04x15 - Carousel Horse

[bunniefuu]

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

This is amazing.
It's 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.

Is this working? You beauty!

..utilising expertise
passed down the generations...

I'm going to teach you how to do it
the old-fashioned way. All 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 there's tears in my eyes!

THEY LAUGH

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

CHEERING

Morning. You all right? Yeah.

BUZZING

In The Repair Shop today...

..Dom reveals the hidden secrets
of an antique amusement...

There's actually a name.
There's an R.

There's an O here.
That looks like a Y.

That's funny, isn't it?
His name was Roy!

..while Kirsten repairs
a little teapot with a big history.

I'm just sort of bowled over,
really.

The story that is behind this teapot
is what's kept it alive.

CAWING

BUZZING

The first customer of the day is
Keith Benjamin from Hereford.

He's hoping wood restoration expert
Will Kirk can perform a rescue

mission on a cherished family
heirloom. Hi there. Hello.

How we doing? I'm Jay.
I'm Keith. All right, Keith?

Pleased to meet you. I'm Will.
Very nice to meet you, too.

So, what have we got in the box,
then? It's my boat puzzle.

A boat puzzle? Ah!

That is really sweet.

Look at that.

My dad was the youngest
of eight children,

and it was brought home
by his brother because his brother

went to w*r. Right. Got called up
in the Second World w*r,

and when he got demobbed,
he saw it and he actually brought

it home as a present for my dad,

cos my dad would have been 11,
12 years old. Oh, brilliant.

So it always had sentimental
value to my dad... Right.

..because it meant his brother
came home from w*r.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Do you mind
if I pick it up? No. You sure?

Yeah, help yourself. You can
always put it back together if you
drop it.

THEY LAUGH

That is really cool, isn't it?

It's actually quite heavy.

Where was this, in your dad's house?

It was, it was always on the
dressing room table in the bedroom,

and we weren't allowed to play with
it as kids, but we always did.

You know, we'd always get, used to
get told off for playing with it.

Right. I think I might've lost
one of the pieces, but... OK.

But Dad was always upset that the
pieces had gone missing, cos, you

know, it was his pride and joy.

So, if it could be put back
together, it would be a dream.

What is missing?

I mean, from here I can see

that there's a piece of puzzle
missing from there. Yeah.

But apart from that... A piece

there, there's two pieces there.
Two pieces there.

That one's slightly broken, if you
can see. Oh, yeah. There's a piece

at the back. A piece at the back.

And I don't know if that's
the original... Right.

..because it's actually a pencil.
Pencil, OK. That's quite smart.

But it's quite smart.
I think it adds character to it.

It does. So, who put the pencil in
there, then? I don't know. It
must've been my dad, I think.

So, tell me about your dad, then.
What type of man was he?

Dad was a... He was a farm labourer.
He worked on two farms all his life.

He sadly caught cancer about
12 years ago and passed away.

Right, yeah. But a real character.

This must mean a lot to you, then.
It means a real lot.

It's the only thing I've got
of my dad. Is it? Yeah.

It's the only thing I've got,
and it means a real lot to me.

Sorry. That's all right.
Don't worry.

Wow! Have you ever taken this apart
and put it back together again,

or has your dad ever done that?

I have taken it apart, many,
many years ago. OK.

With Dad. Right. But I've never
taken it apart since,

since I've had it myself. I took it
home and it went on the mantelpiece,
and that's where it's always stayed.

How did you feel when your dad
left this to you, then?
Well, I always liked it.

And then, about a couple of months
after he passed away, my mum said,

"Oh, I've got something for you."
And she went... Sorry. It's OK.

Went to the bedroom and brought
it out and gave it to me. Yeah.

So, it means a lot. Yeah.

But apparently, Dad had said
to her before he passed away,

make sure that Keith got the
boat...so...

Sorry. Come here. It's all right.
That's a bit much, man, eh?

You all right? Yeah.

