04x30 - Expedition Picture Albums

[bunniefuu]

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

This is amazing.
It is absolutely brilliant.

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

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

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

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

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

Sounds like teamwork.

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

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

Utilising expertise passed down the
generations... I'm going to teach

you how to do it the old-fashioned
way. Al right.

..transforming priceless pieces
of family history...

Oh, my goodness me! The Repair Shop
team will resurrect the items...

Oh, gosh! ..the memories...

I'm going to have to hug you.
..and the stories behind them.

Oh, look at that!
Oh, thank you so much.

I can't see it because
of the tears in my eyes!

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

CHEERING

Hello, ladies. How we doing?

In The Repair Shop today,
a millennial-old craft preserves

a century-old book.
It's a bit like magic.

So, one minute you see a corner,

and then it's gone.

While Steve is spellbound,
trying to work out the secret

behind a 65-year-old magic trick.
That doesn't really make sense.

But then it has to pick up a card.

But then why doesn't it pull them
all up like this, lots of them?

It's a bit of a challenge.

I don't know, what do you think?
Is it straight? Absolutely
straight, mate. That's...

That all right? That's perfect.
Yeah? It's perfect.

I expect nothing less from you,
mate. Thank you, Jay.

There we go. Steady on. Who's this?

The first visitor of the day is
Hasnain Abbas from Bradford.

How we doing, sir? Hi, you OK?
Nice to meet you.

He's brought in something
that has kept generations

of his family entertained -

a traditional board game, hailing
from South Asia, called carrom.

So, how you doing? I'm Jay.
I'm Mr Abbas. Mr Abbas. Dom.

Nice to see you.
I've never seen one of these before.

Can you tell me what it is and why
is it here?

This is the very original
1960 carrom board.

OK. My father had it imported. Yeah.

And at that time my father
worked in the factories.

This cost him then £10 to £15 was...
The wages

were £5 a week at the time. So this
must have meant quite a lot to him.

It did, because in his youth he used
to play a lot. Yeah.

So basically he brought
these memories over.

The objective of the game is to hit
or flick a striker disc so it hits

another, to propel it into one of
four corner pockets.

Would this board game be a kind of
focal point in most houses back in
Pakistan, then?

India, Pakistan, yes, Iran, Turkey,
Egypt - they all have this,
actually.

So this was their family
entertainment.

So, no TV, no radio.
This is the game. That's right.

This is what you'd be playing.
You're looking at four to six-hour
sit, in one sitting.

Four to six hours?! We would
continue, until we were told to go
to bed, we would just play.

And was you better than your father?
Well, we became, initially my
father used to thrash us,

of course, you know. Of course,
he's the master. You know how it is.

But then, as we perfected the art
of playing, we taught him a lesson.

Did you?
THEY LAUGH

OK, why is it like this, then?
What's happened to it over the
years? Wear and tear?

Sure, it is. What's happened is that
the first generation played, then
the second generation played, and

then the third generation played.
So what's happened is wear
and tear on this, if you

look at it. Now, this surface is
supposed to be really, really
smooth, because what happens when

you strike this... It slides.
As you slide this,

this comes back. Oh, I like that!
And these markings have faded.

Well, that's my main concern.

These lines seem quite important.
They are, because that's your best
area of play. OK. So they,

so this is all marked in black, so
as you can see, the corners, the
edges... All the ripples.

..they're coming up. Oh, yeah ,you
can see it from here.

Well, I've got a skilful team here,
and hopefully we'll go to work

on this and get it shiny
and playable again.

Thank you. So, thank you for
bringing this in. Thank you.

OK. Thank you.
Take care now. Thank you.

Wow! Great thing, isn't it?
It is amazing! Isn't it brilliant?
Absolutely amazing.

The carrom board has a lot of
sentimental value.

It would be an enormous pleasure
to have it back and restored
to its original glory.

Well, I could see the joy in
Hasnain's face.

It was just like... I know.
It took him right back there.

Yeah, I think he's excited
to get playing it again.

