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00:01Eighty years ago, Britain threw a party.
00:05Lovely, look at these.
00:07To mark the end of the Second World War in Europe.
00:11You can't even imagine what it must have been like.
00:13Those people felt that it was all over.
00:14Today, the barn hears the stories of those who fought for that victory.
00:19At home...
00:20All these messages, they'll be lost for good if I don't repair it.
00:25...and overseas.
00:26That clock is imperative in flying.
00:30Restoring the beloved but broken keepsakes.
00:33This tiny little part is most of the reason that this clock is stopping.
00:39That saw both the devastation of war...
00:41So you preserved the history of the blood, sweat and tears.
00:47...and a return to peace.
00:50Oh, fantastic! Oh, Hasey, you look wonderful.
00:54It's a tribute to all those people there that we'll never know, but they'll never be forgotten.
01:00As we celebrate the anniversary of VE Day.
01:19The barn's first arrival has come dressed for the occasion.
01:24101-year-old Royal Navy veteran John Holloway.
01:30Hello.
01:31Hello.
01:31Hello, gentlemen.
01:32Nice to see you.
01:33Sit down.
01:35Oh, what have we got here?
01:36A cockpit clock.
01:38Oh, that's a lovely looking thing.
01:41Tell us a bit about it.
01:43Well, I acquired it from an aircraft which I serviced during the war.
01:50I was an engineering mechanic on an aircraft carrier, HMS Formidable, in 1944.
01:59So, how old were you when you joined?
02:0117.
02:02Wow.
02:03I had to do a daily service on the plane, and that clock is imperative in flying.
02:12Aircraft carriers such as HMS Formidable played a crucial role in the war, providing a mobile base for airborne operations
02:20across vast distances.
02:22With aircraft taking off and landing in strict formation, accurate timekeeping was key, and it was John's job to service
02:31the planes and install the clocks.
02:34The squadron leader would say, set the clocks, you know, so all the clocks were going to be set off
02:42just prior to taking off.
02:44That was my job, to put that clock back in the cockpit.
02:49OK, yeah.
02:49All the clocks were taken out of the aircraft after they'd done so many hours flying, so we all had
02:57one of these clocks.
02:58Yep.
02:59It stayed with me until 1946.
03:03How was the end of the war for you?
03:06Well, great in terms that it was all over.
03:09Yeah.
03:09And then, when I come home, that was when I met my wife.
03:14Everybody called her Connie, but I called her Con.
03:18That's nice.
03:19She was the best wife and the best thing I ever had.
03:23And I was married for six to six years, and this clock, I gave it to her as a Christmas
03:31present in 1947.
03:34I had it made up and this fitted in.
03:38Oh, I see.
03:39There was a little silver plate just to cover the screws.
03:43Oh, I see, right.
03:44And a marble base on the clock, you know, for that to stand on.
03:48OK.
03:49She always kept that clock on a bedside table.
03:52Yeah.
03:52So the numbers used to light up in the dark.
03:55Yes.
03:56They used to glow.
03:57Six years ago, I moved from Devon, and in the removal, it all got broken.
04:03It's obviously in a cardboard box and fell out of the cardboard box.
04:06And this all got smashed up.
04:09Yeah.
04:09Pretty devastated I was, you know.
04:11I mean, there's so much tied up into this.
04:13Not just your time in the Navy, but also the time that you spent with your lovely wife.
04:17That's a part of me and Conn.
04:22She passed away a good ten years ago.
04:25When I go to bed at night, I always say, good night Conn, I love you, and that sort of
04:31thing.
04:31And that's why I'm asking your good services to put this together, because to me, that is Conn.
04:40I'm going to try my absolute best to get this clock working and looking how it used to look.
04:47Thank you very much.
04:48Safe travels back, John, and we'll see you soon.
04:50Bye-bye now.
04:51Bye-bye.
05:03I can't imagine going on a ship the age of 17 into battle, basically.
05:10I would be terrified.
05:12So total, total respect to him.
05:14This dial used to glow in the dark, so it'd be nice if I could get it repainted with luminescent
05:21paint so that John could use it like he used to use it.
05:25First things first, and I'm dying to get inside and see what's involved in getting this clock working again.
05:31I'm thinking if it actually fell out onto the ground, the balance staff may be broken.
05:37I need to get this corrected, because without this, the clock just won't keep time, or probably won't go at
05:43all.
05:45And actually, because of its tiny, tiny nature, might need some younger eyes to help me with this.
05:54Well prepared for the next wartime project, Master Hatter, J.S. Fickill.
06:00J.S., looking smart as ever.
06:02Thank you very much.
06:05Eddie Smythe has a threadbare piece of military uniform that bore witness to a unique and hair-raising series of
06:12events.
06:15Hi.
06:15Hello.
06:16Welcome to the barn.
06:20What have you brought in for us, then?
06:22This is my father, John Smythe's RAF cap, which he wore during World War II.
06:27Okay.
06:27Tell us a bit about your dad.
06:28Well, my dad was from Sierra Leone, and when World War II started, he volunteered to join the RAF, where
06:38he trained, became an officer, and joined Bomber Command.
06:41Why did he want to join the RAF?
06:44Well, I think, one, that Sierra Leone was part of the British Empire at the time.
06:49Okay.
06:49But also, he knew that if Hitler and his Nazi regime had succeeded, it would be bad for the whole
06:55world.
06:56So he was willing to step up and play his part.
06:59My father never talked about the war when we were growing up as children.
