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00:00A workshop full of wonders.
00:03I heard the word watch.
00:05Home to experts and time-honoured crafts.
00:09There you go, that's a good sound.
00:11Together repairing treasured pieces of the past.
00:15Oh, I like that. That is really good.
00:19Wow, look at that.
00:21Wow, look at that.
00:23Quite proud of that.
00:25And unlocking their stories.
00:27I'm completely blown away by this.
00:30Oh dear.
00:32Bringing the broken.
00:34I don't know where to start with this.
00:35Back to life.
00:36Wow.
00:39Stunning.
00:40Wow, fantastic.
00:44I think it's just amazing.
00:46Yeah.
00:47Welcome to the repair shop.
01:00Today, joining the cobbler.
01:02The shaker.
01:04And the table leg maker.
01:06Steve Fletcher is admiring the barn's first assignment.
01:11Lucia, come and have a look at this.
01:13Wow, this is something.
01:16It is, isn't it?
01:18I love things like this.
01:20This miniature marvel comes courtesy of ex-coal miner, John Wilcher, from Hollywell in North
01:29Wales.
01:30Hello, sir.
01:31Hello.
01:32So, John, this is an amazing model.
01:36It sure is, it sure is.
01:38It was built by my grandfather in 1904.
01:42It's amazing.
01:43What is it?
01:44Well, this model is a model of a coal mine.
01:47When you turned the handle, all these used to turn and them shafts would go up and down.
01:54So, where was the handle then?
01:55It was just there.
01:56Can you see a little hole?
01:57I can see a little hole there, yes.
01:59Oh, my word.
02:00There was like a crank going over there and it was housed over here.
02:03Yes.
02:04John, what was your grandfather's name?
02:07His name was John Joseph Wilcher.
02:10So, why did he make it?
02:12Because he hurt his back and he couldn't go down the pit anymore.
02:16In them days, it was very dangerous, yes.
02:19Very, very bad conditions, you know.
02:21There was accidents all the time.
02:24So, he just took to making models.
02:27Did you end up going down the mines?
02:29I did, sir, yes, I did.
02:31I went down the mine in the very, very early 70s to 1994.
02:37That's a long time.
02:38Yeah.
02:39Was it scary?
02:40No.
02:41It's dark.
02:42It's dirty.
02:44But I just loved the camaraderie.
02:47You're watching your mates back, you know.
02:49I think that's when I realised it.
02:51I had coldest in my veins, you know.
02:54Tell me a bit about your grandfather.
02:56What was he like?
02:57He was a lovely old boy to me.
03:00He used to tell me stories.
03:02I always remember that.
03:04Fantastic fella.
03:06When I was told that he was coming to me in the will,
03:11I was elated, you know, really.
03:13It's an honour, isn't it, to have this.
03:16I run a little museum.
03:18I am all sorts of mining artefacts.
03:20And, of course, this little beauty was pride of place.
03:24And was it working then?
03:26It was working, yeah.
03:27It was working fine.
03:28But then it started sticking, you see.
03:31I went to a model maker.
03:33This guy says, we'll fix it for you.
03:35Yep.
03:36So, when I went to pick it up, the mechanism had gone.
03:40When you turned, you know, gone.
03:42That's very unfortunate.
03:43Oh, flipping that guy.
03:45I guess because this is a one-off, your grandfather wouldn't have done drawings of the mechanism.
03:52He would have just done it as he went along.
03:54No.
03:55That's what he'd do, you know, Steve.
03:56He'd be so brilliant.
03:57My brain is whirring at the moment, just thinking about the cages going up and down.
04:03But I'm probably going to have to sleep on that one.
04:06What is the plan for the model if I can get it all working?
04:09It will go in pride of place in my museum to keep all the memories of mining alive, you know.
04:18And this will be, you know, the crown on it.
04:22I'll see what I can do.
04:23Thank you so much for bringing it in.
04:25See you, my dear.
04:26See you soon.
04:27Bye-bye.
04:28See you again.
04:29Thank you very much.
04:35Steve, where on earth are you going to start with this?
04:37Do you know what?
04:38I've no idea.
04:39I've got to try and get my head into John's grandfather's head to work out what sort of mechanism it would have had.
04:47Well, there's certainly a lot to do with the paint surface.
04:50Yeah.
04:51And just getting this cleaned up a little bit actually, but not too much.
04:54Well, let me know when you want me to come in and do the work on the surface.
04:58Might be some while.
04:59Okay.
05:00This is incredible.
05:15Slightly worried because I've got to design and make a complete new mechanism underneath that's going to drive everything.
05:27I've got to turn that motion of turning the handle to raise and lower the cages.
05:34Yeah, there's a lot to think about here actually.
05:37As Steve minds his imagination, Will Kirk is awaiting the arrival of Sarah Kelly and her daughter Laura.
05:52Lovely isn't it?
05:55Yeah, it is.
05:56They've come from Belfast with an heirloom that inspired a family vocation.
