13x09 - A broken ring, a pair of heavyweight stones and a much loved film poster

[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...

SHE SQUEALS, LAUGHTER

- 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!

- Rich, do you have a preference

to the age of the items that you work
on?

Do you prefer older or more modern?

- Well, it's nicer working on the
older pieces.

- Is it?
- Yeah, they deserve the love, they
deserve bringing them back.

- Arriving with a treasure in
desperate need of some TLC

are Halina Eves and her daughter
Lesley.

It's a job for jewellery expert
Richard Talman.

- Hello.
- Hello.
- Hello.
- Hello.

- What have you brought in for us?

- I brought you my mother's ring.

- Oh! Intrigued.

- A bit battered.
- In parts.

- Just a bit? Just a bit.

- Oh, dear. Wow.

So this was your mum's ring, Halina.

What was your mum called?

- Janina.
- Janina.

- Yasha for short.

- Yasha. Lovely name.

- My mother was Polish,

and that has come from the Jewish
ghetto in Warsaw.

- Wow!

- She wasn't Jewish.



My mother was 13,

come home from school and her street
was bombed.

And she saw her mum...

..on the floor, dead.

She was terrified.

- Where was her father?

- He'd gone off to w*r, World w*r II.

She never knew what happened to him.

- Really?

- But no siblings, no aunties and
uncles.

Nobody close to her at all.

So, obviously, the first place she
would run to would be the church,

because she didn't know where else to
go.

The story she told me was

they refused her because they were
full.

So they said, "We've got the convent."

So she went there, right behind the
Jewish ghetto.

- BILL PATERSON: Following the
invasion of Warsaw,

the Nazis created a ghetto, sealed off
from the rest of the city.

It's estimated over 400,000 Jews were
imprisoned there,

and more than 80,000 lost their lives
as a result of starvation

and the appalling conditions inside.

LESLEY: We only recently found out
that this church also hid

the Jewish resistance.

The nuns and the Jewish resistance
encouraged the orphans to take food

into the ghetto.

And that's what she did.

She would take in potatoes, cabbage
leaves,

whatever the church gave them.

- Unbelievable. Unbelievable.

- What a brave woman, eh?

- Yeah, absolutely.

- So one day she went with a friend,
who was a boy.

He was caught.

He was shot dead, on the spot.

She escaped.

- And then she just flew.

I think she flew back to the convent.

And the nuns said that she had to go

because it was too much of a liability
for her.

- You really can't imagine this
happening to a child.
- No.

- And then she was picked up by a
German truck

and was taken to do forced labour on
the farms in Germany.

- But she had this ring with her?
- Yeah, yeah.

- And where did the ring come from?

- We think the ring came from a Jewish
lady in the ghetto...

- That's what she told me.
- ..as a thank you.

- She said she remembered her bending
down and it came out of the hem

of either her coat or her skirt or
something.

And she just gave it to her.

She loved that ring.

She did.

- So, even from people that have
nothing,

they give you what they've got.

- Yeah. Imagine that.

- So your mum was in the labour camp.
How long was she there for?

- Up to 1945, was it?
- Until the end of the w*r.

- And then the camp was liberated.
- The camp was liberated,

and from there she went off to a
displaced persons camp

in Bergen-Belsen,

which was run by the British Army.

- That's where she met my dad.

- Wow!

- There's a lovely story which goes
with that,

because he was on duty as a guard,

and apparently he was talking to some
German girls

who were working there, and she said
to him,

"What are you doing, talking to them
girls?

"You should be talking to me!"

THEY LAUGH

And the rest is history.

- Wow.
- Yeah.

- So she sounds like she was quite a
strong character.

- She was very... Well, to do what she
did, it...

You need to have a strong character.

- She was fabulous, my mum. Honest to
God.

- And that's where they got married.

The displaced people of the camp
actually made her wedding dress

from anything white that they could
find in the camp.

- Such kindness.

- And the headdress is made of a net
curtain.

- THEY LAUGH

- Could you imagine?
- Why not? Why not?
- Absolutely.

- How did you end up with this ring?

- I used to wear it a lot when my mum
was alive.

But when she died...

..that was to make sure that I had
that ring...

..even though it was worn thin.

And I broke it a couple of weeks
later.

Well, it didn't break. It just fell
off.

- What would you like me to do to it?

- I did think of the ring, but we've
discussed it

and we'd like to have it into a
pendant.

My daughter loves necklaces,

and it's close to our hearts, isn't
it?

- Absolutely.

- It's a piece of our family history.

It represents, I think, for both of
us, just how brave, courageous,

how resilient, and really a model

for being such a strong woman.

It will always, always stay in our
hearts.

It will be passed down from generation
to generation,

with the story and the history behind
it.

- Leave it with me. It's in safe
hands.

- I'm sure it is. Thank you so, so
much.
- Thank you.

- Thank you, Halina. Thank you,
Lesley, for bringing it in.

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

- I feel quite honoured to have this
in my hand right now.

Halina is really keen to have this
turned into a pendant.

What I will first need to do is remove
the shoulders,

so this part here on either side of
the ring.

