13x04 - WW2 recipie & coding book, a Zanzibar bowl, a fire extinguisher & an Irish hor...

[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 could 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...

- Ah!

- Oh!

- Take it away, Mark.

- ..and unlock the stories that they
hold.

- Hey!

- Oh, my God!

- It's like it's brand-new.

- You're a wizard.

- Thank you so much!

- First at the barn, a memento with a
double life

from the Second World w*r.

Claire Vassiloulis from Manchester is
bringing it in

for bookbinder Chris Shaw.

- Hello.

How are you doing?

- I'm fine. Are you?
- I'm very good.

That is in, um...
- Yeah.

- Yeah, that's in a condition, isn't
it?

- It's not in the best shape.

- What is it meant to be?

- It is my late grandma's 80-year-old
notebook, with all her recipes

that she used to bake a lot.

We used to bake together, and I loved
it when I was a kid.
- Aw.

And Grandma's name?
- Jean.
- Jean?
- Yeah.

- So what recipes are in there, and
what did she use to bake?

- So, lemon pudding. That's amazing.
- Yeah?

- And that ginger parkin's really
nice, as well.

- Oh, God, it's really used.
- Treacle sponge - that's good, as
well.

- Yeah, that is used.

So these are the recipes that you used
to make with her, as well?

- Yeah. So we thought it was just a
recipe book.

But when I inherited it when she died
in 2012...
- OK.

- ..it had all her notes in it from
when she was in the Wrens

in the w*r.
- What's the Wrens?

- It's the Women's Royal Naval
Service.
- Oh.

- So she was a telegraphist

in the listening station in HMS
Flowerdown.

So she was deciphering codes.

So this is all her notes that she was
taught

when she was in there, which is all
very secretive

because they weren't allowed to talk
about it...
- Yeah.

- ..until the '70s.
- Goodness me!

- So you've got, like, the Christmas
cake,

but then you've got short cypher.

So some code in there with a Christmas
cake

and then you've got... ginger cake.
- Yeah.

- And then you've got this Knar
Transportation,

which is to do with Japanese coding.

- Cor blimey!
- Blimey!
- Yeah.

- So when you was baking with your
grandmother, you didn't see

any of those kind of codes in there?

- No, no. No, I was just too busy
licking the spoon

and stirring the pot.
- So would I!

Yeah, that would be me.

I'm not looking at the recipe.

How old was she when she joined the
Wrens, then?

- I think she was probably about 18,


She was underground, 12-hour shifts.

They were listening in...
- Yeah.

- ..for the coding and all the
information

that they were getting was sent to
Bletchley Park.

- To Bletchley Park?
- Yeah.

- Enigma, Alan Turing, all of that.
- Yeah.

- Bletchley Park's Enigma code
breakers

depended on listening posts -

known as Y-stations - to intercept
enemy communications,

and women from all three of the
military services

played a critical role in achieving
this.

- So when she was in the w*r effort,

she just couldn't talk about anything.

- Couldn't talk about anything. They
signed the Secrets Act.

I mean, we knew she was in the Wrens,
but we didn't know

the sort of work she was doing and how
clever it was.

- And important.
- Important, yeah.

I was just really proud of her.

- And was she ever recognised? Because
I know...

- In 2009 she got given a certificate
and a medal,

that she was chuffed to bits about.

- Oh, so she was pleased?
- Oh, yeah.

Yeah, yeah, she was.

She was amazing.
- Brilliant.
- Yeah.

And that book is her in a book.
- Yeah.

- It's her baking and it's her code
work.

- What would you like me to do?

- I would just like it to not fall to
bits!

Just to bind it together...
- Yes.

- ..so that we can use it as a book.

- I feel we need to have a code name
for the job that I'm doing now!

- LAUGHTER

- Look at you!
- I'm there.

- You're quite excited, aren't you?
- I am, yeah.

- Thank you for bringing this in.

It's been a real pleasure.
- Thank you.

- And thank you for setting this young
man up

with an unbelievable challenge!

- Yeah.
- Nice to meet you.

- You take care.
- Take care.
- OK.
- Thanks.

Bye-bye.
- Bye-bye.
- Bye.
- Bye.

- I can't quite believe what I have in
front of me.

A cookbook, a spy book.

I've never, ever in my life had
something

like this in front of me.

It's phenomenal.

Operation Ginger Parkin,

I think I'll call this repair.

Condition of the book,

the boards are completely shattered.

