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00:01Here at the Repair Shop,
00:03countless treasures have been brought back to life.
00:07Cha-ching!
00:08That reveal so much about who we are
00:11and where we're from.
00:14It's like it's brand new.
00:15But there's so much more out there.
00:17Let's do it.
00:18That's not yet made it to the barn.
00:20This is amazing.
00:22So the team are hitting the road.
00:25I just love getting up close and personal with the objects.
00:27And we're going to get a glimpse into some amazing heritage crafts.
00:31Yes.
00:31I cannot wait.
00:34On a unique adventure.
00:36Oh, yes.
00:37This is terrifying.
00:39To join forces with expert craftspeople.
00:43Whoa!
00:44If we don't point these joints, moisture's going to penetrate.
00:47On their most ambitious restorations yet.
00:50To think every day you come up, this is your office.
00:52Wow! It's big!
00:54Keeping heritage crafts alive.
00:56Keep going.
00:57Keep going.
00:58It's getting hot in there.
01:00On precious restorations around the country.
01:03I can't even imagine what it looks like.
01:06Wow!
01:07There's a legacy here that needs to be protected.
01:16Today, there's a historic repair for the Western Super Bear community.
01:21Are you excited?
01:22Yes.
01:23Yes.
01:23So am I.
01:24A wedding gift in pieces has left its owners broken hearted.
01:29I suppose our last hope is getting it back together again.
01:33And Dom helps out with a monumental repair job.
01:37It's like a giant bicycle chain.
01:39Yeah.
01:39Huge one.
01:40And it was built to last.
01:45Will and Dom are on the road.
01:48Western Super Mayor.
01:49Here we come.
01:51In Somerset, South West England, known for its beautiful landscapes and stunning beaches.
01:58So what are you up to in Western Super Mayor?
02:00I'm heading to a department store.
02:02Okay.
02:03Bit of shopping.
02:03You've got no time for shopping today, Dom.
02:05Come on.
02:06No, I've been invited down by Sam to visit his department store that's been in his family for five generations.
02:12Really?
02:13It's incredible, isn't it?
02:14I'm off to meet Mike and Nathan who have a very special bowl, but it sounds like it's in more
02:20than one piece.
02:21Oh, no.
02:22Yeah.
02:23Really?
02:23Yeah.
02:24A job for Kirsten.
02:25A job for Kirsten.
02:28While Will continues on the road, Dom's been dropped off in the heart of Western Super Mayor at a department
02:36store that hopes to make the most of its heritage to keep its customers in store in the age of
02:42competitive online shopping.
02:45And for that, owner Sam Walker needs some help.
02:49This is an amazing shop.
02:51This is brilliant.
02:51We've been here since 1904, so it was all fashions and fabrics.
02:54We had Liberty and Jaeger and some very, you know, exotic fabrics in those times.
03:00And obviously there was two world wars.
03:02This place was actually flattened to the ground in 1942.
03:08The post-Second World War period was a time of recovery and rebirth for the nation.
03:14And department stores began to enjoy a new golden age of consumerism, encouraging browsing and an enjoyable shopping experience to
03:24attract the growing middle class.
03:28For Sam's ancestors after the bombing, this meant a modern rebuild of the store, and a sophisticated cash handling machine
03:37was installed.
03:39Known as the pneumatic tube system, it used air pressure to propel containers of money and receipts between sales desks
03:48and a central cash office.
03:50The idea is there's no cash desks on the shop floor and the assistants wouldn't handle the cash very much.
03:57OK, so if I want to buy a new suit, here's my money, what happens?
04:00I'll take a canister here, one of these.
04:03OK, put my hard-earned cash into that.
04:05Everything goes inside.
04:06Yeah.
04:07Send that back up the tubes, where the office will deal with your request, and the change would come back
04:11down with the receipt.
04:13There's an engine on the roof, which was working all day.
04:15What?
04:16And it's all suction, and we were using it until 2021.
04:20No way. What happened?
04:21It coughed loudly and something went wrong with the engine.
04:24Right.
04:24And we decided to turn it off and decommission it for a while.
04:28So why do you want to get these tubes working again?
04:31What I'd really like is for people who remember the system to be able to use it again, and for,
04:35you know, the new customers, children, to have a go at it.
04:38Sending a message up to the office and getting a sweetie back, maybe.
04:41Oh, so it wasn't just money?
04:43No, no, no.
04:43I'm sure there was lots of other things that went up and down in the tubes over time.