06:01Hi there.
06:03Hello.
06:04Welcome to the barn.
06:05Thank you very much.
06:06This is lovely.
06:09This is a writing box, right?
06:10It is.
06:11As far as I know, it's a Victorian writing box.
06:13So if these panels sort of sit like that.
06:16That's right.
06:17And then this is the surface that you write your letters on.
06:19Yeah, that's right.
06:20It belonged to my grandmother.
06:24She was given it by what had been her fiancé I think at the time, my grandfather.
06:29I know he gave it to her before they were married because he put her name on it.
06:34So Dolly McCormick was my grandmother.
06:37My grandmother died in 59.
06:40My mum had it all her life until she died and she died in 1993.
06:45Was your mum quite a writer then?
06:47Yeah, my mum was known as Kay Kennedy.
06:49She left school when she was only 14, went on to become a journalist.
06:54Really just through force of character, which sums my mum up.
07:00And then she worked her way up to becoming an editor of one of the papers called The Ulster Star.
07:07And she was one of the first woman editors in Northern Ireland, which I'm very proud of.
07:14That's amazing.
07:15It was amazing.
07:16It was amazing.
07:17And she was quite an exceptional woman.
07:19Yeah.
07:20She did very hard-hitting news stories at a difficult time in Northern Ireland.
07:25Yeah.
07:26She was right on the front doing that.
07:28But she also met all sorts of celebrities.
07:31Did she?
07:32She got to know Johnny Cash quite well.
07:34Yeah.
07:35The Roger Moore, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Bee Gees, you name it.
07:41She was well respected and well admired.
07:44Yeah.
07:45What she achieved for a woman with very little formal education, who just really had a love of words.
07:52Granny really was a trailblazer.
07:54And so it's really important for me to say that and to talk about Kay Kennedy because she broke so many boundaries.
08:01I'm a journalist because my grandmother was a journalist.
08:05She would have brought me into the offices whenever I was like a toddler.
08:08My grandmother was definitely my hero.
08:11Being the writing box, it's all about that link to the craft of words and to, you know, to telling those stories.
08:17But in its current condition, it doesn't really do justice.
08:19Exactly.
08:20Yeah.
08:21I mean, it's a bit of a sad wreck at the moment and it would be really nice if it's not quite so sad looking.
08:27The fact that it's a writing box and writing is so important in our family, this sort of encapsulates that.
08:35You know, linking back through all of those generations of, you know, my family and the women in my family keep that legacy alive.
08:43Yeah.
08:44I'm going to take very good care of this and get it worthy of a journalist again.
08:48Thank you so much.
08:49I'll see you very soon.
08:51Bye.
08:52Bye.
08:57I've got to devise a mechanism that make the cages go up and down, alternately like this.
09:11Oh God, that's complicated, isn't it?
09:13The thought about rack and pinion.
09:15And I don't know what your mind would come up with because you're very mechanical.
09:19I'd go with cams, but again, it's distances, traveling and all this sort of thing.
09:26Yeah.
09:37Now this is a great box.
09:39It's a real shame that this is in the condition that it's in.
09:41It doesn't really reflect Kay's work.
09:43And she sounded like a real powerhouse in the world of journalism.
09:47You've got two compartments, one at the top, one at the bottom.
09:50And it would have been held together by sort of one piece of leather on the inside.
09:54But I'm hoping Chris can have a look at that.
09:59This box gives you the illusion that it's made out of solid walnut.
10:02There's actually pine on the core on the inside.
10:05And a very thin amount of wood will be veneered onto the surface.
10:10When it gets damaged around the edges, it looks not very nice.
10:14I'm going to start off by removing the surface dirt and residue.
10:17The solution is made up of a bit of turps, a bit of meth and a few other ingredients.
10:30Well, it's cleaning up really well.
10:32Once I've finished the other side of the box, then I can start all the repairs.
10:36While Lucia begins restoring the paintwork of the model mine.
10:55The thing with acrylic paints, you have to move really quickly because they dry really quickly.
11:01Steve has been racking his brains on how to create the missing mechanics.
11:06I think I've now come up with a plan of how to drive all of the mine.
11:13And I've split it into two different sections.
11:16I've got this crank arm that I've made.
11:19We'll have various pulleys on.
11:21And that's going to drive the grinding wheel, saw bench and the air pump as well.
11:28The tricky bit then comes in this stage two for the lifts and cages.
11:34To start with, what I'm going to do is just fit the pulleys onto this shaft,
11:40which is the same sort of pulley as I see using my construction set when I was a kid.
11:47So I just need to now pop the pulley belt into place.
11:51And I've got a mirror in there just to help me see what I'm doing.
11:56Otherwise I'm just feeling in the dark a bit.
12:05Good. It's gone on really well. Let's see if it works.
12:12Brilliant.
12:13I'm really chuffed with that. All working absolutely as it should do.
12:30But that is the simple part of this repair.
12:34I've now got to turn my attention to getting the lifts to work.