07:03Right.
07:03It's only since he's died that I've been able to research his story and find out a lot more about
07:09what went on.
07:10How much about that do you know?
07:11Well, in his training camp, there were about 95 men, and he was one of the five, promoted to officer,
07:18which was very rare.
07:19Because in 1939, when the war started, the RAF had a colour bar, so you weren't allowed to join the
07:25RAF if you were black.
07:27I didn't realise that.
07:28So it was only under a lot of pressure that they eventually relented.
07:32Wow.
07:32So he was, to a certain extent, he was trailblazing.
07:35He was a navigator and a bomber. He was in a crew of seven.
07:38I mean, a lot of those bombers didn't actually come back, did they?
07:40And his didn't come back, eventually.
07:43On his fifth mission, they were tasked with bombing a heavily defended target over Meinheim.
07:47They were spotted by a German night fighter, which shot them down.
07:50He got hit in his thigh and in his abdomen by shrapnel, and they had to parachute out of a
07:57burning plane.
07:57Over Germany.
07:58Over Germany.
07:59Over Germany.
08:00So what happened next? This sounds like a film.
08:02This is definitely. I'm already in it now.
08:04Well, he made a successful parachute jump, and he found himself in a snow-covered field,
08:09and eventually went into a barn to get some rest.
08:13Made a mistake by lighting a cigarette.
08:16No.
08:16So within half an hour, there were German voices outside.
08:19They started shooting into the barn, so he had to come out with arms raised and surrendered.
08:25Going through all of that, being shot down, this would have been with him.
08:28This would have been with him.
08:29This would have been with him.
08:29For all of that.
08:30I would have been with him.
08:31I think that's amazing.
08:32He was prisoner of war for 18 months, and he's got quite a few war medals.
08:36Yeah.
08:36And he's got a military MBE.
08:38You must be so proud of him.
08:39I am.
08:40Very proud.
08:40I could see from your face, it's like, what an amazing history.
08:44What would you like me to do with the hat?
08:46Well, the most important thing are the moth holes.
08:50Right, yeah.
08:51Which are substantial there.
08:52Yeah.
08:53And of course, the inside, it's very perished.
08:57I'm not expecting miracles, but it's part of him.
09:00It's the only part of him that we have left.
09:02If the moth holes could go, and if it looked in better condition, myself, my family, and
09:07the people who get to see this will be over the moon.
09:10It deserves better.
09:11And I think it's important that stories like this are told.
09:16It's making sure that what our forefathers, our fathers and grandfathers, the suffering
09:23that they went through to make sure that we could be free today is never, never, ever lost.
09:29I promise you, we'll do the best we can to preserve it.
09:33Thank you very much.
09:33OK. Bye-bye.
09:34Bye-bye.
09:39What a story, eh?
09:42Did you have any family in the war?
09:44Well, Norway was occupied during the war.
09:46My Norwegian family played a part in the resistance.
09:50Oh, amazing.
09:51They would hide people, and if they heard that the German soldiers were coming,
09:57they would have to kind of get them out and they'd have to turn mattresses over and things
10:01because they would actually come and, like, feel if the beds felt warm.
10:05Oh, my goodness.
10:10From a distance, this hat looked fine, but now handling the cap, I can feel the texture,
10:16I can feel the wear and tear.
10:17The whole hat has a film of grease that's purely by handling over the years.
10:22Obviously, there has been moth activity, and there's been plenty of it.
10:27As I feel more of it, I can feel there's something else had gone on.
10:30The lining has sort of melted.
10:34It looks as if it's come in contact of some sort of heat.
10:38And even the feel of it is quite crisp.
10:40So there's a lot I need to deal with.
10:43First off, I'm going to use my hard bristle brush
10:46and try to work my way all around the hat to remove the layer of grease.
10:56Steve has dismantled the minuscule mechanism of the cockpit clock
11:01and has called in reinforcements in the shape of son and horology protege, Fred.
11:09Dad, I hear you need a hand.
11:11This clock, it's a lovely, lovely mechanism,
11:15but the pivots on the balance are so tiny.
11:19And do you know what, Fred? I just can't see it.
11:23It doesn't matter how many pairs of eyeglasses.
11:24I need a younger pair of eyes.
11:27OK, OK.
11:28I've stripped it all down, I've cleaned it all through.
11:31Well done.
11:31Do come back and ask any questions.
11:33Thank you, yeah.
11:39With Fred taking a closer look at the troublesome tiny parts,
11:44Steve can comfortably set his sights on larger scale repairs.
11:49I've drawn up a sketch of the plates that I'm going to make for the front of the clock.
11:56It's basically going to sit on like that and hold the mechanism in place.
12:01I do actually own the cockpit clock because my father, when he was doing his natural service,
12:10was an aircraft engineer and he seemed to have ended up with a clock as well.
12:16Maybe all aircraft engineers ended up with clocks.
12:25This tiny little part is most of the reason that this clock is stopping.
12:30The balance staff.
12:31Both the pivots, they're going to be really weak.
12:33So I'm just going to make a new staff.
12:37The drawing I've done is significantly bigger than the actual staff itself.
12:41It's a lot easier for me to read while I'm turning it.
12:44This is the first section I'm going to be turning,
12:46which is the smallest part I've ever made for anything.
12:50So there's another layer of pressure.
12:52I'm using pivot steel, which is as hard as glass,
12:56and I'm turning it down to 0.1mm,
12:59so it's just so difficult to get it right without anything going wrong.
