11x37 - A Victorian diablo, a telescope & a pair of dancing shoes

[bunniefuu]

In The Repair Shop today...

- What have you got for me, Jay?

- Get your dancing shoes on, that's
all I'm saying.

- ..Dean's out of his comfort zone...

- It's a real conundrum for me.

It's just something I've never, ever
done before.

- ..and the restoration of a Victorian
family heirloom...

- Restoring a diabolo is a first for
me.

- ..leaves Will in a spin.

- Right. Here goes nothing.

- Oh, hello. What time do you call
this?

- First in the barn, Marian Webster
from Chelmsford,

who's arrived with a family keepsake

that's had more than its share of ups
and downs.

Ready to give it a spin,

wood restorer Will Kirk.

- Hello there.
- Hello.

- Welcome to the barn.
- Thank you.

- What do we have in the bag?

- I have my grandfather's diabolo.

- Diabolo. Look at that.
- Yes.

This is about 120 years old.
- Is it?

So how does this work then?

- So, you'd put this centre bit on a
string.

It used to have two handles.

And you have to balance it on and roll
it,

and then you can flick it up and catch
it if you're lucky.
- Yeah.

- Which I never was.
- I can see that.

- Yeah. I dropped it quite a lot.

Then my daughter played with it.

Then I thought, hold on, this is quite
old.

- Yeah.
- I don't want it ruined.

Because my grandfather, I was very
close to him.

- What was his name?
- Thomas.

And he was born in 1892.

He actually named me.
- Really?
- Yeah.

When I was born, we lived in a little
village

that was cut off by snow.
- Yeah.

- And my mother traipsed to my
grandma's farmhouse,

and I was born there, laid in a drawer
because there was no cot.

And he kept coming in, saying, "How's
my little Maid Marian?"

My mother wanted to call me Beverley.
- Really?

- So I got stuck with Marian.
- With Marian. Oh, that's lovely.

So you'd spend quite a lot of time
with your grandparents?

- Every weekend.

- How old were you when you first laid
eyes on this?

- Probably about three.

I used to play with it and Grandfather
would say,

"Well, be careful because that was
mine as a child,

"but I'll let you play with it."

And then it would go outside in the
back garden on the concrete,

and I tended to ruin it slightly.

- Yeah.
- But I did play with it a lot.

- As soon as you mentioned concrete, I
think that kind of explains why...

- It's a mess.
- Yeah.

Do you think your grandfather was
upset, the fact that you chipped it?

- I think deep down, but he loved me
too much.

He never told me off.

I mean, I think people would have
probably thrown it away by now.

But to me, that's my grandad's toy.
- Yeah.

- The only thing he kept as a child
from a childhood.
- Yeah.

How old were you when he passed away?
- 13.

It was very tough.

Felt like my heart was ripped out.

It was hard.
- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- It always amazes me how an object
like this can bring back

all the memories in the past, still
brings back that rawness.

- I mean, it's 52 years ago he passed
away,

but to me it was like yesterday.

He was a good man.

- At the moment, this looks rough and
ready.
- It does.

- What condition would you like this
restored in?

- I would actually like this paint to
come off probably

because I think back in the day they
used lead in the paint.
- Right.

- I would just love it all painted and
the two stripes again

renewed on there.

- It doesn't just come with one part,
right?

There's a string with handles as well?

- I haven't got them anymore.
- You haven't got those anymore?

Where are they now?
- Unfortunately disintegrated.
- OK, fine.

- They were too old.

- If I can fix this for you, are you
actually going to play with it?

- No.
- No? Really?
- Never.

I want to hand it to my grandson,
Joshua.
- OK.

- So it'd be fifth generation.

- Five generations, my gosh.

- And he loves it and I know he'll
look after it.

But I don't want to give it to him in
a mess.
- No.
- That's the thing.

I'd love him to see it in its glory.

How it would have been back in the
day.

- Well, thank you so much for coming
down.
- Thank you.

- And I'll let you know when you can
come pick it up.
- Super.

- All right, bye-bye.
- Thank you. Bye-bye.

- Restoring a diabolo is a first for
me.

Marian must have played with this
quite a lot because there

are lots of areas where the wood has
chipped off,

where this has been dropped on the
floor.