12:39I'm now working on the part of the mechanism that will drive the winding wheels to lift the cages up and down.
13:08One of the things that makes this mechanism not straightforward is that I'm turning a sort of radial movement into an up and down movement.
13:18I'm just going to make this crank arm.
13:22I'm just going to make this crank arm.
13:23I'm just going to make this crank arm.
13:25I'm just going to make this crank arm.
13:27I'm just going to make this crank arm.
13:29I'm just going to make this crank arm.
13:30I'm just going to make this crank arm.
13:31If someone turns the handle, the crank handle turns this little wheel here, which then turns
13:57this big wheel and moves the rack one way or the other.
14:01And I'm really hoping that my final calculations are correct so that there's the right amount
14:08of up and down movement for the cages.
14:13If not, then I'm in a spot of bother, I think.
14:24Did you ever have a favourite toy as a kid?
14:26I have a little pig.
14:28He's called Porky.
14:29Oh, Porky Pig.
14:30And he had a little girlfriend called Porkat.
14:32Oh, I love that.
14:36Here to see plastics and toy restorer Charlotte Abbott is Jackie Harris from Barrow & Furnace
14:42with a beloved family treasure.
14:44Hello.
14:45Hello.
14:46Hello.
14:47So, who do we have here?
14:51This is Rosebud.
14:52She belonged to my mum.
14:53She was about 75 years old, we think, and given to my mum when she first went to live
14:59with her adoptive parents.
15:00Gosh.
15:01What was your mum's name?
15:02My mum was called Myra.
15:04She died in 2016, so nearly nine years ago.
15:07My mum lost her dad when she was about seven and then her mum when she was about nine.
15:12Her mum had a brain tumour and knew that she was really poorly, so she tried to find a
15:17home for all the nine children before she died.
15:20Oh, my goodness.
15:22Online?
15:23Yeah.
15:24Seven of the children went to live in Ireland with an aunt there.
15:27And then my mum and my mum's sister, my auntie Mary, lived in Barrow with families that
15:33she knew that could look after them.
15:35Wow.
15:36So, overnight, my mum lost her mum, her siblings and her home.
15:40That is just tragic, isn't it?
15:42It is really tragic, yeah.
15:44Wow.
15:45I mean, she'd never met the family before.
15:47Yeah.
15:48Before she went to live with them.
15:49But I also know that she was loved there.
15:51Yeah.
15:52And she was happy there.
15:53So, my mum was really, really lucky to have that family.
15:56She was looked after like their own, yeah.
15:59And what were her parents like?
16:01So, your grandparents, what were they like?
16:02Yeah, Violet and Walter, they were lovely.
16:04They just loved my mum.
16:06Yeah.
16:07And obviously, they wanted to get a doll.
16:09Yeah.
16:10It's a lovely welcome gift, really.
16:13She'd never had a doll before.
16:14Oh.
16:15So, she really treasured Rosebud.
16:18Yeah.
16:19For her whole life, obviously.
16:20Oh, yeah, she did, yeah.
16:21And when she was really poorly, the week before she died,
16:23she just asked that me and my sister would look after Rosebud for her.
16:26Oh, wow.
16:27So...
16:28What was Myra like as a mum?
16:29She was a really loving mum.
16:31It was a lovely family home that my mum created,
16:33really because she'd lost her own and we were her world, yeah.
16:36My dad and my sister and me, yeah.
16:38Best mum ever, yeah.
16:39Oh, that is lovely.
16:41What do you think when you look at Rosebud?
16:43Oh, I think of my mum straight away.
16:44Do you?
16:45Absolutely, yeah.
16:46She was a real support for my mum and she always used to sleep with her
16:50and even when she got married, she took her to a new home with my dad
16:54and then she just sat on this little wicker chair in my mum and dad's bedroom
16:57and that's where she sat since I've known her.
17:00I mean, I know she's been loved so much that she's fallen apart.
17:04Yeah.
17:05Has she always been in this condition as you can remember?
17:07As long as I can remember.
17:09Yeah, I've never known her with any legs.
17:11And my dad was married to a mum in 1965
17:14and he said that she never had legs then either.
17:17What would you like me to do?
17:19Legs, hopefully, would be a really wonderful thing to have back.
17:23A head, secure as well.
17:25The head's been taped on.
17:27All her hair's quite matted and there's not much hair.
17:30I'd love to see how my mum had first received her.
17:34But she's still got a gorgeous face.
17:35She does.
17:36She's still got her rosebud lips.
17:37Look at those lips, yeah.
17:38Yeah, which is how she got her name from her rosebud lips.
17:40Oh.
17:41And the lovely blue eyes.
17:42And what's the plan for Rosebud if she's restored?
17:45Well, she'll go back to my dad's little wicker chair in his bedroom
17:48and then she'll get passed on through the generations as a family heirloom
17:53and the story will be told.
17:55Rosebud is in very safe hands.
17:57I know you'll take really good care of her.
18:00And thanks for looking after her.