13:11Every time I turn a little bit off,
13:13I've got to measure it, make sure I've not gone too far.
13:20Okay, so I think I'm getting pretty close now to fitting the roller.
13:26So let's have a go.
13:31That's really annoying.
13:33I've gone a bit far.
13:36So the roller needs to be on pretty tight.
13:38You push it on, it can't twist,
13:40but that's twisting pretty easily.
13:42So I'm going to have to start again.
13:55While Fred perseveres with his pivots,
14:00another wartime item has arrived.
14:04Ruth Haight has come with daughter Charlie
14:06and a cherished companion from an extraordinary journey
14:10for the attention of bare ladies, Julie and Amanda.
14:15So who have we got here?
14:17Well, this is Hacey.
14:18Hacey.
14:18She's my doll who came with me from Vienna.
14:21Because I was born in Vienna.
14:24You don't sound like you were born in Vienna.
14:26When I've been in England since I was two and a half.
14:29My father was Jewish, my mother was Catholic,
14:33and I was illegitimate.
14:36My mother was just 16 years old when she had me.
14:39I went straight into foster care.
14:41So when was this?
14:42This was 1936.
14:44I went to a couple called Kummer.
14:47Uh-huh.
14:47And I think I would have stayed there until I grew up,
14:52if it wasn't for the war.
14:54My foster parents suddenly realized in 1939
14:59that he would be arrested and put in prison
15:02for keeping a Jewish child in his house.
15:05Really?
15:05Yes.
15:06So I would have gone into a concentration camp, I suppose.
15:10Somehow they heard of this organization
15:13that were rescuing children
15:15and arranging for them to be sent to England.
15:19And in England, Walter and Dora, my...
15:23Well, I think of them as my parents.
15:25Right.
15:25Found it too.
15:26And they got matched up.
15:28Wow.
15:29So then how did you get to them?
15:31I had no official papers at all.
15:34He was a barrister, Walter,
15:36and he had a client who was customs and excise.
15:40Right.
15:41And he said,
15:42would it be possible to smuggle a child into the country?
15:47And to his amazement,
15:49the answer was absolutely no problem at Dover.
15:52Really?
15:53So Walter was Jewish, so he couldn't travel.
15:56So Dora decided that she would travel to Vienna
15:59and bring me home.
16:01That's so brave.
16:03And I cried all the way on the train, on the boat,
16:07till we got to Dover.
16:09I'm not surprised.
16:10As we got off the boat, the instructions had been,
16:13follow with everyone else along towards customs.
16:17And he said, as you come along, hand Ruth over the wall.
16:20My goodness.
16:22And so I went over the wall into Walter's hands.
16:25Hasey came over the wall.
16:27And that was the beginning of my life in England.
16:30And Hasey's.
16:31She was with me all the way.
16:33She was my security.
16:35And I was really...
16:36Yes, yeah.
16:38And I mean, it was a big family.
16:40I was the fifth.
16:41And then they had two more children.
16:43We used to go out on bicycle rides.
16:46Father, mother and seven children.
16:48Wow.
16:49I'm just the luckiest person.
16:51Do you remember the end of the war and VE day?
16:53Yes, the village had a great party and huge bonfire.
16:59And we were all dancing around and enjoying it.
17:04Oh, she really is part of me.
17:06She's been through life with me.
17:07She's been through all the early years.
17:10Yes.
17:10Mum said to me yesterday,
17:11I love her as passionately today as I did when I first got her.
17:15Oh, that's wonderful.
17:18What is your dream?
17:19What would you like her to look like?
17:21Well, I have an Austrian Diendel,
17:24an Austrian national costume.
17:26And I'd be really thrilled if she could be repaired
17:30so she has two arms and two legs
17:32and possibly an Austrian Diendel like mine.
17:35We will really look after her for you.
17:38Thank you very much.
17:39Thank you so much.
17:40Bye-bye.
17:41Bye-bye.
17:42Thanks.
17:42Bye.
17:53What this little doll and Ruth have been through,
17:56it's just incredible, isn't it?
17:58I don't know how many tears were on that little head.
18:01Bless her.
18:02No.
18:02This arm is good.
18:04It's pretty good.
18:05Not so confident about the leg though.
18:07No.
18:07It's so, so frail.
18:09There's a big hole here.
18:11What I am concerned about is this leg that's missing.
18:15It's not really our thing, is it?
18:17We don't make new legs.
18:19No.
18:19We are going to have to give it some thought.
18:22We need to take her apart.
18:23Yes, definitely.
18:31As Jayesh continues restoring the RAF navigator's cab, Dom has hatched a plan to help preserve the wider history of
18:40John Smith's war service.
18:43Eddie has got an amazing collection.
18:45Eddie has got an amazing collection of his father's medals.
18:47And I know how good Brenton is at polishing things like this up.
18:50And so I thought, wouldn't it be nice to make a little case, mostly glass, to keep everything safe, away
18:56from dust, away from moths.
18:58So you can see beautiful artifacts that are inside.
19:01I'm scribbling away here.
19:03I think I've got a plan.
19:04I just need to now put this into practice.
19:06See if it works.
19:12As Dom safeguards the medals from future moths, Jayesh is preparing to cleverly hide the damage already caused by their
19:22ancestors.
19:23I'm unpicking the stitching which holds the lining in place purely because I want to access some original fabric which
19:33I can use to mend the moth holes.
19:36So as you can see, I can use all the fabric which sits here to repair the moth holes.