Once they're removed, I will need to
just recut the scalloping.

Then I will need to make something for
a chain to pass through.

It's like a little loop. It's called a
bail.

The stone that is in here, I suspect
it's an aquamarine.

But before I do anything,

I'm going to need to ascertain which
metal it is.

And to diagnose that,

I am going to use an X-ray
fluorescence spectrometer.

And this works by emitting some very
harmless X-ray beams

into the metal.

And it contains 90% silver, 7.6%
copper,

and it's actually finding a very, very
small amount

of gold in there, too.

So now I know that I'm going to be
treating this ring

as if it were sterling silver,

so I know what heats it can tolerate
and how to join it.

Now I've just got to focus on turning
it into a pendant.

- Next to arrive is Gordon Craik with
his sons, James and Ross.

They've brought two intriguing pieces
of sporting history

for the attention of silversmith
Brenton West.

- Wow, they look heavy.

- Hi.
- Hi.

- Come on in.
- Hello there.

- Lovely to meet you.

I recognise these from the Olympics.

- These were my grandfather's outdoor
curling stones,

which were passed down to my father

and are now my curling stones.

- Is Dad still with us?

- He's not.

Unfortunately, he took ill, and it's
five months since he passed.

And he was a very, very big character,

um, and a lot of fun.

Never took himself too seriously.

- What was your father's name?

- Robert Craik, known as Bobby.

So these were his stones,

and they were used in the Grand Match
in 1979.

It was a competition held in Scotland,

and I think there's been 33...
- Right.
- ..outdoor ones.

It's only when they have a good enough
freeze on the loch.

- So it's not every year. It's only
when the ice is thick enough.
- Yes.

And they would have 300 teams from the
north of Scotland play

against 300 teams from the south of
Scotland.

- 300 teams?
- Yes.

So you're putting 600... 2,400 people
playing on one loch.

- On a frozen lake?
- Yes, yes.
- Wow!

- And that's possibly why they say it
may never happen again,

because obviously times have changed
since 1979,

and health and safety.

- Would you want to be the person who
said, "That's safe to go on there"?

- Yeah. Then after that, they break it
down to the club

that had the best results.

And he was part of a curling club
which were the winners

of the last Grand Match that there has
been.

- So, currently, your father, he's
still the champion.
- He was.

He was introducing himself as the
reigning

world outdoor curling champion...
- Oh, I love that.

- ..because he claimed it was the
world championship of curling,

because we invented the sport, so...

- They're a historical pair of stones.

- Yes, yeah, they are.

- So you've brought these curling
stones in.

Do either of you curl?

- Yeah, so, me and James both curl,

and Dad curls at the local club.

Me and James are a wee bit more
competitive.

- James went to the World University
Games.

- How did you do?
- We won gold.
- Well done.

- The younger brother here, you
have...

- I'm just trying to follow that path
as well.

Played in the Winter Youth Olympic
Games for Team GB.

- Brilliant, both of you. Well done.

- And it's just...it's a big link
throughout the family.

It is just a huge...family sport.

- How old do you think these stones
are?

- My grandfather was born in 1900.

They're certainly going to be 100
years old.

- Do you have these stones in pride of
place somewhere?

- Well, no, they were...

They used to sit outside,

but what we should have done, and
didn't do, over the years

was take the handles off and then they
don't get damaged.

- OK.

- Because obviously, you can see,

these are years of people standing on
them or knocking them

or things like that.

- OK.
- How about the baskets?

- The baskets,

I don't think they're fit to hold
anything just now.

I'd be scared of dropping it on my
foot

if it fell through the basket.

It's trusting that to hold something
of that weight.

- The leather needs to be strong and
the handles need to be strong.

- And obviously the willow has seen
better days as well.

- Yeah. Yeah.

- So if Brenton's able to get the
stones back in shape,

what's the plan?

- I'd actually like one of them each,
for them.

- That's a lovely, lovely... Really
lovely thought.

- I'm just hoping I'll be able to take
them on outdoor ice again.

It'd be really cool.

- It's been an absolute pleasure
meeting you all. Thank you.

- Thank you. Thank you for having us.
- Thank you very much.

- See you soon.
- Bye-bye.

- Let me give you a hand to your
bench.

Oh!
- It's heavy.

What an amazing story.

Those guys and their curling skills
are amazing,

and I think I shall keep my eye out
for Ross and James in the future.

So, on to the stones.

There's quite a bit to do here.

The bolt is a bit long, so when you
come to grab it,

you'll hit your knuckles on the thread
the whole time.

So what I'll do is cut a little tiny
bit off of this bolt,

so it's flush with the top.

I've got to straighten this handle,

make a new wooden part for it.

I've got to polish the stones.

These baskets do need some remedial
work.

I'm not a basket maker,

so I'm going to give the baskets to
Sarah.

But before I do that, I'm going to
take the leather straps off,

and I can give those to Suzie.

I'm taking care because I don't want
to break them

before I hand them over.

- Richard is also faced with a
delicate task,

transforming a ring, that survived the
horrors of the Second World w*r,

into a pendant.

