13x07 - Episode #13.7

[bunniefuu]

Welcome to The Repair Shop...
- I'm ready to see some magic.

- ..where precious but faded
keepsakes...

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

- Deep breath.

- ..are restored to their former
glory.

- New beginnings and new memories.

- Lovely.

- We can do that.

- A dream team of expert
craftspeople...

- Perfect teamwork.

- That's the fun part.

- It's going to look absolutely
stunning.

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

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

- Go on, my son.

- ..restore irreplaceable treasures...

- Argh!

- Take it away, Mark.

- ..and unlock the stories that they
hold.

- Oh, my God.
- It's like it's brand-new.

- You're a wizard.

- Thank you so much.

Oh, my gosh.

- First, an unsteady assignment for
furniture restorer Will Kirk,

courtesy of the Cox family -

Madeleine and Andy and their children,
Freya and Aiden.

- Hi, there.
- Hi.

- Welcome to the barn.

- Thank you.

- What am I looking at here?

It looks like a bed, a bench. I'm not
too sure.

- Um, it's had a many and varied life.

It started life as a, as a bed.

It was the very first piece of
furniture that we bought together

as a couple.

- How many years ago was that, then?

- Coming up for 30 years now. We were
moving from London

to Northampton and transported it back
on the roof of our car.

- Wait, this and mattress on the roof?

How big was the car?

- Not big enough!

- It was so special to us as our first
bed.

And then it was the bed where we
brought Aiden

home from hospital.

We were told we couldn't have children
and Aiden and his twin

sister Darcey were IVF.

He was born five months prem and he
was given a 5%

chance of survival.

- His little sister, we knew from
fairly early on, wasn't going to
survive.

- Yeah.
- Um, so it was a fairly traumatic
time.

- Gosh.
- But Mr Strong, always fighting.

- Gosh. Defying all, all the odds.

- And then after a few weeks of being
at home with Aiden,

I thought, my trousers are getting a
little bit tight.

We did a pregnancy test and it was
Freya.

So I have two miracles.

And this was the bed where Freya was
born in.

- FREYA:
- The very first photo of me and Aiden
together is on the bed.

- ANDY:
- On the bed.
- I'm about ten minutes old.

- And then it was kind of yours next,
wasn't it?

- It was a veggie bed.

- Hold on. A vegetable bed?

- - Vegetable bed.
- Yes.

- It was beyond purpose as a bed. But
we didn't want to get rid of it
because it had meant

so much to us.

And he said, "Let's make it a veggie
bed."

- Oh, I see. Very clever.

- So the whole bed just went into the
garden, and we filled

it with soil and grew vegetables in it
for a few years.

- So are you quite a keen gardener,
then?

- I am, yeah.

- And then when we kind of redid the
garden again, we turned

it into a bench.

- Well, I admire your creativity.

What's it being used for now?

Is it still out in the garden?

- It's still out in the garden.

- And it started to just rot away.

- We were just losing her.

I call it her. That's so silly.

Calling a bench her.

But she's like a part of the family.

- So you've added bits of wood
underneath, to...

- Yeah, literally.

The bottom of the legs had started to
rot.

So it was purely to keep it, holding
it together.

- You're missing a good few inches off
most of these legs here.

- Yes.

- I just can't think of kind of family
life without it, really.

And, um, with Freya going away to uni,
we were having a conversation

about kind of when you start your own
life and

you're off and you have your own home
and everything, um, what do

you want from the house?

And Freya looked at me, and she just
went

"The bench, of course!"
- The bench.

- And so to have it restored means
that we can continue

to have the memories that we have with
it, and creating even

more memories for Freya.

I hope she's in safe hands.

- I hope so too.

I will take great care of her.

- Thank you.
- Thank you very much.

- I'll see you very soon.
- Bye-bye.
- Bye-bye.
- Bye-bye.

- There is so much wrong with this
bench.

It's really bad.

It's rotten on the inside.

It's splitting, it's wobbly.

There's a lot of wood that's going to
have to be replaced.

Parts of the legs are intact.

Parts aren't intact.

There are different types of wood that
are better for outdoors.

Teak is really good because it works
well in heat and rain.

This is probably a piece of pine.

It's dried out. It's cracked.

It was never going to last.

I'm going to try my best to save as
much

of the original as possible.

I'm going to break it down into
individual components to see

what can be salvaged and what needs to
be replaced.

Have you ever built a guitar?

- Me?
- Yeah.
- Yeah. 20, 30 guitars, I suppose.

I mean...
- What?!
- Because I repair and restore,

I've done over 10,000 jobs.

- I haven't got one.

- Well, not yet. I've got a couple
going spare.

- Luthier Julyan Wallis's experience
will be music to the ears

for Glaswegians Andrew Ferguson and
Kirsty Stewart.

They're hoping he can rectify a
painful past mistake.

