04x16 - Grandfather Clock

[bunniefuu]

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

This is amazing.
It is absolutely brilliant.

..are brought back to life.

Welcome to my universe.
It's pretty marvellous.

Furniture restorer Jay Blades...

It's so nice we can be part of that
history to just keep things going.

..and a dream team of
some of the country's

most skilled craftspeople...

I'm having a lot 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.

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

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

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

CHEERING AND LAUGHTER

GENTLE TAPPING

RHYTHMIC TICKING

BUZZING

CLANGING

In The Repair Shop today,
airwaves authority Mark

uncovers an 80-year-old radio
with an epic history.

You get the satisfaction that you're
the first person who's seen it,

like looking into
Tutankhamun's tomb.

While Suzie gets clever
with leather,

completely dismantling
and rebuilding a beloved games case.

This thread, it's very rotten,

so, I have my work cut out
having to resew the entire case now.

But first into The Repair Shop,
it's Karen Jackson from Surrey.

She's here on a secret mission
to surprise a lifelong friend...

Hello. You must be Karen.

..and she's hoping resident
horologist Steve Fletcher
can help her.

Right, you've brought this
grandfather clock in. I have, yeah.

Tell me about it.

It's not my clock - it's my friend
Christine's clock. Oh, right, OK.

We're looking after it, after she
moved house about two years ago.

She's unable to have this clock
in her house.

And I said, "We've got room, until
such time as you've got the space

"or you move house again."

How did you meet Christine?

We've known each other
for nearly 50 years.

She was orphaned when she was seven,
between seven and eight years old.

Oh, right. So, she actually
lived in the convent

of the secondary school
that I went to,

so we became very good friends
during that time. Right.

And we ended up then sharing a flat
together after we finished school.

We got married the same year.
We had children the same year.

Our lives have sort of been
intertwined, really.

So, you're very close friends.
Very good friends.

And now I'm looking after
this clock,

and it came to us
in this state.

It had been in a garage, a shed,
many different places.

It was something
that was in her family -

it was her grandparents'. Yeah.

And every Sunday, it was her treat
to wind it up for the week.

And it's probably one of
the only things that she has

from that time in her childhood.
Right, yeah.

There's very little else
because she moved around the country

after her parents had died.

So, does Christine know that
you've brought this in here?

She doesn't know that
it's here now, no.

Right, so this is going to be
a real surprise. It will be.

Yes, a very big surprise, but a very
happy one. Fantastic. Yeah, yeah.

Do you know how Christine feels

about the clock
in its present state?

I think she's very sad
that it's got to this state.

It was something that was...

Obviously, it was never planned
that it would end up like this.

All she knew was
she wasn't going to let it go

and, one day, she would be able
to restore it to its former glory.

But that day hasn't...hasn't
happened - until now, I hope.

Fantastic. Thank you so much for
bringing it in. What a lovely story.

We'll do our very best.
Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. Thank you.
Bye-bye, now. Bye-bye.

Christine is such a generous person,

not just with things
but with her time, with her love,

and to be able to give
something back to her,

something as important as this,

I can't think of
a more deserving person.

I'm just taking apart
Christine's grandfather clock.

I think it's going to be
fairly straightforward.

This clock's
not in bad condition at all.

There's been some work
that I need to rectify.

So, a lot of grandfather clocks
had moon cycles on.

In the 17th century, before
street lighting was commonplace,

clock makers incorporated
these moon-face dial designs

so that the owners could plan their
travels for when the moon was full.

Steve's first job is to fix
the mechanism that turns the dial.

The moon-phase-change spring,
it's actually got a crack in it.

So, I think that the whole thing's
quite brittle. It is going to break.

So, I've decided to
make another one.

Basically, you just
take a piece of brass

and just hammer it lots until...

You're probably reducing
its thickness by half.

I've cut out this spring from it
and finished it off,

and that's got lots of spring in it.

I've just got to pop it
on the lever,

and make sure I get it
the right way round.