- What I need to do is remove these
pieces of metal

on the side, the shoulders.

I've got to be incredibly careful

because aquamarine is quite a soft
stone,

so a very important thing to do before
you start is just score

some lines, all the way around,

a little channel, so the saw blade
won't wander

and cause any damage to the head of
the ring.

There we go.

And off.

So that's one side done.

Now the other.

And where I've cut off the two parts
at the shoulder,

it's left an ugly and sharp piece of
metal.

So what I need to do is very, very
gently file this back,

taking great care to mimic the scallop
pattern.

My hope is, once I've cut all that
back, it'll look

like there was never a join there at
all.

Just rolling the file around...

..and then that little bit there

is copying that scalloped pattern.

- Sarah.
- Hello.
- I've got the curling stone baskets
for you.

- Brilliant.
- They look a bit...
- Thank you.
- ..tired.

I'm sure that you'll be able to do
something with them.

- I hope so. They do need quite a bit
of work.

- So, now I need to create the bail,
which is the piece that goes on top

that the chain is going to run
through.

I'm really keen to use those pieces of
the shoulder.

They're quite an important part of
what the ring was.

The only way I can include these in
the piece is to melt them

all together into a new little piece
of metal,

make the bail from scratch.

So, now this piece is all black from
where I've melted it,

so I need to get that straight into a
sulphuric acid salt,

and that will remove all of the
oxidisation

from the outside and allow me to work
on it.

So, now what I need to do is put it
through the mill for a longer,

squarer shape, which is going to allow
me to make a bail.

- Tracey Emery is the next visitor to
arrive at the Barn.

She's hoping that woodworker Will Kirk

can make a cherished character whole
again.

- Hi, there.
- Hi.
- You must be Tracey.
- I am.

- Nice to meet you. What's inside?

- So, it is a wooden chef.

Well, it was...a wooden chef.

It's actually a dessert wine holder.

So it opens up and it holds a bottle
of wine,

but he had a little accident.

He was sitting in the kitchen, under
the counter light,

and somebody put the light on, and he
got a little bit burnt.

- Oh, my gosh!
- So, he was...

- That's a face!

- So, there's... The only thing that's
been kind of left intact

from the top was the face, which is
amazing

because it's the best bit.
- So, who is to blame for the fire?

- Well, we don't 100% know, but we
think it was my dad

because I was away for two nights and
they were going over to look

after my cat, and he didn't like my
cat being left in the dark.

So he turned the under-counter light
on and left it for the night.

And it was when my mum came back in
the morning

that they found it burnt.

But we were very lucky,

it was just this and the light that
got damaged, and very lucky

that it just didn't catch on anywhere
else.

- Yeah, it could have been bad.
- Although, unfortunate for me

because it's one of my favourite
objects.
- Yeah.

Whereabouts did you get this chef
from?

- Um, so he belonged to my gran and
grandad, and they used to run

a pub, and they bought it to sit on
the food counter at the pub.
- OK.

- And so that's what I remember from
my childhood, is spending

lots of time there and talking to the
wooden chef, and my grandad

telling me that the chef told him what
I said.
- Really?

- Yeah.
- Did you believe that?

- I did! Of course I did!
- I suppose you do as a child. Yeah.

- My grandad's not going to tell me a
fib!
- No, obviously not.

What was your grandad's name?
- Ralph. Ralph and Jan.

- Did you spend a lot of time with
your grandparents?

- That's how I remember my childhood.

Grandad would work behind the bar with
my dad,

my mum would be in the kitchen with my
gran.

So we were...
- Proper family pub, then.

- Proper family pub. On a Sunday,

we'd all sit around and have a lovely
big family roast,

and we were allowed to pick whatever
was left in the sweet bar.

So if we were lucky, we'd get some
chocolate gateau.

So when my grandad passed away, my
gran asked

if there was anything we wanted,

and I, of course, said, "The wooden
chef."

He just sums up my whole childhood to
me, and when he was sitting

in my kitchen, it would be

like my grandad was still telling his
stories to me.

So if I was chopping tomatoes, I would
hear him to say, "Oh, well,

"what about growing tomatoes? You have
to leave them alone

"and only pick them when they're
ripe."

So I just remember all of that, just
by him being there,

so I really miss him.

I actually keep the speech that I did
at his funeral

inside the little...the wooden chef.
- Do you? Oh, that's really sweet.

- That's what's kept inside there.
- That's lovely.

Was that inside when this caught fire?
- It was.

- And it survived?
- And it didn't catch fire.
- Really?!

Do you think your dad felt quite
guilty about leaving on the light?

- Tremendously guilty.

He's the one that was desperate to get
it fixed for me,

knowing how much it meant for me.

And unfortunately, he became poorly
and passed away about a year ago.

- Sorry to hear that.
- So, now it just has an extra meaning
to get fixed,

because we all now

have a memory of him trying his
hardest to get this fixed,

and it was the one thing he wasn't
able to do

before he...he passed.

So, um, it's just like getting them
both back together.