04:47And we think there might be £100 in the lingerie canister around the lingerie tills, which we could never get
04:53out.
04:53Oh, I love that.
04:55Thank you so much for showing me the start of this journey for these tubes.
04:57I'm going to head upstairs.
04:58Yeah, the machine is just in the office, up the stairs and head to the left and you'll find it.
05:02Perfect.
05:03OK.
05:05Engineering company Lansom were the pioneers of pneumatic tube cash and communication systems in the late 19th century.
05:15The tubes revolutionised the retail sector and were once a common sight in shops around the UK.
05:22Other settings such as hospitals and government offices also relied on them and modern day versions are still used today.
05:32To bring the machine back to life, Dom's brought in pneumatic tubes engineer Chris Fawkes, who works for the company
05:40who acquired Lansom in 2007.
05:46Wow, look at this.
05:48It's a bit of a beast, isn't it?
05:49It's impressive.
05:51How exactly does this work?
05:52Let me show you.
05:54You've seen downstairs already?
05:56Yeah, I've seen a hatch in a wall.
05:58A hatch in a wall where these types of carriers go into.
06:00Rotate them around.
06:01Put in there your notes.
06:03Yeah.
06:03And you'll be sending it from downstairs in lieu of a checkout or a till.
06:06Oh, so they're coming in through these.
06:08Exactly that.
06:09They're landing those.
06:10In through those.
06:10Down behind this board.
06:12Down the little slide.
06:13Down there.
06:13Yep.
06:14And they would literally just stack up here.
06:15Stack up there.
06:16The cashier here would then be taking out the receipt, put the appropriate change back in there.
06:22Carrier then goes into whichever department you're sending it to.
06:24And off the carrier goes down to the shop floor again.
06:27So these are the way back down to the shop.
06:30Back down, yeah.
06:30Wow.
06:31This is quite clever, isn't it?
06:32It's one cashier dealing with 12 tills, essentially.
06:35Yeah.
06:36But downstairs and to the front of the shop is a long way.
06:40Yeah.
06:41How on earth does that move that far?
06:43What it's actually got is a continuous loop of tube.
06:46At the back end of it, there'll be a large turbine driven motor, which creates a vacuum.
06:51So it's always on vacuum, always on vacuum.
06:53It's all suction.
06:54Yep.
06:55On these older systems here, they have a little turbine room, which is just out on the rooftop behind us
06:59here.
06:59Can we have a look?
07:00We can certainly have a look, yeah.
07:00Oh, come on.
07:01Let's go and have a look.
07:03The large electric motor that powered the vacuum used to run for around 10 hours a day.
07:10So this is the engine room?
07:11Yes, yes.
07:12Oh, look at that.
07:13Wow.
07:14Unfortunately, I think this is the bit that Sam said went bang a few years ago.
07:18Yeah, and that's not good news to us at all.
07:21We definitely need to test that and investigate what caused that.
07:24OK.
07:24So, get down.
07:26So we can get to the terminals here for the electric motor.
07:31Already know it's been isolated and switched off, so we know this is already dead.
07:33Perfect.
07:34And it's obviously important to us.
07:35So what can you test then?
07:37So we don't know that the motor's gone bang, but that's got to be our first check from a safety
07:40point of view, if nothing else.
07:42Yeah.
07:42We'll just check the earth leakage and we've got...
07:46Yeah, that's not so good.
07:48What's that?
07:49We've got a short.
07:50Certainly that would explain a bang, and I certainly wouldn't want to be switching that motor on.
07:55So an alternative may be a smaller motor now where they could just use it on demand.
07:59Right, let's get back inside.
08:01Let's do it.
08:03The system has many component parts to attend to, and even the old cash and receipt carriers are badly worn
08:11after years of use.
08:14The fit between these and the actual tube diameter must be important.
08:18It's hugely important, and you've got there quite an old one.
08:22This is a newer equivalent of one, and you can see the size difference on the end is huge.
08:26That's just from where?
08:27Just from where, yeah.
08:28If you actually try it in one of the openings there, you'll feel that probably really bounce around.
08:33Any air that's basically passing by the sides of that felt seal is essentially an air leak that's going to
08:39stop the suction.
08:40So we do need to probably change the ends on all these.
08:43This is so complicated.
08:47Chris is planning a scaled down restoration to make it more energy efficient,
08:52so only pipe 11 will be put back into operation.
08:57First, he wants to check if there are any leaks using smoke and a vacuum cleaner,
09:04and he needs some help from Dom down on the shop floor.
