11x03 - Child's Bike

[bunniefuu]

In The Repair Shop today...

From these few scraps,

I'm able to rebuild his little face.

..there's major surgery
from The Bear Ladies...

It's double thickness,
so I can pull quite hard.

We don't want that head falling off.

..while Kirsten is all ears,

restoring a precious
piece of pottery.

I can hear,

these joins are not sound at all.

You got a seat for this? No seat?
No wheels? No seat, no wheels.

I've got a better bike than this
coming for you in a minute. Really?

Yep. Better than this?
Well, it's got wheels!

And a seat. Excellent. Right?

Wheeling in a rusty,
yet trusty, child's bike

are James and Victoria
from Cornwall.

How you doing? Hi. Hi.

It's got wheels! I told you.
Good. Come on, then.

Thank you. After you.

Bike expert Tim Gunn is just
the man to revive the fortunes

of this troubled two-wheeler.

So, whose bike is this?

So it's actually James's
bike from childhood. Yeah.

Used to take this and ride
down to see Victoria

when she used to come on holiday,
on my family farm in Cornwall. Yeah.

Wow. OK, cool. They used to have...
Well, they still have, like,

a caravan site there,

so my family used to go for
five weeks in the school holidays,

and James used to come down
on his bike and then we used

to go biking together.
And how old was you?

I was about five or six.

OK. I am two years older,
so I was seven. OK.

Don't tell me you guys are childhood
sweethearts!

You've been together...? Hold on.
He's looking. Oh, if only!

There was a slight gap of...


So in that 18 years, did you guys,
like, stay in contact

or you just had no contact? No, we
never spoke to each other at all.

No. Thankfully, in June last
year, Victoria reappeared.

My parents were staying at a holiday
cottage, which is also on the farm

too, and I had the weekend off work.

So I said, "Oh, I'll come
down as well." OK. Right. Fabulous.

And then saw James again
and it was just kind of instant.

Wow. Love at first sight.
Second sight. Yeah.

Don't tell me he was riding
this, was he?

You weren't riding this! I should
have done. I should have done. Yeah.

Yeah. I think it's been a while
since it's been ridden.

Well, I don't know.
You never know.

So, how long have you guys
been together, then, now?

So, just over a year. OK.

We just got married in June as well.
Oh, you got married? Yeah.

Congratulations. Thank you.

We also featured the bike
on our wedding day as well. No way.

Cos, obviously, without the bike,
James wouldn't have been

biking down, and then we probably
wouldn't be here now. It's got such

fond memories of when I used to ride
down and see Victoria.

It just brings a lot of joy
to me every time I see it.

And where's it been?
Has it just been, like, outside?

It's been in a barn that we've got.

There's a few swallows
that have been nesting above it.

I can see that, yeah. There's a bit
of evidence there. Yeah.

Yeah. It is a bit, um...
It's... Tired. It's tired.

That's the easiest way to put it.
It's... Yeah. It's had a life.

Yeah. But I think it's actually
still a good bike

that we can resurrect.

Really? Yeah. Fair enough.

So, what would you actually
like me to do to it?

To add a bit of a shine
to it... OK. ..so that future users

could...could impress anyone
that they might encounter. Yeah!

You know, a bit of patching of the
chrome and... Yeah.

So that it can be used and enjoyed
and get the...get the

sort of maximum speeds
that I would have got.

Maximum speed. Yeah.

Wow. Yeah.

You really were into impressing
people, weren't you?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, oh, yeah, yeah.
So, who's going to ride this bike?

Well, hopefully someone
will be able to ride it sometime.

Yeah, maybe future, if we want
to have children and things,

that'll be quite nice, but, yeah.

Well, I'll tell you what, leave
it with us and hopefully

it'll be looking a lot better
than it does now. All right?

Perfect. Thank you. You guys take
care now. Thank you. All right?

Cheers, take care. Bye-bye.
Thanks. Bye! Bye. Bye.

Oh, it does work!

Does it? Yeah, it works.
It made a noise.

No, you broke it.

Look, look, look.

This is such an amazing story.