18:01No worries.
18:03Bye.
18:04Take care.
18:18You can tell that she's been wearing something that's been sleeveless
18:22because her body is this lovely shade of peach
18:25whereas her arms have faded quite substantially
18:27so it would be nice to get her colour back to how she was.
18:32God bless her.
18:33She's lost most of her hair as well.
18:34What is left is pretty matted.
18:37I need to make her a new wig.
18:44That is going to be the hard bit.
18:45It's just making two completely brand new legs.
18:47I don't know what they looked like
18:49but I think before I tackle this
18:51I'm just going to start taking her apart
18:54so I can see how much repair is needed.
19:02Let's see if it's really stuck.
19:09I'm inclined to think that it is a ceramic composition.
19:13I'm going to start rebuilding this missing piece.
19:17As Charlotte works on Rosebud's broken body
19:38Will's already stripped the writer's box back to its bare bones.
19:43It might look quite dull at the moment
19:45but once I've finished all my woodwork
19:46I'm going to spruce it up with some French polish.
19:49The cleaning has really brought out the areas of damaged veneer.
19:54My plan is to remove the damaged areas
19:56and replace them with a fresh section of veneer.
19:59This is actually off in the old writing box as well.
20:02I always keep spare bits of veneer in case I need them.
20:05It's time for me to remove this old glue and old bits of wood
20:10easily with this very small chisel here.
20:12That's why I have so many different chisels
20:14because they all have a purpose.
20:16I'm going to start off by cutting a bit of a curved shape
20:21to blend in well with the grain and the pattern in the wood.
20:24You want it to sort of end up blending in with the surrounding area
20:27you don't want it to stick out like a sore thumb.
20:29That is a really good fit.
20:34Right, all I need to do now is cut that section out
20:37and stick it on the box.
20:38Well, that's now glued in place.
20:59I'm going to let that fully dry.
21:00Once it has, I can trim off the excess veneer
21:03and move on to the next patch.
21:05And that looks perfect to me.
21:22The only thing that doesn't look perfect at the moment
21:24is the leather.
21:25So I'm going to speak to Chris and see if he can help.
21:33Hey, Chris.
21:34Oh, my goodness.
21:35Slight bit of damage there.
21:37To say the least.
21:38No, it's really important to keep as much of this leather
21:41as possible because that's where the history is.
21:43That tooling is absolutely lovely.
21:45Do you think you could try to replicate that?
21:49I'll give it a go.
21:50Brilliant.
21:50Cheers, Chris.
21:51Thanks a lot, mate.
21:57Lucia is applying her fine art finesse,
22:00bringing a miner's miniature world back to life.
22:04Steve's done a great job making these cages
22:07that go up and down and through the hole
22:10in the floor of the model.
22:11And now it's my responsibility to make them
22:14look original old parts.
22:17I'm happy with the colour match.
22:21It's just the actual surface finish.
22:23It just needs a bit more distressing.
22:25Might get a hammer and bash it a bit.
22:27Horrify, Steve.
22:29It's good.
22:34I've sketched out the dimensions of what I think
22:47Rosebud's leg would have roughly looked like.
22:50Having seen a lot of dolls over the years,
22:52you start to get a sense for how they probably
22:54would have looked.
22:55The next stage in this is I'm going to make a framework
22:58out of wire mesh.
22:59And this allows me to make Rosebud's leg
23:02quite hollow and nice and light
23:04like her arms and her torso are.
23:07It does seem to be perfect shape.
23:09It's just a rough template.
23:15So this is a two-part epoxy putty.
23:20You get the two equal parts of it mixed together
23:23and after a couple of hours, they go hard.
23:25So the first layer is going to just cover everything
23:30and then the next layer I can go in
23:32and sculpt all the nicer details.
23:34I'm going to use this dowel
23:37as like a point that I can push against.
23:46When I was younger, I used to love playing with clay.
23:49I would, I really like making food.
23:51So I've made like three-course meals
23:53out of clay.
23:54I'd like roll loads of little peas
23:56and I'd make little pasties.
23:58Always been into sculpting
24:00and making things like this.
24:02More minutes.
24:03More minutes.
24:04More minutes.
24:07More minutes.
24:08More minutes.
24:09I'll see you all next.
24:10Bye guys.
24:11Bye.
24:14Come on.
24:16Bye.
24:16Bye.
24:21Bye.
24:25Bye.
24:26Bye.
24:27Bye.
24:27Bye.
24:30Bye.
24:31All these bits and bobs are working, but then the cages are going to go up and down as well.
24:38One's going to go up, one's going to go up.
24:40How do you work that one out then?
24:43Smooth. You are just enjoying yourself far too much.
24:48I'm going to put in a nice little rounded heel.
25:06I'm again using a two part epoxy.
25:18I'm just using a little sculpting tool.
25:22I actually have a weird collection of things that aren't really sculpting tools that I use.
25:27Like I've got a metal chopstick that I think is great.