This is so important to keep
absolutely everything,

so I'm going to lift off all the front
cover -

likewise with the back -

give it new boards, give it new paper
and then remount

everything so it'll look the same.

For me, that seems quite easy compared
to the actual text.

There's page loss,

it's all folded, and before I can
start doing any repair,

I need to get them flat.

So it's going to be a slow process.

I'm going to have to iron every single
page, every single crease.

But I like a challenge.

- History enthusiast Geoffrey Robinson
has travelled to the barn

from Worlingworth in Suffolk.

He's hoping mechanical maestro Dominic
Chinea can save a rare

contraption dating back more than 250
years.

- Hello. Welcome to the barn.

Lovely to meet you.

And you must be the owner of this
beautiful thing.

- Well, I'm not the owner, but the
parish owns it.

- OK.

- It's our 1760 parish fire engine.

- 1760?
- Yeah.

- Goodness me!

- It was given to the parish at that
time by the lord of the manor,

because we had no fire protection.

- So this was the fire truck for the
village?

- Yes.
- This is it. Did it work?
- Yeah.

It was used on a number of occasions
in our parish.

Now, there was one very well known
event which occurred

on the 18th of December, 1914.

I could read out a newspaper cutting,
if you want.

- Yeah, for sure.
- Yeah.

"So at about 5:00 on the morning of
the 18th,

"the Framlingham Fire Brigade received
a summons

"to proceed to Worlingworth, the scene
of the fire

"being the carpenter shop belonging to
Mr David Collins.

"Several willing helpers were soon on
the scene and, with the aid

"of their fire engine, they succeeded
in saving the house

"adjoining, which was only slightly
damaged."

- That's incredible, isn't it?
- Isn't it?

- To think this has saved lives, saved
people's houses.

- Absolutely.

- And, really, that the whole
community, the whole village

relied on this for so long.
- Yes.

It was used until 1927.

- Wow!

- Since then, it's been stored
essentially in the church,

and we think it hasn't worked for
nearly 100 years.

- So are you familiar with how this
actually works?

- I am. To best demonstrate, it would
be best to put the poles

in through the handles.
- Through here?

- Yep.

The other men would be using buckets
to fill the box on the engine

itself, and then the two men on each
of the poles would then

just use these, and the pistons
alternate to give a continuous

stream of water through the nozzle.

- Ah, look at that.

So what are you - or the community -
hoping I can do to the pump?

- Well, first and foremost, we'd like
it to work again -

that would be absolutely fantastic -

because this is really part of the
village's history.

It really is.

And we want to use it again for
village events

to raise money for good causes

if it could be got working again.

- Bring it back to life?
- Absolutely.

- I'm honoured, I really am honoured.

Thank you very, very much for trusting
me with it.

It really does mean a lot.

- Thank you for taking it on, Dom.

- I'll do my best.
- Thank you.

- See you later.
- Thank you.

- This is probably one of the oldest
things I've worked on

certainly in a very long time.

And I think the most amazing thing
about it for me

is how complete it is.

There are some areas where we're going
to have to interfere.

Woodworm, unfortunately, has got hold
of it quite badly -

I'm missing a whole handle here.

I might have to recruit Will to give
me a hand and turn me some

new parts, and make a new few bits of
the woodwork.

Before I take this all apart,

I'd quite like to actually put some
water in it and see

if it'll come to life.

Brenton's run to get me a bucket of
water -

we're going to pour it in the
reservoir,

give it a pump, see what happens.

- Someone said there was a fire?

- Oh, Brenton!

Don't worry, we're fully equipped.

Grab on your handle. Shall I pump?
- Go on, then.

- Hang on. Steady.

- Good job there isn't a fire.

- Yeah, yeah. It's good.

- I'm going to stop doing that now.

That is...

- There's just nothing happening.
- That needs fixing.

- Well, the problem is the seals and
the valves are all deep

in there in the bottom of the machine,

so I'm going to have to take this
whole mechanism out to get

in there - whether it's replacing
seals, greasing things up,

I don't know.

- And you'll have to fix that leak, as
well.

- What leak?

Oh, you're kidding!

Another job!

- The pages are now all flat and I'm
really happy with that.

I've got to now start infilling all
these little bits

of missing paper.

I've found sort of a nice vintage
paper, and I'm just going to sort of

cut around the original, which will
give me the pattern

on the new bit of paper that I'm going
to then stick in place

with some Japanese tissue.

So there you can see,

that's the jigsaw that I'm going to
stick down in place there.