No, I can totally understand,
because this is, this is really
important, as you said. The only

person that's taken this apart
is you and your dad. Me and my dad,
yeah. Yeah. Well, Keith,

it's a joy to have this in the
workshop. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Thank you for bringing
it. Thank you for coming down.
Thank you, cheers. Great.

Cheers, buddy. OK.

Dad was always sad that pieces
had gone missing on it, so it

would be nice for it to be put back
together into one piece,

cos I know Dad would be very proud.

The puzzle means a lot to me
because it's...me and my dad,

the two of us joined together
with the little pieces.

It means we're whole,
if you know what I mean.

This boat puzzle has been in Keith's
family for seven decades,

and the last people to actually play
with the puzzle or take it apart

was Keith and his father.

So it's quite an honour for me
to be taking it apart now.

Got four missing pieces and one
broken piece.

So they need to be replaced
and fixed.

Once I've done that, the pieces
need to be painted back in,

because you can see the original
pieces had really fine lines drawn

in, imitating decking and stairs
and things. One step at a time.

First of all, I need to cut
out some puzzle pieces.

It's quite tricky work,
because the pieces are so intricate.

The new bits that I'll be making,
have to fit so snug in order to keep

the boat in the shape of a boat.
So, I'm going to use some paper,

tuck it in between the layers,
just underneath the piece

I need to replicate. I'm going to
draw around that with a pencil,

stick that onto a piece of wood
and then start cutting.

So that is the rough outline
of that first missing piece.

The shape has come out pretty well.
One down, four more to go.

While Will busies himself
with the missing pieces,

inside the barn, working
outside is metal expert

Dominic Chinea.

He's in prime position
to meet the next visitor,

Niki Burns.

Hi. Hello. You OK? I'm Dom.

Let me take that off you. Thank you.

Let's take it in the barn.

It's a beautiful thing.
It is, yeah. Lovely.

This is such an intriguing item.
Can you just give us a bit

of background on how you came
to own it?

Yeah, it's, he's been in the family
for an awfully long time.

My father and my grandfather
ran their own business,

self-employed amusement hire. OK.
So, swing boats, roundabouts.

OK. And this little chap was one
of the horses off one

of their mechanical roundabouts.

He'd load up the lorry and there'd
be a little space on the back

of the lorry for me and my brother
to sit with all the equipment.

Oh, wow! So, you know, totally
ill*gal. Yeah, I was going to say,

no seat belts. No seat belts,
no seats! No.
THEY LAUGH

But to go off and help unload
and put the equipment together,

it was a pretty much perfect
childhood.

I mean, you know,
funfair every weekend.

It's so nice to think how many
hundreds of kids... This just
brought joy to so many people. Yes.

He's probably 100 or plus years old.

He's been around a long time.

He's been in my basement
for 20, 30 years now.

So, if he's been in your basement
for 20-odd years, why
bring him out now?

My father passed away two years ago,

so I've been sorting out the house
and clearing out, and I dug him

up from downstairs and thought,
you know, it's time to have him back

where he needs to be, in the house.
He is the lasting memory of my,

my father and grandfather.
And your childhood. And my
childhood, yeah.

In your head, how can you imagine
it looking?

I'd just like to see him
so he can stand up.

He's not structurally sound to stand
on his own two feet, or four feet.

Yeah. Try and preserve...
Preserve... Got all these little
marks and little bits of damage

from being used. Yes, yeah.

So, if we can manage to get
it a little bit more structurally

sound, I'll say, do you have
somewhere in mind to where he'll
live?

In my dad's favourite room at home.
You know, it looks out over the
garden, so he would go in there.

So, sort of remind me of when my
dad... And him as well.

And family. It would be really nice.
I think he deserves it, doesn't he?

He does. So this is going to be a
tricky one, but we'll do the best
we can. Thank you.

Thank you so much for bringing it
in. Lovely to meet you. Thank you.

You, too. Thank you. Thank you.

The little carousel horse
has been in the family for so long,

it's the first time
I've left him anywhere.