I'd need to fill in where the wood has
come out.

The paint is very dull and flaking
off, so that needs to be removed.

Sand that smooth and then paint it.

So, lovely sort of fresh white paint

and then a lovely red pinstriping
around the outside as well.

It must have been quite a cool toy to
have,

but we are missing two sticks and some
string.

So I need to turn up two new sticks,

so that wood lathe will be coming out.

Marian mentioned this might be painted
with lead-based paint,

so I need to remove this very
carefully.

Instead of sanding this, I thought I'd
use some paint stripper

to remove it because sometimes sanding
can release

those little tiny particles into the
air,

whereas with a stripper, it kind of
contains it all within that gel.

When I move the brush across the
surface,

it's actually easing that paint off of
the wood.

And, you know what, the wood is
actually quite beautiful.

- He may not be Strictly material...

- What have you got for me, Jay?

- Get your dancing shoes on, that's
all I'm saying.

- ..but Dean Westmoreland is an expert
cobbler,

just the man to help sisters Fiona
McCafferty and Janice McDonald

from South Lanarkshire.

- Here they are. Hello.
- Hello.

- How are you doing?
- Good, thank you. How are you?
- Very good.
- Hello.

- So what have you brought us in?

- We've brought our mum's dance shoes
in.
- Wow.

- They won't fit you, Dean, don't
worry.

- No.

- And Mum's name?
- Mum's name was Betty.
- OK.

- Her and my dad were very, very keen
dancers.

- So where did she meet your dad,
then?

- At the dance halls in Glasgow. There
was a big thing.

That's where she met my dad.
- They were fabulous dancers.

- They were fabulous dancers together?
- Yeah.

- So, growing up, what was Mum like?
Was she dancing all the time?

- She was very outgoing, great
personality.

Just remember lots of happy times when
she was in the house with us,

when we were growing up.

And she was always fun, good fun,
wasn't she?

- Great fun and always music on in the
house.

- So even when Mum had children, and
how many of you?

- There's four of us.
- Four.

So she still continued to dance as
well?

- She gave up, I would say, when Fiona
was born,

because it then got just a bit much
having three children.

So she stopped then in that but it was
later on that she went back.

- Yeah.
- Scottish dancing, tap dancing.

The last dance she had would have been
at my 60th birthday.

Even then, she was up...
- She was still dancing?

- We were holding her up, but she was
up.
- She gave it a go.

- She gave it a go. Oh, yes,
absolutely.
- Oh, bless her.

So how come you've got these shoes,
then?

- Well, these shoes always lay in the
bottom of Mum's wardrobe.
- Right.

- And as young kids, we used to go
upstairs and we would put the shoes

on and then be terrified that our
little toes would, you know,

poke through these bits.

But yet they've just always been in
the house.
- OK.

- So when Mum passed away, I took them
home

and I thought maybe one day we can get
these sorted.

You know, it's quite incredible.

You look at the shoes and you can
still see Mum's like, you know,

where her toes were on the front.
- Yeah.

- You just look at the shoes and you
just suddenly think Mum, you know?

It's just incredible.

- Do you know when she got these?

- I think it may be about late '40s,
early '50s.

- I mean, they are pretty bedraggled.

The buckles don't open.

- Can I have a look?
- Absolutely.

- They're very dainty, aren't they?

- Do you remember how they looked when
you were younger?

- They stood up and all of this
threading was really, really silver.

- So all the straps were sparkly.

Has some of that come out or come off?

- The majority of it, yeah, has come
off.

- So you don't want to put these back
into the cupboard.

You want to do what with them?
- Absolutely not.

So, we're all going to have a turn of
having them

and have them sitting out.

- I think they're a good
representation of what she was and her
life.

What she loved to do and her
personality.

So, yeah, to see them restored would
just be absolutely amazing.
- Amazing.

- Listen, thank you both for bringing
this in.
- Thank you.

Thank you so much.
- Take care now.
- Thank you.

- Thank you.
- Bye-bye.

Have you worked on shoes like this
before?
- Not this delicate.
- Right.

Now they've got to go on your bench.
- Thanks, mate.
- All right.

- These shoes are quite incredible,
really.