So, hopefully, this is going to
work correctly now.

So, when the pin comes up,
this lifts this up like that

and this will then turn
the teeth of the moon-phase wheel.

Next, David Hill
and his daughter Jill,

who have travelled
from Brecon in Wales.

How are we doing? Are you all right?

Hello. I'm Jay. Jill.
All right, Jill?

David. All right, David?

They've brought along an item
that bore witness to

one of the most monumental moments
in British history,

for the attention of restorer
Mark Stuckey.

Hello, there. Hello, Mark.
Nice to meet you. Pleasure.

So, obviously, this is a radio.

Can you tell me a bit about it,
and how come you've got it?

My father, who was out in Dunkirk

waiting for the boats to come in
and everything,

he was up to his chest in water.

The evacuation of Dunkirk was
one of the most notable episodes

in British military history.

The Allied forces were in retreat
from Hitler's army,

and had been pushed back
to the beaches at Dunkirk.

An armada of Navy ships,
pleasure cruisers

and even small fishing boats
answered the call

to rescue over 300,000 British
and Allied soldiers.

When he was waiting to be lifted off
the beaches, he met this officer,

and the officer asked him
if he'd get it over to the UK.

My father's the sort of person,
if he was told to do something,

he'd do it, regardless.
A proper soldier, yeah.

You know, if he was told to look
after that, he would look after it.

Yeah. So, he took it off him,
obviously,

and waiting for the boats
to come in and everything,

he was up to his chest in water
with the radio on his head.

So, is it fair to say he probably
risked his life to take this?

Definitely. It must have been
terrifying, I should imagine,

you know, and it was total chaos,
by the seems of it.

So, to get through all that and look
after this radio at the same time,

it's incredible.

Anyway, he got it over
and when he met the officer again,

he said, "Well, you got it this far,
you must keep it."

And it's been in our family
ever since. What a story.

If it could only speak,
and tell us where it's been,

and what's been happening.
Yeah, yeah.

When it got home, was it working?
Yes, it was working.

It used to be on
the kitchen windowsill. Right.

It was the radio of the house

and it's always been treasured,
basically. Right. Yeah.

What does your mum think of this?
She thought the world of it.

Nobody could touch it.

LAUGHTER

It's an interesting radio,
for a couple of reasons, really.

It was made by Ever Ready.

The actual radio was
first manufactured

just three months
before the Second World w*r,

and there was an advert
in the Radio Times

and it actually said,

"would be suitable to be used
even in an air-raid shelter".

So, they were already preparing
that w*r was imminent.

And it would have cost
the princely sum of £8,

so it was quite a lot of money,
and that would be about £265 today.

So, that's why the officer
perhaps had it,

and he thought it was valuable, give
it to someone to get it back safely.

Yeah. So, has your father
ever spoken to you about the w*r

and what he had to do
to get this over here?

No, I was only eight
when he died, you see. OK.

And I couldn't really speak
to my mother

and question her things about it
because it just upset her so much.

She missed him from the day he died
to the day she died, basically,

you know, and that's why she
treasured things so much.

That's why it's special to you now.
It is very special, yeah. OK.

What would you like us to do
with it?

I'd like to hear it going again.
I would love to see it going again.

When I first had it,

there was a little piece of
Perspex window there.

Yes, there would have been.
That has disappeared.

What do you reckon?
Can we get this working?

Oh, I'm sure we can,

and to make it alive again where you
can hear it exactly the same way

like your mother would have heard
in the past.

That's what makes it special.
That's right, yeah.

Well, thank you for bringing it in
and trusting us with this.

Thank you.
It will be well looked after.

Thank you very much.

I feel quite excited, really,
to think that

the radio's going to be restored.

They'll hopefully
get it going again.

I think it would mean the world
to Dad to know

that the radio's
going to be repaired.

It would mean a lot just to know
that the radio is still with us,

and it's just holding on to
a piece of history.

First of all,
we have to remove the knobs now.

Sometimes, they're incredibly hard,

and I have seen them fly
across the workshop.