I'm going to put one piece of tissue
on this side,

and then I'm going to flip it over and
put another piece

along the back of that.

So it's a Victoria sponge with
Japanese tissue on the outside,

and this is the buttercream in the
middle.

This will dry really clear.

It's very, very thin because obviously
I don't want to put

anything on top that will hide any of
the recipes.

So I put silicone release on top.

And then...

In between some blotting paper, put it
under a press.

Just need to leave to dry before I
start filling in

all the other edges.

I think I counted 50 - 50 to do.

- Londoner Zarina Jafferjee owns a
precious reminder of her earlier

life in East Africa.

But it needs Kirsten Ramsay's
expertise in ceramics.

- Come on in. Pop it down.

- Welcome.

I've got that for you.

- Thank you.

- Goodness me!

This bowl looks like it's been in the
wars.

Can you tell me about it?

- You put water in it and drink it.

- Is it ceremonial?

- Not ceremonial.

This is a healing bowl,

and it can help you with your health.

- Did it actually work as a healing
bowl?

- Well, I felt better!

- This looks like an Arabic text.

Is that correct?
- Yes.

And, unfortunately, I'm not 100% sure
the meaning.

- OK.
- Do you know how old the bowl is?

- I was told maybe it is 1890.

- 1890?
- Gosh!

- So how come you own it now, then?

- I was given as a present by Princess
Amal, who happens

to be a good friend of mine.

- Princess?
- Your friend was a princess?

- Yes.
- Really?
- Yes.

In Zanzibar, an island in the east
coast of Africa.

Princess Amal Sayyid Khalifa bin
Harub.

But I call her Amal.

I went with her in secondary school.

Whenever I visited her at the palace,

this bowl was in her bedroom and I
used to admire it.

- In the years prior to a revolution
in 1964, a dynasty of sultans

ruled a small island territory of
Zanzibar,

which was a British protectorate.

Princess Amal's home was their palace
at the capital.

- What was it like being friends with
a princess?

- She was a very nice, jolly person

and very friendly, educated.

She was just a friend, you know?

- You talk so casually about your
friend being a princess

and visiting the palace.

That must have been amazing as a
child!

- Yes.

Zanzibar is a small island, very
friendly.

We have no formalities, you know?

Anybody can talk to royal family, as
well.

When I was leaving in 1961 to come
here for studies,

she presented it to me.

She thought this was a good gift.

The good memory.

- That's so sweet.

It must have been a bit of a sad sort
of goodbye.

- Yes, it was.

She was a good friend of mine, you
know.

After I come to London,

then the revolution took place, and
the Sultan

was kicked out of Zanzibar and they
moved to Oman.

I used to visit them and they used to
come to London often.

She died about 15 years ago in London.

I was there with her in the hospital.

- Goodness! So, the bowl,

it's really significant to you,
clearly.

How was this bowl broken?

- My sister was cleaning the house,
and she knocked it

and it broke.

- Oh!
- Oh, no.

- We tried to fix it, but it wasn't
the same, so we gave up.

We didn't have a heart to throw it
away.

- Music to my ears!

- I want to bring the memory back of
my friend, Princess Amal,

and the memory of Zanzibar.

- That's amazing. It's lovely to hear
that you've still got

that connection with Zanzibar.

And it clearly means a huge amount to
you.
- Yes.

- Beautiful.

- It's been lovely to meet you.
- Lovely to meet you, as well.

Thank you very much.
- Thank you.

- And thank you very much.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.

- Well, considering it's a healing
bowl...

- I need to get healing it!

- Good luck.
- Lovely. Thank you, Dom.

I've got all of the main elements of
the bowl here.

I have got a few chips that are
missing.

Zarina tried to put this back together
with her sister,

and there's evidence of adhesive
that's gone quite yellow,

and it spilled out of the cracks and
really looks quite unsightly.

My approach is going to be to try and
dismantle the old repair,

get this really, really clean,

remove the old adhesive that's on
these break edges.

So I'm going to apply paint stripper
to the break edges

and hopefully that will soften the
adhesive for me.

- So the page is now all mended,
trimmed.

It's fantastic.

And now I have to turn my attention to
the outer cover - which, wherever

you look, there's some damage.

I can't save the board, but it's
important I save the paper.

This is a rather...

hold-your-breath sort of moment.

I have to be careful with it because
otherwise I could rip it.

I'm almost there on most fronts.

It's putting up a fight till the end.