09:09Hello, Chris. Can you hear me?
09:13Yes, I can hear you, Dom. Can you hear me?
09:15Can you see any smoke yet?
09:18No, thankfully.
09:22Be a bit of a panic if it did.
09:30OK, smoke pellet is lit.
09:33Door is shut.
09:34I can see the compartment full of smoke.
09:37OK, just get the vacuum on here and we'll see if we can pull some through.
09:44Oh, oh, there we go. Yeah.
09:46Yeah, that's coming through beautifully up here.
09:49That was amazing. It sucked out really, really good.
09:53Is that clear down there now?
09:55Yeah, all clear.
09:57Yeah, Dom, that's come through brilliantly.
09:59That's really good news.
10:00We've got a good clear line there.
10:02Yeah, good start for our process.
10:04That is amazing news.
10:05Yeah, thanks, Dom.
10:07While Chris continues on the tubes, Dom's off to another repair job in Bristol.
10:14Meanwhile, Will is meeting Nathan and Mike from Hampshire,
10:17who have a very special wedding gift that's badly in need of repair.
10:23Oh, big cardboard box. Yeah.
10:25What's inside?
10:26So it's the bowl that we were given for our wedding as a wedding gift.
10:31There you go. It's in quite a few pieces.
10:35When we had our wedding, my mum put this on a table with some pencils
10:40and the idea was that our guests would all sign it
10:43and then it went off to be glazed and painted.
10:45And then once it was fired, mum gave it back to us.
10:48So it lived on our sideboard in our hallway for quite a few years.
10:53Everybody at the whole wedding had a part to play in it.
10:56Yeah. It's quite unique and it's quite important to us.
11:00Yeah. How long were you two together before you got married?
11:03We were together for about ten years before we married.
11:05Coming out was quite difficult at the time.
11:07The really lovely thing about this bowl is that it reminds us
11:11that everyone came together to kind of celebrate us.
11:14Yeah. As a couple.
11:16And the messages, quite a few are very personal to us, aren't they?
11:20Mike and Nathan's ceremony in 2013 was a civil partnership
11:24because legalised same-sex marriages couldn't take place
11:28until the following year.
11:31The couple were then able to be officially married and within a few years
11:35had created their family, adopting three boys, Mason, Logan and Riley.
11:43It was in this new, busy household that the damage to the bowl was done.
11:48Our first son, he's 11 now, but at the time he was about five
11:54and he was diagnosed with epilepsy at three.
11:58He finds it really hard to regulate his emotions and when he's upset he will throw things
12:03and it just so happened that he found the bowl to throw and that's how it ended up in this
12:08situation.
12:09You must have been really upset, but also in a way you can't really be too angry
12:14because you can't really help his emotions.
12:17We've never blamed him, he's never had any blame on him, but he knows he broke it.
12:21It would be really lovely for him as well to have it all back together.
12:25How long has this been broken for?
12:27It's about four or five years.
12:29I'd just swept up at the time, put it in the box and we'd just put it away.
12:32We tried to get it fixed at the time, but we couldn't find anyone that could do it for us.
12:37I suppose our last hope is getting it back together again.
12:41What would you like us to do with the bowl?
12:44Ideally, we'd like it to look as it was, if that's possible.
12:49And so if it's not quite as perfect as it was, then that's fine too,
12:54because we're just a little family, we're not perfect.
12:58Leave this with me, I'll carefully pack it up, I'll get it back to the barn and to Kirsten
13:02and we'll see what we can do for you.
13:04OK, thank you very much Phil.
13:07As the broken bowl makes its way to Kirsten in the barn,
13:11in Weston-super-Mare at the department store,
13:14Pneumatic tubes engineer Chris has a long to-do list.
13:19We're going to look to replace these missing elements here,
13:23look to make sure these are sealing correctly.
13:25We then need to bring our attention on to all these cracked, broken seals
13:30that are just not doing what they should be doing.
13:34We're missing the number 11.
13:35It'd be lovely to find the number 11.
13:36We're missing number 6, but I can sort that out now by turning that the right way round.
13:43And now we've got number 6, which is great, that's one less to look for.
13:47Next, as pipe 11 is the chosen line to be brought back into operation,
13:52Chris wants to check it for any blockages.
13:54We need to see if we can actually get a carrier physically through that tube from downstairs.
13:59We've mounted this smaller vacuum motor on the wall here.