All right. Let's get it
on a bench, then. Cool.

The main point of this game
is that the pieces slide across.

This needs to be like glass,
like a perfectly flat piece.

Just by rubbing my hand over it,

the whole board is just delaminating
and just kind of separating.

This top, it's had its day,
unfortunately.

I just need to replace this face.

So this, this lovely, the edge,
I'll definitely keep this.

I've just got one bit of damage
along here.

That's the worst of it, really.

I'll find out what wood
this is, find a new piece

of it and try and match the grain
up, so that should be an invisible

repair there. First thing I need to
do is figure out how to get this

board out of the frame without
causing any, any damage.

So if I flip it over and have a
quick look underneath,

I think it's going to be, hopefully,
fairly self-explanatory.

These pockets are the first thing
in the way. I need to unscrew these,

remove them to gain access
to the nails underneath holding

the board in place.

I'm going to have to be a bit
forceful with this to get it out,

because it's been nailed in. the
approach I'm taking now to get

the middle out is almost like how
you would remove a cake from a cake
tin. Basically supporting the middle

of the board and then I'm persuading
the hardwood edge down.

Eventually the nails will give
up and just let go and it will

just drop down.

The plywood is so crumbly
and brittle.

It's just all crumbling away,
so there's really not much I can do

to try and protect that.
I'm being as careful as I can,

but my main priority has to be
trying to keep this outside frame

in one piece.

Oh, there we go.

Oh!

There we go.

Next, a tale of adventure
and romance.

Jenny Lane from Storrington,
West Sussex, has brought

a family album with a difference.

Good morning. Hello. Hello.

Hi, I'm Steve. Hi, I'm Jenny.

Hello. Hi. Chris. Hi, Chris.

Welcome to The Repair Shop.

Bookbinder Christopher Shaw
has been restoring books

for 35 years.

What have we got here, then?
Right.

My grandfather went on Scott's
expedition to Antarctica.

He was an officer on the Terra Nova,
on the second expedition.

Oh, right.

Captain Robert Falcon Scott's
expedition to reach the South Pole

took place between 1910 and 1913.

But the ill-fated trip ended
in tragedy,

as Scott and four of his companions
died in the attempt.

Jenny's grandfather was one
of the lucky ones.

He didn't actually go to
the Pole with Scott.

He was doing geographical surveys of
the area. Oh, I see, right.

So these are documents of,
of Scott's expeditions? Yes.

That's incredible. Yeah. On the way
down to the Pole, he met my

grandmother in New Zealand. They
obviously became romantically

involved. He obviously went off for
at least another year,

down to the South, the South Pole.

So, so, she, she... She was in
Dunedin. She decided to have a

press cuttings service.

Produced these volumes. So it was a
cuttings service that would
then find all these articles

from wherever? Yeah. Oh, what...
That is a good idea.

It's the 1910 version of Facebook,
isn't it? Yes!
THEY LAUGH

Oh, it's beautiful! Really nice!

And are there any pictures in the
albums of... Of my grandfather? Yes.

Yes, there are, yes. there's my
grandfather there. Oh, right, OK.

There he is. What a great picture.
Oh, fantastic.

So, on the way back,

he met her again in Dunedin
and then they came back

and they got married. Amazing love
story. Apparently he absolutely
adored my grandmother. Aw!

They got married in London. He was
called up for the First World w*r,

and he went down with his ship
in September 1914... Oh, gosh!

..before my father was born
in the February of 1915. Oh!

So, they never saw each other.

Apparently, when he went
down with his ship, he survived.

Oh, really? He had a life belt, but
he gave it to a man

that he knew had children. Oh!

But of course he never knew that my
grandmother was pregnant. Yeah.

Wow! No! That's heartbreaking as
well. It is. But, but what a hero.

Yes. Yeah. yeah.
And you must be really proud...

Oh, yes, we are. We are very proud
to own them, very proud.

Yeah.
What would you like Chris to do?