So that's come off really well.

I'm just now left with this layer of
board that I just need to very

carefully peel away, just to leave the
paper at the end.

You can start to see glimpses of the
back of the paper,

and that's what I want to get to.

It is going to take a bit of time, and
once I've done this, I can do

that for the back, as well, and then I
can start thinking

about remounting them.

- Now I've got the pump mechanism
taken completely apart,

I can see why it didn't work.

So many components are just broken and
perished and deteriorated.

All these leather seals - every single
one of them is dried up,

hard, brittle, broken.

They all need remaking.

These cup seals on the ends of these
plungers

are a really critical part.

And they should be

a super tight fit in there

to push the water down the tube,

sh**t the water up into the tank and
then out the end

of the hose.

It all starts with these cup seals,
and I'm going to have to make some

tooling to remake these.

I need to make a mould, essentially,
and then press the lever

into the mould.

Hopefully when I take it out, it will
fit nice and tightly

in the bore.

Hopefully.

So I need to get measuring these and
transfer my measurements

to the wood and start cutting.

Now I've finished making the mould for
my leather cup seals,

I've got the hydraulic press out.

This basically is going to push this
top part in to the bottom part

with four tons of pressure if I need
it - and judging by the thickness

of the leather, I think I'm going to
need all four tons!

If I've got one measurement slightly
wrong, this might not work,

but there's only one way to find out.

All right.

I've got four of these to make.

This is the first one.

Oh, look at that.

It's going in really nicely.

That's it, that's the bottom there.

I've got an anxious wait now for it to
all set in that position.

- Well, Dom's asked me if I can help
replace these two wooden handles.

My friend Mr Woodworm has really given
these a once-over.

So I found some lovely oak,

and I'm going to turn new handles.

- OK, time to release the pressure on
the press.

There it goes.

This is quite exciting.

I'm quite nervous.

It's so tight in there.

This leather is so tough.

Oh, goodness me, right.

And look at that.

The leather has formed into the shape
that is almost identical

to the original.

I couldn't be happier.

I'm looking forward to now making
three more.

We're a big step closer to getting
this pump working.

- Pages aren't a book until you get a
cover.

And that's what I'm going to
concentrate on now.

So I'm going to give it some new
boards.

I'm giving it some new paper sides.

And at the end, I'm going to mount the
original paper sides down

and then sort of blend it in.

But the first thing I need to do is
give it a new cloth spine.

Basically...

..like Jean,

I'm creating a secret book underneath
the original.

As I'm progressing with...

..Operation Ginger Parkin,

you do realise that every single page
is a memory.

The whole point of a bookbinder is to
protect the pages -

this is what this cover's doing -

so I am building in so much strength.

And what I want to do is be able to
hand it back to Claire

and it's going to last generations.

So this is the front cover on.

And now I'm going to mount the
original back in its position...

..which is quite an exciting moment.

It's all sort of coming together and
sort of slightly unnerving,

but it's the high-stakes,
high-velocity world of bookbinding

that I'm living in, so...

It does look... It looks great.

I'm really happy.

I now need to do that to the back
cover

and then I can sew the pages together.

- Having steamed the edges of the
Zanzibar bowl

and got it really lovely and clean,

I'm now starting to piece the bits
back together.

I haven't got any adhesive on these
edges yet.

I'm putting this together dry

and adding little bits of tape

just to pull the pieces together,

and you can feel when the pieces lock
together

in the correct position

and those joins almost disappear.

Now I've got a slightly tricky area on
the rim.

I've got a variety of pieces here that
I'm going to have to balance.

This is so fiddly -

there are very, very few points of
contact and it's quite difficult

to get that alignment.

That's the final piece in place.

It's a little bit precarious,

but I've got some tape holding them
there,

and I'm now ready to introduce the
adhesive

into the joins.

I'm using conservation-grade epoxy
resin

and I'm going to introduce

a little bit of titanium white.

And this just helps to disguise those
break lines.

You can see the adhesive being drawn
down into the cracks.

I'm going to continue running the
adhesive

into all of these bond lines.

Then, once it's cured, it's a case of
filling any of these areas

of loss and the chips using a
colour-fill technique.

- Replacement leather seals for the
old fire pump are complete,

and Dom has switched his focus to
eliminating leaks from the system.

- This is the main central part where
the two plungers actually both meet,

and all the water gets passed through
this point,

and there's a joint between the two
pieces, and unfortunately,

that joint has failed.