14:03We've got a temporary piece of flexi-tube on the end of it,
14:06and this will allow us to individually go to these outlets.
14:10Our primary interest is on this line 11.
14:12We've got someone downstairs really poised and waiting,
14:15which will allow us to switch that vacuum on and hopefully draw the carrier back to here.
14:22Actually, it's going effectively backwards, but for this moment in time we're not interested.
14:26We just want to get a carrier through that piece of tube.
14:29On goes the motor.
14:37And there.
14:38It is there.
14:40As I say, the carrier has been sent through the system backwards,
14:44so we wouldn't expect it to fall out.
14:46But that just came from downstairs.
14:49It's really good to see that a carrier has got to here.
14:53It just proves that bit of pipe work, doesn't it, if that makes sense?
14:58Success.
14:59Now Chris wants to check the others.
15:02I'd like to move that temporary vacuum unit onto each of the other lines,
15:08just to see out of curiosity if we pull anything out of them.
15:11There is rumour in the store that there may be a carrier of £100 in there.
15:16It would be great to find that just because of the rumour that's there and hand it back to the
15:20store manager here.
15:21I'm just curious now. I want to see what's in there.
15:27That, I'd say.
15:32Whatever that is.
15:34It's actually got into the motor.
15:36One step forward, two steps back, as I say.
15:40That line's got something in it, and it's pulled something in, so we need to extract that from the motor
15:45now.
15:46Could it be the missing money?
15:48Well, it's not a bundle of £10 notes, unfortunately, is it?
15:51It looks like a big bit of fluff and dirt, which was not very exciting.
16:03Back at the barn, the broken wedding bowl has made its way to expert ceramics restorer, Kirsten.
16:10This is such a lovely bowl, and it's so sad to just see it broken like this into so many
16:17pieces.
16:17I've got a few little shards that fortunately have been saved.
16:24This is made of earthenware, so it's a soft-bodied ceramic, and it's been glazed.
16:31And I'm going to see what I can do to try and get this back whole and together again.
16:37I've got this big section here.
16:45I can use the writing to actually work out what pieces go where, so this is obviously part of this
16:53writing here.
16:54There's so much love in this bowl, all these messages.
16:59Beautiful.
17:01Right, mustn't be distracted.
17:03So, I think to start off with, I'm just going to try and remove some of the dirt that's built
17:10up on this surface.
17:12And I'm just going to do that with a cotton wool swab and a little bit of acetone.
17:23You can just start to see that removing some of that surface dirt now.
17:28So, I'm just going to work my way around all of these pieces and the break edges as well.
17:36To get a really good bond, these need to be very clean.
17:41That's looking better already.
17:45The break edges are porous, so Kirsten is also sealing or consolidating them with an adhesive diluted with acetone.
17:54This prepares the edges, ready for the next stage of the repair.
18:00I've consolidated all of the pieces and I'm using an epoxy that I've allowed to gel, so thicken a little
18:08bit.
18:09I can also add some pigments to the adhesive.
18:15It's very difficult to lose those break lines where the pieces join.
18:21And I'm hoping that by using this tinted adhesive, it will help draw the eye away from those lines.
18:30It's a lovely warm cream colour, so I am going to try and match that if I can.
18:37I'm going to use a little cocktail stick and I just dot it along the middle.
18:48Because as you put the pieces together, it's going to squash out the sides.
19:03I'm now just going to use lots of tape to try and pull the two sections together.
19:11Get a really nice, tight bond.
19:14I'm going to do this multiple times.
19:18And that line, although you can still see it a little bit, it's not too bad.
19:27That's feeling really good.
19:30But I've got a long way to go before this bowl resembles the bowl that Mike and Nathan remember from
19:39their wedding.
19:40Whilst Kirsten gets on with the bowl, Dom's back on the road heading for a conservation project on a massive
19:48scale.
19:52The Clifton Suspension Bridge is one of Britain's most recognisable landmarks, linking Bristol to North Somerset across the Avon Gorge.
20:03There's a huge ongoing effort to keep it in tip-top condition.
20:08And in charge of the whole project is bridge master Trish Johnson.
20:14This is incredible.
20:15Well, welcome to the Clifton Suspension Bridge.
20:18The bridge was designed by Brunel, who's a world-famous engineer.
20:22And this is one of his first projects.
20:24And it was finished in 1864, so it's well over 160 years old.
20:31Arguably Britain's boldest civil engineer ever,
20:35Isambard Kingdom Brunel was just 24 years old when he designed this now iconic suspension bridge.