- Hello?
- Hello.

- How are you doing?
- Fine. Thank you.

- Good on you. Hello.

- Look at this.
- That's a beautiful guitar.

Tell us about it.
- Thanks.

Well, I made this guitar at college as
part of a course that I was on.

You know, I wanted to become a
luthier.

Do you know what I mean? That was my
goal.

- To make guitars?
- Make guitars and repair guitars.

This was the second year of it. I
designed it all myself.

So all this inlay stuff, all done by
hand.

And I French-polished it all myself,
put as much as I could into it.

And I've got the inlay and the
headstock there,

which kind of represents my dad, who
passed away.

D for Del.
- D for Del.
- Derek, it is, but Del.

He was the one that got me into
woodwork

because I'm a joiner to trade.
- All right.

- And then he got me into music as
well.

So when I started playing the guitar
and stuff like that, you know,

it means it's sentimental in that way
as well,

because he can inspire me in both
worlds.

- Perfect. Absolutely perfect.

- And may I say, it's stunningly
amazing.

- Thank you.
- I mean, wow, you've gone to town.

- You know, I put a lot of work into
it.

I just enjoyed it so much that I feel
as if that's why it came

out so well.

But during the making of this guitar,
I put the neck

on at a slightly wrong angle.

Just this heel joint here.
- Yeah, yeah.

- So as soon as I put the strings on,
I could see there was, I could get

my finger in there. So that was the
issue.

I knew right away, I was like, this
neck's on at the wrong angle.

- Oh, bless you.

- So my heart kind of broke at that
stage and I was... I knew

it was just such a simple mistake, but
it was such a big fix.

- How big a job is that?

To like...? To sort out the neck?

- A neck reset. It's one of the
hardest things.

I have ways and techniques, but you
never know how it's going

to go because you could do more damage
trying to get it off.

- Yeah, we've taken it to a few
luthiers.

They all rejected it and said that
it's just such a big job that

they don't want to touch it.

- ANDREW:
- I tried to get the neck off, but as
a second-year student,

you know, I just didn't have the
skills or the tools,

really, to achieve that.

- So, did you finish the course, then?

- - No.
- No.

I ended up getting pregnant, and he
left college

and got a job.

So it's a bit of a shame that he had
to give up his dream.

I had to give up my college course as
well.

- So you both made sacrifices for the
family?

- Yeah, well, it's not a hard decision
to make.

You've got to do it. To take on a
family and just be going

to college and stuff like that, it
couldn't be done.

So it was always in my mind to go back
to it and it still is.

- What would it mean to hear it
played?

- That would... I would just, you
know, I think...

- KIRSTY:
- Be so grateful.
- You'd be made up, yeah?

- Yeah, we both would, I think.

Just to hear it playing.

- Yeah.
- It's never played.

- It's never sung at all?

- No.
- No, which is pretty sad.

- Yes. It is heartbreaking.
- Yeah.

Well, listen, I think Jules has got a
lot of work on his hands, so, um,

we'd best let him get started.
- KIRSTY:
- OK.

- Thank you for bringing this in.

- BOTH:
- Thank you so much.

- KIRSTY:
- Thank you, guys.
- ANDREW:
- Cheers, guys.

Bye.
- Take care now.
- Bye-bye. See you now.

- That is a big job, right?

- Oh, it's huge, Jay.

It's a big one.

- I'm just looking at Andrew's guitar
and, um, it's so gorgeous

that if this was me building it, I
would be so chuffed with myself.

I'd be so proud.

What a shame that that's - just that
one

little error has happened.

I'm slightly trepidatious because jobs
like this,

which is known as a neck reset, is
never a walk in the park.

I'm just putting the strings on to see
how much the guitar

is out of whack.

I'm already a bit horrified.

I can see already that there is a big
distance between the strings

and the fingerboard, where we press
down to play.

- GUITAR TWANGS

- And have a look from the side.

That's bad.

That is so high, you would never be
able to press down comfortably.

It wouldn't be a joy to play. This
neck, when set back...

..will bring the strings right down.

So I have the non-easy task of
removing the neck, resetting

it back, so it will play well.

- Will has a non-easy task on HIS
hands, having taken stock

of the condition of the family
bed-turned-bench.

- Now that I've had a chance to
dismantle the bench, I've managed

to have a better look at the legs, and
they are really bad.

I mean, this I cannot save.

It's so rotten.

The other three legs aren't as bad,
but the feet on the bottom

have almost completely disintegrated.

So I've decided to turn up some new
feet for them.

We actually used this original leg as
a template to work out exactly

where I need to make all of my
grooves.

Right. Well, that's all marked out.

Now I can start turning.

Right. Well, now that I've got my
cylindrical shape, I can start

turning in that finer detail.

I'm actually going to use my callipers
to measure the thickness

of the piece I'm trying to copy.