25:30The ends of pencils and paint brushes and things like that.
25:41That is really starting to look like a leg.
25:47I just need to leave to cure.
25:49And then next up is making a satin leg.
26:02Applying his bookbinder's art to a writer's box, Chris sets about repairing the torn leather interior.
26:11The problem with this box is this joint.
26:15It's very badly warped.
26:17When you close it, the gap just gets bigger and bigger.
26:20The leather is getting pulled and that's why it's broken along there.
26:24I would like to put some supporting cloth and a new piece of leather and eventually stick the original down.
26:31The problem I've got is will it rip once I've put the cloth in place and the leather.
26:38And I won't know that until I get to that point.
26:41It's always a nice feeling doing collaborations and it's a really traditional when it comes to writing boxes for a cabinet maker like Will to team up with a bookbinder.
26:53Goodness, it's raining out there cats and dogs.
27:09Wow.
27:10Immersive experience.
27:11It really is.
27:12Wow.
27:13I am so pleased I'm in here not out there.
27:14OK, I'm off.
27:15So that's the leather in place.
27:16I'm really happy with that.
27:17Now I just need to leave to dry and then I can see whether it's going to work or not.
27:30And if it doesn't, well, I'll have to come up with a plan B.
27:45Go, go, go, go.
27:47Now it's the moment of truth.
27:58Is it going to split when I close and all my hard work so far will be wasted?
28:27What a relief.
28:29So now I know Laura and Sarah can open and close this with ease.
28:34It's all, as the young people would say, gravy.
28:37So now I can start sticking the original leather down and then I can start thinking about retouching and retooling the missing pieces.
28:46So I'm really happy all the original now has been stuck down and dry.
29:01And now I need to retool and put back in the missing bits of gold.
29:18This is 22 or 23 carat gold.
29:22I've had some tools made of the exact pattern.
29:25And to do that, I've taken a rub in and you send it off to a fantastic company that can reproduce the tool for me to re-gold the missing area.
29:34So the gold's now in place and now I'm going to tool it with a hot tool.
29:43So that looks really good.
30:02I just need to do it to the other side and then I can blend the old and new leather together.
30:15It's taken hours of mind-bending pondering, planning and production, but Steve's vision for the model mine is about to be realized.
30:40I've got all of the pieces of the mechanism made, so I'm just going to assemble it all, oil it all, and then it's all going to be ready to pop into the mine.
30:55And fingers crossed, hopefully it'll all work.
30:58I've really enjoyed doing all of this so far, actually having to reinvent what I thought John's grandfather may have put in.
31:09I'm just going to connect one of the lines up to see whether it all works and lifts one of the cages.
31:29It's coming up all right.
31:37That's going down there.
31:39Oh, that's really good.
31:43That's working absolute truth.
31:48Everything is working exactly as it should do.
31:52I just need to get the other three cages in place now.
31:55And, yeah, I can play with it a bit longer then.
31:59Once the prize exhibit in a mining museum, this detailed model of a working pit had fallen into disrepair and the internal mechanism had been lost.
32:18For John, the model is a reminder of his enduring connection to the tradition of mining, but most poignantly, to his grandfather, who crafted it.
32:30Hello, John.
32:31Hello.
32:32I wonder what you've got in there.
32:36How are you feeling about being here today, John?
32:38I'm excited, really, you know.
32:41And I'm looking forward to what Stephen has worked his magic on, you know.
32:45Have you done any magic, Steve?
32:47I hope you've done some magic as well.
32:52What are you hoping to see?
32:54If I get them things working there, it'll come to life again then, you know.
32:59And what will that mean to you?
33:02It'll mean the world.
33:04Yeah, it'll mean the world to me.
33:07Would you like to see it?
33:08Oh, yes, please, sir.
33:17Oh, my God.
33:31Steve, they all come out over the lockdown, which is Welshfell.
33:43Thank you very much from the bottom of my heart.
33:46Please.
33:47Absolutely praise.
33:55Oh, my God.
33:59Steve, he's a brilliant mate.
34:02Absolutely brilliant.
34:05Is this how you remember it?
34:07Better than I remember it, you know.
34:10Absolutely fabulous.
34:13Lucia has done all the painting work that has needed to be done.
34:18Thank you, my dear.
34:19Oh, it's been an absolute treat.
34:21Yeah.
34:22You've done a fantastic job.
34:24I mean, this is made in 1904, and I bet it'll be going now for another 120 years.
34:32This has been an absolute honour to work on, not just for you, but for all of the mining community.
34:40Thank you so much.
34:41Thank you so much.
34:46I am feeling ecstatic to tell you the truth.
34:49What a job that they've done on that.
34:51Brought all the memories flooding back, you know.
34:54My granddad would be so proud.
34:57He's going from here straight to the museum.
35:01The community would be very, very, very pleased.
35:05Yes, to see this thing that was created in 1904, and it's still going.
35:11Oh, it's brilliant.