20:42But he never saw it completed.
20:46Sadly, Brunel died before it was finished.
20:48So his two colleagues, Barlow and Hawkshaw, they finished it, they redesigned it slightly as well.
20:54Most of the flat, wrought iron, interlocking chain links were originally recycled from a dismantled bridge in London.
21:03They create a strong and continuous chain when assembled together.
21:10You've got a pair of three chains on each side.
21:12Yeah, yeah.
21:13And that is the challenge we have in terms of painting it, which we're doing at this present moment in
21:17time.
21:17This must be an epic task to maintain.
21:21It is. This is the biggest project we have ever done on the bridge to date.
21:25What's going on at the moment then?
21:27So at the minute, I've got scaffolding on the chains, they're in pods, and they will gradually move up the
21:32chains as they finish the painting.
21:34There's 4,200 links, and each of those links will have three coats of paint, and they all have to
21:41be done by hand.
21:42So this is preventative maintenance.
21:43Absolutely.
21:44Looking after it. What an amazing project to be part of.
21:47So what's your background then?
21:48So I am a chartered bridge engineer, and I am the first female bridge master to take over this role.
21:55That must mean quite a lot to you, knowing that the work is preserving history for the future.
22:01Absolutely, yeah.
22:02I can hear that thing creaking. It's moving around. It's making me feel a bit seasick.
22:06It's a suspension bridge. I always say it's a bit like a washing line. The deck hangs off the chains,
22:11and so it's supposed to move.
22:13I'd love to take a closer look, if that's okay.
22:15Yeah, of course. Why don't you go and meet Nicky, and she'll give you a go on the painting.
22:18Amazing.
22:19Over the course of this multi-million pound job, the specialist painters would use 8,000 litres of paint on
22:27the chains.
22:28And Dom is going to lend a hand.
22:31Hi, you must be Nicky.
22:33I am, yes.
22:34Apparently, you're going to take me somewhere up there.
22:36Yeah, we're going to go up on the chains, and we're going to get your painting.
22:39Not sure I'm ready for this, but okay, lead the way.
22:41Come on.
22:41Let's have a go.
22:43Oh, goodness me.
22:47This incredible structure was originally designed to take horses and carts across the gorge.
22:55Now, two and a half million cars cross it every year.
23:01It was at the time the longest suspension bridge in the world, and Dom will be working on it from
23:08over 400 feet up.
23:12All right, waiting for me.
23:15Wow.
23:17This is absolutely incredible up here.
23:20It's beautiful, isn't it?
23:21It's an amazing view.
23:22And to think every day you come up, this is your office.
23:26After we've completed this project, we should be looking at a good 25 to 30 years before it will have
23:30to be painted again.
23:3130 years. Amazing.
23:32So it's very important that we stick to everything that is specified to us to ensure that the paint lasts.
23:38We'll have each section of a scaffolding built around the chains.
23:41Yeah.
23:41We've jet washed it, and this is our first coat, which is two-pack epoxy paint.
23:47Can I have a go of painting it?
23:48Yeah, of course. Can you?
23:48Can I?
23:52Nicky, I feel like this is a lot more than just simply painting a bridge.
23:58Oh, totally.
23:58A lot of prep goes into this.
24:00Yeah, there's a lot of man hours, a lot of time, dedication.
24:03So the level that we have to work to has to be to a very high standard.
24:08So if there's a little nook and cranny that you can't quite get to up in there somewhere, there's no
24:13just leaving it and painting over it?
24:15No, it's 100% full coverage. Everything is done by hand.
24:18Wow.
24:20Inch by inch.
24:21Each flat chain link ranges from around 15 to 23 feet long.
24:26And with over 4,000 of them to paint, it's a two-year endeavour that they're now just over halfway
24:33through.
24:34What a huge job this is. I'm so curious to know, how did you get into this?
24:41I actually used to work in a body shop.
24:44Painting cars?
24:45Oh, now we're going to talk in my language. Okay.
24:48Yeah, so it's the same kind of background and it's just on a much bigger scale.
24:52You clearly love what you're doing.
24:53Yeah, I do love it.
24:54I appreciate so much the engineering side, how things were built to last because they didn't have the tools and
25:01equipment that we do today.
25:02So these chains that we're actually painting now, there's actually 12 chains and then there's three layers of those chains.
25:11And then they're all joined up by the knuckles.
25:14This huge bolt?