To be around 80 years old and still be
pretty much intact.

There is quite a lot of silver thread
missing, by the looks of it,

which I imagine when these shoes were
in their prime

and Betty was wearing them on the
dance floor

really reflected the light.

And that's probably the biggest job
I'm going to have to do,

is re-thread all that through each of
these straps where it's missing.

The buckles are very rusted.

A little bit of wear on the heel.

So I'm going to go in and clean all
the parts of the shoe

and remove them buckles and try and
de-rust them.

I'm going to put them in some
de-rusting solution here

and leave them for a while.

I'm used to working on leather shoes,
so to be working with fabric

is something I don't deal with very,
very often.

I guess the main worry is can I do the
shoes justice?

And can I get them back to how Fiona
and Janice remember them?

It's going to be quite the challenge,

but I'm more than up for it.

- Will's paint removal has revealed
the diabolo's original

beech wood surface, but it's seen
better days.

- Just mixing up my filler because I'm
about to fill

all of those little dents on the
diabolo.

I could patch these missing areas with
solid wood,

but in order to get those right in
place,

I'd need to flatten off different
areas, remove more of the original,

and I don't want to do that.

Usually I try to keep as much of the
original piece as I can.

You know, all the little knocks and
scratches.

But Marian has asked if I can make
this look new again.

This is really fiddly work, but I want
to make sure that I cover

all of those areas of loss and damage.

But when all the filler has dried,

I can then sand it back nice and
smooth.

The smoother the surface, the better
the paint finish.

I did quite a lot of research into the
missing sticks for the diabolo

and what they should look like.

One end needs to be more robust

and that's the bit that you hold on
to.

Then it sort of tapers down to the
tip.

Now, one tip that I learned years ago
was to keep all of my shavings,

because whilst the wood is turning on
the lathe,

you can actually rub the shavings
against the wood

and it forces the oils back into the
wood.

And it burnishes the surface so you
get this really nice sheen to it.

Now that I've turned the two new
sticks,

I've drilled a tiny hole in the top.

I now need to mark up for the hole
that goes into the side.

So the idea is the string goes through
the top and out the side.

I'm going to be really careful with
this

because if I get too carried away with
the drill,

I'll end up drilling straight through
the other side.

So I'm really going to take my time
with this and make sure I get

it right the first time round.

Come on.

It's almost like threading a needle.

Very fine work.

Come on, cheeky monkey.

It's really tricky to get this out the
other side.

Oh!

Here it comes...

Hey, there we are.

Now, what I've done is I've used two
different drill bit sizes,

a thinner one for the top and a
slightly larger one on the side.

So in theory, if I tie the knot to the
right size,

I should be able to pull it into that
hole there

and the whole side will then be flush.

Oh, look at that!

Sometimes I surprise myself.

So, if I cut off the excess string...

Perfect. Look at that. Clicks in
place.

That's one side done.

I now need to thread this through the
other stick,

and then we're good to go.

Goodness me. Richard, this looks like
one for you.

- What have you got?
- I wish I knew.

- It's a telescope.
- Bits of one.

- It's a bit scruffy, but it's not...

It's not dented.

- Well, let's meet the lady that owns
it.

- Yeah.

- The last visitor to the barn is
Katie Barnett from Bristol

with a childhood treasure

set to challenge optics expert Richard
Biggs.

- Hi. Welcome to the barn. You OK?
- Hello.

- Hello. Nice to meet you.

- So, this must be yours.
- Yes.

Yeah, so, this is the telescope that
my dad, Charlie, bought for me

when I was 13 or 14.

- Lucky girl, good one. Yeah.
- Yeah.

- I told my dad that I was really
interested in astronomy,

and just out of the blue, he brought
home a telescope for me

and he was so lovely, really
encouraging.

And that's a lot of the reason why he
also bought the telescope for me

to inspire me.

We were quite often in the kitchen
looking up through the window

and it was sort of perfect viewing and
we spotted Jupiter.

- Is that the first thing you saw?

- It's one of the first things that we
saw.

And I remember it being a really
lovely memory

that I have with my dad. Yeah.

- Has it not been used since your
early teens then?

- So, when I was 19, sadly we lost my
dad due to a short illness.