35:28From mines to megastructures, Tilly Newnham has a mighty piece of British engineering history for the attention of paper conservator Angelina Bacalarou.
35:43Hi there.
35:44Hello.
35:45Welcome, welcome.
35:46Please take a seat.
35:48What did you get for us?
35:49That's interesting.
35:50So this is a drawing.
35:51It's an original engineering drawing of a design for the Humber Bridge.
35:55Wow.
35:56My God, this is amazing.
35:58Is this all drawn by pencil?
36:00I believe so.
36:01Right.
36:02So tell us a bit more about it.
36:04So this was a drawing that was owned by my grandfather, but it actually dates back to 1930.
36:09What was your granddad's name?
36:10Bernard Wex.
36:11The detailing is absolutely amazing.
36:13Was this drawn by like an artist or?
36:16No, it was drawn by Sir Ralph Freeman Senior.
36:19He was a civil engineer in the trade of building bridges.
36:22He was commissioned to come up with a design either for a bridge or a tunnel to cross the
36:27Humber estuary.
36:29Linking the industrial heartlands of Lincolnshire to the docks at Hull and beyond with a bridge
36:37took decades of planning and building.
36:41But this original multi-span design was never realised.
36:45Thirty years later, the government decided they wanted to potentially invest again.
36:50So my grandfather was approached and he was given this drawing by the firm as a, here's
36:55some inspiration.
36:56Oh, wow.
36:57Here's what we designed previously.
36:58So how long did it take for the bridge to be built?
37:01So it actually took ten years in the end and was opened finally in 1981.
37:05The Queen attended to open it with Prince Philip.
37:08Wow.
37:09We have pictures of my grandfather meeting her and eventually he was awarded an OBE for his contribution with the bridge.
37:16That's amazing.
37:17And is grandpa still with us?
37:19No, I'm afraid he died in 1990.
37:21He's just fondly remembered.
37:23Our family generally view the bridge as that legacy that stands of his that keeps us connected to him.
37:28Yeah, I bet.
37:29We call it Grandad's Bridge.
37:30Do you?
37:31Yeah, so if we drive under it we say hello Grandad.
37:33Oh my God, that's so sweet.
37:34I took my daughter to see it about four or five years ago.
37:38It's quite sweet because I've got pictures of me at a similar age to her in front of the bridge.
37:42So it's a very emotional connection for us to Grandad's Bridge.
37:46It's part of the story of how he came to build the bridge he did.
37:50It's something we will always cherish as a family and want others to know as well because we're so proud of what he achieved.
37:57It's a one of a kind.
37:59I can't wait to get my hands on it.
38:01Thank you, we really appreciate it.
38:02We'll see you very soon.
38:04Thanks a lot.
38:05I am so amazed by how much detail this drawing has in it.
38:25However, there are quite a few issues on the paper itself.
38:28First and most obvious is this difference of colour.
38:33The middle side actually is much lighter than both of the edges.
38:37Something that is quite interesting is all of these losses.
38:42This is a very, very typical damage caused by silverfish.
38:46Silverfish are not fish.
38:48They are little insects that live in the damp, dark places in your home and they love eating paper.
38:56These really small black dots on this side of the paper, some bug has left their droppings on it, which is lovely.
39:07We call this frass.
39:09I love the name.
39:10I don't like how it looks.
39:12It needs to be removed.
39:14Rosebud, a 75-year-old doll, is heading for a fresh new look as Charlotte addresses those tresses.
39:33I don't want to glue the hair directly to her head.
39:37That wasn't how her wig was originally.
39:39There was fabric there and the hair was sewn to that.
39:41So I'm going to be following that process.
39:43Right.
39:44Let's see if this fits.
39:47I managed to clean Rosebud's hair and there is some of it here that is in good enough condition that I can integrate this into the wig.
39:56Looking at Rosebud's original wig, I can tell what style of hair she had.
40:01She's got the parting kind of running all the way along but no hair was here.
40:05This tells me that she had a hairstyle that would have come down like this and then been in little plaits.
40:11I managed to source some really good replacement hair.
40:16This is sewn together and then I can then sew that onto the wig cap.
40:22It's great to be able to take Rosebud back to how she was originally because Jackie has never seen her with beautiful pigtails.
40:46Well, job done.
40:49Let's have a look.
40:52No.
40:53What kind of trickery is this?
40:55And it opens.
40:56So I feel like a child on Christmas Day and it's not even my box.
40:59No.
41:00This is unbelievable.
41:02How have you drawn those two together?
41:04Will, if I told you I'd have to kill you.
41:06Oh God, don't do that.
41:08I'm still needed to polish the box.
41:09Yeah.
41:10And it's going to look great.
41:11I think it will.
41:12Thanks for having fun.
41:13Cheers.
41:16It's been dirty work for Angelina, cleaning the creepy crawly calling cards from the rare engineering plans.
41:30This looks really much fresher now.
41:33And especially now that all of the frass has gone from this side.
41:37Unfortunately, there's quite a bit of tape.