- I'm going to do my very best to do
something with it, OK?
- Please.

That would be great. Try your best.
Bring his stories back.

- Definitely. Nice to meet you,

and I'll see you soon.
- Thank you.
- Bye-bye.

This is in really bad condition.

I've never seen something so charred
on my workbench.

I've never had to restore charcoal
before,

and that's pretty much what this is.

I know that the face should sit back
there.

That comes around the back.

There we are. Oh, my gosh!

OK, so I'm missing lots of wood.

Basically, I'm missing a whole section
from the top of the hat,

and some bits around the outside, so I
need to kind of glue back

together what I do have here in a way
that I can really work out

exactly what's missing.

- The brass handle on this particular
curling stone,

that is bent down at an angle, I need
this to be straight.

I'm going to put a tube of steel on
there.

This will give me lots of leverage

to bend exactly where I want to bend.

This is brass, so it's quite brittle.

There is a danger that this could
snap,

so I'm going to be really, really
careful with it.

I think that...

..is pretty good.

Now that's straight, I'm going to give
these a bit

of a clean-up, see what they polish up
like.

- While Brenton polishes, basket
weaver Sarah Hatton has started

cleaning away years of dust and
cobwebs from the willow baskets.

- I've been willow-weaving for about


So I had a little unusual way into
willow weaving.

So I worked in IT, so it was a
complete life change.

I thought if other people can be
basket makers, then so can I.

So I planted my own willow and became
completely obsessed.

- SHE CHUCKLES

- And I've been basket-making ever
since!

- The third member of the Barn's
curling repair team

is leather expert Suzie Fletcher.

- Unfortunately, the old straps are so
dried out,

I need to replace these.

One of my favourite things to do is to
make new stuff.

I'm just in the process of putting an
edge crease

on the brand-new straps.

The heat of the creasing iron helps to
leave a really nice, clear line

on the leather, and this line is
purely decorative, but it makes

a massive difference to the overall
appearance of the leather.

So, that's my lines done.

Now I can focus on prick marking,

ready for the sewing in of the
buckles.

So that's that prick mark, nicely
done.

This stitching that I'm doing is known
as double hand stitching,

and this is a very attractive stitch.

And although it takes longer, it's a
much harder-wearing stitch.

I'm ensuring that Gordon, James and
Ross have this family heirloom

around for another hundred years.

- Richard's next task is to fashion a
silver bail

so he can attach a chain to the
pendant.

- I've milled it down, and now what I
need to do is hold it in the middle

and bend it into a little, like, pear
shape.

So that is the start of the shape.

So I'm just removing the excess part
of metal there with my saw.

And then...

..just going to pinch those two little
bits together at the bottom.

So now we can get that soldered
together.

You can just see that the bail itself

is starting to turn sort of cherry
red.

So the solder - there we go -

melts very, very quickly after that
point.

That's soldered nice.

The bail is a little bit rough at the
moment.

I just need to spend a little bit of
time

making it look a little bit prettier,

and then it'll be time to attach it to
the rest of the pendant.

- Well, that glue has done a great job
at attaching the top

of the hat to the back of the chef's
head.

You can really see...

..how much wood has broken away.

There's quite a lot there.

In order to fill that out, I'm going
to use this resin here.

It's a two-part resin.

When you mix both components together,

it creates a chemical reaction and it
begins to harden.

Many years ago, you'd just be left
with glue and sawdust to

fill things, which would actually take
me a very long time to pack out

that amount of space.

So, as much as I use old, traditional
glues

with certain bits of furniture,

I'm also very open to using modern
materials, too.

Now, I could pretty much fill the
entire space there

as one sort of solid block of resin,

but I'd quite like to recreate the
void

where a bottle could sit in the
future.

The idea is that when the resin dries
and sets,

I should be able to pull this back out

and just be left with the empty space.

I'm going to lie this flat.

This is going to make sure that when I
press this down,

all the excess filler is going to spew
out the edges,

filling in a lot of those losses.

At the moment, the chef looks like
he's...

..he's been on the dessert wine,
really!

He's flat on his face.

But we'll get him back on his feet
very soon.

Once he has completely dried, I'll
peel him off,

and if all has gone well,

I can do the same process with the
front of him.

- With the brass work straight,

Brenton is ready to begin crafting the
missing wooden part

of the curling stone handle.

- I've got some old wood from Will's
scrap wood store.

A nice dark piece of wood, and I'm
going to try and make

the same shape handle as we've got
here.

I'm just being really careful, taking
a little bit off at a time.

Once I've got this parallel,

I've got to cut a couple of little
bits in the end

that fit into the sockets on the
handle.

Once I've done that, I can give it a
sand down and a good polish,

and hopefully it will match the other
one.

- I've finished cleaning this basket
now.

I'm really happy that the colours of
the willow

have come back out again.

I'm going to be going on to the handle
now.

I'm going to start on the lower handle

because it's missing completely.

I am going to get quite a large piece
of willow,

because these handles are quite big.

Cut the end off to a point,

so it goes through the weaving easier,

and I'm going to put it down the side

and pull it through to the inside of
the basket.