The bike is the link, and my job
is to make it rideable,

try and investigate some of the bits
and pieces that are wrong with it.

What it will need is a sympathetic

strip down, replace a lot of the
things like the cables,

tyres, inner tubes.

I'm a little bit concerned
about this area here.

I can see a little bit of rust.

The top tube here is pickled up
underneath the paintwork.

So basically I just need to find out
how deep this...this corrosion is.

What I need to do is get the bike
apart, get it down to its frame,

then I can investigate
that a bit more.

Need to cut the...cables.

Verity Frame is the next
visitor to arrive at the barn.

She's travelled from Plymouth
with her dad, David,

and an old friend who is in need
of Julie and Amanda's expert care.

Hello! Hello! Hi. Hello! Hello.

Welcome to the barn.

Can I just say, I love your dress.
Oh, thank you very much. Beautiful.

It is really pretty. See how a
perfect combination

of our colours...?
Yeah. It's worked very well.

It's just stunning.

So, who have you brought us today?

I have brought Monkey with me.

This little chap
is super important to me.

When I was little, I was in and out
of hospital quite a lot... OK.

..and I made this little friend
while I was in hospital.

Monkey was in the playroom
in the hospital.

She took a shine to Monkey,
and we couldn't get Monkey

back out of Verity's arms.

So they said, "You can take
Monkey home with you."

Been there with Verity ever since.

So, can I ask you why you were
in and out of hospital so much?

I've got a condition called
hydrocephalus,

so the cerebral spinal fluid in my
head doesn't drain properly.

It got diagnosed when I was about
five months old. Wow, just a baby!

Yeah. I had about 16 operations
in that time. Goodness! Wow!

So I've got something called a
shunt, which is a piece of

tubing that will go from behind my
ear, down, draining into my abdomen.

And does it affect your life
greatly? Yeah.

So I don't have very good
energy levels.

My coordination isn't amazing.

I have an excellent ability
to get lost very easily,

cos my spatial...my spatial
awareness is terrible.

And then, when the shunts
are playing up, I can get quite

sick or headachey... Wow. OK.
..and things like that, so, yeah.

Sounds horrible. Yeah.

And if I have to go into hospital
at any time,

even though I'm a grown-up,
he still comes with me,

because to me, it's a bit
of a good luck charm as much

as anything else,
and a comfort.

One very important monkey.
Very.

Is there anything particular about
him that you're concerned about?

He's a little bit battered.

This is probably face number three.

I think my mum has tried her best
to kind of do a DIY patch-up.

She's done a wonderful job.
Yeah.

That's the original material
for his face here, on the inside

of his ears. OK.

He just needs a bit of TLC.

He gets a lot at home, but that's
kind of how he's ended up

how he is now. Aw, OK. He's lovely.

He's got a lot of kind of missing
fur, it's kind of worn away. Yeah.

He was just a lot brighter pink
than he is now, so...

And the eyes were different. Can you
remember what they were like?

I believe they were just
plain black ones. OK.

That little smile was never there.

There was, like, a little
dimple there for a mouth. Aw!

We will look after him, all right?
Thank you so much.

No, you're very, very welcome.
You take care. And thank you.

Thank you. Bye! Bye.

Look at him. He's very sweet,
isn't he? He is.

I think this is a case of
one does head, one does body.

Mm-hm. So, you're happy to do his
head and his face?

Absolutely, yeah, definitely.

If you remove this, because we need
to know how damaged that face is,

original face is, underneath there.
Absolutely.

My main area of concern
is this panel on his back.

I would like to line him,

and I was thinking, can we do it
with a fleece or...

Yeah. ..something soft?
Soft movement.

So if I remove his head,
we can get his stuffing out

and then we can get him washed.

There we go.

Look, look, look.

There's his dimple!

Well, you can have that
as a reference.

Perfect.

This rust on this frame
actually needs a dressing.

It's like a sort of a,
you know, like lichen.

It's just been...just been
permeating underneath this

paintwork, and it's...
and it's caused this problem.

I've basically got to take
the rust off, with a wire wheel,

back to the bare metal to stop
the rust from getting any further.