41:40It creates stains that are sometimes impossible to remove.
41:45The best way to tackle tapes like this is to use a little bit of heat.
41:51Reactivating the adhesive on the tape.
41:58Oh, there we go.
41:59Fantastic.
42:00It's already moving.
42:05Ah.
42:06Woo.
42:07Done.
42:08Once I remove as much of the residue as possible, then I will start preparing the drawing for washing.
42:23I am washing the, the Humber Bridge drawing.
42:24I am washing the, the Humber Bridge drawing.
42:40It's so yellow and so discolored.
42:41It might look quite scary that I'm introducing water to paper, but paper is surprisingly strong if it's not handled too much and should allow any discoloration to be absorbed through it.
42:57And allow the drawing to start cleaning.
42:58Well, I think this is already a really, really good sign that the blotting paper is starting to work and is allowing the discoloration to come through.
43:14I've got to paint quite a lot of limbs, so I'm going to make quite a lot of paint.
43:32Making this kind of flesh tone, it's mainly a balance between red and yellow.
43:49Sometimes with a little bit of blue to kind of cool it down.
43:53And matching to her face because, well, that's the bit of rosewood that Jackie remembers.
43:58So it makes sense that the rest of it would be the same colour as well.
44:13Chris and Will are rewriting the future of a writer's box that once belonged to Kay Kennedy, one of Northern Ireland's pioneering female newspaper editors.
44:25I'm now applying a really thin coat of shellac polish to show off that beautiful walnut.
44:31And I'm also going to add an extra little touch so Kay's name lives on in the box.
44:36The once tattered and battered writer's box has inspired four generations of women.
44:49From original owner Dolly, through trailblazing reporter Kay Kennedy, to Sarah and journalist daughter Laura, this box continues to inspire.
45:01Hi there, come in, come in.
45:04Hello.
45:05Lovely to see you both again.
45:06It's lovely to see you too.
45:07Kay was a very important lady in both your lives.
45:10Yeah.
45:11She was an absolute tribulation and she deserves to be remembered with the kind of reverence that, you know, that she deserved and she earned in her lifetime.
45:21Are you ready to take a look?
45:22I think so.
45:23Yeah.
45:24Okay, here we go.
45:25Oh, my goodness.
45:26Oh, it's beautiful, Will.
45:27It's absolutely beautiful.
45:28I want to get it open.
45:29I'm like, yeah, let me in.
45:30I'm going to let you open it.
45:31Okay, here we go.
45:32Oh.
45:33Oh.
45:34Oh, wow.
45:35Absolutely gorgeous.
45:36Absolutely beautiful.
45:37Absolutely beautiful.
45:38Absolutely beautiful.
45:40This is the original, isn't it?
45:42Uh huh.
45:43It looks like it's healed itself, doesn't it?
45:48I cannot take all the credit.
45:49absolutely gorgeous this is the original isn't it uh-huh it looks like it's healed itself doesn't
46:00it i cannot take all the credit chris our bookbinder he's actually retained the original
46:06surface but he's somehow managed to as you say heal yeah the drawing line it's really beautiful
46:12it's such a lovely tribute well i know that as people pass away keeping their name going it's
46:18important for you yeah oh oh that's lovely oh that's so lovely oh that was so thoughtful well as
46:32you know i was like say her name say her name and there she is okay canady and she's so important
46:38and that's just such a beautiful way of honoring her it's been great to be able to keep k's name
46:44alive thank you thank you so much well it's a pleasure right it's over to you absolutely beautiful
46:49thank you thank you so much bye bye
46:54i'm feeling very happy i'm feeling proud of my family both past and present it's important that
47:06people should know who k kennedy was she was right there in the forefront as well as covering some
47:13of the hardest times in northern irish history and i think that we should honor powerful irish women
47:19and for there to be one of those in my family i've got to champion her name and keep that flame alive
47:25with the humber bridge plans now clean and bright angelina can tackle the tears
47:50i am using wheat starch paste it has really good age properties it will not discolor and it will not
47:58break down over the years
48:00this repair tissue has very very long fibers and it makes it extra strong
48:15i will just trace the shape of the repair with my water pen
48:22so all i need to do is just apply it on
48:32beautiful
48:35don't worry i'm not making breakfast i just finished with the support of all of the tears
48:59and all of the losses and now i'm thinking the best way to do my infills cellulose powder is like
49:06powdered paper that when it's mixed with some methyl cellulose or an adhesive it creates a paste and it
49:14will effectively dry just like paper however this is so white right now and if i want to avoid
49:22retouching too much i think the best way to do it is toast it toasting the cellulose will help it become
49:31a little bit browner it's pretty much like toasting bread this is starting to get brown now this is
49:38lovely all i need to do is just allow it for a few minutes to cool and then mix it with my methyl cellulose
49:45and apply it on my losses this is very exciting
49:54looks a little bit darker but as it dries it should lighten up
50:01what i need to do is just continue working my way through all of the rest of the losses
50:06and then hopefully at the end we will have a much more unified image of the humble bridge
50:15with rosebud's head shoulders knees and toes all painstakingly restored charlotte's ready to bring her
50:40back to life i've got this really long string of elastic really nice and pointy
50:57the tension all looks great inside but i think the final test is can she sit up
51:04oh well she can just getting her back together again is amazing
51:09yeah i'm a bit to be honest i'm a bit overwhelmed myself jackie has never seen rosebuds in one piece
51:15and it's just gonna be so wonderful for her to experience rosebud like her mum did
51:19i need to fit her wig and then i'll dress her in some kind of period appropriate clothing
51:24rosebud was gifted to nine-year-old orphan myra by her newly adoptive parents over 75 years ago
51:44hoping to see her mother's childhood companion hall again jackie is back accompanied by her dad ron
51:52hello hello hello hi lovely to meet you how are you feeling excited yeah emotional yes
52:05she sits in a wicked chair in our bedroom next to teddy and teddy's lonely
52:10yeah so what are you hoping that i've done giving her her legs back that would be a big thing for me and
52:18just just to see how my mum first saw her on the day that she was given to her are you ready
52:23shall we do it please
52:33oh oh
52:35Oh!