Now, as that's turning, I can pretty
much rest that on the surface

there and use my gouge to remove the
wood.

And as I remove it, it will then get
to the right thickness,

and the callipers will slip through.

So I know that they're pretty much
identical.

Did you have a favourite toy as a kid?

- I had lots of favourite toys, mainly
construction toys.

- Designing and making...

- Yeah, all of that.

- Gemma has travelled from Colwyn Bay
seeking mechanical

marvel Steve Fletcher's help with an
irreplaceable childhood toy.

- Hello.
- Hi.

- Hi. Welcome.
- Hello.

Thanks for having me.
- Look at that.

- I know. This is my gold edition Etch
A Sketch.

- The most iconic toy.
- Yeah, yeah.

- I had one as a kid. I'm sure you
did.

- I didn't have one of my own, but I
think one of my sisters

had one.

I've never seen a gold one. I've never
heard

of a gold one before.

- No.
- I know. I was the envy of all of my
friends because I got

the gold edition.

- So, where did you get it from?

- When my parents divorced, when I was
about eight,

this was one of the first toys that my
dad got for me

in his new house. So obviously he
wanted to make sure his house

was kitted out for me and had stuff
ready to play with.

So, yeah, this is one of the first
things I remember him

getting for me.

- It must have been quite tough as an
eight-year-old, going through that.

Do you remember much of it?

- Both of them did an amazing job at,
um, making me understand

that I was still loved and there
wasn't anything that was going

to change that.

I do remember kids in school sort of
saying, "Are your parents divorced?"

And I said, don't feel sorry for me.

Get two birthdays and two Christmases.

I'm happy.
- Two sets of toys.

- Yeah, exactly.
- That's it? Yeah.
- Of which this is one. Yeah.

- Did you play with it all the time?
- Oh, absolutely.

Yeah. Uh, writing secret messages, uh,
to my dad, to my friends.

And recently I took it out and it
didn't work.

I didn't realise how devastated I'd
be.

- Is your dad still with us?
- No.

Unfortunately, my dad passed away back
in 2018.

- What was Dad's name?

- My dad was called William.

Everyone called him Bill.

He had a really short illness and he
was in hospital for about

two months and unfortunately passed
away quite quickly.

And I think that might have been,
like, one of the big things

that made me realise the memories that
it holds.

- So this is a real connection with
your father, then?

- Yeah, absolutely.

He was a very, very involved father.

If I couldn't make it work, my dad
would be there showing me how to do
it.

You know, putting his hands over my
hands and working

the controls. So I would never throw
it away, even if you couldn't get

it working, because it's so integrally
a part of my childhood.

- Yeah.
- And it just makes me smile.

- It's like being an eight-year-old
again.
- Yeah.
- Every time you rediscover it, it's
like, "Yes."

- Exactly. Yeah, just relive it.

- What actually is wrong with it?

- So obviously you would twist the
knobs and draw pictures,

but unfortunately this one doesn't go
any more.

- There's nothing there. Is there?

- No.
- The thing is, it's such a box of
magic tricks in there.

Like, I've got no idea what's
happening in there.

- I don't know how it works. No.
- No.

- I can't wait to have a look inside.

And I hope I can get it repaired, just
so that I can play with it for a
little while.

- Yeah. Thanks so much.

I'll leave it in your capable hands,
then.

- Thank you very much.
- Bye-bye.

- See you later.
- Bye.
- Bye now.
- Bye.

- I loved playing with these

when I was a kid. I'd always try and
do a diagonal line from one

corner to the other.

Or a perfect circle, which is really

difficult. To get one in to repair...

..it's just so exciting.

But I do need to get inside to have a
look and see what's

actually gone on.

Unfortunately, there's no screws at
all. I was hoping

it would just be quite easy to take
apart. So...

I'm just going to try and gently prise
this off.

I've got to be so gentle with this,
because if this is glued on,

if I try to force it, it'll just
break.

I think that is so firm that I'm
pretty sure

that's glued together.

Um, if this was a clock

I'd know just what to do.

This is, um, unknown territory.

And I'm wondering whether I'm actually
going to get

this repaired at all.

I'm going to have to put my thinking
cap on.

Uh, yeah, this might take some time.

- Strumming supremo Julyan is on a
mission to make Andrew's silent

guitar sing for the very first time.

To do that, he must reset the
misaligned neck.

- Just masking up to remove the neck,
and the first stage

is to loosen this area of the
fingerboard, which is known

as the tongue.

I need to soften the glue, and I've
just heated up

my heating iron, slotted for the
frets, and its job

is to transfer the heat.

That in turn will soften the glue.

And if I heat this on my iron as well,
I've got two heat-y

helping hands going on.

I just want to go so slowly and
gingerly,

I don't damage anything inside.

There we go. I'm just right up to the
line there.

It's gone in like butter, then. Just
sort of fell in there almost.