It's actually starting to do
quite well.

It's got a few more areas
that I need to address.

There's lots of little spots
and bits and pieces,

some over the back here, but
actually the condition of the frame

underneath that rust
is actually quite good.

I'm quite pleased with the way that
that looks.

Hey, hello, mate. Dom.
How are you getting on?

Er... There's so many colours on it.

I thought I'd come and consult
the paint guru. OK.

Do you think you can help
match up some paintwork?

I have got quite a lot different
paints here, so I'll have a rummage,

I'll have a go, I'll see what I can
do. OK. So, I'll do my best.

Leave it with me. OK. All right.
Cheers. Thanks, mate.

This one.

That's not the one.

It's this one.

Oh! Look at that.

I can see from evidence, the tyres
had a massive amount of use.

James was probably trying to impress
Victoria by doing lots of skids

and jumps and things.

I just have to get these covers off,
check out the hub.

But to do that, I need to take
this sprocket off.

So that slides in, on to there.

And then we hopefully...

There we go. We're in.

Spin the wheel.

That's now free.

So let's see if these come off.

So, there we are.

OK. So that's the covers now off.

And actually, you can see that
there's quite a lot of cobwebs

in there, but actually the axle
feels very nice and free.

Chrome work, with some care
and cleaning,

that should come up OK.

I remember finding punctures
when I was a kid and trying

to save the inner tubes,
because the inner tubes

were actually quite
expensive to buy.

Oh, yeah, there's one.
James has patched that up.

And there's another one.

I think a brand-new set of tyres
and inner tubes will make

these wheels
look completely different.

That just wants a really good clean.

I think it's just going
to be lots of elbow grease.

I used to have a bike
when I was in primary school,

a similar sort of age as this one.

And that had the
most awesome paint job.

It was black, and then it had almost
like a metallic teal crinkled paint

on top of it, almost like...it was
like...almost like a plastic bag

had been painted and
wrapped around it,

and it just leaves all that
kind of crackled paint effect.

It was quite...it was quite jazzy.

I think bikes of this era were
sort of known

for their bold paint schemes,

so any kid would absolutely
love to have one.

Well, I'm guilty of exactly that.

I loved that bike.

I've mixed this paint up with my
brush and I'm just dabbing

it on the areas. Now I know which
colours to put in

to get this base colour,

I'm going to make up a larger
quantity now, thin it down enough

that I can get it through my
airbrush because I can build

up the layers, nice thin layers,
and dust it on,

and I can control it a lot better.

Look at all these cracks on there.
That's quite bad, isn't it?

Yeah, I think someone's had a go
at putting it together themselves.

At least you've got all the bits
together, so that should

make it easier.
I love your positive spin!

Kath Quinnell, from Beckenham,
is looking to Kirsten Ramsay's

ceramic skills
to make good a mishap.

Hello. How are you doing?

Good, thank you.

Hi, I'm Kath. Hi, Kath. Nice to
meet you both. Yeah, you too.

And this is a lamp?

Yeah. It belonged to my dad. OK.

He was born in 1915, in a very
small town in Leicester,

and when there was no work up there,

he enlisted in the
Household Cavalry

and he served with them
throughout the w*r. Yeah.

Swapped his horse for a tank
during that time. As you do.

But, after the w*r, my dad's
commanding officer got him a job

for a couple of Americans,
and they lived in a big house

in Kensington Palace Gardens.
Oh, wow!

And he became their, like,
driver, butler. Yeah.

And he lived in the house with them.

My parents had an apartment,
and I think they gave them some

things to furnish
the apartment with.

And this lamp was a gift from...from
them. That's nice, innit?

And in the early '50s, my mum and
dad had moved to Camberwell,

where both me and my brother
were born. Yeah.

The lamp came with them and it
stayed there for quite some time

until one day I was learning to skip
in the living room... Oh, sweet!

..and I lassoed the lamp with
the skipping rope,

and it came off with quite a speed.

Wow! And even though I was really
small, I can remember now the shock

of standing there... Oh, shame!
..rooted to the spot,

looking at the pieces,
smashed to bits.