25:16Yeah, the huge big bolt. So these knuckles join all these links together.
25:19It's like a giant bicycle chain.
25:21Yeah.
25:21Huge one.
25:22And it was built to last.
25:23Touching these pieces of metal, you feel, well, I feel almost a connection to the people that built this originally.
25:31These are memories and visions that you'll take away now for the rest of your life.
25:35Glad you've taken me up here. Thank you.
25:37While Dom continues painting, in the barn, Kirsten's repair on the wedding ball is progressing.
25:45It's so heartening to see Mike and Nathan's bowl back together again now.
25:53It's got that really lovely ring back now.
25:56And that's as a result of all of those pieces coming together and being stable.
26:03There's still a little way to go with this bowl.
26:06I've got a few areas where I had the tape going across the joins and I couldn't get into that
26:13bond line.
26:14I've also got a few chipped areas.
26:18It's not too many.
26:20I'm going to fill these using a colour fill technique and hopefully these won't stand out.
26:28I'm going to stick with the same adhesive that I used to bond the bowl together.
26:35But I've added a bulking agent.
26:39You just need so little of pigment.
26:44It's so intense.
26:47And it's really quite a workout for your hands doing this.
26:52I think that colour is good.
26:54So I'm just going to start popping the fill into the areas of loss and into any little gaps that
27:07I see.
27:08The colour, if it's right, blends in with the ceramic around it.
27:15And once it's hardened, you can then give it a polish and it resembles the porcelain.
27:21So I'm really hoping that it will help maintain this looking good for many years to come.
27:37That is blending really nicely and those areas of loss are starting to disappear.
27:45I've got the inside to do and I've got the whole of the outside as well.
27:50I can then think about the retouching and getting this lettering looking absolutely spot on.
28:05In the cashier's office at the department store, engineer Chris is working on making the pneumatic cash handling system more
28:14energy efficient.
28:16This is going to be our discreetly mounted push button to allow the system to be operated on demand.
28:22Obviously much more efficiency.
28:24The old system would have been intended to run constantly all day long.
28:29This is an extra low voltage, the safe way to control the 230 volt motor that we have mounted underneath.
28:36We'll try and keep things discreet under here as best as we can as well so that we keep the
28:41system looking as it was.
28:43Chris is setting up the control box so nothing modern is on display.
28:49The easiest cupboard to work in.
28:55Next it's time for some renovation on the shop floor and the hatch for pipe 11.
29:01Just need to try and clean this up to get the old seal off as best as we can.
29:11It's effectively almost one continuous vacuum line.
29:14This has got to be airtight.
29:15So the seals on it were, well they're non-existent really.
29:19They've been repaired with bits of draught screwed on all sorts.
29:22This is just a little light solvent cleaner that will soften the adhesive.
29:27It was there.
29:28I want to make sure that new seal is going to be straight onto the metal, not sticking over the
29:34old gunky stuff.
29:35Taking the door off because we could see the door wasn't lining up very well at the top.
29:39If anything it looked a bit lopsided.
29:40And now I've got eyes on the hinge, I can actually see clearly the left hand side of the hinge
29:44is very, very bent.
29:45The door, which I've already removed, just needs a good cleaning up.
29:50So we've got a nice new seal, we've got the hinges straight again.
29:53That should sit flush on there.
29:55So a couple of little bits to do on this, but overall nothing major.
29:58The box itself is all solid.
30:00While Chris continues with his refurbishment in the barn, Kirsten has some important finishing touches to attempt to.
30:10The bowl is now back together.
30:13Any little areas of loss have been filled and polished.
30:18Unfortunately, when the bowl got broken, a few of those tiny little shards and things were lost.
30:28Clearly this bowl is all about those messages of love and support to Mike and Nathan.
30:34So I'm going to try and touch in the little bits of lettering that have been lost.
30:42I'm going to use a really fine paint brush.
30:47This is actually a triple zero, so it's about as fine as they come.
30:53And I've got an acrylic paint medium.
30:57I think I'm going to start with the black.
31:02So I'm just mixing those two together.
31:04And then just on the palette, checking I can get that lovely fine brush line.
31:14I'm going to try and put back the lettering.
31:19Not much breathing while I do this.
31:22Quite hard touching up something that's so fine.
31:26It's handwritten, so it's quite full of character anyway.
31:34I'm just looking for the areas that need retouching.
31:38I've got here, here, love, D I think.
31:44Quite a difficult angle to paint at that, so I'm going to just prop this up.