In this case... Cor!

This case...
HE CHUCKLES

Come on, you want to come out,

you know you do...

There we go. That's that.

Because we have to remember
the probability is

this hasn't been touched
since the radio was first built.

So, it's always nice to be able
to enter one of these

where no-one's got their little
fingers on and played with them,

and you get the satisfaction
that you're the first person

who's seen it, like looking into
Tutankhamun's tomb.

There we go. Right, and now...

..we'll get it out.

And what is it like inside?

Well, no surprises.

All the original components
are here.

The cables have deteriorated.

They're old and, like most of us
when we get old,

we need a little bit of
tender, loving care.

Straight away, it's going to need
more than a simple battery change.

HE BLOWS SHARPLY

On the other side of the workshop,
Steve's calling in reinforcements

for the huge grandfather clock
project.

He's entrusting the renovation
of the clock face

to colleague Cindy Welland,
a specialist dial restorer.

Hi, Cindy. Nice to see you.
And you.

I've got a little job for you.

We'll have to give it a clean.
Yeah.

This should have some hemispheres
in there,

so we'll repaint all those. Yeah.

Take away the loose paint
and fill those,

and then we can repaint
all the black numerals,

and I think there's a name
under here, but we'll get to that.

I'm sure you'll do a fantastic job.

I'll leave it with you. We'll see.

All right.

The next stage is
I'm going to fill these holes,

which is probably the trickiest part
of the whole job.

And what we have is
an epoxy filler.

And I've got some colours,

and I'm going to colour the filler
as near as I can to the dial.

It's looking pretty close.

And I know that looks really rough,

but you want it raised up a little
bit, so that when you sand it down,

you don't really want to
get too close to the paintwork.

And then it'll be ready for doing
the best bit, which is the painting.

Next enlisted to the team -

wood restoration expert Will Kirk.

That's it, wriggle it.
There we go. All right.

But with six foot of
mahogany casing,

it's going to be a tall order.

It feels really dry.

This furniture was never really
made for centrally-heated houses

because, with the changing of
temperatures,

the wood on the inside can shrink,
but everything else on the top

pulls together and starts to

buckle and lift,

and that's probably what's happened

with all of this loose veneer.
HOLLOW TAPPING

A perfect fit.

The pivots are slightly rough,

and they go into the pivot holes,

and because they're rough,
they've worn the hole across.

That's just taking
some of the rough edges off.

The moon faces on these
can sometimes look very grumpy,

and I like to think that
they represent the mood

of the person that painted them
at the time.

These ones are quite happy.
They're not grumpy.

SHE LAUGHS

I'm going to get some glue in there.

I'm going to go over the entire
clock with a fine-toothed comb

because I really want to make sure
that the surface is completely sound

before I start polishing.

It's great when we do
a restoration job

where there's real collaboration
between lots of experts

and we all come together to create
this wonderful, finished item.

And...there we go.

The best way to get a straight line
with your paintbrush

is with one of my tatty tools,

which is a plastic ruler,
just broken,

with two pieces of rubber
stuck to the bottom.

Remember, these dials
were never perfect.

We don't need
an exactly straight line -

what we need is a line
that looks natural.

Hi, Steve. All done.

Oh, fantastic.

Oh, that's really cracking job.

She's got the name now, which...

Yeah. That's amazing.
She won't have seen that before.

You can't see where you've
filled it at all.

Good. Thank you very much.

Have fun putting it
all together. I will.

As I get closer to finishing
this grandfather clock,

I'm just thinking about what
Christine's reaction is going to be.

She's not expecting it
to all be restored

and looking beautiful like this.

It's very exciting, and I'm really,
really looking forward to it.

The grandfather clock repair
may be nearly finished,

but items are continuing to arrive.

Making her way into The Repair Shop
is Lindsay Stephenson,

carrying an item that holds
cherished memories.

Hello. Hello. I'm Jay.

Hi, I'm Lindsay. All right, Lindsay,
what have we got here?