I just feel really emotionally
attached to this last piece

of my dad's business.

First impressions - I think we
definitely need to make a
new leg here.

A few other little bits of carving,
making new pieces, which is going to
be good fun.

The paintwork on these carousel
horses, back in the day

when this was on the ride,
would have been super-shiny

and bright and really eye-catching.

Now, obviously, it looks a lot,
it's looking a bit sorry for itself,

but, yes, I could sand it all back
and just respray and paint

the whole thing like new, shiny,
but I feel like we'd be losing

so much of the history of the, and
sort of the magic of this piece.

I just think it would be nice to try
and save as much as we can.

Originally, this would have been
sort of elevated up like it's sort

of prancing through the air on the
ride. I feel like we'd need to get

it back up here. It will need a base
plate, and there's actually

remains underneath of a metal little
flange there, where it used

to have, like, the fitting.

So I've got something to work
from, but it does kind of need

the nice, twisted brass pole
sticking out the top. I'm going to
have to speak to Jay to see if he

can find one. I don't know where
we're going to get that from, but
hopefully he knows a man.

It's going to look great.

While Dom gets to grips
with the horse...

..Will has taken his place
outside to begin filling

in the missing pieces of the puzzle

on Keith's beloved boat. I've come
out to Dom's bench to use his saw.

It's really good for cutting
intricate items. It's got such a

thin blade that I'd be able to get
those really nice curves and

undulations around the pieces to
make sure that they fit just right.

That is a really nice little piece.
Just going to try and see if it fits

into the piece here.

Lovely. The inside of the piece
fits incredibly well. I'm going to

cut off that excess bit around the
outside now,

following that continuation of the
line at the front of the boat,

and move on to the next.

The new puzzle pieces fit
absolutely perfectly.

They are snug, but they still
have a tiny bit of wiggle room,

so everything can move around.
What I need to do now is colour

in the new pieces to match the old.

It's better to colour match
the new pieces to a clean boat

rather than colour match them
to a very dirty surface,

so I'm going to take everything
off, layer by layer, now, lay it all

out, give it a good clean and then
start colour-matching with some
paint.

This precious toy from the World
w*r II era is made up of over 100

individually carved,
hand-painted pieces.

Now that I've scrubbed the decks,

I need to get on to colouring
in those new pieces of puzzle.

The main thing I need to start
off with is getting
a decent background colour.

So, here I've got some shellac
polish, which I use for most

French polishing purposes.

I'm going to use that mixed
in with some orange and yellow

pigments, and I'm just going to do a
few little tests on a piece of wood

here, just to work in some of those
colours, mixing them up until I get

the right shade.

It's not like a solid colour,
because you kind of want to see a
little bit of that wood coming

through, but just yellow enough to
sort of blend it in.

It's quite interesting how the sun
has actually bleached a lot

of these layers, and the rest
of it's actually been covered

up and protected from sunlight,
so there's not a

uniform colour throughout.

So, I'm going to have to mix up
slightly different shades for each

puzzle piece depending on where
it is on the boat.

The background colour looks
really good.

It's mixing in with the surrounding
decking colour.

I just need to use a fine line pen
now to get some more of that detail.

I need to go really slowly
because I've only got one shot

at this. If I mess up, I'm going to
have to sand it back and start

painting it again.
So, nice and steady.

HE SIGHS

My gosh, you have to be really
steady with your hand.

Yeah, I love that.
That looks really good.

This pencil, it's an old repair,
Possibly Keith's dad, and I think

it's really nice to keep that. So,
in the same vein as that,

I'm going to replace the missing one
on the back

out of an old paintbrush.

Will's wartime memento is looking
shipshape,

and the next visitors are hoping
for plain sailing

with their similarly aged item.

Matthew Brooksbank and his partner
Nigel, from Newcastle upon Tyne,

have come to see ceramics
conservator Kirsten Ramsay.

Hiya. Hello. How are you doing?
Hello there. Hi, Jay.

