four.

Slowly coming together.

Come on, cheeky monkey.

There are so many components here,

it's making it really tricky to get
these joints in.

OK. There we go.

I'm going to put the original dowels
back in.

There we have it. OK, it's back
together!

Oh, my gosh! I need a break and a cup
of tea.

- Silversmith Brenton has been
painstakingly removing every nail

from the Iraqi marriage mirror

and is ready to uncover what lies
beneath.

- Oh, OK.

So this is just some planks of wood.

The mirror must have been put in from
the front,

and then the side piece is put over
the mirror afterwards.

But I'm going to concentrate on the
back, first of all,

because that's the most important bit.

There is a couple of splits.

I'm going to solder from behind,

and what I'll do is just put a tiny
piece of silver as a sort of brace

behind it, because it's patched

rather than just soldered along the
crack.

This will make a nice, strong joint

and this shouldn't crack again in the
future.

So now I need to add a bit of solder.

This solder I'm using is a tin silver
solder,

which has quite a low melting point.

I don't want to introduce silver
solder onto this piece

because it's such a high melting point

and I don't want to damage this
incredibly thin silver.

OK.

That's that split soldered up.

That's good and strong for the future.

I've just noticed another split up
there I've got to solder up.

I know there's another one down here
somewhere,

and once they're all done,

I can turn it over and give it a
really good polish.

- Will's been using every trick in the
book

to restore the garden gate with
literary connections.

- There is a very obvious problem
here.

The new wood and the old wood.

The new wood sticks out like a sore
thumb.

I do have some dark oak stain here,

so this, mixed with some meths,

I'm hoping to create a stain that I
can try to blend them both together.

Once all the stain has dried,

I need to seal this with oil that's
suitable for outside,

to make sure this lasts for many years
to come.

Can't wait to see this in situ, back
outside the cottage.

- This gate,

once the setting of a post-w*r
homecoming reunion

between Roald Dahl and his mother, had
been mouldering

beneath undergrowth and was at risk of
being lost forever.

It was rescued by new owner Hannah,

who bought the cottage in
Buckinghamshire

and tasked Will with returning the
gate to fairy-tale finery.

- Hi.
- Nice to see you again.

What a lovely location to come to.
- It's good, isn't it?

- The cottage is absolutely gorgeous.

- It's definitely a kind of living,
breathing house.

I really feel like that's been there
for 500 years

and I'm kind of merely a passing
visitor looking after it.
- Yeah.

Would you like to see what I've done?
- I'd love to see it, yeah.

- Yeah? Ready?
- Yeah, I'd love to, yeah!
- OK!

- The suspense!

Oh, my gosh!

- CHUCKLING:
- My God, that's amazing!

How did you transform all those pieces
into a gate?

It looks unbelievable.

Thank you. It's wicked.

It looks incredible, doesn't it? It
looks so good.

It looks so in character with the
house.

- Now, as a Roald Dahl fan, how does
it feel to be able to restore

something that belonged to him, and
that sort of place

that he would have gone up and met his
mum after the w*r?

- A total pleasure.

It really is something really special.

- This really is on the pavement,

so people do walk past here quite
often, then.
- Yes.

- Is this gate quite known in the
community, then?

- Yes. People are kind of obviously
keeping an eye out

and seeing what's going on,

so they're quite excited to see what
happens and what comes back.

- Slightly nervous.

Lots of people are about to inspect my
craftsmanship.

- I know, your handiwork.

Hi.
- Hi there.

- Come and have a look.

Yeah, yeah, of course you can. Give it
a stroke.

- How much of the original gate is in
there?

- Pretty much all of it.
- Oh, really?
- Yeah, yeah.
- Oh, wow!

Very good.

- It's absolutely amazing to see the
gate restored and to see it back

in its place, as it should be.

Yeah, I hope anyone that comes to
visit, please use the gate.

It was so lovely to show the
community, you know,

taking them through the open gate for
the first time

and kind of leading them through it,

and holding it open for them was such
a pleasure.

And to see everyone really pleased and
admiring Will's fantastic work,

it was really special.

I do feel honoured that I've put
something back

for future generations.

Hopefully they'll appreciate it as
much as I will.

- Amazing, isn't it?
- Yeah.

- Back at the barn

is a job for textile conservator
Rebecca Bissonnet.

- What's the oldest item you've worked
on?

- Um... Oh, 12th century?

- 12th century?!
- Yeah.

- And it was still going strong?

- Yeah, it was all right.