I now need to introduce some more
solder into these cracks

to seal them up and make this all
watertight again.

I need to heat this up to a point that
my new solder will flow in

and join with the old solder, but not
too much

that all of this original lead starts
melting away.

Slow and steady, I think, is the best
approach -

this is not going to be
straightforward.

OK.

You know what? I'm quite pleased with
that.

It's not the neatest,

but I can spend some time now and tidy
that up.

The most important thing is that it's
watertight.

- Well, the original front and back
covers now are all mounted,

but there's a bit of blending that I
now need to do

between the old and new,

and that's just a matter of using some
watercolour

just to sort of give it a bit of a
lift and take the eye away

from any sort of blemishes.

This has been a really fascinating
book - really, really unique.

But knowing now that Claire can handle
this book,

talk about Jean and her amazing
achievements -

I'm really looking forward to handing
this back to Claire.

- The disintegrating notebook is an
extraordinary record

of a young woman's contribution to
cracking enemy codes

during the Second World w*r.

- Claire's going to love that.

- Let's hope.

- For Claire, it's a testament to her
granny's service

and to happy times cooking together.

- Here she is.
- Hi.
- Hello.

How are you?
- I'm fine, are you?

- Yeah. You excited?
- Yeah, very!

- You're excited, aren't you, Chris?
- I am, yeah, it's been remarkable.

What a book!
- Yeah.

It's just my grandma's life, really.

- Go on, Chris, show her.

- Oh, my God!

- WHISPERS:
- It's amazing. Thank you.

Wow!

Oh, that's amazing.

It doesn't crumble in my hands any
more.

It's just my grandma in a book.

Just...

Yes, happy times.

Just being with her in the kitchen.

- Yeah.
- On the chair.

Pinny on.
- Yeah.
- Yeah.

You know, it's her two parts of her
life.

She baked all the time.

And before she baked, she...did
coding!

- LAUGHTER

- Yeah.

And the fact that they're hidden
amongst the recipes just showed you

how secretive it was.
- Yeah.

It's a secret that she kept for such a
long time.
- Yeah.

- Well, it's yours now to take home.
- Yes.

- The only thing I say is, when you do
bake something,

don't forget us.
- I won't.

- We both like cake, don't we?
- Yes.

- LAUGHTER

- You take care now.

- Right, bye. Thank you. Bye.

I felt just overwhelmed, really.

I don't think I'd really thought about
what it would look like.

And just to see it there, looking new,
but looking old,

it's better than I ever thought it
would look.

It just makes me feel emotional
looking at it, because it's my

memories of my grandma and baking
together.

It's very, very, very special.

- After a career in IT, Sarah Hatton
discovered her true vocation

was willow weaving, and she hasn't
looked back since.

- You've been busy?
- Always.
- That's what I like to hear.
- Yeah.

- You're going to be busy on this one,
I tell you.

- Bringing in the treasure that'll
keep Sarah busy

are couple Anne Hart and Dara Vallely

of the Armagh Rhymers performance
group from Northern Ireland.

- There we are. Hello.

How are we doing?
- Hello. How are you?

- Very good, thank you.

Who's your friend?

- Well, this is Macha.

- Macha. Macha.

- And she's a horse goddess.

- A horse goddess? OK.

- The old mythological tale of Macha

goes back to at least the Iron Age.

She's very important in Irish
mythology, and she's very important

in the work that we do.

- And what is the work that you do?

- We're involved in education.

We go from school to school with
storytelling

and music and dance.
- Yeah.

- So we have five or six other group
members, and they'll take on

various characters.

- And they're wearing a mask, as well.

- They're also multi-instrumentalists,
so there's a lot of music.

- They're carrying on an old tradition
of mumming - or rhyming.

- Where does the tradition come from?

- It was really groups of like-minded
people -

maybe they played an instrument, tell
a story or say a poem,

or sing a song, or do a wee bit of a
dance -

who travelled around the countryside
from as far back as the Celtic

period, when people were living in
very isolated farmsteads.

- The people in the house know they're
going to be pulled up for a dance.

That could go back 2,000 years now.

- So years ago they started this as a
form of entertainment,

and then you're just keeping that same
tradition going?

- Entertainment and keeping the
community together.

- The rhymer is seen as the healer,
right?

So maybe in the '70s, that was our
idea because, with the Troubles

at home, people weren't mixing and
coming together, you know?

So you had a separate educational
system for Catholics

and for Protestants.