19:45The twill fabric has lines to it.
19:48It's a bit like pinstripe.
19:49When I use the donor fabric from the inside, the lines closely match up so the repair becomes almost invisible.
20:11I'm really happy.
20:13The fabric from the inside of the hat matches up perfectly.
20:17The twill is aligned.
20:20What I need to do now is introduce a fine stitch and it becomes almost perfect.
20:24Perfect.
20:33While Steve continues working on the replacement brass plate for the cockpit clock, dial restorer Cindy Welland is ensuring its
20:42face can once again glow in the dark.
20:46So I'm using a water-based luminous paint.
20:50Originally they would have used radium, which is quite a toxic material.
20:56So they stopped using that many years ago.
20:58I'm going to keep on building up layers of paint and then I'll give the hands a coat too.
21:09Time is ticking for Fred, who's been battling a way to turn a replacement part, including a tiny pivot measuring
21:19one-tenth of a millimetre.
21:23OK, and now I can breathe.
21:27So after six attempts and quite a lot of hours, I finally finished turning it.
21:33That was pretty tough.
21:35Now I've got to make sure that it actually fits.
21:49OK, it fits well on the bottom jewel.
21:51I'm going to put the balance cock on top of it now.
21:56So right now I'm really focused on trying not to bend that bottom pivot as I'm putting this down.
22:04Those pivots are a tenth of a millimetre, so any pressure in the wrong direction, just bend them or snap
22:12them.
22:12So I'm going to put a screw in and really, really slowly do up the screw so that the balance
22:19bridge is going to sort of just slowly come down on top.
22:22Hopefully that means I won't inadvertently put any pressure on the pivots.
22:28Hopefully.
22:36I want to be really, really slow.
22:42As soon as I feel any resistance, I'm going to start.
22:52Just there.
22:57Oh, ideal.
22:59That is ideal.
23:02So the whole bridge is just falling onto the balance.
23:05The pivot's gone straight into the hole.
23:07It's ticking away really nicely now.
23:10I'm really pleased with that.
23:13The bear ladies are hard at work on their item.
23:17The precious and fragile doll, Hasey, who was smuggled to England from wartime Vienna with toddler Ruth.
23:25I am making a dirndl.
23:28Bruce and Charlie have sent me this picture, which is a great reference.
23:31So I'm trying to replicate that in doll size.
23:34To tackle the doll's shattered limbs, they've enlisted help from expert in plastics and toy restoration, Charlotte Abbott.
23:43So glad you're here.
23:44We have this adorable little doll.
23:47Aww.
23:48She's very sweetie.
23:49But we really want your help with this leg because it's just like an eggshell and there are pieces of
23:55it missing.
23:56It's just, it really is beyond us.
23:58Let's have a little look.
23:59And not just that, there's a whole one missing.
24:01Oh, wow.
24:02Okay.
24:03Yeah.
24:04That's quite damaged, isn't it?
24:05Yeah.
24:06But I think I can do that and then sculpting a whole new leg is going to be a challenge.
24:10We have every faith.
24:11Every faith in you.
24:12Just glad I can help.
24:13Great stuff.
24:14Get started.
24:15Thanks.
24:24Hazy is made of a plastic called celluloid.
24:27And unfortunately, over time, it actually becomes very, very brittle.
24:31The beauty of celluloid is you can actually melt it and fuse it back together again.
24:36So I'm using acetone along the edges.
24:39And as they begin to soften, slowly squeeze them together and get the two parts of the crack to join.
24:46Then a little bit of sanding should kind of make the repair almost invisible.
24:51In the areas where the crack was kind of barely visible, they're just kind of melting back together again.
24:58It's so satisfying to see those bits come together and just kind of disappear before your eyes.
25:12The next bit I need to tackle is the big hole in the front of the leg.
25:17I'm going to be filling this area with putty.
25:20But in order to do that, I'm going to need to put something behind it as a support.
25:23Because if I just try and push it in, it's going to fall all the way through.
25:26So to do that, I'm going to be inserting some mesh and gluing that in place first.
25:31Now that I've got the glue all around on the inside, I can get the mesh and insert it in
25:37and get it into the right position.
25:40There we go.
25:42Once I'm happy that it's cured, I can then get the putty and start filling in the hole.
25:59Once this putty is cured, I can sand it, prime it and then we'll be ready to paint.
26:11With the moth-eaten twill of the navigator's cap now patched up, the next step for Jayesh is to create
26:18a new lining that matches the old one.
26:21The original colour of the lining is burgundy.
26:24So what I'm going to do is dye the new fabric so both the texture and the colour are spot
26:30on.
26:31I've sourced two colour dyes and the one is red and the other is brown.
26:35I'm going to mix them together and try to get that burgundy that I need for the lining.
26:42So I'm happy with the colour.
26:44What I need to do is get the fabric in and I will need to be quick as possible because
26:49I want the colour to be consistent.
27:09I've dyed the fabric and it has worked really well.
27:12I'm using the original lining as a template and hopefully it'll fit in the hat the way the original was,
27:20together with the old lining behind the new fabric, purely to hold onto the sole of the hat.
27:36With all its various parts now restored or replaced, the aircraft cockpit clock is almost ready for touchdown.
27:47All done.
27:48There you go.
27:49All done.
27:50Amazing.
27:51Just don't drop it.
27:52I'm not going to drop it.
27:54Don't say that.
27:55I'm now terrified.
27:57Right.
27:58I'll just get the dial on.
27:59I can't watch you do that.