31:51These are really small areas I'm retouching in, but it's amazing the difference that it makes to the eye when
32:00you're looking at it as a whole.
32:02It somehow just pulls it all together.
32:07That's right across the break there, so that's going to look much better.
32:14I want Nathan and Mike to be able to look at this bowl and not remember the damage that happened,
32:24but to remember their wonderful marriage day.
32:28So I'm just going to keep trying to lose these lines and then I'm going to look forward to returning
32:37this to them.
32:41In his workshop, engineer Chris has been researching replacement parts for the pneumatic tubes carriers that held the money and
32:50receipts.
32:51The company Chris works for holds the archives of the original maker of the money tubes.
32:57We've been looking through some of our archives and actually found drawings for the body of this carrier,
33:04the end felts and accelerator rings and, believe it or not, the small nuts.
33:10And this is actually the nut itself, the drawing, which is stated up here as 5 sixteenths of an inch.
33:16Not something a lot of people will be familiar with now.
33:19Amazingly, we had some in stock still in our warehouse from 1957.
33:24So that's really great. We can look to start rebuilding these now.
33:29Using the vintage drawings, Chris has been able to get some components specially manufactured to the exact size needed.
33:38So we've got our new accelerator ring on, which is great.
33:41We've got our new felts, which will fit on there, like so.
33:49Just push that through nicely.
33:51And, as I say, we're fortunate enough to find some new old stock of these quite specific fittings,
33:57which I think would have been very hard to come by, being the imperial size that they are.
34:03We're able to secure those three in position, which is great.
34:07We've now got the carriers, which we identified as a critical part of the system to be overhauled.
34:13We've now got them going back together.
34:16And all that's really left now is to give them a good clean.
34:23Yeah, that's just a real quick clean on that one spot, and look at that there.
34:27That's coming up beautiful, isn't it?
34:28From that to that will be fantastic when we do them all.
34:33As the repair work on the vintage cash handling system continues, Mike and Nathan are arriving at the barn
34:40to pick up their wedding ball from Kirsten and Will.
34:45You're both looking very smarty.
34:48The ball, hopefully, is under that.
34:49Oh, yeah.
34:50It looks like it's in one piece.
34:52Yeah.
34:52We've been really excited all day, actually.
34:54Have you?
34:55Yeah.
34:56Now, this is more than just a bowl to you guys, isn't it?
34:58Yeah, it's kind of a snapshot of all the people that were there on our wedding day.
35:03And our wedding day was kind of an acceptance moment of us two as a couple, really.
35:08We just want to be able to read all the comments and stuff.
35:12We haven't been able to read those for quite some time.
35:15I love the fact that you kept all the pieces and hoped that it would be repaired one day.
35:20And that's usually the first thing that you start to worry about.
35:22It really is.
35:22I think you did very well.
35:24Would you like to have a look?
35:25Yes, please.
35:26Yes, please.
35:30It looks like it was never broken.
35:34It's amazing.
35:35Wow.
35:37Can we pick it up?
35:38Absolutely.
35:39Go ahead.
35:41Oh, wow.
35:44Look at that.
35:46We did have all the pieces.
35:48Yeah.
35:49Yeah.
35:51We can see all the comments in it, and it's just wonderful.
35:55It really is.
35:59Wow.
36:01So is it taking you back to that special day?
36:03Yeah.
36:03Yeah.
36:03Just reading all the names of people that were there on the day, and all the little kind
36:07of pictures and things on there.
36:09Yeah.
36:09It's a bowl of love, isn't it?
36:11It's absolutely beautiful.
36:13Mason's going to love to see it as well.
36:15Yeah.
36:15And the other two.
36:16Logan and Riley, they've never seen it in one piece.
36:18Yeah.
36:20Where's it going to go?
36:21In our family room.
36:22We've got a really high shelf.
36:24Not too high, though, that people won't see it.
36:26Yeah.
36:26We've got three kids.
36:28You know, it's chaos.
36:29You know, things do get broken and things like that, but we're a little family and we're
36:34growing together and, you know, this will represent that, you know, this bowl.
36:39I mean, it's there to be looked at.
36:41It's there to be read.
36:42It's been really quite wonderful to be part of reuniting all of those pieces.
36:50It's all yours to take away.
36:52Who's going to carry it?
36:54I will, but very carefully.
36:55Okay.
36:56Thanks a lot, guys.
36:58Bye-bye.
37:00Well, thank you.
37:02Good job.