What did Dad say
when you broke this?

My dad was a lot more laid-back
than my mum.

There was a lot of glue and a lot
of swearing going on in the kitchen,

and my mum
stuck it all back together.

It meant so much to them that even
in its glued state, it still went

back in pride of place where
it was before... Really?

..in the living room,
next to my dad's armchair.

Sadly, when I was about five, my
dad became very ill with cancer,

and although they cured the cancer,
it left him with a lot

of breathing issues. Yeah.

And he used to get very, very tired
after going to work for the day,

and he used to come home,
have his dinner, and then he would

fall asleep in the armchair.

And the signal of when it was time
for him to go to bed

would be that we would switch
the lamp off.

So this lamp really has strong
connections for me with my dad.

At the weekends, obviously he
didn't have to go to work,

so he had a bit more energy, and he
took me on quite a few jaunts out

that I can remember.

I remember going to the barracks
of the Household Cavalry and seeing

the horses. Wow! Oh, wow! And he
also taught me how to ride a horse,

sitting over the back of an
armchair.

How funny!

Yeah, he was quite funny.

Yeah. He sounds a real character.
He was. He was.

Yeah, he was really nice.

Sadly, he passed away when I was 14.
Mm.

He died such a long time ago now
that it's really only me

and my brother that actually
physically remember him,

and this is the only thing
I've actually got of his,

like, physical thing
that I've got of his.

So it would be really lovely
if this could be sort of

put back somewhere...

..like it used to be, so that he can
sort of, like, still be around

in a...in a strange sort of way.

When was it last
used as an actual lamp?

Would have been about
nine years ago now. OK.

And then it was given to me.

My brother said that I should have
it as I was the one that broke it.

And the flex didn't look like it
would be safe to plug in. Right.

I don't want to be responsible
for burning the house down as well

as breaking the lamp!
No, don't want that!

So it's time for an
overhaul, then, really. Yeah.

Well, I'm honoured that you're
entrusting it with me.

I mean, anything you can do
will be so much appreciated.

Thank you for bringing this in.
Well, we'll see you soon. All right?

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

What are you smiling for?
Are you happy? I am.

I'm really excited to do this.

I think it's lovely.

It's quite damaged,
this side, isn't it?

I hadn't quite seen
how much damage.

The back has just got one crack, but
the front... Yeah. Well, you're

going to have to get all of that
apart to put it all

back together again.
Yeah, I'm going to take this apart.

This will need fixing
and obviously rewiring.

Well, I'll have a word with Mark,

see if he can sort out the
electricity, all right? Lovely.

I can't wait.
Get this to your bench? Yeah. OK.

Quite a useful tool

when you're examining something
like this for the first time,

you can just tap on it.

Clearly, I can see that there's
a lot of damage, but...

..by listening, it gives you
an idea of the condition.

And...I can hear it's got
a very hollow sound,

and that leads me to think
that these joins

are pretty fragile.

It's not sound at all.

Something has been lost
at some point.

There's a missing section here.

I don't know whether Kath's mum
made up that fill

when she put it back together.

There's some old, yellow,
dirty adhesive on here.

I'm just going to place a little
bit of cotton wool along this join

to hold the solvent in place.

I'm going to start off with a
little bit of acetone and just see

if that will soften
the old adhesive.

Pop a little bit of tinfoil

over the join,

and that's to help the acetone

from evaporating too quickly.

I'm going to leave that on there for
a little while and I'll come back

and I'll just see if
it's starting to soften.

On The Bear Ladies' bench,

some detective work has
paid dividends for Amanda.

Monkey's had several layers of
faces that Verity's mum had put on,

and they've all
done a really good job.

But when I got to the very bottom
layer, lo and behold,

I have found some pieces
of the original face.

Now I can see he's got a seam
that would come up through here

and bend round, sort of making
the top of his snout.

This should be cut like this,

in a sort of V,

and that's literally
going to cause the curve.

So where it comes out, when stitched
together, will cause the curve

that comes around his nose,

and that gives him, like,
this lovely,

like, jowly sort of
monkey or ape look.