Well, we've never had them
rebound, because we wanted

it to be done sympathetically,
obviously. You know, it's...

I think the inside, I mean, the
actual card on the inside, I don't

think much needs to be done to
those. No. But obviously they need

to be attached to a sturdier... Yes.
..binding. You can open them,

these without damaging them any
further. Sure. The actual damage

to the book, OK, the joints have
gone, but ultimately

it's in good condition. I would
say... So it's saveable?

Yes, it's totally saveable.

Well, thank you very, very much
for bringing these books in.

Chris will work his expertise
on them, get them all looking nice.

Lovely. Thank you very much. Thank
you very much. Thank you, Chris.

I feel very proud of my grandfather,
and this is the only contact

that we have with him.

I feel that if they were left
in their present condition

that they wouldn't survive.
Having them restored will mean

that they are preserved
for the next 100 years

and the story of the Rennick
family will go on.

In the repair, the three stages
are you dismantle the book,

so I'm going to take all the boards
and spine to pieces,

and then it's relining the book,
introducing new linen hinges

on the inside, and then recovering
it with a goatskin, and then you dye

it all down at the end.

So what I'm first going to do
is just cut the spine off.

As a book and an album, they're...
I love the size.

I love the colour.

Everything about it. And the lovely
thing about it is the fact

that everything's there. OK,

the boards are all split,
but the spine's

there, which is the important thing,
so actually redoing it,

hopefully, it'll just look
like it was back in the day.

In the outdoor workshop, Dom
has got a new playing field

for the 1960s carrom board.

This is an oak veneer, so its going
to be much more hard-wearing

than the original
but looks very similar.

I've made sure it's as close
as I can get.

It's very nice and flat already,
but it needs to be smoother.

It needs to be literally like a,
like when you look across it,

it needs to look like glass.

The only way I'm going to be able
to do that is by building up layers

and layers and layers of clear
varnish, basically, over the top,

and even out any imperfections.

OK, that's layer number six done.

It's a water-based paint that I'm
using, so it'll dry quite quickly.

I'll get it, get a heater on it.

While the playing surface dries, Dom
moves on to the salvaged surround.

So, this is the main frame
for the current board.

It's been painted in almost
like a brown paint, which always

makes me a bit nervous, because why
someone painted it brown,

what are they trying to hide,
if there's like old repairs
and filler and things like that.

But I had a look underneath
once I got the frame out.

I keep getting little hints
underneath where there's no paint,

but this beautiful grain,
it looks like teak to me.

And I really think that, if I sand
this back and just reveal

that really nice wood, it's going
to look absolutely amazing.

So, I've sanded down the frame
to the carrom board.

It's actually looking really
good condition compared
to the plywood face.

This has lasted a lot, lot better.

I've got one small area of damage
where the pieces have obviously

been smashing against the edge.
It's just been well, well played.

I've actually managed to get my
hands on this beautiful bit

of teak which is a fantastic match.
The grain is almost perfect.

I'm just going to try and cut
a sliver out of there,

cut a sliver off here and put
it in there, sand it down,

and you should never know
that I've been in there.

That's brilliant.

That's fantastic.

I'm very happy with the grain match.

The colours should be, should be
absolutely fine.

That's all the repair pieces now
glued in and clamped up tight.

I'm going to leave that glue to go
off and dry nice and hard,

and fingers crossed that repair
should hold up for many more games.

To keep the playing surface level,
Dom has made some new support

struts for the underside.

These are going to help a huge
amount for the structure.

Basically the ball is just
an 11-mil bit of ply,

so it's quite, it's relatively thin,
really. It could flex, but with

these screwed to the back of it and
glued, it won't be going anywhere.

This is a really strong wood glue.

Once I've put these two together,
there's kind of no going back.

I'm going to have to work quite
quickly to get them all on.

Once this glue starts setting,
I won't be able to remove them

without starting to break the wood,
so I need to be quite accurate

now, quite careful.

Dom's managed to get the carrom
board structurally sound,

but the fine-painted playing lines

need someone with an extremely
steady hand.