- Bless him.
- And since then it's been in storage

and it's been knocked about a bit and
sort of trampled on.

- Why have you decided to get this
fixed now?

- So, my little boy Alfie became
really interested in space and things
like that.

So he's been nagging me to get this
fixed.

- That makes it more worthwhile if a
little one's interested.

- Yeah, it's really hard to think that
my dad never got

to meet my children.

- Of course, yeah.

- And this is something that really
brings that connection alive again,

between my dad and my son and...

Nothing better than using a telescope
that, you know,

that brings the two together.

- Yeah, it can make the connection
with your son to your dad.

- Yeah.
- Yeah, to Grandad.

- Yeah.
- Yeah.

- So the dream is that I can use it
again.

So it's in working condition.

- So it's not really cosmetic, it's
more getting it working.

- Yes. Yeah, definitely.
- Making sure it's all there.
- Yeah.

And see what my dad and I used to see.
- The same things.

- Yeah. And now bringing that alive
with my with my son.

So, yeah.
- It's magic.
- Yeah.

- Katie, it's been lovely to meet you.
Leave it with us.

- Thank you so much.

- All right. We'll see you later.
- See you later.

- Bye.
- Bye-bye.

- All right, let's get this to your
bench.
- Yes, please.

- Shall I take this bit?
- Yes, please.

- That's not fragile, is it?
- Yes. But you're careful with it.

- DOM LAUGHS

- This is quite a nice size.

I can imagine Katie as a 13-year-old
being given this.

Especially when Katie and her dad just
looked at the moon

and got that, "Wow!".

That just captures the imagination.

The issue that's concerning me a
little bit is the tripod stand.

The tripod has got to be quite solid
to stop everything shaking.

Problem area is really coupling that
plate to the other two legs.

That tripod is going to take quite a
bit more thought

and effort to make it really stable.

Now, this secondary mirror in there
has got some dust on it,

and if that lens is mucky,

it's going to actually stop some of
the light.

It has to be as crystal clear as
possible for Katie and Alfie

to get the best from this.

So the first thing I'm going to do is
get that lens out,

have a look how much it needs to be
cleaned.

So...

..it's coming.

Got it.

And..there it is.

Oh, golly.

You see how mucky that is.

I'm going to start with some gentle
methylated spirits on a cotton bud.

And I've got to be very gentle because
this is silver-surfaced.

Risk as few scratches as possible.

- Dean has waltzed his way through
cleaning and re-heeling

the 1940s shoes.

But finding a way to restore the
silvery thread in their straps

is leading him a merry dance.

- I know it's important to Fiona and
Janice that these sparkle again

like they did in their heyday when
Betty wore them

and danced in them.

I've managed to source this metallic
ribbon.

On a couple of bits on the upper strap

I have tried stitching with this
ribbon.

After two or three stitches, the
ribbon starts to twist.

And because it's metallic, it stays in
that twist and it just snapped,

which was very frustrating.

It's just something I've never, ever
done before.

It's a real conundrum for me.

I'm at a bit of a crossroads, really,
as to how I approach this.

Luckily, the barn's master hatter,
Jayesh, is in today.

He does a lot of hand-sewing, a lot of
embroidery.

He's very, very skilled so I'm going
to go ask his opinion.

Hello, Jayesh.
- Hey, Dean.

- Got a bit of a problem here.
- OK.
- If you've got a minute.

- Yes, of course. Let's have a look.

- So, I've managed to source this, but
I'm having trouble sewing it.

- OK.
- It just snaps and twists.

- So you have already tried threading
it?

- Yeah. Unsuccessfully, yes.
- OK.

So maybe we should think about doing
the opposite.

What I would do is wrap the silver
over the fabric

and then work the stitching over it,
like black stitching over it.

And that way we'll be able to achieve
the exact effect

that the woven bit is creating.

- Oh, I see.

So the black thread will create these
little gaps.

That's genius, actually. I think we
should give that a go.

- OK, so, let me give it a trial.

I think the crucial thing here is
obviously they are at a right angle

and the gap between them is exactly
the same as

the way it is on the original.

Here we go.

That's the first one, I'm just going
to do another one.

There you go.
- Ah, I see. That's very clever.

Shall I get my needles and thread and
jump in on that then?