It's a mahjong set,
and a mahjong case.

Suzie, if you don't mind
joining us...

I've got it done up
with elastic bands

because otherwise it'll fall apart.
Right.

And the lid is the bit
that's...the most decrepit.

Oh, I know this game.

And this is the mahjong set.
It's probably older than me

because my mum bought it
when I was four. OK.

Mum and I used to go to
Kingston on Thames together,

to the Monday morning market,

and it was a treat for me.
I used to love going.

She went into a place
called Brady's Arcade,

which is like an old-fashioned mall,

and it had a second-hand shop in it

and she bought this
second-hand mahjong set.

When we got home,
she allowed me to play with it.

This was probably precious
to her as well,

and she let this little
four-year-old play around with it

on the carpet for hours and hours.

And then, when she died,
she left it to me,

which felt really important

because we'd had our ups and downs,
Mum and me,

and somehow this was a thread
throughout our life. Oh, yes.

And it's a positive thread,
and I love it. I really love it.

I'm surprised how much...

I feel a bit embarrassed about
how much I love it.

You shouldn't. It comes through that
obviously you're quite passionate

about the game... Yes, I am.
..and you still play?

I still play once a week
or once a fortnight.

It's intriguing. I've actually
never seen this. Have you not?

I have no idea what this is.

This, to me, is completely new.

OK. If you know the card game
rummy... Yes.

..that's a very, very simple
version of mahjong.

I do actually play this on my phone,
and I never knew that's... Oh!

Yeah, I know, it's not good.
I'd like to learn it the real way.

This is... 3D.

So, what would you like us to do
to this?

I would love you to mend this,

so that I can hold it
by the handles.

These are quite heavy when you've
got them all in there together.

If you put all these trays back,
like this, and then lift it,

you'll see how heavy it is.

Whoa. Yeah.
That's... Feel that.

That is a lot of weight. Yeah.

THEY LAUGH

It did work, once.

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

Every week that I play with it,
I still think how privileged I am

to have such a beautiful
mahjong set,

and I do sometimes think that
my mum's looking down and thinking,

"Yay, she's still playing with it."

So, it is nice to see someone
so passionate about something

that they learned
when they were a kid via their mum,

and then they're still playing it
to this day.

I know, it is amazing.

I've got to do a really good job
to make sure

this continues for another 60 years
of being used. Yeah.

So, I've had the chance to look at
Lindsay's case a little closer,

and it's clearly going to need
a lot more work

than I originally thought.

Just pulling this thread out,
it's very rotten.

So, I had a look at the sides here,

and these threads
are very rotten too,

so I have my work cut out having to
resew the entire case, now.

I'm going to start dismantling it.

It really has an awful lot
needing to be done to it.

DUCKS QUACK

Over at his bench,
Mark has been planning

his rescue of the radio
that survived Dunkirk.

As well as the restoration work
on the electronics,

of course,
we've got to look at the case

because that's what
everybody sees.

Because of its age,
and it's got its history,

and these little marks,
lumps and bumps are all part of it,

because, after all,
it's been through a w*r.

You know, imagine holding that over
your head - it got bumped around.

And, of course, the handle, now,
that has gone,

and we know an expert
who can actually do that.

The expert in question is
master saddler Suzie,

already busy with the mahjong case.

Hello, Suzie. I wonder if you could
have a look at this for me.

It's in a bit of a poor state,

but I'm sure it's something
right up your street.

Thank you so much.

What do you want me to do to it?

Just a basic clean.
OK.

But, obviously, the handle's
totally gone,

so, that I think, is the main part.
OK. Thank you very much.

I'll leave it with you. Thank you.
Thanks very much. Bye.

So, I just need to clean
this top first,

just to see exactly what colour
I need to match the leather to,

before I start blending the dyes.

I've got a mild detergent
that we use for delicate items.

And you can see on this cotton wool,
it's incredibly grimy.

It's only to be expected, really -
it's had quite the life.

What I'm going to propose to do now
is take the valves out.