Jay's asked clock face restorer
Cindy Welland

to lend her precision
painting skills.

So, Cindy, this is what I would
like you to copy, this carrom board,

on there. OK. So, that, see that
pattern? Yeah, I can just about see

a pattern. I know, I know it's
faint. And that's all the years

that it's been used. Can do it?
Yeah. All right.

If there's anything you need,
just let me know. I certainly will.

OK. Thank you. No problem.

First I'm going to find
the centre of the board,

because everything emanates
from the centre.

Take the measurements
with my compass

straight over to the new board...

..and mark them out.

The trickiest thing for me
is, cos I'm usually used

to painting clocks, is the size.

This is much bigger than
what I would normally work

with, but the principles are
basically the same.

And I'm marking them on with a
water-based pen,

so we'll just rub off.

And there are more circles in the
centre of this board

than was first apparent.

While Cindy settles in for hours
of meticulous work,

outside - another hopeful visitor.

Heather Farmer is hoping The Repair
Shop team can help restore

the memories of a magical childhood.

Hello. Hello, I'm Heather. Nice to
meet you. Hi, Heather. You, too.

Right, what have we got here?
This is a magic duck.

This is Mathilda. Yeah? Oh, right,
OK. Tell me about Mathilda.

Mathilda was my father's duck.
He was a magician.

She must be about 65 years
old at least, possibly more,

and she was always in the magic
shows with my dad.

And he started doing magic
when he was about 12 or 13.

And then, when he was in the RAF,
he was based in Credenhill,

near Hereford, where he met my mum.

And he used to put on magic shows
for all the troops there.

He was entertaining thousands
of troops with his magic,

and he was entertaining
right up until a few days

before he died in 1989.
Oh, right, OK.

And was Mathilda with your father
from when he started?

I think she was there very early on.

She was called an educated duck,
and he'd be talking to the audience

about maybe whose birthday
it was and how Mathilda would know,

and he'd be looking away and
Mathilda would be sort of

gesticulating with her beak. People
would be laughing at her and he'd be

sort of looking away and think,
"Well, what's everybody laughing
at?"

You know, and then all of a sudden
she'd just dart forwards and pull
out a card and she would spell

out the name of the child.

And even the most hardened
cynic, by the end of the show,

they would just be eating out of his
hand. Oh, really? Yeah.

He was very talented. And he was
doing, doing magic tricks

up until he died?

He was. Even when he was in
hospital, he was going from

bad to bed and doing close-up magic
for the other patients...
Oh, my word!

..and entertaining the doctors
and nurses as well.

He just couldn't stop.
Yeah. That's wonderful.

It is wonderful. Yes. He was a
lovely man. He really was. Yeah.

Tell me exactly what's not
working with Mathilda. Right.

Well, the main problem is a problem
with the mechanism

underneath, because this is giving
away a secret now

of how Mathilda moves. OK.
SHE LAUGHS

So you put the finger through
the ring there and she moves,

sometimes overshooting
the card holder. OK.

And then her kilt has become
very tatty, and her little

Tam o' Shanter.

So that's, that's the main things
that's wrong with her, really. OK.

It's, uh, doesn't seem much, but
it's huge, actually, because I don't

know how it's supposed to work.
THEY LAUGH

So it's going to be fun. It will.
And perhaps you'll learn some

secrets on the way. Yeah.
I won't tell anyone. That's good.
THEY LAUGH

Thank you for bringing her in.
Yeah. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Bye-bye now. Bye-bye.

It will be a tribute to my dad
to have Mathilda working again,

restoring her to
what she should be.

That would just be an honour,
really, I think, in his memory.

He was an exceptional person.

I'm not sure how I'm going to fix
this without knowing

how it's supposed to work.

But I'll give it a whirl.

I'm going to take the kilt off.

I think that's a job for
Julie and Amanda.

I might be able to fix
it without taking it apart.