- Yeah, shall we?
- Yeah.
- OK, let's do it.

- Let's do it together then?
- Mm-hm, yeah.

- I'm just tapping down this silver
thread.

Some of it was sat a little bit proud,

so I'm just pressing it into the black
fabric there.

It's such an involved process.

I really don't think I could have got
it done on my own.

I'd now like to have a look at these
insoles.

So, the insoles are very worn.

However, it was pointed out to me that
these marks around the front

are from Betty's toes.

They actually have her footprint in
the insoles,

so it doesn't feel right to then take
that out and replace with new.

And with that in mind, I'm going to
leave the insoles and go

around and glue the little bits where
it's coming away.

Now, the footprint is kind of almost
embossed

into the insole of the shoe.

So although I am going to recolour
that insole black,

none of that impression is going to be
lost.

I'm just going to use my oil to
feed...

..little bits of glue in.

Just to secure those loose bits.

After such an involved process with
the thread

and the fabric straps,

it's really nice, actually, to be
working on some leather again.

This is more familiar territory for
me.

I'll do the same on the other shoe and
just go around the whole insole

and re-stick any bits that are coming
loose.

Once that's done, I can then
concentrate on colouring that

insole and getting it a nice, deep
black again.

- With the base colour on the
Victorian diabolo complete,

Will's last job requires a steady
hand.

- Now that the diabolo has this lovely
off-white colour, I'm pinstriping.

I've done my best to match the paint
to the same colour that used

to be on the diabolo.

I've got a beautiful, almost sort of
postbox red colour here.

It's really tricky.

Because it's a cone shape, it's
incredibly hard to get

those lines absolutely spot-on.

So I've used a ruler to make some
dots.

Then I've joined up those dotted lines
and that's given me a line

that runs right around the outside
surface.

Right. Fiddly work. Here goes nothing.

I can finally breathe. I had to hold
my breath for a lot of that.

I can almost imagine what it would
have looked like when Marian

was a child, when she first played
with this.

But with this great enamel paint, it's
really hard-wearing.

So it will be good for many more years
to come.

And I really hope that it brings back
some of those happy childhood

memories for her.

That's one line done.

I've still got three more to go.

Very time-consuming, but I'm hoping my
patience is going to pay off.

- When Marian brought the Victorian
diabolo to the barn,

it was in a sorry state from years of
childhood play.

A precious reminder of her beloved
grandfather,

she's entrusting it to grandson
Joshua,

who's with her today to collect this
piece of family history.

- Hi there. You must be Josh.
- Yes, I am.

- Lovely to meet you. I'm Will.
Marian, lovely to see you again.

- Nice to see you again, Will.

- Are you excited?
- I'm nervous.

I've been nervous ever since I've left
it.

- Really? Why?

- It's leaving part of my grandad
somewhere and the history.

- You heard the story about the
diabolo and where it came

from and how much it means?

- I have, yeah. I mean, it's...

It's been around all my life, and I
know how much it means

to my grandma, and it will really mean
a lot to me

as I'm getting to take it home with
me.

Just very excited to see it.

- I know he will look after it.

So it would be fifth generation and it
would still be in the family.

Would you like to see what I've done?

- I'd love to.

- Oh, wow. It's excellent.

- No way!
- It looks incredible.

- Oh, my goodness me!

Oh, you've done amazing.

I can't believe it.
- Returned to its former glory.

- The paintwork is immaculate.

It looks how I...

I've just gone back to when I was
about four or five.

Wow.

Sorry.

Can I hold it?
- Yeah, of course.

- Look at that.

Oh, my goodness me.

I'm in shock.

- I tried my best to keep within the
sort of Victorian

feel of things.

The paint is new, but not containing
any lead.

And the red paint has all been
hand-painted on.

- Wow. I just can't...

I can't get my head around it

because the bit that was gouged out,
it's gone.

- And I knew that you couldn't
actually use this without sticks.

So I've turned you up...
- Oh, wow.
- ..two new sticks as well.

- As you've done so much hard work on
it and you've made it perfect again,

would you do the honours of giving it
to Joshua?

- Yeah, definitely.

Over to the fifth generation. There
you go.

- I'm really nervous to even be
holding it.