I'm Nigel. Nigel. Matthew.
Matthew. All right? I'm Kirsten.

So, what have we got there, then?

We have a cat teapot. A broken cat
teapot. A very old one.

Can I have a look? You may.
All right. Lovely. OK, great.

Oh, lovely!
SHE GASPS

So, who did this belong to? This cat
belonged to a lady who I used to
live next door to when

I was growing up, called Gladys.
She was very influential
in my youth,

well, my childhood, really. She used
to try and teach us all these

things, teaching playing the
piano, she'd help you with your
homework, you know.

Oh, really? I think she used to do
my homework, to be quite honest with
you.

She was so intelligent, wasn't she?
She was, she was very intelligent.
She had a mind like a bacon slicer.

She was very, very sharp. I used to
call her my aunt because she was,

like I say, so influential during
the whole of my life, really.
I loved her to bits.

She was fabulous. Aawww! She was
more like a mother, wasn't she,
really? She was, really,

yeah, she was. She was a cat lover.

At one stage, I think
she had about 15 or 16 cats.
THEY LAUGH

But she used to have a cat called
Dinky, which was a Persian cat, that
looked a bit like this.

Right. And this teapot was also
called Dinky. Right, uh-huh.

And she lived next door to us for
many, many, many, years. In fact,

the house she lived in... Yeah.
..she was born in it. No way!

She lived in it for 92 years

and then she moved when she became
unwell. So, how old was she, then?

She was 105 when she died. 105?!
She died last year, yes, yes. Gosh!

But Gladys was more than
just the lady next door.

She told an incredible story
about an intriguing secret life.

In the lead-up to World w*r II,
while working on the jewellery

counter of Woolworths, she was
approached and asked if she was

interested in national security.
During the w*r,

she actually went across to Europe
and actually went into Germany...
Quite a few times.

..quite a few times during the w*r.

The thing with her, she didn't
say a great deal, but

I know that she got friendly
with two women in Germany... OK.

..and that that they were related.
I believe they were sisters.

They actually were very much
against National Socialism and tried

to help people who were being
persecuted... Right. ...by moving

them around into different parts
of Europe.

And the reason why she had this
cat was, the younger of these two

women got into some trouble, I
think. I think the authorities
caught up with the her, and Gladys,

I'm led to believe she sort of
helped her and navigated her away
from this danger.

Yeah. Oh, my goodness! And as a
result, this teapot was given to
her.

Oh, that's amazing! But the reason
why it's broken is that she was on
a train, and this train was

apprehended by soldiers and stopped,
and I think they were looking for
somebody.

All the suitcases were pulled
off the baggage racks... Oh, right.
..kicked around, and when she got

to safety, the thing was smashed.
Along with some other things, yeah.

So... And she'd had a go at gluing
it back together again,

but I know it was a pride of
place, and she loved it.

It's really charming. It is a shame.
I mean, it's, it's really damaged.

It is very heavily damaged. Yeah.

But I'd like to see the beauty
of it and what it looked

like before it was broken, when she
saw it. So, that's what I'd like to
do. Yeah. Yeah.

Well, I'll certainly, um, yeah, do
the very best that I can.

I mean, it's such an amazing
story, and, yeah, you know,

it'd be a great pleasure. Thank you
very much. Oh, it's a pleasure.
Thank you for bringing it.

Yeah, nice to meet you.
Thank you, and you as well.

It's the circle of life.
That's what it is.

She looked after me, contributed to
a lot of my education and my

interest in things. I think, if
Dinky's repaired, it's going to mean

a great deal, because it
will be that testimony to Gladys,

and Dinky's going to live
on forever.

Well, it sounds like Gladys was a
proper female James Bond.

Absolutely.
And this is her p*ssy Galore.
THEY LAUGH

Very good, Jay. It's got to be done.

It's got to be done. Dinky
has had a really good life,

I must say. Unbelievable story.