28:01I've had enough stress.
28:02I'm going to leave you to it.
28:03Bless you.
28:04Thanks, Fred.
28:05He's done an amazing job and I'm really very proud of him.
28:15I've just got to pop it into the case, give it a quick polish up and then it'll be ready
28:20to give back to John.
28:26After helping pilots to time their landings during the war, in peacetime this clock was fashioned into a romantic gift.
28:35But an unfortunate mishap saw it hit the skids.
28:41Steve, you ready?
28:43I am.
28:44Yes.
28:44What do you reckon?
28:46Amazing.
28:48Back to be reunited with the memento he brought home from service and gifted to his late wife, Connie, in
28:551947.
28:57Hello.
28:58Hi, John.
28:59Come and take a seat.
29:00Good to see you.
29:02World War II Naval Aircraft Engineer, John.
29:06How does it feel to be back in the barn?
29:07I'm terribly excited, I'll tell you that.
29:10Yeah.
29:11Now, this is more than just a clock to you, isn't it?
29:13My wife loved that clock, as it was always on at the bedside table.
29:21We never went for a holiday or anything without this clock.
29:25It's always been with us.
29:27And, you know, when she did pass away, you know, the first thing I looked at was the clock.
29:35Yeah.
29:35To see it going alone, you know, it's going to be absolutely fantastic.
29:40Are you ready to have a look at it?
29:45I've been dimed to look at it since I came in that door.
29:50I won't hold you in suspense any longer.
30:03It's going.
30:06That's brilliant.
30:09That's great.
30:16You're going to have to wait.
30:20You take your time, John.
30:25I can see that there's a lot of memories flooding back.
30:32That's going to remind me of Kant all the time.
30:35Yeah.
30:36She's a wonderful, wonderful woman.
30:39Does it illuminate?
30:42Yeah.
30:43Try this.
30:45Point that at it.
30:49Oh, fantastic.
30:51That is brilliant.
30:53Oh, that was a little dance.
30:55So I've not only done the case up, but my son, Fred, who's over there,
31:01he's done some very fine work to the mechanism.
31:05I needed a younger set of eyes to help.
31:08Yeah.
31:08Fred, thank you very much.
31:11It's my pleasure.
31:12I appreciate it.
31:13And so would my wife.
31:16That's all right.
31:17It's been an absolute honour to do it for you.
31:21You're making me blush.
31:23Thank you very much.
31:25Can I shake your hands now?
31:27Of course you can.
31:29Steve, thank you very much.
31:31You're welcome.
31:32Fred, thank you.
31:34No problem.
31:37There we go.
31:38There we go.
31:39Bye-bye.
31:40Bye-bye now.
31:43We've stayed married for 66 years, you know,
31:47and there are times when I miss her greatly.
31:51I really do.
31:53And this is going to be great because I can put this on my bedside table.
32:00And every night I can say goodnight, Con.
32:04God bless you.
32:05Love you.
32:07Yeah.
32:09I'm over the moon.
32:11It's more than what I expected.
32:13It's a wonderful job.
32:35From lifelong unions to fleeting friendships.
32:40The band's next arrival, Dorothy Orr, is counting on the expertise of bookbinder Chris Shaw
32:47to rescue a souvenir of bonds forged far away from the battlefields and bombing.
32:54What do we have here?
32:55This is an autograph book.
32:57It belonged to my mum, who was a nurse in the Second World War.
33:00I started to do a little bit of research after my parents had died.
33:04And when I opened it up, I could not believe what was in it.
33:08There's notes and poems and pictures that the troops that she cared for during the war had written in her
33:14book.
33:15How old was your mum at the time?
33:17She was 20.
33:17She had just qualified in 1938 and then war broke out in 39.
33:22So she volunteered for the Civil Nursing Reserve.
33:26So four castles in the Glasgow area were converted into hospitals.
33:33During the war, stately homes and castles all over Britain were requisitioned for military use, including as hospitals.
33:43In the great halls and grand gardens, injured soldiers from many allied countries were looked after by serving military nurses.
33:53She was caring for American troops, Polish troops and French troops, as well as British troops.
34:00What was your mum's name?
34:02Her name was Margaret Keeg.
34:04She was a very quiet, unassuming person.
34:07She just got on with life and yet here is this little treasure trove.
34:11So it's messages from the patients she was looking after they wrote in this book?
34:16Yes.
34:17There's one from Londonderry.
34:18Here's to beefsteak when you're hungry, whisky when you are dry, pound notes when you are busted and heaven when
34:25you die.
34:27It's amazing.
34:28So what would you like me to do to your book?
34:31Well, as you can see, the more it's opened, the more dilapidated it's getting.
34:35And it just means the world to me because it's a tangible link to my mum and those early days
34:41whenever she was just starting out in life and starting her nursing career and the lives that she would have
34:47touched and the lives who touched her life.
34:50We don't know what happened to them.
34:51So it's a tribute to them as well as to my mum.
34:55So whatever you do will be wonderful.
34:57It will be preserved for people to look at, not just a closed book.
35:02It's a real family treasure.
35:04We'll see you soon.
35:05OK.
35:05Thank you so much.
35:06Bye-bye.
35:16What an amazing little autograph book.
35:19It's a real snapshot of Margaret, while being a nurse, looking after all these poor soldiers.
35:26This chap's from Texas.
35:28Sister, it has been a pleasure knowing you.
35:31I think you are swell.
35:32What a nice thing.
35:33And I love swell.