- Rebecca has over 20 years'
experience working with

prestigious institutions such as
English Heritage

and the National Trust.

Her expertise are tailor-made for
Dearbhla Lennon

and her mother Mona Roddy, from
Dundalk in Ireland.

- Come on in.

- Hello. How are you?
- Very good.

How are you both?
- Good, thank you.
- We're excited.

- Is this it?
- Yeah.

So this is my first-ever Irish dancing
dress...
- OK.

- ..with my mum's very first lace
collar and cuffs on it.

But unfortunately, they've seen better
days.

- They have seen better days.
- Yeah.

So this is... It's Clones lace, right,
Mum?
- That's correct.

- And it was made for my mum's first
dancing dress

in probably around 1952.

And then the dress was made for me
around about 1980.

I was two.

- So we're talking about two things
here.

There's the dress that was made for
you,

and then the lace that's on it
belonged to you.

- That was mine.

- So the lace is an add-on to the
dress, then.

- Yes, yes.
- Someone would make the lace and then
you'll place it on.

- Yes. And I wore those right up until
I was a senior dancer.

- OK.

- They've incredible sentimental value
because they've been passed

from my mum, to me, to my niece, and
then finally my daughter,

who was last to wear it.

Ireland has a really rich cultural
heritage and we're just delighted

to be able to kind of pass it along to
the next generation, too.

- We are very passionately interested
in the music

and the singing and the dancing and
the language.

- Good on you.

So, how did you get into Irish dance?

- My mum would have loved to put us
into music,

but to learn music you had to have
instruments,

and that wasn't possible.

So she put us into Irish dancing.

So I danced competitively till I was
about 21.

Then, in 1970, I opened my own school
and I became a dance teacher.

- Some would say my sister and I could
dance before we could walk.

We were very small.

I think we probably had no choice.
- LAUGHTER

- But both of us danced
professionally.

So I was in the original company of
Michael Flatley's Lord of the Dance,

and I toured as a principal with that
show

and with Riverdance as well.

So, professionally...
- Hold on a minute, hold on!

Basically, that's like the biggest
dance company in the world,

if I remember rightly.

- Yeah, yeah.
- Like, they toured everywhere.

- Yeah, I was really lucky.

Dancing has been so good to our
family.
- Yeah.

- It has really enriched our lives.

Really, it's been very, very special,

and so the thoughts that this could
maybe continue to another generation

of dancing would just...just be
absolutely fantastic.

- So, what's actually wrong with it?

You've got a massive stain there.

- OK. Well, I think that's probably
the fact that it was loaned out

to one small child too many, maybe.

But the collar and cuffs are...
- They are fragile.

- ..as we would call, we would say
flittered.

They are 70-something years old.

For me, it reflects the very start of
my dancing journey,

which has been so rich.

But because of the connection to my
mum,

it's obviously very sentimental, and
then my little girl,

and just the thoughts of being able to
pass it on, you know,

it's invaluable, really.

- It is very, very special. We'd love
to see it fixed.

- But if Rebecca should do a really
nice job,

we could possibly show you how to do a
step or two.

- OK!
- Oh, show us how to do it?

- With the greatest of pleasure.
Rebecca, no pressure...

LAUGHTER

Just a miracle. Just a miracle.

- OK.
- That's fine.

- Thank you.
- Thank you.
- Thanks so much.

- Thank you.
- Bye.
- Take care.
- See you soon.
- Bye.
- Bye-bye.

- The craft of lace-making is
ingrained in Irish history,

dating back to the 1730s.

Originally a cottage industry of the
poorest women,

it played a vital role in saving many
families from starvation,

particularly during the Great Famine
of the 1840s.

Today, it is still featured in Irish
pageantry and culture.

- Well, this is a lovely dress.

So the dress is structurally in quite
good condition,

but the lace is the thing that's
really fragile.

It's referred to as lace but it's
actually like a crochet.

So all these little areas are sort of
knotted up together.

And once one of these little areas
starts to go,

it starts to lose its structure.

So there's also some staining on the
main part of the dress.

I will remove the lace. OK.

And then I can wash them.

- David's rescue mission on the model
boat is well under way,

but the little cabin is far from
shipshape.

- I've noticed that on the cabin and
on the hull,

you've got this registration plate,
and there's a couple of letters

which are actually missing.

Fortunately, all the missing letters,

I've got another version of it.

So I've come up with an idea of how to
copy the letters,

using some putty to take an impression

of the existing letters.

That's a nice, deep impression.

So the next thing is to actually start
filling it in

with some plastic from the 3D printer
pen.