That's really good.

So I don't need to go any further.

So now this tongue is nice and loose,

turn my attention to loosening the
dovetail inside the body

and popping the neck out.

And I need to put my soldering

stick down into these pre-drilled
holes Andrew's done.

That heat is going to radiate all the
way through,

and then I can use a special jig to
push the neck out.

My jig is on.

It's nice and tight.

And the idea now is to turn
this...screw...

.and ultimately it's going to push the
neck

that way. I can actually feel how warm
this is now. That iron

has been in there for a while.

Hopefully I'll feel it bite. There.

It's gone stiff.

- SQUEAKING

- Oh, noises.

It's definitely moving.

Yeah, it's still loose. This is good
news.

Up she comes.

Oh, nice.

It's just... I can see the end is
nigh.

I'm so relieved at that. That has come
out absolutely lovely.

Mwah!

I'm going to slide the dovetail in -
turn it around, so I'm comfortable.

Andrew's put it on too far forward.

I've got to set it back, but I've got
to set it to a precise point.

To do it, I have got these strips of
sandpaper, and I'm going

to be pulling them through inside the
joint itself.

And as I pull, I'm going to keep
slight down-pressure here.

And as I pull, it takes more off

this edge of the heel than that edge.

Ultimately, it sets it back at the
angle I want, get it nice

and tight to the body.

Goodness knows how many hundreds of
pulls I've got to do, but...

..I've got a lot of patience.

- The lathing has gone really well.

I've made a new leg and three new
feet.

The original feet were either no
longer there or completely rotten.

Unfortunately, that rot has travelled
up a few of the legs,

like this one here.

I can feel that the wood is still
quite soft.

Freya and Aiden spent so many years
playing on the bed, learning

on the bed,

it's really important to save as much
as possible.

So I'm actually going to use a resin
for exterior wood.

It kind of acts as a filler and as a
binder as well.

And I'm just pressing with my finger.

There's lots of loose bits of wood in
there that are coming apart,

and I need to sort of bind them all
together.

When this dries, it's incredibly
solid. You can sand it back,

shape it and paint over it.

It's going to last for many more years
to come.

But all the resin has now dried and
it's solid, and once

it's painted, you'll never know that
it's resin and not wood.

I'm now starting to sort of bring
everything back together.

And this bench is joined together with
mortise and tenon joints.

The idea is that the tenon slips into
the mortise.

This piece of wood here joins the
front two legs together.

I'm hoping this should slide in place.

There we are.

Lovely.

This leg over here is one that I had
to completely replace.

So I need to open up a sort of opening
here, that this leg

can slide on to this rail.

Just using a chisel here to open up
the space.

I'm using my favourite mallet because
this top bit here is made

of olive wood, so whenever you whack
your chisel, it kind

of releases an olive-y

fragrance that's quite nice!

All right, let's see if this fits.

No.

Look at that. That's the only mortise
that I need to make.

I've got a few tenons that need to be
added on to the side

panels, and then I'm one step closer
to reassembly.

- More comfortable tampering with
timepieces,

the stubborn sketching toy has Steve
erring on the side of caution.

- So I've managed to get hold of an
old sketching toy.

It's better to experiment on this one.
So I'm going to try

and get into this.

If it works, I'm going to do the same
to Gemma's.

Right.

Just going to use this scalpel to cut
away down the seam.

Hopefully that'll give me access to
the mechanism.

I'm just being really careful because
I don't want the blade

to suddenly slip through and cause any
damage.

I've cut all the way around and I'm
just going to now prise

it off and hopefully it's all going to
come apart intact.

It's all good.

Wow. There we go.

That's brilliant.

I'm so happy this has worked.

So I can take Gemma's apart now with a
bit more confidence.

Got it apart now, and it's full of all
these beads

and aluminium powder.

It just sticks to absolutely
everything.

I can see how it actually works.

The two knobs are connected to these
wires that go

around all of these other pulleys
somehow, and move these bars

up and down, which this little pointer
piece is attached to.

That would just scratch the powder off
of the glass on the front

and makes the lines that you're
drawing.

All these wires have come off.

I can't see any of them broken at all.

So I think the biggest challenge is
going to be working out

the configuration of the wires.

I'm not sure exactly where they're
supposed to go.

Right. So I'm going to remove all of
the aluminium powder first,

and then I can get everything cleaned
up.

- With countless sandpaper scrapes
behind him, Julyan is beginning

to see the fruits of his labour.

- Oh, that's a nice tight fit.

That's, that's in there.

And hopefully now my alignment to the
bridge.

Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!

Look at that.

Just kissing the bridge there.

That's banging, that is.

So I'd better glue and clamp it up.

When I learnt all this stuff, I do all
my own guitars first,

and we all make mistakes.

Got to make a few mistakes on the way.

As long as you learn from them, you're
winning.