But then I've got to work
out what exactly it does,

because obviously it comes
down... So, if I'm pushing

it down by hand, it works perfectly
well. If I pull the ring,

it's not working.
It doesn't really make sense.

But then it has to pick up a card.

There's got to be something
here that actually is almost sticky

enough to pull up a card.

Then why doesn't it pull
them all up like this, lots of them?

It's a bit of a challenge.

I think, while I'm
thinking about this,

I'm going to get this over to Julie
and Amanda, see if they can do

anything with putting elastic
in the kilt.

Hi, Julie. Hi. Steve. Could you do
me a favour? Mm-hmm.

This is Mathilda the duck,
magic duck. Hi!

She's lovely. And...

..she has a kilt. OK.

It's seen better days. Yeah. And
that's supposed to sort of stay

tight like that and... Oh, yeah, I
see. ..cover up the hands

that are doing all the actions
underneath.

And can you make a new
Tam o' Shanter, please?

Yes, I definitely will.
Thank you very much. Thank you.

Can you get it... How's it hold...
Can you hold... Get it off for me

and then... Yeah. There we go.
Fantastic. Good, good? Yeah, OK.

Come back in a minute.

SHE LAUGHS
Bye, Steve.

Across the barn, Chris is continuing
to carefully dismantle the

century-old Antarctica albums.

I'm just about to detach the boards.

Cutting along where the old cloth
is, nice and easy.

That's removed the board.

The boards form the protective
covering of a hardback book,

and once they're off,
Chris can begin the process

of strengthening the spine.

I'm going to give it three
more extra linings, which will

make it stronger.
It'll make it last longer.

So, just apply PVA.

This is an awful lot of strength.

This is what's going to attach
the boards back on.

It's a type of fabric.
It's like a strong calico.

It's relatively stiff.

Chris builds layers of the thick
cotton material,

then the book
is ready to reassemble.

It's all starting to look
more like a book.

You just get that into position.

The joy for me as a craftsman
is knowing that every process

I've done is good
and it's feeling right.

The immense pleasure of
just doing that is fantastic.

The book is now intact and sturdy,
but the final covering

of goatskin
will get it looking smart again.

All my hard work of reassembling
the book,

this is the bit that Jenny
is going to notice the most.

So, in some ways it's the most
important, even though, for me,

every bit of it is important.

It's a bit of a fiddly job,
and so I just get it into...

..sort of roughly the idea.

And then...

..I'm now going to stretch
it, and I'm stretching it as tight

as I can across the spine.

So now I'm going to tie it up,

and you can see it pulling
it in, into a nice shape.

Chris Now reattaches the original
leather spine.

Volume two had
the more extensive damage,

ao it's all in, its in three bits.

What I'm going to do is,
I'm having to use the volume one

as the benchmark for where the spine
is going to be positioned

on volume two. It's just...

..again, a bit of a messy job.

So, just like with the first
piece, I'm going to offer

it up and then just make
sure it's level with the...

..the other one.

I'm pleased. It's all glued on.

I'm going to start wrapping
it up like a mummy.

Tightly wrapping the book will hold
everything in place

as the glue dries.

So, it's just about mummified.

And then we'll just leave
this overnight, and tomorrow

I will unwrap it and then start
doing the finishing processes on it.

More used to painting clocks
and watches,

Cindy has been meticulously
creating the playing marks

of the carrom board.

Now I'm just filling in the dark,
black lines before I put

the colour work on.

They make it really stand out

and give it some depth.

People always think that painting

circles is more difficult
than painting straight lines,

but for me, painting straight
lines is much more difficult

than painting a circle.

Trying to get everything
dead straight

is quite difficult.

Outside, Dom has nearly finished
restoring the teak surround.

So, I've got the main hardwood frame
of the carrom board here now.

All my repairs are finished.

I'm just going to now put
a very light coating,

just with a little rag of just some
oil, which is going to protect

the wood from getting stained
and any damage,

and just seal it, basically,

and it'll really bring out this
lovely wood grain.

I love how it's brought
out the wood grain.