I have to say, as I was listening
to that story, I was, you know,
intrigued, but a part of me was

thinking, "Help!"
THEY LAUGH

Right. Only because

it's going to be quite a difficult
restoration, because it's an

earthenware piece, and you've got
this very old sort of glue inside,

which can leave quite bad
staining.

It's going to be a challenge, Jay.
OK. Yeah.

You best get this to your bench,
then, eh? Absolutely. I'll get
started.

Kirsten's first mission
is to get rid of the old glue.

I'm actually going to just try
and remove some of this yellow

adhesive and just try a few
different solvents and see

if anything dissolves it.

It's like toffee!

Ah-ha!

There we go.

Going to start off with some
acetone and see if that works.

This toffee-like adhesive seems
to be surprisingly strong,

so what I'm going to do is now try
a small amount of industrial

methylated spirits, and I'm just
going to test that and see

whether that's
going to have any effect.

No. It's just not softening at all.

So, my next plan of attack is to try
some paint stripper. Going to apply

it on to Dinky's head, and fingers
crossed that that will actually
work.

They don't make glue like this
any more, that's for sure.

In the outdoor workshop,
Dom is playing vet

to the antique carousel horse.

How we doing, Dom? Mind your head on
there, that's all wet. Cor blimey,
you're busy, ain't you?

Yeah, got a few things going on.
And I'll tell you what, you do like
to set me a challenge, don't you?

Yeah. Eh?
I bet that wasn't easy to find.

No, it was not easy to find. But
hopefully.. It's just what we need.

Look, I know we're a bit legless
now, but if you imagine...

So, that's going to be up, up here.
OK. Yeah. I'm going to trim this one
down, the little one under there.

That one there? Yeah. And that...
That's it. ..on top?

On top, just to finish it off. OK.
So, sitting like that? And then I'll
make a little metal frame, a metal

structure underneath, to hold the
weight. Yeah. And it'll sit on a
nice little base. No, that sounds

all good. Sounds like you've got
it under control. Fingers crossed.
Cooking on gas?

That's what I like to hear.
Thanks, Jay. All right.

Before Dom can even think
about repairs, he must first take

the horse to pieces.

I've taken it as far apart
as I really want to.

First thing I'm going to need to do
is clean it back. No solvents or
anything like that.

I'll just give it a, just soap and
water, just be quite gentle, just
clean the dirt off.

This is quite encouraging already.
I mean, this is just, literally,
just soapy water and a rag.

Bright, bright yellow is coming
through, and this lovely red.

It's really, really exciting.

The paint is actually looking
like it's in really good condition.

I'm just going in a little bit
more aggressive with some white

spirit, some thinners,
and different chemicals.

As Dom carefully removes
layers of dirt and old paint,

he starts to uncover lost
secrets of the horse's past.

Quite exciting, actually,
to find here on the neck,

there's actually a name. So, you
just start to see here

is an R.

Capital R. There's an O here that's
come up quite clear, actually.

That looks like a Y.

That's funny, isn't it?
His name was Roy.

I think Roy's a great name
for a horse.

Now the horse has a name,

Dom can work on getting
Roy back on his feet.

The front leg is just too far gone,
but it's actually still got

a purpose, that there's enough
there that I can...

I'm using it as a template.

That's great. There's a start of the
foot of the leg,

the replacement leg. There's
obviously a long way to go

now with filing and final
shaping, but that's

coming together.

I've got to be really careful.
I'm keeping the original one

very close and I'm just constantly
looking back and forwards, just

cross-referencing, just to match
the original as best I can.

I'm really happy how that's starting
to look pretty close to the original
one.

With a new leg complete,
Dom glues it into place

along with the three original legs,
then sets about filling and sanding

the remaining damaged areas,
ready to start painting.

So, for this, I'm using sort of
sign-writing enamels, which is

actually what they... Well, I'm
pretty sure it's what they would

have used to paint this originally.

It's very often used on fairgrounds
and circus rides and all, like,
sign-writing and things like that.

It's quite nice to be keeping
using the same paints

that are already on it.