Looks quite brutal.

But it's

to ensure a tight fit.

Lovely. Clamps are on.

I just want to let that dry now.

But the truth is when the strings are
on and it's playable,

that you know you've done the correct
job.

So, tiny bit is in the lap of the
gods.

I'll give them a little prayer and
hopefully it's all really good.

- With the treasured bench now
standing on its own four feet,

Will is applying a final
future-proofing layer of protection.

- It's really nice to see the bench
finally coming back together.

All the woodwork done, glueing done,
joints done.

And I've given this a prime with white
paint primer.

Now that, along with this exterior
paint, this should act as a barrier
for any water.

I mean, I'm making this impenetrable,
almost

like a submarine.

You can put this, you know, in the sea
and it won't rot.

Don't hold me to that. But it's very
waterproof.

This bench means so much to Freya.

She was born in this bed, bench, and
she wants to take

it with her when she moves out.

So it is that nice reminder of family
and of home.

And I really hope that I've done it
justice.

- An integral part of the Cox's life
for the past 30 years, this bed,

turned vegetable bed, turned bench,
had become an irreplaceable fifth

member of the family.

- Hi there.
- Hi.

- Welcome back.
- Thank you.

- Nice to see you.
- Very excited.

- Yeah, we're very excited.

- How has it been not having this in
the garden?

- Kind of, our day revolves around it.

And it's just not been there.
- Yeah.

- That was why it was so important for
us as a family to see

what you could do for us.
- Yeah.

Right. Shall we have a look?

- Yes.
- Yeah?
- Yeah.

- Ready?
- Are we ready?
- OK, let's have a look.

- Oh, wow.
- Beautiful.

Can you see that? Look at that.

That is amazing.

- And the feet are back.

- Incredible.

Are you all right, Mum?
- Yeah.

Yeah. It's just...

Just so much here,

so much of our family here.

- Can I sit?
- Are you going to sit?

- I'm going to sit.
- Freya's going to sit.

- Give it a test.
- It didn't fall down.

- You can sit on it!

- Can I join you?
- Yes.

Come, sit. Dad, do you want to?

- Yes.
- There's space for all three.

- I only tested this with one person.

So with the three of you on, I was
thinking,

"Oh, my gosh!"

- That is amazing.

- Incredible.

- Absolutely amazing.

- It takes me back to the children

being babies together and playing in
the bed.

And it was our safe space.

- Yeah, it was.

- What do you think?
- Thank you.

- It's just incredible.
- It is.

- Well, now that it's stable,

Aiden, any plans on turning this back
into a vegetable bed?

- Probably not.
- Probably not.

It's been an absolute pleasure to work
on, and I'll get it shipped off to
you.

- Fantastic.
- Thank you.

- Thank you very much indeed.
- Thank you so much.
- Bye.

- Bye-bye.
- Thank you.
- Cheerio.

- I don't know how he's managed to
bring it back

literally from the brink.

- I'm actually in shock.
- You're still in shock.

- In shock.

- She will follow me wherever I go.

And I can make my own memories with
kids and friends

and you guys even more.

She's coming with me into that part of
my life now.

- Didn't have a future.

And what it has now is a future to
make more memories.

- Visiting the barn from Surrey are
sisters Kelly and Dawn Langley.

With them, a priceless item destined
for the hands of

leather expert Suzie Fletcher.

- Hello.
- Hello.

- How are you?
- Welcome!
- Good, thank you.

- Nice to meet you both.
- And you.

- What have you brought in for us?

- Um, we have brought my dad's taxi
badge.

- Oh!
- And it's over 50 years old now.

- What was your dad's name?
- John.

- John.

- Been a cab driver for 38 years.
- Yeah.

- He retired in 2010 and then passed
away in 2011.

He wasn't a collector of anything.

So that's the only thing we have left
of Dad, really?
- Yeah.

Do you know, that's the first taxi
badge I've seen, I think.

- Is it?
- Yeah.

- I don't even know what a taxi badge
is.

- When they pass The Knowledge, they
get given a number.

And that's the number my dad had.

And that's the badge he had.

- You say The Knowledge. What is The
Knowledge?

- It's the routes. It's the runs.

It's the points of interest that you
have to learn.

You then go up to London, to the
Public Carriage Office.

They will sit and basically ask you
questions.

"How do you get from Buckingham Palace
to Old Kent Road?"

- And then you have to name all the
roads?

- Yeah. And you get your badge once
you've passed The Knowledge.

That's it.
- So that is a badge of honour.

- Yeah.
- Yeah, definitely.

He was proud of his job.

He always wore a suit jacket and a
tie.

- That was the only car we had.
- Yeah.

- It was his pride and joy.
- He was always cleaning it and it was
always spotless

for when he went up to London. All our
holidays and he

packed everything in the cab.

All down to Camber Sands for a week.