So now what I need to do is crank the
willow

to get it around the handle.

And this is just breaking the fibres
up in the willow,

so it becomes easier to rope it around
this handle that I've made.

I'm going to make sure I put enough
willow on this,

so that I can completely fill the
handle,

so that it's nice and strong to hold
those curling stones.

I'm going to finish the other three
handles in the same way,

patch up the little holes that have
been made from the woodworm,

and then I'm going to hand them back
over to Brenton.

- Richard's transformation of the ring
into a pendant is almost complete.

- I've now successfully attached the
bail to the rest of the ring,

which moves me on to this very, very
slight brown staining,

just in the corners of the scalloping.

It's a surface oxidisation which
frequently occurs on silver.

This has occurred over the life of the
ring,

so if I was to remove any of those,

I would be doing it a disservice

because it has got such a story to
tell.

However, in the middle, where I
removed the shoulder,

it was fresh metal.

So, to make that pattern the same all
the way around,

I'm just going to apply a
sulphur-based chemical

that just speeds up the oxidising
process many, many times.

It's absolutely instant.

This ring that is now a pendant

is an indication of just how brave

Janina was - to risk her life

to feed others is incredibly admirable
for anyone,

let alone a young girl.

It really has been a great honour to
work on.

- The ring was a treasured gift,

given in recognition of remarkable
courage

in the face of n*zi tyranny.

- Now, that...looks amazing.

- Thanks, Jay.
- Perfect.

- For Halina and Lesley,

the pendant will help preserve the
memory

of a much-loved mother and
grandmother.

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

- Hi.
- All right?
- Welcome back.

- Are you excited, yeah?
- Extremely.

- It's precious to me because it's my
mum's.
- Yeah.

- And she had a hard life and a hard
time.

And I'm fortunate to have a daughter
and a granddaughter,

so I know...it'll be passed down and
worn.

- Oh, bless you.

- And her memory will...

It will never be forgotten anyway, but
it's a story, isn't it?
- Yeah.

You ready?

Go on, do the honours.

- HALINA AND LESLEY GASP

Oh, my goodness!

- Oh, my gosh!

Oh, my gosh!
- Absolutely beautiful.

- Let me have a look.

That's flipping gorgeous.

- Do you want me to put it on for you?
- Yeah. Go on.

- Oh... Am I allowed to touch it? THEY
LAUGH

Oh, gosh!

It's beautiful.

Absolutely stunning.

I love it most of all because it's
close to your heart, isn't it?

- It is, yeah.

- Also, you know the parts of the
metal that were cut off?
- Yeah.

- I've used them in the bail.

So all of the metal that you gave me
originally is still within the ring.

- HALINA AND LESLEY: Awww!

- All that history.
- Yeah.

- And what would your mum make of
this, then?

- She would be absolutely over the
moon.

- Yeah.
- It's been through a lot, this ring.
- Yeah, yeah.

- Like my mum, and many others with
her, you know,

so I'm just so proud to wear it.

- Well, thank you for bringing it in.

- Thank you so, so much.

- It's been an absolute pleasure to
work on.

- I'll never forget you. Never.
- Bless you.

All right, take care now.

- Thank you.
- Bye-bye.

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

- I'm very, very happy.

My mum went through a lot for this
ring,

and I've got her with me all the time
now.

- It'll be passed down the
generations,

and the story of my brave, selfless
grandma

will be never, ever forgotten.

- Ooh, mind my...mind my necklace.
- Oh!
- THEY LAUGH

Next, a piece of cinematic history.

Sonam Batra is hoping paper
conservator Angelina Bakalarou

can give a prized memento the
red-carpet treatment.

- There he is. Come on in.
- Hello.

- How are we doing?
- Very good, sir.

- So, what have you got for us?
- A poster.

- A poster?
- Yeah.
- Let's have a look.

- A bit different.

- Definitely needs some attention,
doesn't it?
- I think so.

- It needs some TLC.

- So, what was this film about?

Because I'm not really familiar with
Indian cinema.

- Yeah. Well, this is Sholay.

It's a film that has massively
influenced my own life,

and millions of other people as well.

And it's a seminal film.

It was...
- Ground-breaking, yeah?
- It was, yeah, it was.

It was like Butch Cassidy and the
Sundance Kid.

- Cor blimey.
- You know, an Indian version.

And these guys were great inspiration,

although they were convicts.

- Convicts!
- Yeah!
- In the movie, not in the real world.
- In the film, yeah.

And, for me, like, a ten-year-old,

watching this on a screen,

and you live in Leamington Spa...
- Yeah.
- Yeah.

The colours say it all.

When you actually go to India,

you see the sky and the sunset in that
colour.
- Mm-hm.

- That's real.
- Yeah.

- You know, and you're seeing this in
multicolour thing

and you think, "What the hell just
happened there?!"

You know, "Who are these guys?"
- Yeah.
- And you think, "Wow!"

So that was what Sholay did for you,
you know?
- Wow.

So this is a link back to home,
basically.
- Yeah.