A valve, in principle,
it's an amplifier -

that means it enlarges things.

So, if you imagine
you had a bucket of water,

your finger is a small signal.

You push into the water,
you create a wave, boof,

but a bigger version of the energy
you've just put into it.

You've amplified it,
and that's what these valves do.

They take a very small level signal,
and give you a much bigger one.

And this valve doesn't look like
it's any good.

Nothing's coming through.

Looks like the whole valves
will have to be replaced.

With the case cleaned,

Suzie has stained and colour-matched
a piece of leather

to create the new handle
for the radio.

Now what I'm going to do is
paint this black pattern on.

I keep thinking it looks like
a giraffe pattern.

So, I'm just going to use
an acrylic paint.

I'll just see how it goes.

Because there's no consecutive
pattern in what I can see,

I think the only way they could have
done it is to hand-paint it.

It's going to be a little bit of
a fun job - a little bit different.

On the opposite workbench,

Mark has sourced
a set of replacement valves.

All these valves
can only go one way,

and that one's in.

We'll go for the next one.

WHIRRING

Ah-hah. That is encouraging.

For most people, that sounds
like a horrible noise,

but, to me, it tells me so much

what's going on inside that radio
at the moment.

I know the audio stage is working -
we can hear it.

The aerial's reacting to my fingers.

That's a glorious sound,
and that tells me we are on our way.

The radio is coming back to life
in Mark's hands,

and the separate elements
of the grandfather clock

have been similarly resurrected.

It's amazing, the finish that
I'm getting here already.

It's going to look beautiful.

Now, all Steve needs to do
is put it back together.

Well, that's looking good.
Thanks.

Karen and Christine
are going to be here soon.

I need to get it all set up.

Slight look of panic on your face.
Yes. OK, come on, then.

Well, nice bit of teamwork.
Well done.

Any minute, they should be here.
I know.

Karen has returned

with lifelong friend and owner of
the grandfather clock, Christine.

Christine's here today
thinking that the clock is

in its originally
bad state of disrepair.

She has no idea that, actually,
the work has already been done.

I'd really love to have it back

in better condition
than it is at the moment.

I think it would just take me back

to that really happy time
in my childhood...

..where everything was, well,
just happy, and family were around.

Erm...

Just a link with the past, I guess.

Steve must play the part
of prospective clock mender,

and not let on to Christine
that he and Karen have met before.

Hello, I'm Steve.
Hi, I'm Chris.

Hi, Chris. Nice to meet you.
Hi, I'm Karen. Hi, Karen.

So, Karen has let us
have your grandfather clock in,

hopefully, to restore.
Yes.

And why would you like it restored?

It's very special to me.

I lost my parents
when I was a child,

and the clock was there, really,
when times were happier, I guess.

Well, I hope we can restore it
and make it look lovely for you.

If you'd like to come through
into the barn,

we'll have a look at it,
and then you can go through

exactly what you'd like us to do.

I think anything you can do to
improve it would be incredible.

OK, let's go through
and see what we can do. OK.

Thank you.

Right, Christine,
I'll take the sheet off

and then you can point out
exactly what you'd like me to do.

Oh, my God.

SHE SOBS

I'm going to have to hug you.
Thank you so much.

Thank you so much.

That is amazing.

Beautiful.
That is 1,000 times...

I didn't know what it looked
like before. Beautiful.

I don't think it was even that good
at my granny's. It's amazing.

I don't remember this at all.

No, that was just...

Thank you so much.
Can I give you a hug? Please do.

It's just incredible.

Oh, thank you so much.

And thank you.

THEY LAUGH

Anyway, it has taken me back
to six years old.

It's fantastic.

You weren't expecting that,
were you? I wasn't expecting that.

I'd have put waterproof mascara on,
had I known!

No, thank you both so much.
It's just incredible.

So, what I should ask you is,
would you like to wind the clock up?

I'd love to.

Right.

GENTLE CLICKING

Ooh, listen to that. It's beautiful.