35:34Very American.
35:35It's really special, but it is just collapsing.
35:39And all these messages, they'll be lost for good if I don't repair it.
35:45The pages are holding onto each other by a little thread.
35:48It needs to be re-sewn.
35:50It needs paper repair.
35:53I'll ask Angie to help me with that.
35:55The corners are all frayed and dented and it needs a new spine to give that strength back into the
36:02book.
36:02I'll get more of an idea of the structure of the book by dismantling it.
36:07And before I can dismantle it, I need a page number.
36:18The Barnes medical team are still caring for their patient, Hacey, the Viennese doll.
36:26And Charlotte has begun some complex prosthetics to replace her missing leg.
36:32I've made this kind of base piece here and I'll sculpt on top of this to get kind of the
36:37lovely smooth shapes, the little kind of chubby ringlets of a leg and capture all the lovely details.
36:41And then I will make a mould of that and then I will cast a leg from that and that
36:46will be the leg that we will fit back on at the end.
36:50I'm putting water on as it helps me get everything really lovely and smooth.
36:56I'm doing everything in mirror.
36:58So while I do have one leg, it's a mirror image of this leg.
37:01So it's quite complicated and all the while I'm doing this, going back, measuring and just making sure that everything
37:07is the same on both legs.
37:27Charlotte has finished creating her dummy leg and has used it to create a mould from which she'll cast the
37:35new limb.
37:35The reason why I spent so long perfecting the dummy leg is so that I can capture all these lovely
37:41details in the mould.
37:42It's looking really good.
37:44So I'm going to start the casting process.
37:48You want it tight so that the two parts are kind of forced together, but you don't want it so
37:53tight that it deforms the mould.
37:55If you go too far, then you could end up with a wonky leg.
37:58Now I'm going to measure out the resin and this is two parts and I mix those together.
38:08Pouring that into the mould.
38:11For the first time, it can be a bit of an experiment about how much resin you need to put
38:16in.
38:16I want the leg to be hollow, so I don't want to put too much.
38:20But equally, if I don't put enough, then I will end up with kind of parts of it without any
38:23resin at all.
38:24Just putting the mould into a rotocaster and rotocaster allows you to spin the mould round in several directions.
38:33And this flings kind of all the resin to the outside of the mould and you end up with a
38:38hollow leg.
38:43I need to do this for about five minutes and then I'll leave the resin to fully harden for about
38:4915 minutes and then I can take out the mould.
38:52I made this out of various bits of offcuts of wood that I had lying around and some old roller
38:59blade bearings.
39:00One day I might attach a motor and then I don't have to do this myself.
39:18I have left the resin to cure and the only way I guess to check whether it's worked is to
39:24demould the leg and have a look.
39:27I'm always a bit anxious, a lot of trepidation, because you don't really know what it's going to come out
39:32like.
39:32The mould to me looks great, but until I cast something, I can't tell actually, has it picked up all
39:37the nice details?
39:38Are there any defects in it? So it's always a bit nerve-wracking.
39:43Okay, looking at the leg, I don't think I've put enough resin in here.
39:46I can see through it, there's a hole here, it is a bit too thin.
39:49So I will up the amount of resin and do it again.
40:00With the nurse's autograph book now dismantled, paper conservator Angelina has begun repairing the frayed edges of the loose pages.
40:11There we go.
40:13While Chris prepares to tackle the dog-eared cardboard covers.
40:20The boards, the outer covers, they've been slightly bumped on the outside, the paper's been worn away and that's what
40:27I'm going to replace.
40:29I'm cutting back the original, getting the knife in between the paper and the board.
40:36I'm going to tuck some new paper in and then I'll stick the original back down.
40:41So I've lifted those edges back, cut the paper to size.
40:51And I'm just taking this edge of the paper off so I don't get any VPLs, which is visible paper
40:57lines.
40:57So hopefully you won't be able to see any sort of join there.
41:02I can really relate with Dorothy.
41:04My father was in the medical corps during the Second World War and he did sketches.
41:10And I'm very lucky to have them.
41:12So this is so important to preserve this for Dorothy and her family.
41:22Yeah, that's really nice.
41:23So now I just need to do this to this corner, then the back boards and then get the boards
41:28over to Angie.
41:36Just inspecting the leg.
41:38This is the second one I've cast.
41:40And it's looking fantastic.
41:42It's lovely and lightweight, which will match Hacey's original leg.
41:47I think I've done it.
41:48I think that's the one.
41:50I just need to remove kind of the little remnants, these little flappy bits here.
41:55Give that a little sand and then paint it to match the original leg.
42:02Master Hatter Jayesh is on course to finish his restoration of the navigator's cab.
42:09What I'm doing now is I'm giving the brass buttons a quick polish.
42:14At this point, I'm getting slightly nervous.
42:16I'm just hoping that Eddie likes what I've done on the hat.
42:22This cab belonged to John Smythe, who blazed a trail as one of the first black officers in the RAF
42:29during the Second World War.
42:31And who was extensively decorated for his wartime service.
42:36But after intensive airborne action, escape by parachute and capture an interment, it had become moth-eaten, brittle and torn.
42:48Jayesh, how are you doing?
42:49All done. Well, thank you. Yes?
42:51All finished?
42:51All done.
42:52It's looking beautiful.
42:55John's son Eddie has returned to see if it can pay a more fitting tribute to his father's incredible achievements
43:02as an aircraft navigator.
43:06Eddie, welcome back.