Seven of us got together and we
started going out to schools.

- Schools could meet in a neutral
venue, and they would

have the rhymers in.

All sides could buy into this
tradition, because all sides

in the past had practised it.
- Yeah.

- And it's part of the children's
heritage to know about Macha.

And what child can't identify with a
giant puppet playing music?

- Kids love the horse.
- Yeah.

- Anne plays the part of the horse
goddess.
- OK.

- Well, I...turn myself into a horse!

- Oh, my goodness!
- Oh, wow.

- And it's a hinge mask, as well.

I would ask the horse a question - are
you a horse?

- PFFFFFT!

- You see, the horse can't speak.

- So what is wrong with it?

And what would you like me to fix?

- Well, come on, this girl doesn't
have her ears any more.

She's earless.

These flowers are hiding a multitude
of problems, believe me.

- Those flowers are the veil is just
covering up...

- That's covering up...
- ..the massive hole that's there?

- Yeah, look at that now - isn't that
awful there?

- Wow.
- Oh, yes.

And then it's been worn away here.
- Absolutely.

- This is about 50 years old.

So it's a challenge.
- It is, yes.

It is a challenge.

- We're very grateful. Really.
- Thank you.

- Very grateful.
- Yeah.

Goodbye, horse.
- Oh, yeah.
- Oh.

- You'll be reunited soon.

- We look forward to seeing you.

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

- Nice.

- I actually own a horse and a
Shetland pony,

so I see horses every day of my life,
but I've never actually woven

a willow horse before, so it's a
fantastic item to work on

and you can see the quality,

but there are parts that really need
quite a bit of work.

I have to fix the hole in the head
before the ear can go back on.

I've also got the mouthpiece to fix
because it is quite worn

and it is breaking a little bit.

And interestingly, it's made of cane,
rather than willow.

I do a lot of willow weaving.

I've only started cane work in the
past few years,

so it's going to be a challenge.

So I'm just going to start giving it a
light brush off

and then I'll crack on with this hole.

- The bowl is now back together, and
the pieces

have aligned beautifully.

And...

- RINGING

- ..it's got that beautiful ring back
to it,

which means that all the pieces have
bonded together.

And now I can think about filling
these areas.

I've mixed up a filling material.

It's an epoxy resin that's been bulked
with fumed silica.

I now need to try and match the colour

to the white of the bowl,

and I'm going to start with white.

And a little bit of...

..raw umber.

It's not going to make this brown, but
what it's going to do is

it's just going to tone it down
slightly.

So I'm just going to push that into
this area here.

So that looks great.

I've got quite a few fills to do on
this bowl,

so I'm going to work my way around.

And once those have hardened off,

I can smooth them back and then start

to get this beautiful green colour
back.

- Having cleaned the horse mask, Sarah
can begin using her weaving skills.

- I'm now going to start filling this
hole in,

so I'm going to add some pieces of
willow

alongside the willow that's there
already,

to make a span of willow that I can
then weave in and out of.

So I've soaked this willow in water -

it makes it nice and flexible -

and I'm using the natural curve

to go with the curve of the horse's
head.

Every item that I fix has got its own
little challenges.

This one, for example, because it's 50
years old,

I've got to be very careful because
I'm forcing the willow in

down the side of another piece,

and I don't want to break what's
already there.

You've got to be very delicate, yet
forceful.

That's filled that gap really nicely
and it feels quite sturdy,

so I'm really pleased with that.

That's the last piece in, and you can
see that it's shaped

the horse's head, and it's given me
the vertical pieces that I can weave

finer pieces of willow - the willow
skeins - in and out of.

I'm now going to make some skeins.

So you take quite a thick piece of
willow and then you use

your metal top cleave.

And then it splits the willow into
three sections.

So now we need to shave out the pith
from the centre of the willow

until it's fine enough to be a willow
skein.

It makes it easier to weave through
the gaps.

I'm taking it into a nice arc because
I'm trying my best

not to bend the willow.

You don't really want it to break.

I've finished filling this hole in,

so now I need to start fixing the ears
back on.

I'm just forcing it in.

So those skeins that I just added hold
it nice and tight.

We don't want little children's hands

being able to pull these ears out.

That already feels quite stable,

so I am going to add some skeins
coming from the ear

and into the weaving, just to
completely secure it.

And now I'm going to weave this skein
into the head...

..and then pull it through.

Ooh!

This is quite awkward, and I do wish
my arms were about a foot longer.

Ooh!