- It sounds like the cab was a part of
your life as much it was as his.

- It was. That's all our memories,
isn't it,

- with that cab? Yeah.
- Yeah.

- I always think of the cab drivers
having this huge sort of extended

family and the camaraderie...

- And they all have nicknames for each
other as well.

- Do they?
- Yeah. They tell jokes to each other.

- He was full of jokes.
- Talking in this rhyming slang.

He'd say, "Can you go and get the
linen draper?" for the paper,

and "the rocking horse" for the sauce?

Yeah. Mum wasn't happy about it, but
Dad thought it was funny.

Yeah.

He used to phone us when somebody got
in the cab that was famous.

- Not whilst they were in the cab?!
- Yes.

- No!
- I was at home and Dad rang and he
said, "You went to see Rod Stewart,
didn't you?"

I said, "Yeah, I took Dawn. He was
brilliant."

He said, "Do you want to talk to him?
He's in the back of the cab."

- No?!
- Yeah.

- He was actually in the back of the
cab?
- Yes.

Dad would do things like that.

- So there's no more cab...
- No.

But we've got the badge.

- You've got the badge?
- Yeah.

Dad passed away in 2011, so I've just
had it up in my living

room on a frame. So, I don't let
anyone touch it because of

the way it is.

- Yeah, because at the moment it's
really dry and its strap

is actually tearing down the bottom
here.
- Yeah.

I don't remember it ever being
brand-new looking, but I remember

it being black leather.

- OK.
- But worn, and with the brass, I
always remember

it bright and...
- Oh, really?

- Yeah. And the green paint's...

- All the green's gone.
- The brass bit in the middle.

It's just falling apart.

And it's heartbreaking to see it like
that.

- What's the rhyming slang for "Good
luck, Suzie"?

- - Not a clue.
- I don't know.

- Thank you for coming to see us.
- Thank you.

Lovely to meet you both.
- And you. Thanks a lot.

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

What I find so interesting about items
like this is that they carry

the weight of the history of Dawn and
Kelly's dad's work.

Brenton will have the pleasure of
working on this beautiful badge,

but I think I've got lots of things to
consider here.

I need to be able to stabilise this
cracked surface,

which is very worrying.

The leather really does need to be
refreshed. Down here,

where the strap has worn and the
stitching has just perished

over time, that'll need to be
reinforced, and then I'll be able

to stitch around that strap and the
badge itself.

But the very first thing I want to do
is just see

if I can push that strap through. That
won't go through.

I'm going to see if I can do it the
other way.

No.

It was made to stay on.

I don't want to force anything.

I'm going to have to figure out how to
line this in situ

and what I can do to get it back to
that, um, original look that

Kelly and Dawn remember.

- Steve's perseverance has paid off,
and with the sketching toy open,

he can turn his attention to its inner
workings.

- I've given everything a really good
wash, and got rid

of all the aluminium powder and the
little beads now,

and that means I can work on it far
easier.

What I need to do now is to put all
the lines and pulleys, etc,

into place on the back plate and try
and work out exactly

where everything is supposed to go.

I'm just going to follow what I can
see on the donor sketching toy.

We're going to get into a right old
tangle here, I think.

This is really very difficult to
follow, all of this.

I've actually followed it all now
and...

..I've got a whole load of cable left,
which I shouldn't,

so that can't be correct.

This is far trickier than I thought it
was going to be.

I thought I was just going to put the
line straight on there,

the same as this one, and it's not
working.

There will be a way and I will do it,
but it might take some time.

I've finally got it working.

The wire had just stretched, and so
the pulley that's attached

to that was just slipping.

But it's all tight and working now.

This has been really, really
difficult.

But I can pop all the powder back in.

Then I can get it all reassembled.

And I'm just keeping my fingers
crossed that when it's all finished

and I tip it over,

it's going to work.

- The neck may have been reset, but
the show's not quite

over for Julyan and the handcrafted
guitar.

- I'm just hoping it's all going to
work!

This is actually quite scary.

There's always a little element of
doubt.

Well...

- TWANGING

- How is it looking?

It's looking spot-on.

The neck's at the right pitch to the
body.

I'm so glad to have got to this stage.

Andrew did say that he was heartbroken
when he found out

the neck was at the wrong angle.

And hopefully he'll feel so joyous
when he sees this.

It's looking so good!

- Nice one. All done?

- Ah! All done, mate.

- That's gorgeous.

- A beginner's error had seen Andrew's
passion project lie silent

for too long.

Now he and Kirsty have returned,
hoping Julyan has finally given

the guitar its voice.

- Hello.
- Here they are.

- Good to see you again.
- It's good to see you.

- How are you doing?
- How are you doing?

- Good. Excited.

It was pain, really, it being the way
it was...

- Yeah.
- ..for me.
- Yeah.
- You know, just to get it fixed,

it'll be... It'll be class.
- Because you've never played it.