I absolutely love this wood.
It's beautiful.

Once this is dry, it's almost
about time to reunite the two pieces

of the board back together.

Hi, Dom. Hey.

I think we've finished.
Absolutely brilliant.

I don't know how you've done that,
honestly.

It looks better with a bit of
colour on, doesn't it?

Yeah, it's really, really good.
So, is it ready to go now?

Yeah, ready to go. It's dry?
Yeah, it's dry.

Would you mind giving me a hand
out back to my bench?

No. Thank you. OK.

Years of enthusiastic use and
lengthy gameplay meant the carrom

board was faded, its surface uneven
and not fit for use.

But now the board is ready
to be transported back to Bradford

where Hasnain has gathered
the whole family to recreate

the fierce tournaments
of yesteryear.

Friday, Saturday, Sunday was
fixated, and this game doesn't last

an hour, it actually lasted six to
eight hours per night.

And in gelled the family together.
It was brought, it brought strangers
together.

My parents would have been
over the moon.

My parents would have loved to see
this in prime condition.

It'll bring a lot of happy
memories back, actually.

Look at this. Oh, my...
THEY GASP

Wow! Wow! Yeah. Wow!

That is better than before! Yeah!

It's so smooth. Wow!
So shall we put this out, yeah?

This is how it's done.

So, you cover all areas,
because this makes it more slippery

and more slidy.

Now I'm going to make a fool of
myself.
LAUGHTER

Oh, shot!

O-o-o-o-oh! This is an experience
I thought would never come back

to us because, it was a such a long
time ago, and suddenly today

everything that, just all
the memory, it just flooded,

coming back. It's unbelievable.

CHEERING

Round of applause!

Well, it's best of three anyway.
LAUGHTER

I've let them win. Just...
LAUGHTER

This is what brings the family
together, it gels the family

together, and this communication,
interaction is amazing,

it's just great, great,
good old times back again.

Back at The Repair Shop, Steve's
had his feathers ruffled trying

to work out how to get a 1940s
magic trick working again.

Can actually see what's
wrong with this,

why it's, why it's not triggering
properly. It's just a lever

that's bent slightly, slightly
over and it's getting caught,

so I'm just going to shift
it over slightly.

That's got plenty of movement
in it now. It was...

Whereas before it was catching
on the other lever,

and I'm sure that's
what the problem was.

So, quite an easy fix
on that side of things.

But Mathilda's still not
picking up the cards.

On the inside of the beak,

there's this fibre washer

I'm sure this fibre
washer's not original.

It's just stuck on there,
so I'm going to actually take

it off, because if you saw that on
the inside of a duck's mouth,

you'd know it was something
to do with the trick and

something to do with the picking
up of the card.

While Steve tries
to conjure up a solution,

the Teddy Bear Ladies are starting
to work on Mathilda's jaunty attire.

Oh, perfect!

It's a slightly different texture,
but it's, actually it's quite nice.

Amanda is going to make
a new kilt, and Julie a new hat.

I need some space.

I need to lay this out
to measure it.

You're saying you want to get
rid of me, don't you? Just for a
little while. OK.

Don't worry, I'll miss you.
THEY LAUGH

Won't be for long.
I'll tell you what,

I'll go and see if I can fit
on the end of Will's bench.

I'm sure if I sit still, quietly,
he won't even notice I'm there. OK.

So, I'm about to make Mathilda

her new skirt. Got this lovely
bit of tartan here.

Love working on checked fabric,
because it's so easy to cut,

because you've got all these lovely
lines. And then I'll just sew it up

with the sewing machine
and that'll be it done.

I'm literally doing a simple hem
around a disc of this tartan,

and then I'm going to run
a stitch through it and draw

it up like a bath cap.
And then I shall make

a little replacement tassel
for the top, and then Mathilda

will have a delightful new outfit.

OK, so I'm just going to elasticate
Mathilda's skirt.

Going to use a really simple
method.

I'm just doubling up some shirring
elastic. Going to thread

it through the upper seam, or the
waistband if you like, through the

opening that I've left.