One more'll do it, I think.

It's always best to be safe.

Ooh.

I'll have to have a little lie down
now, after this.

- SHE EXHALES

- This is the first test, and bearing
in mind this pump hasn't worked

since the 1920s,

this is quite a big day.

Let's see what happens.

Was that a little sign of life?

Yeah, look! Ah!

With a bit more enthusiasm, I can...
Look!

- DOM CHUCKLES

- Wow.

This - my hand is restricting the
water flow,

which is what the end of the hose will
be doing.

Look at it go, it's hitting the roof!

Brilliant!

Really now just got the last few
pieces to bolt on,

the bits of sort of trim, the wheels.

The end is in sight, but for now I
need to change my socks

because I'm soaking wet.

- The pump fought fires in its Suffolk
village for over 150 years,

but in the last century, wear and
woodworm had rendered it useless.

Geoff and the community believe it can
find a new purpose,

priming the pumps as a fundraiser for
good causes.

- Geff.
- Dom.
- How are you?

- I'm great, actually.

Everybody's been talking about it in
the village.

- Have they really?
- Yes, absolutely.

- If you're able to take it back in
working condition,

how would that feel?

- It's just going to be amazing.

- Yeah.

- Absolutely amazing.

- OK.

Well, are you ready?

- I am. I hope I am, yes.

Wow.

That is just amazing.

It's all beautifully clean and it's
fantastic.

- Will has been very helpful. He's
made these...
- Of course, yeah.

Because one of these was completely
broken.

- Yeah, they've both - I've had to
replace both of them.
- Wow.

- But they are like for like.

- I think this is fantastic.

And everybody back in Worlingworth is
going to look at this

and just say, "Wow."

It's amazing, it really is.

- Do you fancy trying to give it a go
now?

- Yeah, wouldn't mind giving it a go,
actually.

- I'll grab a few more hands from the
barn.
- Yeah.

- Guys!

Here they come.

- Hi, Dom.
- Call in the reinforcements.

- Oh, look at that.

- Hey, guys.

- This is really exciting.
- It is, isn't it?

- How far do you think it's going to
go?

- I don't know - I hope there's nobody
out there!

- OK, everyone ready?

- Yep.
- Yes.
- Rich, you're on the water.

I'm on the water.
- Yeah.
- I'm there. OK, right.

Nice and gently.

Here we go.

- Here we go.

- Wahey! Yeah!

- There we go!

- Rich, you'd better keep the water
coming.

- I'm coming!

- Come on, Chris. You pushing?!

- Yeah.
- That is just amazing.

- Come on, Rich, we're running out!

That is amazing.
- Here we go.

- Wow.

- Well...
- That is just incredible.

- ..what do you think?
- I can't really...

..believe it at the moment, that...

..when this comes home, we can just
show everybody that it works.

This is a fantastic thing.

- Thank you. I will now get this
cleaned up.

I'll get it drained and all tidied up
for you

and sent back to the village.
- Great. That's absolutely fantastic.

- Thanks for trusting us. See you
later.

- See you, Geoff.
- Cheerio.

- See you.
- Thank you.

- Well done, mate.
- What a job.

What a job.

- This means a lot to Worlingworth and
to the community.

To see this engine working again,

it's unbelievable because I've never
seen it working before

and neither has anybody else in the
village.

When it just shot out and went so far
into the distance,

I just thought, "Yes, that is
amazing."

I think it's going to be a very proud
moment when it returns home.

It's going to be fantastic.

- I finished the top of the head.

Now I've moved on to the nose.

I thought it was just the piece on the
front that needed replacing,

but when I looked at it closer, the
sides are quite worn, as well,

so I think it really is just best to
replace the whole section.

I'm going to start cutting this off
now.

There's no other way to get it off
other than cutting it out.

This nose section, as well as the lip,
is actually cane,

so the willow comes all the way down
the nose and then the cane

is woven around the willow.

Willow is grown in this country, but
cane is grown mainly in Asia.

They are completely different plants.

The cane is very flexible...

..so it is really handy to use it with
this fine work on the nose.

So this is actually going quite well.

I'm going to finish this section and
then I'm going to stain the cane

in the horse's head a deeper colour so
that it matches

what's there already.

- The bowl has really come on

and I'm at the final stage now.

I'm just retouching in

a few of the petals on this motif.

I'm using an acrylic medium

to carry the gold powder

and a very, very fine brush

because this is quite fine work.

I'm really looking forward

to showing Zarina her bowl.