- So, what year was this, then?

- 1975.
- Wow.
- OK.

- We grew up watching, it and we
watched it over and over again.

- Really?
- It was such a good film. Yeah.

The whole family, as immigrant kids...
- Yeah.

- ..we would go every Sunday,

instead of church,

we'd go to see a Bollywood film every
Sunday.
- Love it!

- We'd actually meet all our cousins
there as well.

It's really just a record of the
golden times

when we were all, we were just having
a good time, growing up.

You'd be wearing your best gear,

and everybody that actually went to
the film

felt like a superstar themselves.

- So you dressed up like one, yeah?

- You can say, "Yeah, you're looking
pretty good yourself,"

you know, that sort of stuff.

- Yeah. It wasn't just watching a
film.

It was a community coming together and
catching up with people.

- Absolutely. Yeah.

And this is where I learned to speak
Hindi and Punjabi.

I can't read or write the language...
- But you can speak it.

- ..but I can speak it because I
listened to these guys.

- OK!

You're smiling when you talk about
this film.

It must mean a lot to you.

- Yeah, I mean, it's DNA. It's our
DNA.

- And how come you've got this?

- My dad passed away in '21.
- OK.

- We sold the house, and I found it.
- Yeah.

- So it's something that he bought
during his travels to India.

It would have been put up to advertise
the film back in India.

And, uh, I mean, how it survived...

You can see it's like... It's made out
of newspaper.

And I do believe that a lot of them

would have been washed away with the
rain.

- Yeah, this is a very, very thin
paper.

- What would you like to be done to
this?

Because, really, you want it to be
shown.

- You know, I don't know if, like,

a linen could be on the back of it.
- Like a lining.
- Yeah.

- Like a type of lining that can kind
of stabilise it.

- It does say on the back,

it's got some handwritten writing on
it that it's an original poster.

- Oh, that's what... I think it's
here.
- Yeah.

- If something goes on the back,

would you want this to still be
visible?

- I think it could be covered but
still seen...
- OK.

- ..if that should be done.
- OK.
- Wow!
- Maybe just some glue.

- You don't want much, do you?!

- The lady has got the skills.
- She's got the skills, yeah.

- She's got the skills to do it.

- You know, there's a large area here
missing, and here.

Do you have any of those missing
pieces, by any chance?

- Certainly. I've got them. I've got
them here.

- Thank you so much.
- You're welcome.

- Well, listen, thank you for bringing
this in

and telling us about this film.

I can't wait to see it and also see
what Angie does to it. Yeah?

- Thank you very much.
- Bye.
- Thank you.
- Bye.

- I've never even seen a Bollywood
film before,

but Sonam really sold this to me.

And looking at this poster, the way
that all the bright colours

are coming through, and all the action
and fire and everything

in the back, this is really, really
exciting.

But the poor poster has seen better
days.

These posters were not made to last,

and it's going to continue degrading
until I do something about it.

Sonam gave me a nice little folder
full of little secrets.

There we go.

Oh, OK. Yeah.

So there's, like, literally poster
confetti in here.

This looks like this is the top left
corner.

And we also have part of the actor's
head.

This is really good.

The one thing that I can't see,
anything that goes up here,

which means that I will still have to
create some new pieces

for all the areas that have been lost
over the years.

But before I do anything else,

I want to give this a gentle surface
clean with my sponge.

Any loose dirt that is on the paper,

I'm just going to pick it up with
this.

- On Will's bench, the wooden chef's
new body parts have now cured.

- This is the moment of truth.

If this hasn't worked, I've got a big
problem.

Ooh!

Oh. That's amazing.

That's absolutely amazing.

It's really solid,

and it's done a good job at closing up
the gaps.

There's no way that I could have
pieced a bit of wood in there

and carved it into shape without
risking causing more damage,

so it is really the right material for
the job.

It's going to need a bit of finessing,

just to refine the outside edge.

But, yeah, overall, very happy indeed.

Now I can move on to the front of the
chef.

I'm missing a lot of detailing just
around the neck area there,

so I need to build that neck up.

Out of everything,

the chef's face is the most important
part for Tracey,

so I need to make sure I get this
right.

One of the issues here is I'm not too
sure

exactly how long the chef's neck needs
to be,

so I thought I could use the back for
reference.

I've glued on a former on the front
panel here,

kind of like what I did with the back
of the chef.

If I put the front on here...

..if I look down the side, I can
pretty much work out...

..how high the head needs to be

in relation to the back of the hat.

- I've now got the curling baskets
back from Sarah,

and she's done the most amazing job.

I'm just going to mount the straps
that I've made

in position on the basket and punch
the holes for the strap.

Just going to thread that through the
buckle.

And there you go.

First one in place and it looks rather
gorgeous.

Got three more to get in position

and the baskets are ready to hand back
to Brenton.

- All the resin has now dried.

I'm now turning my attention to
carving

around that neck tie on the front.

I'm just going to slowly start
skimming off layer after layer,

and I don't want to take too much

to make him look like he's got a very
skinny neck

for quite a large chef.