- Never played it. No.

- You ready to see it?

- I think so!

I think so.

- Go on, Jules.

- THEY GASP

- Oh, wow.

- It's yours, it's yours.

Go on, it's yours.

- Oh, mate.
- Phew!

- It looks wonderful.

It looks just exactly how I had it
when I was ready to string it up.

- Yeah.
- And that's what I wanted.

That's unbelievable. Ah!

- KIRSTY:
- It's better than I could have
imagined.

- ANDREW:
- Same!

I can't thank you enough.

- Mate, you're welcome.

- That's beautiful.

- It looks the part, but does it sound
the part?

That's the one I want to know.

- Wow.
- You do us the honour?

- I would, I would indeed.
- Oh, bless you.

- Oh.

- STRUMMED NOTES

- Erm...

- Whoa, whoa. Hold on.

How does that feel?
- You need to give me a minute.

- You can just see...

Oh, bless him.

- Do you know what, Jules?

I mean, it's amazing because, you
know, I kind of feel

like it's both of ours now, so,
thanks.

- Mate, you're welcome.

- STRUMMING

- So, how does it feel playing it for
the first time?

- It's beautiful. You know, it sounds
better than I thought it was ever
going to sound.

I mean, it's...

- KIRSTY:
- It's amazing.

I couldn't be happier. I just can't
believe it, to be honest.

- KIRSTY:
- It's fab.

- ANDREW:
- It's a dream come true. It's going
to inspire me to get

in the workshop, as well, Jules. So...
- Yeah. Good man.

- Thank you for bringing it to life.

I mean, it's just perfect. It plays so
nicely.

It's just... It's just amazing.

- All I can say is thank you for
bringing it in.

- No problem. Thank you.
- Take care.
- Take care, guys.
- It's all yours.

- - Thank you.
- Thanks, guys.

- See you later.
- See you, guys.

- That is...
- That was all right, wasn't it?
- ..powerful, man.

Wow.

- To play it for the first time, it's
an amazing feeling

to have because I got so close to that
moment.

And, you know, with the mistake I
made, just to hear that first note

come out of it, I had a lump in my
throat.

- It's just absolutely amazing.

It's just so wonderful to, like, see
Andrew play it and know

what it means to him.

- It will definitely inspire me to
look at some way to go back

into luthiery and, you know, making my
own guitars again,

because I loved it.

- Suzie has given the leather of the
London Taxi badge a gentle

clean and can now set to work on its
fragile strap.

- I'm going to use a piece of zephyr,
which is this very thin material.

Even though it's very, very fine, it
has incredible tensile strength.

This zephyr is going to give that
whole area much-needed support.

I'm now going to put this paste on the
exterior.

It's going to draw those loose fibres
together and therefore add

some stiffness to it.

But also it's ideal for glueing this
zephyr in place.

Now, I'm just going to give this a
good coating.

Once this is all completely dried,
Dawn and Kelly will be able

to handle this with complete
confidence, knowing that it's not

going to break.

I'm so happy with that strap.

Now I'm going to focus on replacing
the decorative stitch line

around the edges here. On the actual
badge part itself, it is holding

the two pieces of leather together,
but over time, the thread

had just become rotten and
disintegrated.

I found remnants and I thought it'd be
like a black thread,

but actually I've got a maroon thread,
which is really going to pop

next to the blackish-brown colour of
the leather.

The leather is very fragile, so any
pressure I put

on it has the risk of breaking that
edge.

I've got two stitches in here and
already I'm getting excited.

Once I've got all the stitching
finished, I can hand

it over to Brenton and he can focus on
the brass work and bringing

that green colour back up.

This is going to look stunning by the
time it's finished.

- Suzie's given me the London Taxi
badge to polish and try and sort out

the missing paint.

You can see the dirt coming off the
badge, and it's got

lots of really nice scratches and
dinks in it, showing its age

and its story.

This is looking great, and I want to
make it look

like it did when it was first issued.

Once the green's on there,

that's going to look fabulous.

This is very, very durable,

this epoxy resin.

And this will last for absolutely
ages.

This is very intricate work.

I don't want to get over the edges and
spoil it.

Because it's so thin I'm hoping that
it will float its way

to where I want it to be.

Once all the green is filled in, I can
hand it back to Suzie.

And I won't be sorry, I don't think.
This is really, really tricky.

- Having unravelled the mysteries of
the sketching toy's mechanism,

Steve is preparing to seal his
victory.

- I'm just going to put the silicon on
there.

It will seal up the gap and stop any
of the powder

from coming through.

Because it's black silicon,

you might not be able to see that it's
been cut through.

Have plenty of cloths next to you

is what I always say.

Because you can make a right mess
sometimes.

Um, that's worked really well.