I hope that it will...take her back

to those happy times with her best
friend,

and remind her of that link to
Zanzibar

that's clearly so strong.

- This bowl was a parting gift from a
young princess

to a dear companion,

but fate had not been kind to it.

More than 60 years on, Zarina hopes to
see the important symbol

of her East African youth restored.

- Hi, Zarina.

- Hi. How are you?

- Very well.
- Good to see you.

What a day.
- What a day.

- I know, I know.
- It's dreadful.

- Are you excited?
- Very much, yes, yes.

Of course, it has got a good memory of
my friend Princess Amal.

We have spent a lot of happy time
together in Zanzibar.

And now she is no more in this world.

- Would you like to see it? Are you
ready?
- Of course, yes.

Looking forward.

- OK.

- Oh, dear!

I can't believe it!

What I saw in '61, is just the same.

It is magical.

- Oh...

- I never expected in this sort of
condition.

Beautiful, beautiful.

My goodness.

Thank you.

Fabulous work.

It takes me back to Zanzibar and
memory of my friend.

Oh, dear.

- This bowl is beautiful.

And obviously, while I've been working
on it,

I've been looking at this script.

So...

..we've had it translated.

- "Peace and tranquillity from the
soul of our beloved master.

"Drink from this cup with conviction,

"and forever one will be...

.."enlightened."

- It's beautiful.
- It's beautiful.

Thank you.

I don't know how you did it.

Thank you very much.

- Would you like me to carry it for
you?
- I would appreciate it.

- OK.

- The bowl looks beautiful.

It brings me the memory of my
childhood and my friend,

Princess Amal, who was so kind to give
me this bowl.

I'm very excited to take it home and
enjoy it

and keep on looking at it.

- I've finished weaving the cane

and I've actually stained the cane
now, as well,

so it's a little bit darker,

so it matches the colour of the nose.

And now I'm moving on to

colouring this willow at the top.

So the willow has got almost

like a sheen over the top of it.

So it's better to paint the willow.

I'm painting it with acrylics, but
then I'm going to varnish it

over the top because that will hold
the paint onto the willow.

I really hope that Dara and Anne

will be happy with the mask,

and I'm hoping it stays nice and
robust for all the children.

- Over 50 years of performance had
left the Macha mask

more broken-down nag than fiery steed.

- Ooh! Now, that is impressive.

- Ah, it's looking good.

- Looking more than good.
- I'm happy.

- Traditional Rhymers Dara and Anne
are back - in costume -

hoping the mythological horse is fit

to help them entertain new generations
of youngsters.

- Oh, wow.

- Hello.
- You look the part.
- Hello.
- Hello.
- Hello.
- Hello.

- I'm in my corset today!
- Oh, my days!
- Wow. That is splendid, I must say.

Where's your corset?
- Oh, um...

You really want to see it? No, no, no!

- So, are you ready to see her? Yeah?
- We are.

- Ready?
- Yeah, absolutely.

- Come on, then.
- Mm-hm.

- Oh, my goodness.
- There she is.

- Oh, there she is.

I mean, honestly...

Honestly, Sarah, you have nailed those
ears.
- Aww.

- And the colour of the willow's a
perfect match.

- Fabulous.
- It is...

- It is, it is indeed.

- That's a genius piece of work.
- Oh, yeah.

- Thank you.
- No, but...
- Well done.
- It is.

It's a genius piece of work.

- And the nose - that must have taken
ages.

- She's lovely. You know, she's given
so much joy to - I don't know -

hundreds of thousands of people, and
children in particular.

And, you know, she's 50 years under
her belt

and she'll be going in another 50
years.

- Fantastic.
- Yeah.

So you're happy, then?
- We are extremely happy.

- More than happy.
- We're more than happy.
- Oh, yeah.

- Just delighted.
- Thank you.

- Can't thank you enough, actually.
- Thank you.

- So she's yours now.

Are you going to put it on and do a
performance now?

- All right. Come on outside.

- Yeah?
- Right.

- Put horsey on and off I gallop!

- Come on, then.

- Yee-ha!

- TRADITIONAL IRISH FOLK MUSIC

- The work that Sarah did really
exceeded my expectations

because it looked just like the way it
looked when we first got it.

And I thought, "No, that's probably
not possible,

"and it's going to look very
different."

But Sarah really has restored it.

It's just great to have her back.

She... She's back on the road again.

Yee-hoo!

- Yay!

- 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.