43:07Hi. Nice to be back.
43:08How have you been?
43:09I've been good, thanks. Yes.
43:11In a funny sort of way, I've quite missed it.
43:13So I'm just looking forward to seeing it again.
43:16Yeah.
43:17And it will be nice to have it in a much better condition.
43:21Well, are you ready to take a look?
43:22Oh, I'm desperate to take a look.
43:24Go on then, Jayesh.
43:25Okay. Here we go.
43:35Oh.
43:36My.
43:38Goodness.
43:44Look at the buttons.
43:48Where are the holes?
43:50Oh, look inside.
43:53This had perished totally.
43:55There were huge holes in it.
43:57But all of that is still there.
43:59Still inside.
44:00Oh, is it really?
44:01There's a new cloth on top, but all the original stuff is there.
44:04So you've preserved the history.
44:06Absolutely.
44:08Of the blood, sweat and tears.
44:09It actually remains in the cap.
44:12Wow.
44:14This is what it would have looked like when my father got it.
44:18The first time he received this in a recruitment camp
44:22and put it on his head.
44:25This is what it looked like.
44:26Yes.
44:27If I felt worthy enough, I would wear it,
44:29but I've never felt worthy enough,
44:31so I've never put it on my head.
44:32Have you not?
44:33No.
44:33I think for someone to have this hat on.
44:37He earned it.
44:38He earned it, exactly.
44:39The right to wear that hat.
44:40He earned the right to wear this.
44:43Hearing everything your father achieved
44:45has really made me think about
44:48how fortunate we all are now
44:50and how much freedom that we have.
44:52And it is really all thanks to his generation
44:54and everything that they sacrificed.
44:57And I just wanted to say a little thank you from myself.
45:01So I've made you something.
45:14Hopefully it's a fitting tribute.
45:27Thank you so much.
45:28You're welcome.
45:29Would you like to put the hat inside?
45:31Yes, please.
45:32Shall we?
45:39Wow.
45:40That fits perfectly.
45:43It's more than my wildest expectations.
45:46Thank you so much.
45:47I'm glad you're happy.
45:48Happy is an understatement.
45:51I'll get the door for you.
45:54Much appreciated.
45:55You're welcome.
45:55Take care.
45:58Thanks.
46:01That was good.
46:02Well done.
46:03You really liked it, didn't you?
46:04You pleased?
46:05I am now, yes.
46:07The holes have gone.
46:08The lining's come back.
46:09And it's basically my dad's hat again.
46:13And if he were to see the hat now,
46:17I think he'd be delighted.
46:18But I also think he would suddenly realise
46:22just what he really did achieve
46:25during his extraordinary life.
46:46Angelina has strengthened the inner pages of the nurse's autograph book.
46:50And with the covers in fine shape, she and Chris have swapped parts.
46:55So work can continue.
46:58So Angie's done a fantastic job with this paper.
47:01It's feeling really secure.
47:03And now I can start sewing.
47:06So there's an awful lot going on.
47:08I've got to line things up, hold things in place,
47:12and at the same time, push a needle through
47:16without doing any damage to the paper.
47:19And it feels all right.
47:22So I'll just double check that.
47:24Bit of a relief.
47:25And then what I'm going to do now is catch up the last loop from the section below.
47:33And what that does is create this little catch on the stitching.
47:38Now the section is secure in the middle.
47:40And it's a really good way of trying to build in strength where I can
47:47so that the book is stronger when I've finished than when it started.
47:57There is this small medallion on top of the cover of the book that has a loss.
48:03So I have been tasked with filling this in.
48:06I think that this is the perfect paper for it.
48:10I can tell just by running my finger through it that this will be a great infill for this paper.
48:16So what I have to do now is to take a piece of plastic,
48:21mark that loss on the plastic and use that as my guideline to cut the paper.
48:31Now that I have that, I will put it on top of my paper.
48:36And using an awl, I'll just trace it over so I can have the shape exactly as I need it
48:43to be.
48:43I will go over it a couple of times just to make sure that the indentation is strong enough.
48:51All right. Oh, there we go.
48:53Now that I have the design, I will just continue working my way around the indentation I made until the
49:02paper separates,
49:03which will help me have slightly fuzzy edges and will help blend the infill better onto the paper when I
49:11attach it.
49:12Let's have a look and see what I've done.
49:15This really feels seamless.
49:17I'll get to retouching and just blend it in so it's not visible anymore.
49:29Victory is on the horizon for Julie, Amanda and Charlotte with their restoration of the Viennese doll.
49:37Oh, my goodness. Look at those. That is incredible.
49:41And then there were two.
49:43Can I have a look?
49:44That is amazing.
49:46You think what they looked like before.
49:48Even the little dimples in her knees.
49:51Well done.
49:51Glad I could help.
49:54I'm really excited that we're at this point where we're going to put her back together again.
49:59Then, Hayse, you'll be ready to be dressed and go back to Ruth.
50:02I know. I can't wait.
50:05After comforting a frightened toddler smuggled out of Nazi-occupied Vienna,
50:11what remained of Hayse was in a sorry state.
50:15There you go, Hayse.
50:18Make sure she's looking at you.
50:20Over 80 years after life began with a new family in England,
50:25Ruth has returned with daughter Charlie to be reunited with her childhood companion.
50:31Hello.
50:32Hello.
50:33Hello.
50:34Welcome back.
50:35Hello.
50:35How are you?
50:36I'm looking forward to seeing Hayse.
50:38Yeah?