This works almost like a hot glue g*n.

It forces the hard plastic material
through a heated element,

and then it comes out as virtually a
liquid.

So I'm just going to have a look at
this.

Ah!

That's actually not bad.

I'm going to give it a few more goes
and then I'm confident

that I should have some really nice,
clean letters

that are matching nicely.

Well, I'm not actually sure how many
As I made,

but I did manage to get one good one.

I'm going to stain that down.

But the next thing I've got to do

is try and sort out this wiring loom.

Jon had mentioned that the lights
would be something

that he particularly liked to work
again,

and the unfortunate reason for the
lights not working

was because the batteries had leaked

and these wires were just totally
disconnected.

So I'm going to start off by cutting
the rotted part off

and then get back to the clean wire.

I must admit, I'm really impressed
with Jon's father's work.

Being a model boater myself,

the level of detail is really
important.

So now I've got those wires cleaned
off,

I can actually use my tester pack to
see what does what

and if it's actually working.

Right. That's doing something.

Actually, that's all of the external
lights.

Ah!

Right. That's the cabin lights.

So now I've just got to put the cabin
and the deck on

and then it's a case of rigging it.

It's starting to really come together.

I'm really quite pleased.

Yeah, really quite pleased.

- The ornate silver marriage mirror is
getting its gleam back.

- I've got all of these splits
soldered up.

I'm now going to start to clean and
polish this silver back.

So I'm going to use a chemical
cleaner.

The chemical, being liquid,

gets into all of the little nooks and
crannies

where your finger and a cloth and
silver polish can't get.

It's quite a laborious job,

but I want to make it as nice as
possible for Mayassa

and for her son's wedding.

Now I've got to turn my attention to
the mirror and the frame,

and this corner is flapping about,

so I'm going to put some new nails in
that to hold that in position.

I've got some little, tiny nails.

I've checked that they don't go down
as far as the mirror,

because that would be absolutely
awful,

if I started tapping a nail in and
then the mirror broke.

I don't need seven years of bad luck
at my time of life!

That's pretty secure.

Now I've got to look at these sharp
edges

and see if I can smooth those over a
little bit.

This metal is so thin, it's like foil,

and if I try and take this off here,

it's just going to break into lots of
pieces.

So I'm going to use a burnisher, just
to push this edge down.

I'm just pushing down any little bits
that are raised.

That's good. Once I'm happy I've got
all of the edges

as tidy as I can, I can give the sides
a really good polish,

and then I can look at nailing the
back

back onto this mirror.

- Textile conservator Rebecca has
separated the delicate antique lace

from the dancing dress to clean and
repair it.

- I've washed both sides of the collar
and I've rinsed it,

so the next thing I'm going to do is
pin it out.

As the textile fibres dry,

they start to shrink up,

so I pin it out so I can retain the
shape and the dimensions.

I've got this drying face-up,

because if I'd dried it the other way
round,

all of these lovely petals would have
been squished back down.

But I can lift them all up.

I mean, the detail is incredible.

Somebody's spent a lot of time
creating this lace.

Now that I've completed the pinning
out of the cuffs and the collars,

I can turn my attention to the
repairs.

I can see that the damage is the
breaking of the joins

within the crochet.

So it's really important that I relink
these areas

because once they start to go, it's
sort of like a chain reaction.

So I'm going to be using a cotton
thread

and I'm going to use a looping stitch

to bridge these areas.

So I've just cast on, which means that
I've attached my thread,

so I can create a little bridge that
will attach this loose part

of the shamrock to this part of the
crochet pattern.

So I've actually never been to watch
Irish dance myself,

but it's... You know, I've seen it on
the television and things.

But I would say that this...

- SHE LAUGHS

- ..is as hard as Irish dancing!

I've bridged that gap, so that's one
area done.

There's actually about 20+ areas to
get on with,

so there's lots of fiddly work ahead
of me.

- It's almost anchors aweigh for the
little fishing trawler.

- So the cabin and the deck have gone
back on nicely.

So the last thing to do is to resolder
this little jib back on.

This is actually what pulls the net
through the water.

It really has been lovely to imagine
Jon and his dad

actually working on the real-size
version of this model.

You can imagine all of those fun
times.

So that's actually looking nice.

I've just got to clean that up,

then I can get the rest of the rigging
on,

and then it's ready to go back to Jon.

- Time had taken a heavy toll

on the exquisite details of this mini
replica of a cherished boat.

- David, how's it going?
- All right, mate.