So I feel from these few scraps,

I'm able to rebuild Monkey's face

in the way that it should be.

This is really, really exciting
to be able to do it so accurately.

So, for that paper template to come
to life, this will then get

transferred on to the fabric.

This is the ears.

And Verity quite clearly
said she remembers his face

being this colour.

So I've found this fabric that I
think is a really good match,

and this is what I'm going
to make him

a new face out of.

The first panel
will be overlaid like this...

..and then his little dimple
for a mouth will be in here.

His little face is going to

pop out and look so, so cool.

Yeah. Really cool.

I'm so pleased with the way
that this fur has come up after

Monkey had his clean. It really,
really is shining pink again.

This is the area on his back that I
was worried about with regard

to the thinness and the wear.

So I'm going to line it with a piece
of fleece because it's lightweight,

it's got a little bit of stretch,

and it's also
very soft and washable.

I'm just going to make it
a better shape,

cos obviously a big square
flap isn't very helpful.

So, now, look at that.

I've got two little darts to do.

That'll give him a bit more chin.

The next stage will be to put
the upper part of his face on,

attach it to his head, and then
I'll be able to get on and

put in those lovely features.

Putting faces back on is
the most exciting part of any job.

We begin to see the
character come out.

And this box excites me also,

because it's a sort of
box of oddities.

And if we can't find what
we're looking for, we usually find

it in this one.

We've got dog noses, funny eyes.

He could have...
Look, a little beak.

Aha!
I think I might have found my nose.

Look at that.

It's got, like, a rubber coating on
and it's slightly squidgy and

gives it a nice tactile
feel, which is lovely.

OK. That fits on there
absolutely perfectly.

So, already, I can see that
he's starting to look like a monkey.

He looks adorable.

Verity wants plain black eyes,

so that's what I'm looking for.

These eyes have got quite a high
polish on them, so they will catch

the light and look as if he's got
a bit of a twinkle.

Right. So I think they
need to sit about there.

Whatever soft toy you've got,
the positioning of eyes,

that's what you look at,

and I think that's what makes them
so special to their owners.

They've actually got a soul, almost,
you know, that you look

in there and you can see
their character,

and I think it's just
so, so appealing.

Do you know what?

I think he looks adorable
with his new eyes

and his little nose.

And the final feature to go
on his face will be that little

dimple for a mouth.

But before I can do that,
I need to get his head stuffed,

so that will be my next job.

So I've got the frame back from Dom.

He's done an absolutely
brilliant job.

He's an absolute magician when it
comes to paintwork.

So, all of the bits of James's
bike are completely clean,

they've all been refreshed.

So the first thing to put on
is the cranks.

This is the exciting bit.

I see it start to transform,
from just a bare frame that's

been preserved, back into a bike.

For well over a decade, this
bike had been languishing

in a forgotten corner of a barn.

So, what do you reckon then, Jay?
It looks amazing.

No, you've done a blinding job.
I'm really, really pleased with it.

All right, let's get it covered up.

Now, just like James and Victoria's
love for one another,

the bike has been revived,
ready for new adventures.

How are you doing? VICTORIA: Hello.
How are you? I'm very good. Good.

You all right, James? Yeah, fine,
thank you. Good to see you.
So, how are you guys feeling?

Feeling excited. Excited. Yeah.
Excited?

So, what are you hoping
is underneath this blanket?

Well, I'm hoping it's my
childhood bike... Cool.

..in a slightly better condition
than how I left it. Yeah.

This was my mode of transport to see
Victoria back in the day. Yeah.

So it was my...

..well, one of my
most precious possessions.

You ready to see this, yeah?
Definitely. Yeah, definitely.

Go on, Tim, do the honours.
Yeah? OK.

Here goes.

Oh, wow!
Oh, wow! Wow!

Whoa!

Look at this. It looks safe as well.

It looks safe! Wow!

It's shining, basically, like it
used to when it had a lot of use.

Yeah, it looks amazing, yeah. Thank
you. And where's it going to go now?

It's not going back in the shed,
is it? No.