52:40Hard to recognise her.
52:42Oh, my God, she...
52:43Oh, she's amazing. Look at her hair.
52:46Oh, yeah.
52:49Oh, look at her, Dad. Look at her, look at her feet.
52:52Yeah, Alexa.
52:54And she's sitting up like we've never seen her sitting up.
53:00Oh, look at her, Dad.
53:01Yeah.
53:03Oh, we can move her legs and everything.
53:05How did you do that?
53:07You are so clever.
53:08Yeah, I know.
53:09Yeah.
53:12Holding Rosebud now, what's going through your mind?
53:16My mum holding her.
53:18Yeah, just my mum's face when she first saw her
53:20and just... Well, she was comforted by her, didn't she?
53:23Oh, my mum would be absolutely over the moon, Charlotte.
53:26Thank you, sir.
53:28I wish she was here.
53:29Oh, yeah.
53:31She looks brilliant, doesn't she, Dad?
53:34A million dollars.
53:35Honestly, thank you, Charlotte.
53:44Rosebud symbolises my mum's and family's story
53:48that we just want to be able to pass on and tell forever.
53:51And now we can do that.
53:53Now we've got Rosebud in one piece.
53:57Myra would never have expected to see a hole again.
54:00So today is quite a big day, which, you know, I find quite touching.
54:07Yeah.
54:08Yeah.
54:09The Humber Crossing drawing is no sturdy, but the repairs have left some gaps to bridge.
54:23I'm going super, super soft with a pencil because I don't want it to be a very, very distinct and sharp line.
54:33There we go.
54:35First line in.
54:36Tilly is incredibly proud of her grandfather, so now the drawing has been conserved and treated.
54:44The family will be able to appreciate it without having to take a trip up to Hull to just see the real thing.
54:56The Humber Bridge may have been a triumph of British engineering, built to last.
55:02But these original plans were showing all of their 95 years.
55:10Oh, Angie.
55:12Do you like it?
55:13That is amazing.
55:15Where's the rip?
55:17Where indeed?
55:19You're clever, aren't you?
55:22For Tilly, the drawing is a reminder of her grandfather, his achievements,
55:27and the Proud family legacy they still celebrate generations later.
55:33Hello.
55:34Hi again.
55:35Welcome back.
55:36Good to see you.
55:37Have you been excited to come back?
55:39Yeah, I have.
55:40I'm so intrigued to see how it's looking now.
55:43We really cherish the memory of my grandfather.
55:47It's just part of the whole story of how the Humber Bridge came to be,
55:50and it's something we're so proud of as a family.
55:53Would you like to see what I've done to it, then?
55:55Love to.
55:56All right.
55:57Love to.
56:04Wow.
56:05That's amazing.
56:08It looks so beautiful.
56:10I'm really glad.
56:11So lovely.
56:15It looks loved.
56:18Wow.
56:23What do you think of when you look at the drawing?
56:26To build a bridge, it blows my mind, and, you know, it's still standing.
56:30How incredible is that to have achieved this?
56:33And that's always been a real source of inspiration.
56:35My parents will be over the moon to see it.
56:39Thank you so much.
56:41Like, this means so much to us, so thank you for all your work on it.
56:45Right, let me give you a hand.
56:48Let's go.
56:49I'm feeling so impressed with the final outcome.
56:56It's really nice to have another connection to my grandfather.
57:00But it can continue to be appreciated by our family and stay part of that pride that we have in the bridge.
57:08If you have a treasured possession that's seen better days, and you think the team can help, please get in touch at bbc.co.uk slash techpart.
57:26And join us in the repair shop.
57:29We'll see you next time.
58:03Bye.
58:04Bye.
58:08Bye.
58:16Bye.
58:16Bye.
58:16Bye.
58:16Bye.
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