Oh.

TICKING

CHIMING

I've shrunk about to there...

SHE LAUGHS

..and I feel like a little girl
looking up at it. Ah.

Wow.

It's been nerve-racking for us,
not letting the cat out of the bag.
I know...

Coming down today...
"When we came last time... Oh!"

Oh, have you been here before?
Oh, yes. Oh!

Oh, no!

I can now.

What a sign of a very, very
good friendship. You're very lucky.

Yeah. Oh, absolutely.
Yeah, we are.

Thank you. Thanks very much.
Thank you.

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

Come on.
Well done, mate. Well done, you.

And Cindy. Yes. Yeah.

SOBBING

Thank you so much.

Very emotional.

I just can't believe
how fantastic it looks.

I am just over the moon
that it has all worked out,

and unbelievable,
with Christine's reaction to it,

which is amazing,
cos I can just see how happy she is.

LAUGHTER

So, thank you. Yeah.

BIRDSONG

Suzie's got her hands full today.

While the paint dries on
the Dunkirk radio handle,

she can set about recreating
another one for the mahjong case.

Lindsay's handle -
absolutely beyond repair.

So, I think the best thing for me
to do is make a new handle.

I'm using three different
thicknesses of leather here.

I'm going to start glueing
the handle together.

This final portion
is going to be sewn down.

I've got to that point in my life
where threading needles

can take a little bit longer
than it used to!

There we go.

I used to laugh at my old master

because he used to give me
his needles to thread

and he said, "One day, Suzie,
you'll have this trouble."

It is nice when your stitching
is as neat on the front

as it is on the back,

and that is only achievable

through lots and lots
and lots of practice.

That's...the handle completed now,

and I can get on with
the rest of the case.

I'm liking how it's going together.

The major part of the job
has been completed,

which I'm really pleased about.

Elsewhere in the workshop,

Mark is working on a power source
for the portable wartime radio.

The radio requires
a 90-volt HT to operate.

Now, those sort of batteries
have not been available,

really, since the early parts
of the 1970s.

So, we have to make them up,

and that means we take nine
of these, put them in series -

that is, one after the other -

and the result is we then get
our 90-volt battery requirement.

OK, we're checking
the batteries now.

So, we've got nine volts,
that's 18...

We'll just go up in increments
of nine volts each time.

And now, with this last one, we will
then be hitting 90 volt under load.

So, that tells me
the battery's perfectly OK

and that's ready, then,
to go into the case.

Before installing the battery,

Mark wants to add one last detail
for authenticity.

This is an exact copy of how
the radio could have been fitted

back in the early 1940s.

Hello. Ah, hello.

I've got a present for you.
Oh, right. You might be needing...

THEY HUM A FANFARE

Here's your new handle. Wow.

Now, look at that. That is superb.
Wow, wow, wow.

So, that's going to work, is it?
Oh, crikey, yeah. Well done.

Now I've got this, I can now
actually stop putting the radio

back in its case.

I look forward to seeing it all back
together. Yeah, so will I. OK.

All right, good luck with that.
Thanks, Suzie. Bye.

With the final touches in place,
the radio is reassembled

and ready for owner David
to collect.

Oh, I'm very excited.
I can't wait, to be honest with you.

It's so important for me
to hear the radio going again

because of the fact that
my father went through a lot

to fetch it back over to the UK.

And my mother treasured the radio.
She treasured everything of his.

It means everything
just to get it going again.

Hello, David.
Hello, Mark.

Nice to meet you again.
Nice to meet you.

Obviously, you're here for
one special reason. I am, yeah.

Well, let's see
what we've done for you.

Oh, that's fantastic.

That's fantastic.

The handle -
how did you do the handle?

Somebody's very clever
at doing handles, yes.

That is brilliant.

That is better than
what I expected it to be.

Oh, that's good.
It really is.

I'm sure there's two people
looking down on this

and clapping their hands.

HE LAUGHS

I couldn't be happier, to be honest
with you, couldn't be happier.