We'll let our nieces ride it,

and maybe as well, in the future,

if we have our own children,
we'll definitely let them ride it.

I don't know if I'll let them ride
it down to see girls when they're,

you know, five -
or boys - but we'll see!

Well, it's yours to take now.
Thank you. All right. Thank you.

All right, take care now, both of
you. Bye! Bye-bye. Bye. Bye.

Aww!

You know when you look at, like, an
old photo of yourself and you see

yourself as a child? It made me feel
like a child again

and see myself as a child.

It just means so much to be able to
take it back home, actually working,

because it's really the story
of how we got together, isn't it?

It'll be very treasured.

Having carefully dismantled
and cleaned every fragment

of the lamp, Kirsten is now faced
with a complicated 3D puzzle.

OK, so that goes in there,

and then I've got
some more pattern here,

so that fits in there.

And then I've got
a couple of bits...

..to try and locate here.

I think I've actually got there now.

That goes there. That goes there.

And then that goes there.

I've done my dry run

and I'm now going to apply
an epoxy resin

along this breakage.

And I can now start to
build the lamp base back

as it should be.

Kirsten's passed me over the
china lamp - the electrical part,

of course. I wouldn't
like to do her job!

I couldn't even attempt to do it.
So she's asked me if I could

wire this up. I've just put a
double pole switch in here

and I've fitted a three-pin plug.

Next thing now is to run the cable

through the main bar,

which travels from the top to the
bottom and holds all this together.

So that's roughly
in that area there.

It's always a little bit
fiddly, doing lights.

There we go. That goes in there.

Put this in, put it up,

and let there be light. Bing!

It's so lovely to see Kath's
lamp base back together,

whole, and feeling really stable.

I'm now going to make a start on

filling this missing area here.

I'm going to make a coloured fill

that is going to be the same colour

as this background,

and then retouch
the blue detail over the top.

I'm going to use some dental wax.

The wax can be softened slightly

so that it fits the exact profile

of the inside,

and it's giving me

a surface to push my fill on to.

And this is a
conservation-grade epoxy,

which I've bulked
with fumed silica.

I've got some titanium white, and...

..I'm going to add a small amount
of cerulean blue.

I absolutely love pigments.

What I have now is pretty much

a lifetime's collection of pigments

that I've bought, I've been gifted.

I recently received a beautiful

green pigment from a friend

who had been travelling in Italy

and thought, "There's a pigment
I know that Kirsten will love."

So it gives me a huge amount

of pleasure dipping into it.

Going to pop that in there now.

That colour is looking pretty
spot-on.

The great thing is the fill material
will adhere to the breakages,

but it doesn't stick to the wax,

so I can just peel that off.

I can then start to sand
and polish it back,

and once I've got a lovely, smooth
surface, I can then start to

block in the decoration.

Going to make a start on trying
to retouch this colour now.

These are acrylic colours
that I'm using.

I always think it's about giving
an impression

of whatever it is
you're trying to retouch.

And whilst it's quite an ornate
outfit this man is wearing...

..it's quite loosely painted
and it's not really precise.

So that's to my advantage.

It's really quite absorbing, this,
but it's certainly not quick.

I'm really excited now
because the two halves are coming

together and I've got to stitch
on Monkey's head.

It's a little bit fiddly because

I do need to line up the seams.

But also hanging onto the body,

holding the head in the right place.

And I'm going to use a ladder stitch

and I'm picking up the lining

at the same time.

And the fabric under his chin

and at the top of his chest

is folded over,

so it's double thickness,

so I can pull quite hard.

We don't want that head falling off.

This is looking really good.

He looks lovely, doesn't he?

He does. He's so pink.

I know. I love him.

Reminds me of strawberry ice cream.

Or those milkshakes you used to get.

Although I always
had the banana ones. Oh.

OK. I was a strawberry kind of girl.

I'm not surprised
about that, really.

No, no.

A lifetime of cuddles had left
Monkey looking tired and worn.

Come on, little buddy.

Got his...? There you go. Yeah.

Is that OK?

Looks perfect from here. Great.