Shipshape and Bristol fashion!
- I love it.

Looks good!

- For Jon, this model is a reminder of
happy times spent with his father

aboard his beloved fishing trawler.

- Here he is.
- Hello, Jon.
- Hi!
- Hiya.

- How are you? Good to see you.

Welcome back.
- I'm Dom. Lovely to see you.
- Hi, Dom.

Thank you.
- Your poor boat wasn't...

It wasn't in the best condition, was
it?
- No.

It had deteriorated over the years.

I've a lot of memories attached to
that boat

that only me and my dad shared.

They're always with me.

It's always close to my heart.

- Do you want to take a look?

- Please.
- Yeah? Go on, then, David.
- DAVID CHUCKLES

- Right, then. Here we go.

- Man!

That's fantastic.

It's like the first day we seen it.

Perfect.

All his heart and soul is in that
boat.
- Yeah.

- So it's a beautiful memory of my
dad.

- There is a little extra.

If you'd like to open the engine
cover,

then you'll find a switch in there.

- That's perfect.

That's him.

Just like the day he first built it.

- Yeah.
- Finished it off.
- Yeah.

- It's...

Got to tell you, that's a brilliant
job.

- DAVID LAUGHS

- You're very welcome, sir!

- You've done well.
- You're very welcome.

- Everything's back to what it should
be.
- Yeah.

- Well, it's been an absolute pleasure
to work on it. Yeah.

- Brilliant. Jon, it's been a pleasure
to meet you.

Thank you so much.

- DAVID CHUCKLES

- Thanks very much.
- Perfect.
- You're very welcome, sir.

- Safe trip back. Take care.
- Enjoy it.
- Thank you. Bye-bye.

To see it all put back together,

the way it was first built by my dad,

it's a perfect embodiment of him.

Been brought back to life, really.

Going to sit and stare at it for a
while, and appreciate the work

that's been put into it.

And...I'll have a few wee drinks and
toast my dad.

- Material girl Rebecca is tripping
the light fantastic

with the dance costume.

- I've been working on the collars and
the cuffs,

and I've just about finished the
repairs.

Now that that's nearly completed,

I can turn my attention to the dress,

which has got a nice big stain right
down the front.

So, the problem I have with the dress
is that it's made

of three layers - the red wool,

it's got an interlayer and a polyester
lining.

If I get all of those layers wet,

they will react differently in the
water, and on drying, as well.

So I'm going to use a gel to control
the amount of water

that I get on to that dress,

which I'll be able to cut to the shape
of the stain.

The gel will release - it's a
moisture,

so it's just got water in - and then
it'll suck up the stain.

So, that's the theory.

My gel is now set,

and it's quite a good consistency.

I'm placing it onto the stain

and then covering it with some
polythene, so that the moisture

goes in and doesn't come out.

And I'm just going to put a little bit
of a weight on there,

just to hold everything in place.

But I'm a bit nervous about it,

because potentially, this gel might
push the stain outwards,

and I could end up with a really big
stain.

OK, let's have a look, see how it's
gone.

- SHE GASPS

- I'm just blotting, just to see if
there's anything coming off.

Oh, yeah.

OK, this is starting to work.

So I've got some colour on my gel,

and I can see that there's a bit of
the soiling being lifted away.

So I'm actually really relieved.

So I'm going to repeat this process,

reducing the stain as much as
possible, and once that's done,

I can reattach the cuffs and the
collar.

- To conduct the joining together of
the marriage mirror,

Brenton's creating something new out
of something old.

- I'm just making some new nails

to nail the back back onto the mirror.

I've got some brass-plated steel
escutcheon pins,

and I've just filed them flat so that
they match

the nails I've taken out.

So, there's 50 nails I've taken out,

so I've made 50 new nails to go back
in.

I always like to work on anything
that's silver.

Lots of hard work to make it beautiful
again.

I think it's been worth it,

and I hope that Mayassa thinks the
same thing.

- This mirror played a part in the
weddings of Mayassa's family,

and she's got plans for it to carry on
down the generations.

- There she is. Hello.
- Hello.

- How are you doing?
- Very well, thank you.
- Hello.

- Hi!
- All right?

- I'm excited, I have to say!
- God bless you.

And you're excited why?

- I'm just hoping to see it looking as
if it was on the day

my grandmother sat in front of it,

so that it's got the gleam, the shine.

- So, the way it looked 100 years ago.

- Yes. That would be fantastic.

- Yeah, you ready?
- Oh, yes.

- SHE GIGGLES

- Oh, gosh!