I'm really honoured to be able to take
it with me.

I've already got some pieces from my
great-grandma.

I keep them on a shelf with some of my
other display pieces,

and this will go right alongside that
as a real piece of family

history that I can treasure.

- Lovely young man.

- He is.

- Well, it's lovely to meet you both.

- Thank you ever so much for
everything you've done.

- Thank you very much.

- Save travels. Cheers. Bye-bye.
- Bye-bye.

It looks absolutely amazing.

The paintwork colour, Will's done a
really good job.

- I feel privileged that I was the one

that was chosen to take care of it in
the next leg of its life

now that it's been restored to its
former glory.

- I wanted it to go to the fifth
generation, Joshua,

because I know Josh is going to look
after it and just love it like I do.

- Now that the component parts of
Katie's telescope are shining

bright after a good clean,

Richard's next task requires laser
focus.

- Having got the secondary mirror back
in place and the eyepiece holder

back in place, I've now got to make
sure that they're actually aligned.

I'm going to use a laser collimator,

which sends a red dot down the
eyepiece,

down to the main mirror,

back again to the secondary mirror and
back up.

And if it's aligned, the red dot will
appear

in the target.

So this goes in and...

there's the red dot and it's not
collimated.

The secondary mirror is not in quite
the right position.

So at the moment you get a slightly
blurred image.

It wouldn't be nice and crisp and
contrasty.

Let me see if I can ease those two off

and actually physically move the
mirror.

Oh, there it is.

It's in the middle. It's on the middle
now.

I can't even see it because it's in
the middle of the black dot.

So the red dot's gone.

I've got to figure out now which
screws to adjust

to get it to stay there.

Play with that just a bit...

..and it's perfect.

It's absolutely where it should be.

Telescope's done.

I've now got to get on with the tripod

because without the tripod, this thing
is impossible to use.

If I mounted the telescope on this
tripod,

it would just collapse.

So the reason for it collapsing is
that these little

brackets and spindles,

there's only three of those, and there
should be six.

And the tray goes in there with a
little wing nut and bolt

and the other leg and the other leg to
form that perfect triangle

to support the telescope.

So I have got to make three of those.

That's an original one,

and that's the one I'm going to use as
a pattern.

They originally thought that was
metal.

Turns out it's not.

It's plastic or nylon.

So the solution in this case

is wreck one of my kitchen chopping
boards.

It's flat, but two sides.

It's the right material.

It's going to be very strong.

I've got to hold that steady...

..and trace round it.

So, I'm now going to cut that out.

And then I've got the little holes to
drill.

And then paint it black.

I've made three new brackets.

I now need to make a new spindle
because one is completely missing.

So the first thing is to cut exactly


As you're getting through,

you can actually hear the tone of the
sawing change.

It should start getting a bit higher
pitched.

- Yeah.

- They're the brackets that I've made.

They go one either side on there

and then feed the spindle through the
hinge.

And now...

..the spindle is retained inside those
brackets.

And the brackets now go...

..onto the tripod.

That's gone together very well. Nice
and strong.

Very happy with that.

I've got to do the same on that leg
and then it'll be ready

to have the telescope mounted on top.

- Dean's work on the dainty dance
shoes is nearly done.

Just one last fiddly detail remains.

- To put the buckles on,

I put them through the same hole, fold
the strap around,

and then I'm going to stitch it on my
machine.

It's a very, very fine stitch and it's
quite thick material

because the strap is doubled over.

So machine stitching is the best
option in this case.

Surprisingly, this has been probably
one of the most difficult pairs

of shoes I've ever tried to fix.

So many things were outside my comfort
zone,

even though it is a shoe.

And I like to think I know...quite a
bit about shoes.

There's always something that will
kind of throw you.

And these have certainly done that.

That buckle's on now, nice and secure.

All there is to do now is the same job
on the other shoe

and they'll be ready to be presented
to Fiona and Janice.

It's quite exciting.

- After decades of twirling on dance
floors,

these 1940 shoes were worn out,

their moment in the spotlight long
behind them.

Sisters Fiona and Janice have
returned,

hoping their mum Betty's favourite
dancing shoes

are now a fitting tribute to a life
full of sparkle.