Accompanied by her dad,
Verity has returned,

eager to be reunited
with her much-loved companion.

Hello. Hello. Welcome back, Verity.

Hiya. Hello, David.

Hello. Hi. How are you?

Good, thank you.

You look very excited. Excited.

I'm very excited.

You look it.

I am hoping to see him kind
of restored to his former glory

from when I was little.

A nicer face.

A bit less DIY-looking. Yeah.

His eyes and his mouth back again.

OK.

Are you ready to see him?

Yeah. Sure? Yep.

Go on, then.

Oh. Oh!

How did you manage that?

Aw.

Oh. Aw.

It's fantastic.

He's just like Monkey
that we used to know.

Yeah.

The original Monkey.

Yeah. Oh, God, it's so funny
seeing him like this.

It's lovely. Yeah. Aw.

Compared to what he was like.
Thank you.

So we've kept that bald patch.

We feel that's very important.

It's very much where you hold him.

Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah.

Absolutely.

You've done a lovely job.

Did we get the dimple right?

Hmm. Yep.

It was very important, wasn't it?

Yeah. So happy.

So happy to have him back.

I think our job is done here.

You clearly missed him.

So thank you.

Thank you so much for trusting us.

Thank you so much for
everything you've done. Yeah.

Bless you. You're welcome.
You're welcome.

Lovely job. You take care.

Thank you. Bye. Bye-bye.

Aw. Well done.

Yeah. Good job.

Come on.

It felt absolutely amazing
being able to give him a cuddle.

I'm just so happy that he's been
restored to his former glory

and he's going to be in a fit state
to spend plenty more years with me.

Kirsten has touched in the missing
areas of paint on the lamp,

leaving just a few
practicalities to sort out.

It's been a real
challenge, this piece.

Having said that,
it's been an absolute pleasure.

I think it's beautiful.

OK. I'm just going to screw
this brass fitting,

I'm holding the nuts
still underneath,

so the screw can tighten.

And there we are.

That is Cath's lamp base
back in one piece

and I'm very excited

to see her reaction.

And I'm going to go
and look for a shade.

This lamp helps preserve memories
of Cath's much-loved father,

who died when she was just 14.

Today, Cath has returned,

hopeful it looks as good as it
did before she broke it.

Hello.

Hi. How are you doing?

I'm good, thank you.

Hi, Cath.

Lovely to see you. And you too.

So how are you feeling?

I'm good, I'm good.

I'm really looking forward
to seeing it, actually,

because this is the only
physical thing that I've got

that belonged to my dad.

And I'll be thinking of him
every day, really,

every time I look at it,
so that'll be, that'll be lovely.

So are you ready to see it?

I am.

Good.

Wow.

Oh, my gosh.

She's looking for the cracks.

You've disguised them all,
even that piece that was missing

and had sort of crumbled away.

You've repaired that as well.

That's absolutely incredible.

God, it's amazing.

Thank you so much.

It's fantastic.

I feel quite... Quite emotional.

It just really does remind me

of, you know, my childhood

and of being at home
when my dad was still alive.

Hmm, yeah.
Do you want to see it working,
then?

If I could.

Would you like to do it?

Go on, then.

Wow.

I'm going to put it in my hall,

so it's going to light
the hall for everyone.

When they come in,
it's really going to be noticed

by everybody when they see it.

And like I say, it will remind me
of my dad every day.

Perfect.

It's incredible.

It's incredible. You don't
just restore people's things.

You restore memories
to them as well,

which is a fantastic thing
for you to do.

I suppose you want to get
this home now?

Oh, yeah, that'd be great.
I've got a place all ready.

Fantastic. Would you like me
to carry it out for you?

Yes, please. I don't want to break
it again for the second time, so...

I'll get the door. ..I'll hand

that over to you. Thank you.

Thank you.

My whole life...

..I only remember it broken,

it always looks like Humpty Dumpty
with all its big glued cracks there.

And to have someone so talented
be able to restore that

and make it as it was
when Dad saw it

and how he would have remembered
it when he got it,

it means the world. It's amazing.

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.