And I'm now confident that Gemma can
play with this, and I'm sure

she's looking forward to seeing if
I've been able to repair it,

because she hasn't been able to use it
for years now.

So I just need to let it sit and I can
seal up the donor

sketching toy, so I'll have one myself
to play with.

- For Gemma, the treasured toy
represented the special bond

between father and daughter, evoking
memories she hopes to draw

on once more.

- Here we go.

- Hello!
- Hi.

- How are you doing, Gemma? Are you
all right?
- Yeah. Good.

- I must say to you, this is probably
one of the hardest things

he's had to do.

- Testing you. Sorry about that.

- It was testing me.

- But this is more than just a
sketching toy, isn't it, to you?

- It is, yeah. It's got so many
memories attached to it.

It's memories of my dad.

And it's memories of really good times
with my friends as well.

- Are you ready?
- Yeah, I am.

- Steve.
- I'm really excited.
- Right.

- Ah! Good as new.

Sorry. I can't stop smiling. I'm so...

I'm so happy.
- Bless you. That's good.

- Do I get to have a play?
- Oh, yes.

- OK. I'm hoping...

..it's not going to make funny noises
and things.

Ah! Awesome!

I'm not going to be able to draw

anything particularly impressive.

I'm doing a very bad star, I think.

- OK.
- But the point is, it draws again.

- It does.
- That's what I'm

really excited about. I'm going to
have to practise again now,

because that is a really, really,
really shaky starfish.
- I've got to have a look at this.
- Me, too.

- Well, that's not bad.
- You could make an underwater scene

out of that, I'm sure.
- It's all right.

- I'm beaming. Thank you so much.
Honestly.

- It's yours to take home now.
- Awesome.

Well, home for me is Wales.

So I did want to say a big, "diolch yn
fawr iawn," which means, "Thank you
very much," in Welsh.

So, thanks.
- Very welcome.
- I'll take it with me.

Cheers.
- You take care now.

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

- My dad would be ecstatic that it's
fixed.

It connects to so many events.

I'd write "Happy Birthday" on it for
him and put it out

for him to see.

It's going to be on pride of place on
the book shelf,

with really good memories attached to
it.

And it's just being able to look at it
and think of my dad.

- Now that the brass has been given a
new lease of life,

the taxi badge is well on the road to
recovery.

- So I've got the taxi cab badge back
from Brenton.

What an amazing job he's done.

So now I'm just using a little bit of
acrylic paint to fill

in the areas where the surface of the
leather has pulled away

as I've sewn around the edge here.

And this is one of the things that I
really like doing,

is really challenging myself to see if
I can make it look like I haven't

actually touched that area.

I can't wait to give it back to Kelly
and Dawn

and see their faces.

I have a feeling they are going to be
very happy.

- The symbol of a proud cabbie's


- Very nice.

- Isn't it gorgeous?

- For Dawn and Kelly, the badge is a
precious reminder of their

much-missed, larger-than-life dad.

- Hello.
- Hello.
- Hello.

- Nice to see you both.
- How have you both been?

- Yeah. Good, thank you. Really good.

- Good.
- Yeah.
- Excited?

- Have you been thinking more about
the badge?

- I have massively, you know, with it
not being there,

it's like Dad not being there.

So I'm just so excited to see it.

- Yeah.

- So, would you like to see it now?

- - Yes.
- Yes, please.

- OK.

- Oh! Oh, my God.

- Wow!
- God!

God, that looks brilliant.

Amazing.

It is.

It looks new, but old.

Oh, my God.

It's incredible.

- The colour.
- I know. It's green.

- Brenton worked on the badge.

He just got it right.

- It is perfect.

- It just... It's taken me back.
- It's great.

I can literally hear his voice.

That's the first thing you would think
of.

Yeah, I can hear him. It's just...

- It's just him.
- Yeah. It's brilliant.

- I love the fact that neither of you
can actually

take your eyes off of it.

- Can't stop looking at it. It just
looks brilliant.

It is. It's... It's absolutely
fantastic.

You can put just that in a frame now.

- Yeah, well...
- The whole thing.

- Well, might be able to help you with
that.

It needs to go in something that

represents your dad's journey

driving around the City of London.

- - Oh, it's fantastic.
- That is so nice.

- I had an old map of London, so I was
like, "I know

"what I can use that for."

- - Yeah.
- Oh, I love it.

That is fabulous.

Thank you.

- It's really lovely to meet you both
and hear all about your dad.
- And you.

- Thank you for sharing that story.

- - Thank you.
- Thank you.

- Safe travels.
- Take care.
- Thank you. Bye.

- I'm not a real emotional person, but
just seeing it look the way

it did, just triggered something.

- It just took me back to being
little, sitting in the back,

and the badge would always be there.

And it's just... It just reminded us

of really happy, happy times.

- Yeah. And now, because they've done
such a fantastic job on it,

it's going to last.

- Yeah.

- 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.