The resin's carving away really
nicely.

I'm going to carry on refining this,

then I can give the chef a bit of a
bath, a very light clean,

and get him prepared for painting.

- As a rejuvenated wooden chef takes
shape,

Brenton is closing in on a victory
with the curling stones.

- I cannot believe what a good job
Sarah and Suzie

have made of these baskets.

They look fantastic.

So, the stones are nearly done.

I've got the wooden handle turned and
fitted,

I've polished the brass,

and the final thing to do is just to
polish these stones

with a kitchen worktop polish for
granite.

I've just got to finish polishing
these

and then I can give them back to
Gordon, James and Ross.

I can't wait to see their faces.

- The stones belonged to Gordon's
father,

a reigning champion curler and proud
supporter of his

grandsons' impressive curling
achievements.

- Ooh!

Nice.

- Nice and shiny there.
- Yeah.

Now, this is a proper team effort,
isn't it?

Everyone's been on this one.
- Yeah.

- All right, let's get these covered
up.

- For Gordon and James,

the stones are a symbol of a family
sporting tradition

that goes back 100 years.

- Hi, Gordon.
- Hello there.
- Hi, James.

- So, how are you both feeling?
- Good, yeah. Really excited.
- Yeah?

- Where's Ross?

- He's in Norway. He couldn't make it.

Unfortunately, it's just the two of us
this time.

- And you're both just looking right
at the blanket.

- Yes, I'm sort of just trying to keep
eye contact,

but, yes, eyes are drawn here.

- All right.
- Come on.
- Come on! Yeah!

You want to do it?
- OK.

- Go on.

- Oh, my God.
- Oh, wow!
- Lovely.

- Oh, my goodness.

- Wow.

That's insane.

They look totally different.

- Honestly, they were so bent out of
shape,

and that was so smashed up and
everything.

- So how come you've taken it apart?

You're properly checking his work?

He's proper checking it!

- No, no, no, I couldn't take it apart
before!

It was that jammed up, I couldn't do
it.
- Yeah, yeah.

- Probably hadn't been taken apart in


Honestly, thank you so much.

- He's proper excited. It's like a kid
at Christmas.
- Yeah.

- I just never, ever thought they
would be able

to hold a curling stone in the
condition they were in.

Certainly, the leather wasn't before!

- That's so cool.

- Gordon, how does it feel to see
these like this now?

- It's another part of my dad.

The boys curl.

The obvious connection was curling
with them,

and this is just something that can go
with them in that sense.

- Can carry on.

- Um, he would tell me to look after
them, and, um...

And that's what you guys will do.
- Yeah, for sure.

- No, I'm really glad we don't have to
carry these out,

because they weigh a ton!
- They are heavy.

- But thank you for bringing these in.

- Thank you so much.
- Thank you.
- Pleasure. Absolute pleasure.

- You take care now.
- Will do.
- Bye.

- The curling stones are fixed, and
it's a great tribute to my father.

And watching my two boys curl was one
of his real favourite things.

And it's a link between the
generations.

- I can't wait to show my brother.

And if it ever gets cold enough,

we'll definitely give them a crack on
the ice.

- The Sholay poster is now washed,

and I have now been able to put all
the little pieces

that Sonam saved for me back to where
they belong.

Now I'm ready to line the poster.

I'm going to use a piece of Melinex to
roll it up.

There we go.

Please stay.

OK.

It will allow me to move the poster
easier.

So now I will flip it and start
working on its back,

because that's where the lining is
going to go.

The poster is in desperate need of a
lining.

However, this is the most challenging
bit

because Sonam wanted to have the
writing show from the back.

So this is the tissue that I want to
use.

So I can see that already

I really can't see the writing here,

so I'll just mark with my scalpel

a nice little window through the
tissue,

which will at least allow this to be
seen.

I'm really happy with my little
window.

I have one more piece of tissue to do,

and then I can get both pieces adhered
onto the poster.

- How are you doing, Angie?
- Hey, Jay. I'm all right.

- Wow!
- Yeah.
- You're whizzing through this, ain't
you?

- I'm doing my best.
- This is all patched up.
- Yes.

So, while I have you here,

would you mind giving me a hand with
the lining?
- OK.

So the Japanese tissue is just going
to strengthen the back of this?

- Mm-hm.
- Right.
- Yeah.

Pick this side for me.
- OK.

- And I have cut a nice little window,
so we can see it.
- Perfect.

- OK. We are good.

Thank you so much, Jay.
- No problem.
- You've been a life-saver.

- Take care now.

- The lining has worked really well.

I'm really, really happy

with the way that the writing is
visible.

And this is what Sonam really, really
wanted.

Doing infills is actually one of my
favourite things to do,

because it kind of gives back a shape

to a paper that it didn't have before.

So I always use a piece of clear
plastic

and trace the shape of the infill that
I want to make.

All I need to do is trace my shape
directly

with my little awl onto the paper.

This has to be as exact as possible.

I find that the really pointy bit

helps create a type of indentation on
my paper.

Whew! OK.

After tracing everything, the paper
comes apart.