I didn't think it would
ever turn out like that.

So, you couldn't be happier.
But what happens, you know,

if we could actually make it work?
Oh!

It would be the icing on the cake,
wouldn't it?

Right. Well, OK, what we need to do
is see if I can switch on for you.

STATIC HISSES

MUSIC: Could It Be Magic
by Take That

# Baby, take me
high upon a hillside... #

So, it's working.
You're a magician.

Er, well, not quite as good as that,
but we try to get near to that mark.

Oh, that is brilliant.

Thank you so much. It's been
a great pleasure. Thank you so much.

He'd be over the moon,
he really would.

He'd be so proud to hear it
going again, yeah.

It's a magic radio, a magic story,

and all of us have enjoyed playing
our part to get it going for you.

Oh, that's brilliant.

Thank you. Enjoy it all.
I will. Thank you very much.

I feel very, very excited.

Words can't explain it.

Basically, I've waited so long
to hear the radio going,

and to see it done up
in such a fantastic condition,

I'm over the moon.

They've done a fantastic job.

I couldn't have wished
for it to be better. So happy.

With her workbench cleared of
duties on the radio,

Suzie can focus on
completing the mahjong case.

It's clear that whoever made
this case in the first place

really wanted to make the stitching
part of its overall design,

because it stands out so much,

and they've chosen
to use white thread.

If you use white on black or brown
or anything like that,

you're going to notice it.

It's holding the case together
but it's a nice part of the design.

It sort of puts a nice line
all the way around.

The new stitching and handle
look the part,

but they also need to be functional.

The next test is for me to put all
the pieces back in, all the trays,

and they really are quite heavy.

So, this really is
the moment of truth.

Everything's there, nice and tight.

Let's see how this goes.

And that is an awful lot
of weight on that handle,

but I have every confidence in it.
It's not going to break.

It was owner Lindsay's dream to be
able to carry the mahjong case

to and from her weekly games.

I'm feeling excited and nervous
both at the same time.

I have missed having it
in the house.

It's been in my family for 66 years,
so it's got soul to it.

Hello, Lindsay. Hello. Lovely to see
you again. And you, Suzie.

How are you doing? I'm all right.
OK. I'm quite excited.

So... A bit scared, too.
I don't know why. I don't know why.

Don't ask me why. I'm...

That was going to be
my question - why?

LAUGHTER

I knew the box for 66 years
the way it was,

and suddenly it's going to
be different.

So... Yes.

I suppose we'd better put you
out of your misery. Thank you.

Ready? I'm ready.
OK, here we go.

Oh!

That's so beautiful.

And it looks like my mahjong case.

I was slightly worried
it might be so different

that I wouldn't recognise it,

and even my mum would recognise it.

That's lovely.
Yeah, it's perfect.

Can I undo it?

Oh, it works perfectly.

It's very clever what you've done

because I can't see
how you've done it.

HE LAUGHS

Excellent.

Your reaction has just made my day.

It's incredible.

Have you missed it?
I have missed it.

I know it sounds silly.

It's had a presence in the house.

There's been a hole,
a little hole where it was... Yeah.

..and now it is filled again.

What do you think your mother would
think if she were to see the case?

I think she'd be feeling proud
that she thought to buy it

60-odd years ago.

Her heart would be so pleased
to see it in such good condition.

Yeah. Thank you.

Well, Lindsay,
it's been an utter pleasure.

Thank you.
Thank you so much.

I'd like to give you a hug.
Please.

Oh. Come on round.
Thank you so much.

Thank you. May you enjoy it.

Do you know, it's really weird,
I'm scared to lift it

because if I had done that before...
Don't be scared.

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

I'm totally delighted.

I love it, and it feels
as though I can now use it

for the purpose it was made.

I was slightly worried that it would
be unrecognisable, but it isn't -

it's totally recognisable
as my mahjong case.

Join us next time for more
pieces of precious history...

It's just like,
wow, that's unbelievable.

..in The Repair Shop.