Oh, my God!

- GIGGLING:
- Oh, wow!

Oh...!

- SHE LAUGHS

- I didn't expect that. I mean, I
thought it would be gleamy, but...

Ah, yeah. Wow!

You're a genius!

- THEY LAUGH

- I'm speechless! I just...
- Well done.
- Oh, wow!

It is fantastic. And it's how it
should be,

and it looks beautiful.

Yeah.

Thank you.
- Pleasure!

- Absolutely fantastic, yeah.

I've never seen it like this. That's
what's so stunning.

It's just... Oh...

- So, Brenton's done the family proud,
then?
- Oh, he certainly has.

- Yeah?
- It's... Yeah, it means my
grandmother's legacy continues.

It means we see it as she saw it.

And it means that the generations down
the line

are going to know the story.

So, hopefully, another 100 or so years
ahead.

- Well, thank you for bringing this
in.
- Thank you.

- And we'll get this wrapped up and
bring it out to you.

- Super.
- All right?
- Thank you very much. OK.

- You take care.
- Bye-bye, now.
- See you soon.
- Bye.

I'm hoping this mirror will bring good
luck to everyone in the family,

because it started with my
grandparents

and their 60 years,

myself and my husband, 40 years,

and my next son, and hopefully carries
on through the generations.

It is a good-luck mirror.

- One more family heirloom is nearing
completion.

Rebecca is almost ready to take a bow
on

the Irish dancing dress repair.

- I've completed all of the stain
removal,

and I'm really happy with how it's
come out.

So the final thing to do is just to
reattach the collar

and the cuffs.

It's really exciting to be part of
keeping that lace alive,

keeping that going, because we have
lost some of our hand skills,

and keeping this costume going is
almost as important as keeping

the skills, you know, of the dance

and, you know, Mona's teaching

and Dearbhla's teaching of that dance.

Hopefully, this lace will keep going
for a little bit longer now.

- This dress and its traditional lace
trim was passed

from mother to daughter,

along with a passion and talent for
Irish dancing.

Dearbhla and her mother Mona are
hoping the dress will inspire

the next generation of dancers.

- Hello.
- Hi. How are you?
- I'm good.

- JAY: Very good. How are you both
doing?

- We're good. How are you?
- Yeah?
- Very good.

- And what are you hoping for?

- I'm hoping to see it...

..in the state it was when I danced
myself...

- THEY LAUGH
- ..a long time ago, Rebecca.
- OK.

- Yeah.
- I actually got really emotional when
we dropped it off,

because it represents the start of my
Irish dancing journey,

which has been... it's been my entire
life.

And the thought that the next
generation might have any

of that opportunity is... it's
priceless.

- So, you ready to see it?

- I really am. I'm very excited.

The minute I saw the green velvet,

I actually got a wee butterfly in my
chest,

so I'm ready to go, for sure.

Oh!

- SHE GIGGLES

- Oh!

Oh, look!
- Oh...

- SHE WHISPERS:
- My God.
- Magnificent.

- It doesn't look repaired.

Like, it just looks like that's the
way it was.

It doesn't look like there's new bits
with old bits.

- It-It doesn't...

- Oh, my gosh!

- You are amazing.

Oh, my goodness.
- Thank you.

- It is beautiful.
- And it's clean!

I'm just blown away.

- It really is very special.

- Aww!
- Yeah.

It's hard to believe, 72 years old,
those collar and cuffs are.

And I wore those collars and cuffs
right up until I was 19, 20.

That'll be forever in the family now.

Bless your hands, that's all I can
say. Wonderful.

- Well, we kind of had a deal.

Rebecca's repaired this.

You said you was going to show us a
couple of moves.

- Well, I thought you were going to
forget about that deal.

- No! Deal is a deal.

THEY LAUGH

- Deal is a deal.
- A deal is a deal!
- Well...

You ready?
- Well, we had the deal.

Yeah, I'm definitely ready.

- Six, seven, and...

- Oh!
- Ah!
- Look at that!

LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE

- I'm so, so grateful. Thank you.

Thank you so much.

- Thank you so very, very much.

It really does mean the world.

- I'm really, really delighted.

The dress is just such a little symbol
of my dancing journey.

I would hope that in the future,

the dress will be used by the next
generation.

We've allowed the grandchildren to
wear it, and unfortunately,

they've all outgrown it, but
hopefully, maybe their children

now will take the flame and maybe show
their children how to dance.

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

and you think the team can help,

please get in touch at...

..and join us in The Repair Shop.