- Hello.
- Here they are. Hi.
- How are you?
- Welcome back.

- Thank you. It's nice to be back.

- Good. You look excited.

- I am excited.

There's just like a big memory of Mum
underneath there,

full of her young life and for us
growing up with them.

So, yeah, they're very precious.

- I think she only had one pair of
dancing shoes and that was them.

- Do you want to see?

- Yes.

- Go on, then, Dean.
- Shall I do it?

- Oh, my God.

- Oh, my goodness.

Oh, they're just exactly like they
were.

- Unbelievable.

- Can I lift them up?

- Of course you can.

- Oh, my goodness.

The straps.

- That's amazing.

That's really nice.

- My mum would be absolutely...
- Blown away.
- ..blown away.

They are incredible.

I can just see her beaming from ear to
ear.

She would be so over the moon.

- It was a bit of a team effort.

Dean had some help from Jayesh.
- Oh, right.

- Who, some of the fine... You can.

- The silver thread was very, very
tricky.

- Tricky, yeah. Absolutely amazing.

I can't thank you enough.

You've no idea what this means to us.

- Just feel really emotional to see
them.

You know, she meant the world to us

and to have one of her favourite items
restored,

it's just amazing.

- They're just incredible.

- They're back.
- They're back to stay. Yeah.

Can't wait to get them home and show
them off.

- Well, they're... Over to you.
They're all yours.

- Are they? Will we take one each?

- One each. That's it, yeah. Stop the
fighting.

- Thank you so much.

- Lovely to meet you both.
- You too. Thanks.
- See you later.
- Bye-bye.

- Mum's shoes are just back to where
they started in the 1940s,

and I just can't believe how they
look.

It's incredible.

- We've just got a big bit of her back
again.

All the memories we have and all the
good times that we've had,

we've got that back in the form of
these shoes

that she loved so much.

It just feels so good.

As he reaches the end of his repair,

Richard's almost got Katie's telescope
back on its feet.

- So, now I can start getting that
onto there.

Here we go.

That's the third leg on.

Tighten that up.

Stand it up and see if it's all been
successful.

Here goes. One, two, three, and...

Wow. Yeah.

The brackets.

Yeah, everything's working fine.

It's really...quite stable.

Now I need to put the telescope on

and it'll be ready for Katie and Alfie
to start using it.

They can have some fun with this.

- With the telescope back in one
piece, Katie's returned

in the hope this childhood treasure,

which meant so much to her and her
dad,

can reach for the stars once again.

- There she is.
- Hello.
- Hi.
- How are you doing?

- Good, thank you. You?
- Yeah. Good.

- How are you feeling?

- Excited, um...

..nervous.

Quite a mixture.

And, yeah, just even now, just feeling
quite emotional.

- Are you ready to see it?

- Yeah. Really excited.

- Shall we go for it?
- Yeah. Let's do it.

- Oh, wow.

It's amazing.

Oh, wow.

It's nice to see it back in its former
glory.

- Yeah. And steady.
- Yeah.

Just thinking how proud my dad would
be right now.

Just, um...

He, um, he still means so much to me

and he's still around, you know,
and...

Make him feel like he's still here a
little bit.
- Yeah.

- I cannot wait just to do this with
the kids

and keep this up and explore that with
them.

And, yeah, it's going to be brilliant.

- Well, you've got the best teacher.

I'm sure you want to show Alfie how to
use it.
- Absolutely.

Yeah.
- Yeah?
- Let's get it out.
- Brilliant. Thank you.

Thank you for bringing it in, Katie.
- No, thank you so much.

- You're welcome.
- I really appreciate it.

- All right, I'll get the door.

- Am I going first or ladies first?
OK.

- It's age before beauty, isn't it?

- Oh, something like that. Yeah. Yeah.

Right.

If I go round the other side.

- Seeing Alfie for the first time

looking through the telescope was just
such a wonderful feeling,

just knowing that, you know, this is
the beginning of us

using the telescope again.

- I can see some green!
- That's the tree.

- Bushes!
- Bushes?

I feel like this is going to bring
Alfie and my dad closer

together and knowing that it came
from, you know, his grandad.

And, yeah, it's going to be a
wonderful feeling.

- 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.