50:38Okay.
50:39Hopefully she has a new costume.
50:41Okay.
50:42Because she hasn't had any decent clothes for a long time.
50:45Are you ready then?
50:46Yes, I'm ready.
50:48Yeah.
50:54Oh, fantastic.
50:56Oh, Hayse.
50:57You look wonderful.
50:59Oh, my gosh.
51:02Hello.
51:03She looks amazing.
51:05Her hair's different as well.
51:06She's got blonde hair.
51:08She is lovely.
51:10Can I look at your legs?
51:12Yes.
51:14And your arms.
51:15Oh, Hayse.
51:17Well, you look more beautiful than I expected.
51:20You're really lovely.
51:22Good girl.
51:24You're lovely.
51:25She looks absolutely beautiful.
51:26She does.
51:28She looks amazing.
51:30Oh, doesn't she look fantastic?
51:31Her legs.
51:32How did you do that?
51:33We had some help.
51:35We couldn't have done it without Charlotte.
51:37No.
51:37She fixed one and made another one for you.
51:39Wow.
51:40That is a beautiful girl.
51:42She looks absolutely stunning.
51:44She looks so happy.
51:46And sort of life hasn't hit her, although it did.
51:50Hmm.
51:50But she doesn't show it, does she?
51:52Not now.
51:53No.
51:53It brings back sort of the whole of my childhood, really.
51:58And she did get a lot of playing with.
52:00Yeah.
52:00Yeah?
52:01It is absolutely wonderful of you, what you've done.
52:03She's brilliant.
52:05And so are you.
52:06Enjoy her.
52:06Enjoy.
52:07We will.
52:08Lovely to meet you.
52:09Bye-bye.
52:10Bye-bye.
52:18She's absolutely amazing.
52:21She's got two legs.
52:22And they're both good.
52:24And her clothes are absolutely brilliant.
52:27She is a treat of a doll with treasure.
52:31She's part of Mum's history and she's known Mum longer than, you know...
52:36Anyone.
52:36Longer than anyone.
52:37Yeah.
52:37And so Hacey symbolises hope, strength, resilience and, you know, just happiness and, I don't
52:46know, luck.
52:47I think luck.
52:48I thought you were going to say love, but love too.
52:50Well, love as well.
52:51Yeah, love and luck.
52:52We all love her.
52:53We do love her.
53:01Also reaching its final chapter, Chris's restoration of the nurse's autograph book.
53:07So this is quite a momentous point, reattaching the book into the outer case.
53:14It's quite a nervous moment because you're relying on all your measurements.
53:20And you don't want to get any glue up onto that side.
53:26And now the joints are down.
53:29I'm just putting some plastic in.
53:32And that's going to stop any moisture going from the glue I've just put on, onto the text.
53:41And then I'm just going to very quite simply put it under a weight and leave it to dry.
53:49And then finally I can do a bit of fettling and then it's ready to go back to Dorothy.
53:55This book, full of messages from wounded soldiers to the nurse who cared for them, was hanging together by a
54:04thread.
54:06Now Margaret's daughter Dorothy is back to see if her mum's precious wartime memento has been preserved.
54:15Hello.
54:16Hi, Dorothy.
54:17Lovely to see you again.
54:18Lovely to be here.
54:19How have you been?
54:20I've been stressed, but I've been excited.
54:24What are you hoping that Chris has managed to do for you?
54:26Stop it falling apart and that we're able to open it and look at it and enjoy it and share
54:34it.
54:34Because, you know, those different troops that came from all over the world, they left their families not knowing what
54:40was going to happen to them.
54:41And they all met in a moment of time and shared that moment.
54:45So I think it's for all those guys, including my mum.
54:49It's a very humble book, but with profound feelings attached to it.
54:53Very much so.
54:54Right.
54:54So are you ready to see?
54:55Yes, yes, yes.
54:58Chris?
55:12You're a star.
55:19A stable.
55:24Thank you so much.
55:26It's amazing.
55:28I did have some help from Angie.
55:30She reinstated the little medallion on the front.
55:33It feels different.
55:34It feels that I can share it, that I can open it,
55:38that I can read and digest, not just skim any more.
55:41You're not nervous with handling it.
55:44It's a tribute to my mum.
55:46And all those people there that we'll never know,
55:49but yet they'll never be forgotten.
55:52I mean, it's just amazing.
55:54Thank you so much.
55:55Thanks, bye-bye.
55:56Okay, bye-bye.
56:00It represents a period of time,
56:03not only in my mum's life,
56:05but people whose lives that she touched from all over the world.
56:09This little book, I hope, will live on in our family
56:13for many, many years and will go down the generations.
56:17And that in another hundred years' time,
56:19somebody in the family will be holding this little book.
56:27In May 1945,
56:29the nation came together to celebrate the end of the war in Europe.
56:35Eighty years later,
56:36just outside a barn in Sussex,
56:38another crowd has assembled,
56:41courtesy of percussive instrument restorer,
56:44Pete Woods.
56:46Very dapper.
56:47Come on, you lot.
56:48I've got something special for you outside.
56:50Oh, interesting.
56:52Let's go and celebrate VE Day properly.
56:55What's all this about?
56:56I was intrigued.
56:57Slightly nervous.
56:58Yeah.
57:03Pete's commandeered his fellow members
57:05of the Royal British Legion Farnborough Concert Band
57:09to help bring the day to a fitting close.
57:12The Royal British Legion Farnborough Concert Band
57:50¶¶
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