The dilemma is that I've got a
brand-new leg and a couple of body
repairs, but I don't want to just

paint those to look brand-new. I
think they just stand out a bit too
much.

So, I'm just going to put a coat
of the grey on first, then if I need

to, I can sort of chip a few bits
off and make it, the new part,

blended nicely
to the original pieces.

Roy may be looking less knackered,

but Dom wants to
really make him fly.

So, Niki had plans to display
the carousel horse in her father's

favourite room in the house.

That kind of means it needs a stand
or a base of some sort.

I've got a nice piece of old oak.
I just need to stain it down now,
so it's got a nice, dark,

sort of dark wooden colour.

This is the bracket that's holding
the carousel horse onto the base.

The wooden part is just for show,
really. It's actually this steel

base that's holding it.

And this rod will run through
the horse, up to the top,

and it'll bolt down.

That's great. So, that's the gist of
the main structure.

Now that's welded on nicely,
and then...

Really pleased.

Now, basically, I could just make
a kebab of the twisted brass pole,

the horse, the other piece of brass
pole, and then a knot on the end

that will clamp it all down.
It's fantastic.

But a horse can't be ridden
without reins,

and luckily The Repair Shop has
one of the country's leading

equestrian saddlery experts.

Hi, Suzie, you OK? Yeah, what's up?

OK. I've got Niki's carousel
horse here.

I'm after some, ideally some reins.
OK. A bit of leather or something
here. Yeah. But something old that

fits with the sort of distressed
look of this. Oh, right. OK.

And a tail. I don't know if that's
asking a bit much, but...

Well, I've got a box of...
I keep all the little bits in.

I was hoping you would have.
And, um...

So, leather reins, right? Yeah. OK.

Brown, if I can be fussy.
I don't know.

How about that? Oh, nice.
Oh, brilliant.

And it's already got the end.
Perfect. OK. Yeah, that's ideal.
Oh, and the tail, and the tail.

Yeah, that's brilliant.

That's a lovely colour as well.
Yes, it's beautiful.

Is it spare? Do you mind? No, take
it. Yeah? Absolutely. Help yourself.

Oh, you're a star. Thank you.
No problem. Thank you very much.

On the other side of the workshop,
the boat puzzle is almost seaworthy.

Lovely.

Shipshape,
and ready to go sailing again.

When Keith brought his late father's
cherished childhood toy

to The Repair Shop, its
missing pieces and mast

had been lost for decades.

The puzzle boat belonged to my late
father,

and me and my dad were very close,
so it's got very much sentimental
value.

Because there's the empty space on
the mantelpiece, I've thought about
it a lot,

and also thought about my dad a lot.

Hi, Keith. Hiya. How you doing? How
we doing? You all right? Yeah, fine.

And yourselves? Nice to have you
back. Good. Good, good. Very good.

Right, what have you got for me?
What are you expecting?

Oh, I don't know. Dying to...
Dying to see it.

So, what are you hoping to see,
then? My boat, basically, in one
piece.

Has he managed to put it back
together, you know? OK.

Will has been busy. Yeah, I've been
busy. Are you ready to show him?

Yeah, I think we're ready to have a
look. Go on, then. Let's have a
look.

Wow!

You've done all the...

You've...
LAUGHTER

Thank you ever so much! That's all
right, matey. It's great.
That's all right.

You know, you wouldn't even know
that wasn't the original piece.
Yeah.

He's scrubbed the decks. He's done
a brilliant job. Brilliant job,
yeah. Scrubbed the decks, yeah.

THEY LAUGH

I really actually enjoyed making
those pieces, yeah. Good. Yeah,
there's so much detail on there,

and it was an honour for me
to take it apart,

cos I know that you and your dad
are pretty much the only two people

to play with it. Yeah, that was
years and years ago. That's when I
was just a kid, about 12, 13.

As I said, he'd be very proud.

He'd be very happy to see it
in one piece again. He really would.

Thank you. My pleasure.

Sorry. That's all right. That's all
right. That's all right.