So, all I've got to do now is tie
off these ends and just sew the ends

over, so that they're nice
and neat, and I think we've got

a quacking good skirt!

I'm going to try a bit of neoprene.

That seems to grip hold of the card
all right, so I'm going to cut

a small piece of this, glue it
to the inside of there, just to see

if it works.

If it does work, I will paint
the rest of the inside of the beak,

or bill, so that it matches
this and then the illusion

should be complete.

Just stick there for a minute.

Hopefully it won't stick the
beak together.

Right, let's see if that works.

That worked straight away.

That's working great.
That's fantastic.

So, I need to make up something a
lot neater,

paint the inside of the beak,

get the kilt and Tam o' Shanter on,
and then it's going to be done.

Good, I'll let that dry and then
it'll be ready for the

pads just to pop in.

So, i've got this leather cutter -
just another of those tools

that I've picked up from somewhere.

Basically it just cuts a nice,
neat circle, and then I can

just glue it on. Hi, Steve.
How you getting on?

Really good. Is she OK?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

There you go, then. Hey!
That's it, yeah. That OK?

Yeah, really good. Yeah! Aw!

That's very nice! Brilliant.

Do you want her skirt? It's a kilt!

A kilt, I'm sorry. There you go.
I've elasticated it, so it's...

Oh, OK. That is absolutely
fantastic! She looks fab, by the
way. She does. Thank you.

All right. Bye. Cheers, bye.

Steve has given Mathilda her magic
back, and the Teddy Bear Ladies

have got her dressed to impress.
That's quite cute. The ladies have
done a blinder.

What do you keep moving it for?
I'm not, it's... Mathilda's doing
that. Mathilda's alive, yeah?

Yeah. All right. Yeah. Well, the
ladies have done a brilliant job.

Have you figured out how to do
a trick on this?

Trust me. Trust you? Right. Ready?

Yeah? What's...

A. There you go.

Wow!

THEY LAUGH

How did you do that?!
It.. I don't... It's just magic.

It just happens. No, it's brilliant.
Absolutely brilliant. Yeah.

So, Mathilda's all done now. Yeah.
OK, so I can give Heather a call and

let her know she can come in and
pick it up? Yeah, absolutely.

Thank you, Steve. All right.
All right.

Bookbinder Christopher Shaw
has been restoring

the pair of
Antarctica Expedition albums.

It's been drawing for 24 hours.

It looks all right.
It's always exciting to see

whether it's stuck or not.

I'm very happy with that.
All the... It was all fragmented,

so all the... It's gone back
exactly how I wanted it,

so you actually can't see where the,
the splits were in the spine.

The next stage is to start dying
it. Hopefully now it'll all start

blending together, because
this is the final stage.

It's a bit like magic.

So, one minute you see a corner...

..and then it's gone.

So, I can do the edges.

All right Chris? Hello, Jay. I've
got wax you ordered. Oh, brilliant.

What are you going to do with that,
then? With this wax, which is a

lovely, posh wax, it's a Karate Kid
moment. Polish on and polish off.

So, it sort of seals it in... Right.

..and this wax is amazing,
because it sort of helps consolidate

the leather. OK.
But it also... Ooh! It is, yeah.

That's nice. It does look nice.

So, basically, what you've done,
you've... put a new spine. New spine

down there, so you've blended it in.

You can't see the join,
like any good wig, really.

Yeah, well... I don't think I need
one, but...
CHRIS LAUGHS

..they're both nearly done, then?
Yes. Just the polish and that's it?
Just the polish, yep.

So, what I'll do is, I'll see when
Jenny can come in and pick these
up, all right? Yeah, that'll be

fantastic. Cool. Thanks, Jay.

Owner Jenny has returned
to The Repair Shop to collect

the albums. They were commissioned
as a memoir of her grandfather's

participation in Scott's doomed
expedition to the South Pole.

It has been strange without
the volumes.