I like tearing the paper instead of
cutting it

because I don't want a very clean
edge.

The tiny fibres, they will create a
tiny bit of an extra connection

between the infill and the poster.

Right.

What do you know?

It's a perfect match.

I'm really pleased.

So all I need to do is attach this
back on to the paper

and then just retouch it.

I have now started my retouching

and I'm going in with some
watercolours first,

just to see how they go.

Sonam did say that the sunsets in
India are unique

and they're gorgeous.

I have created a generic orange

that will match to this corner of the
poster,

and then I can slowly work on it and
make the different

shades that I need to.

This first layer seems to be going
very, very well,

but I do need to keep building up the
layers to give that fire effect

before this is ready for Sonam to come
pick it up.

- Reds are also key to getting the
wooden chef fit for the kitchen.

- I'm hoping to freshen up his clothes
and his face.

That's very nice.

Once I finish this, I can move on to
his white hat,

and then I can finish off with the
finer details on the face,

which are the most important areas

because that's what Tracey remembers,

that striking face of his.

- Tracey's father had desperately
hoped

to have the wooden chef repaired,

but it was the one thing he was unable
to do

before he sadly passed away.

- Perfect.
- Yeah?

- Tracey's going to love that.

- Very handsome.

- Are you happy?
- Not you, Jay - him!

- Oh! I know you was talking about me!

- For Tracey, returning the chef to
his former glory

completes the task for her father

and helps preserve cherished memories
of her beloved grandad.

- Hello.
- Hi.

- How are you doing?
- Good, thank you.

- How are you feeling?

- Excited but nervous.

Means so much to me.

And I know what state it was in,

so I know what a hard job you would
have had

trying to do anything with it!

- Oh, bless you.

- As long as I can see his face, would
be amazing.

Whatever you've done, I'm going to
take him home.

- THEY CHUCKLE

- Are you ready?

- Yeah. I'm ready.

Oh, my God!

Oh, my God, thank you so much!

Can I pick him up?
- Yeah.

- Oh, thank you!

He's beautiful!

- Yeah.

- He's so lovely. Thank you.

- That's all right, that's all right.

- Thank you for all your hard work.

Look! Oh, he's perfect!

Look at his face!

- Is that the way you remember it?

- Absolutely.
- Yeah?

- Absolutely is. Spot-on.

Thank you so much.

- When you're looking at him now, what
memories are coming back?

I can see you just floating away.

- Oh, it's just...being little

and being loved by my grandad so much.

Um, I know what my dad would be
saying.

He'd be looking at him, going,

"He's brilliant."

That's what my dad would be saying.

I lost the two men in my life, and...

..now I've got him back.

So, yeah, it just means everything.

He's so good.

- He is, isn't he?

So where is he going back to now?
Where are you going to take him?

- He's going to go in the kitchen.

- OK.
- But he's going to have a shelf all
to himself.

- THEY CHUCKLE

- With no lights, yeah? No lights on
him?
- No lights.

- OK.
- No, no. Absolutely not.

- OK.
- Thank you for fixing it.

- More than welcome.

- Lovely to see you again.
- And you.

Take care.
- Bye-bye.
- You take care now. Bye-bye.

- As soon as I saw him,

I just felt that overwhelming love and
warmth from him.

I just remember being a child

and being so loved by my family.

And his face just reminds me straight
away of my grandad.

- The remastered version of a beloved
piece of Bollywood history

is almost ready for its grand
premiere.

- I think I'm good with the N and D.

I'm almost there.

It just needs a tiny bit of finessing.

I really hope that this transports
Sonam

back to the golden era of his life,

of when he and his family were going
to the cinema every Sunday,

and I really hope that it reminds him

of all the good times that he had.

- Today, Sonam has returned,

hopeful the poster's star quality has
been restored.

- Hi, there.
- Hi.
- Hello.

- Welcome back.
- Thank you.

- Nice to meet you, Sonam. I'm Will.

- Nice to meet you. Pleased to meet
you.

- Are you excited?

- I am, yeah.

I'm...intrigued as well. Yeah.

- Shall we have a look?
- Yes, please.

Oh, my God, you've absolutely nailed
it!

That's absolutely fantastic.

Can I have a closer look?

- Of course.

- Oh, wow!

You can't tell what is real and what's
not real.

You've kind of done that magic bit.

- The writing in the back,

would you like to see?

- Yeah.

- The thing says, "Original poster -
Sholay."

- Yeah. "Bombay print."
- Mm-hm.
- Yeah.

It's beautiful.

Thank you, Angie, for doing such an
amazing job.

It looks absolutely stunning.

I think a lot of other people are
going to enjoy it as well,

not just me.
- I'm really glad.

- I can't wait to share it.

- Well, we'll have this very carefully
wrapped up

and we'll have it sent over to you.

- Great. Bye.
- Bye.

- The poster's really important to me
because it reminds me

of those golden times spent with
family.

It's a record of our lives

that we can relive and replay,

as well as a cultural thing as well,

because the film helped us to connect
to a land far away.

- 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.