Don't worry, don't worry.

Going through my head now,
all the memories, brilliant

memories, my dad, and Mum as well,
because Mum passed away recently,

so it's, it's... Did she?

..it's bringing back lots
and lots of memories of... Yeah.

Family. Yeah, family memories. Yeah.

All good. All good. Yeah. Yeah.

I want to say thank you for bringing
it in. I know Will's enjoyed this
one. You have, haven't you?

I've loved it. Yeah? Brilliant.
Good, good. So, thank you.

Thank you very much. All right? OK.
Thank you. Thanks, Keith.
Thank you ever so much.

Greatly appreciated. Thanks, matey.
OK.

Set sail, eh?
THEY LAUGH

Bon voyage. Bye-bye.

When I first saw the boat,
instantly Dad shot into my mind,

and just thinking how happy
he would be to see it all

in one piece again.

Will has done
a really brilliant job.

The detail he's got into it, even
down to the paintwork,

it must've taken quite him quite a
while to do. It's fantastic.

The boat is important to me
because it's the only thing I've got

left of my dad.

It's the only thing
to remember him by,

and he'd be looking down on us now,
and Mum by his side.

They'd be really, really pleased.

Ceramics expert Kirsten
has been trying to un-stick years

of old adhesive on the cat teapot.

If this hasn't worked, I'm going
to be quite stumped,

so let's have a look.

Well, first impressions,
something's happened in here.

Oh!
SHE LAUGHS

Fantastic! Look at that.

The temptation is just kind
of to keep pulling, but I know

that I can't. I know exactly how
much pressure I can exert without

doing any damage.

The wisest thing to do is just to
reapply a bit more paint stripper,

wrap it back up,

be patient and come back
to it in about an hour.

While the paint stripper works
on the glued head, Kirsten

can consolidate the surface damage
to the glaze on the body

of the teapot.

What I've got is these quite
severe hairline cracks,

which would have been sustained

when the suitcase was thrown
down in the train and trampled on,

I imagine.

What I want to do is try
and introduce some adhesive

into these cracks. The capillary
action will sort of draw some

of that adhesive down into the crack
and hopefully it will stabilise

and strengthen the teapot.

I'm just going to have a look
in here and see how the head

of Dinky is getting along.

Oops! OK.

OK, so that's looking
great. There's some real movement

going on. Some pieces
have already come apart.

Once I get these cleaned up,
the old adhesive removed,

I can then start to sort
of reassemble and Dinky

will be on her homeward journey.

I'm just sort of bowled over
by the story, really.

It's obviously had sort of many,
sort of, breaks and knocks

along its life. I think, ordinarily,
a teapot like this might well

have been thrown away. The story
that is behind this teapot is what's

kept it alive.

After gluing...

..filling...

..and sanding, Kirsten is ready
to start disguising

her meticulous repairs.

I'm just going to hand-paint
in all these areas, and that's

really just to sort of show me

what the fill is like.

I'm going to have to airbrush
some of these areas.

What you're trying to do
is the minimum amount of spray.

You're trying to get a very, very
fine line across the break.

It's almost imperceptible. You
almost can't see the spray going on.

I will put a coat of paint
on and then polish it back

and then put another layer on.

I repeat this process up to about 15
times until it's absolutely perfect.

There are no short cuts.

It's been no easy fix for Dom
either on the carousel horse,

but Roy is finally back on his feet
and ready to ride again.

I think I might have to give
it a little bit of a trim.

A little bit long.

It's so nice to finally
see it complete. Really pleased.

I can only imagine what Niki's going
to think.

It's just, I think she's going to be
over the moon. I hope she is.

Returning to The Repair Shop to be
reunited with her wooden horse

is Niki Burns.

Not sure what to expect, but excited
and anticipating something good!

The carousel horse is the last link

to her father and grandfather's
fairground business.

Just to see it in one piece,

and being able to stand up
on its own, would be fabulous.

Hiya. Hello! How's it going? Lovely
to see you again. Nice to see you.