There is a big space in my
bookcase where they live,

and particularly since this is
the 100th year of the ending

of the First World w*r,

it does seem to be very strange
that they're not there.

Nice to see you again. And you.

Well, I can't tell you how
I've enjoyed working on your books.

Just love them. Oh. So, can you,

can you remember the state
they were in? Oh, well, the covers

were in a dreadful state. Inside,
not so bad, but certainly

all the binding had gone.
They were in a mess.

Well, I'll put
you out of your misery.

I'll see what you think of these.

Oh, wow!

Oh, don't they look fabulous?

Oh very, very nice.

Oh, yes. Gorgeous.
And it's still,

they've still got... All the
original... All the original

lettering. Fantastic.

That looks really good!
And on the inside.

Yeah. Oh, really sturdy.

It is belt and braces.

Oh, yes. Oh, they look fabulous.

Thank you so much, Chris.
They really are lovely.

So, you can really use them.

I think my grandmother
would be absolutely delighted

that we'd repaired them. Yes.

She would have been absolutely
thrilled.

Like I said, it's been just lovely
working on them. Yeah, I would just

like to have them for a few more
years to look through.
THEY LAUGH

Thank you very much. Well, thank
you, Jenny. Thank you.

They look fantastic.

They've really been beautifully
restored,

and yet they still have got
that age about them.

They're just...
I'm just so pleased with them.

It is emotional seeing the books
and seeing them repaired again
and...

..seeing that they can go on.

It's, it's really nice to be able to
pass these things down.

With the albums safely on their way
home, Mathilda the magic duck

is about to follow suit.

I'm sure Heather's going to be
really, really pleased with this.

Owner Heather has returned to
collect the prop her beloved father

used to entertain hundreds of people
for over 60 years.

I found that, with Mathilda
away from home,

I really missed her, which was
surprising,

but it did make me think
much more about my dad

and all that he meant to me,
and all the happiness

that he used to bring to people.

Hello, Heather. Hello. How are you?
Nice to see you again. Hi, Jay.

How you doing? You all right?
Very nice to meet you. Likewise.

Oh, I feel quite nervous.
THEY LAUGH

Right, I won't hold you in suspense
any more.

It'd be funny if there was nothing
under there and it... It would.

That'd be magic.
That would be magic!
THEY LAUGH

Oh! Oh, my goodness!

Oh, look, look at her little skirt!
SHE GASPS

Oh, she looks great!

Oh! I've missed her!

I really have missed her! Aw!

Oh, it's nice to see her again!

I'm just so pleased.
Thank you so much.

Julie and Amanda have made the skirt
and the hat. She looks brilliant!

I'm absolutely thrilled.
Thank you so much.

It's fantastic. It's been
really, really good fun to do.

I'm glad you've enjoyed it.
Mathilda must mean so much to you.

She does, she really does,
because she is just this huge

connection to my past and to my dad.

I know that there's somebody that
Mathilda wants to say thank you to
you. OK.

Let's see if she can do it.

THEY LAUGH
Who could this be?

Hmm, let me think about this.

I'm not as quick as my dad.

Well, I'm blown. Perfect.
There you go. See?
THEY LAUGH

It's Steve! Oh! I don't believe it!
THEY LAUGH

Look at that! We can all do magic.
Yeah.

She looks brilliant.

It's just lovely,
it's just like he's here.

It just takes me right back
to those days,

growing up. It's just lovely,
absolutely lovely. Well done.

Thank you for bringing her in.
Thank you so much. You're very
welcome. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you, Jay.
All right. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.
Take care now.

That was magic, wasn't it?
It was magic.

I think my dad would be absolutely
thrilled to know that, 30 years

after he's died, Mathilda
is in full working order again.

I think it's just a really fitting
tribute to him that, all this time

on, we're still talking about him
and remembering him and Mathilda.

Join us next time... Look at that.
..as objects large...

It's a mammoth task we've got
here. I know. ..and small...

Oh, wow! ..are given a
new lease of life...

How on Earth?!

..in The Repair Shop.