So tell me, are you
looking forward to seeing...?

I am, yes. Yeah, yeah.

Really excited. I won't hold you
in suspense any longer.

Oh, wow!

Oh, my little horse!

He's got a tail.

Oh, that's amazing.

And his leg's fixed.

I might have to call him Roy.
It says Roy on... Yeah.

This was underneath, like,
an over-paint.

Yes. So I was cleaning
and working the paint back.

We kind of discovered that.

OK, Roy, there you go!
Is he a bit more how you remember?

Yes.

Yeah, yeah.

And on the roundabout with...

There was little horses
and little aeroplanes.

Somebody in the middle
turning the handle.

So yeah, God, that's fabulous.

Thank you.
No, you're welcome.

I thought it was important
to keep the paintwork

as original as I could. Yeah.
Been quite careful with the repairs,

obviously been quite
a lot of repairs.

Just tried to be as careful as I can
with keeping all this history.

It's nice to have him
looking like he's been used.

Good. Yeah. So, that's amazing.

I love the little reins as well.
Yeah.

Gosh. Thank you.

Really, thank you so much.
You're welcome.

I'm going to be so pleased
to have him on show at last.

Thank you so much for bringing it
in. Thank you.

Lovely to meet you. You too.

It feels great to see
my little horse again.

He looks so proud.

My dad would be really,
really pleased, really impressed,

just to see him looking like he does
and back on his feet again.

Kirsten is giving Dinky, the
pottery pussycat, a final polish.

I'm going to use...

..these sanding fabrics
that I've got.

That give you
a really sort of lovely finish.

You need to be quite careful when
you're actually doing this process.

If you go too far either side
of that line,

you will scratch and start removing

the sprayed paint.

So the very final stage that
I've been really looking forward to,

actually,
is to just pop the whiskers

back onto Dinky cat's face.

Dare I say it,
he's looking pretty perfect.

Hopefully, I have given him
his smile back.

Owner Matthew and his partner Nigel
are back at The Repair Shop

to collect the cat
that was a token of gratitude

for a wartime alliance.

Dinky's very much an epitaph
of bravery and courage

that was shown by Gladys.

And it's something I would never
have in my lifetime,

that degree of bravery and courage.

And that will remind us of Gladys
every time we look at it. It will.

And it'll go back on our
kitchen shelf, pride of place.

Hello. Hiya!

Hi, hi. How are you doing?

I'm very well, thank you, yourself?
I'm very good.

Hello. Nice to see you.
Lovely to see you, hello.

Hello. Hello, nice to see you.

How are you guys? Very well.

Excited! I'm excited.
Are you excited?

We had a good journey. I'm nervous.
I didn't feel like I was before.

But I am now! Are you?
Yes, I am.

You ready, then?
I'm ready. I'm ready.

I'm ready. Yes.

HE GASPS
Crikey!

It looks brand-new!

It's absolutely amazing, isn't it?

Looks like a brand-new one.

I can't believe you've done that,
honestly. I can't even...

When you had the lines,
the cracks... I can't.

I can't believe it.
Gladys would be thrilled.

She would be.
She would be thrilled. She would.

It sounded like she was someone
that did so much for other people.

No, she did. A lot for you
in your life, didn't she?

A lot, a lot. She was just fantastic
and the thing for me with this now

is that I can now see what it looked
like... When she did. When she did.

When she first saw it and the beauty
that she saw in it as well. Yes.

I don't know what to say.

I'm...I'm stunned by the level,
the quality and everything,

of the work that's been done.
It's fantastic.

It's the memories, it's the love
that she gave me,

it's the love that she had
for that cat,

and I shall continue to look
after it myself and everything now,

now he's in his new repaired state.

I'm sure Gladys now
would be thrilled to see him

in his new splendour.

Gladys would be over the moon.
She would.

Join us next time...

Nice and hot. Good.

..for more masterful restorations...

Ohh! Steve! That's lovely!

..in The Repair Shop.