37:03I just couldn't believe what I was seeing.
37:05It's just lovely to see the bowl back together.
37:07And I'm amazed at her craftsmanship.
37:11Some of the comments are very particular about our relationship, but also our relationship
37:16with our guests.
37:17And just reading them has reminded us so much of our friends, family, and loved ones.
37:21It's brilliant.
37:22We are very proud of our relationship and the family we have.
37:25And this symbolizes that.
37:32Now it's Dom's turn to check in on a repair job.
37:37He's meeting engineer Chris and Western Super Mayor to find out if the vintage pneumatic tube cash handling system is
37:45back in business.
37:47How's it been?
37:49So far, so good.
37:50Yeah.
37:50Lumber 11, as you know, is our focus.
37:52That's that main front cash desk.
37:54Yeah.
37:54But our preservation has gone beyond that.
37:56So we've replaced all the valves that we spoke of before.
37:58But we've done them on all 12.
38:00Up here?
38:00Yeah, that's right.
38:02We've subsequently checked all the pipes, all the lines.
38:04You didn't find any treasure?
38:05We didn't find any treasure, no.
38:06I will say, these carriers are looking so smart now.
38:09Yeah.
38:09So we've been fortunate enough to find some new old stock and refurbish those.
38:15We have a crowd of people that are all excited to see these working again.
38:19Shall we head down?
38:19Yeah, let's go down.
38:20Gonna need one of these.
38:24It's a big day for Western Super Mayor's historic department store.
38:29Sam, his family and excited locals are all gathering to see if the money tubes have been brought back to
38:36life.
38:38Back in the day, it was a great talking point between, you know, my family and the customers.
38:43And it was exciting and it was unusual.
38:46Kids loved it.
38:47So it'd be great to be able to do those sorts of things again.
38:50My Nan would always treat me to something when I was on holiday.
38:53And the main part of it, not what we bought, but it was the money tube.
38:58To see the money go in and then it went whoosh and it disappeared up to the sky was absolutely
39:04wonderful.
39:05Having worked here for 35 years, I think it's amazing and exciting that the tubes are coming back into life.
39:12Here they come.
39:13Hello.
39:14Nicely done.
39:16Hello, everyone.
39:17Thank you for coming down.
39:18And Sam, good to see you again.
39:19Hi, nice to see you again, Dom.
39:20You've brought quite the crowd with you.
39:22Yeah, we've got some of my family here, some ex-customers and some ex-staff as well, yeah.
39:27Thank you all for coming down.
39:28Are you excited?
39:29Yes.
39:30So am I, actually.
39:31I can't wait to see this working.
39:32I'd love to introduce you all to Chris.
39:34He's actually worked on repairing the pneumatic tubes.
39:37Hi all, how are we doing?
39:38Good to meet you all.
39:39How have you found it?
39:40I've been here a number of days.
39:42It's quite nice.
39:43I feel like part of the family of this store already in that short amount of time.
39:46And it's nice to work on something so unique.
39:48Do some of you actually remember these working?
39:50Yes.
39:51Yes.
39:52Do you?
39:52Yeah.
39:53What was it like?
39:54My dad used to, like, send little hearts down to me and, like, I used to send, like,
39:59little notes to him back up with the office and it was really cute.
40:02Aww.
40:03I actually work here and my nan works here as well.
40:06So I remember when I was a kid and she used to let me send all the money up in
40:10the tubes or little notes up with to the office.
40:14So it was a lot of fun.
40:15Sam, it's not just your family then that have big connections to this building.
40:18No, it sounds like there's lots of families here remember it.
40:21Right.
40:21Is everybody ready to see these working again?
40:24Yes.
40:25Excited?
40:25Yes.
40:26Yeah?
40:27Chris, if you wouldn't mind heading upstairs and turning it on.
40:28I'll go sit on.
40:29Will do.
40:30Who wants to try it first?
40:32Yeah?
40:33Do you want to have a go?
40:3675 years ago, the pneumatic tubes were a high-tech addition to the store.
40:42Now, they had a precious connection to its history.
40:46You all ready?
40:47Yes.
40:48Hattie, you ready?
40:49Yes.
40:50Come on then, let's do it.
40:51Okay, if I hold the door for you, put that there, hold your hand flat on that corner and then
40:55hit the big button.
40:57Ready?
40:57Go.
40:58It should.
40:59It's gone.
40:59It's gone already?
41:00It's gone.
41:03Is that the noise you remember?
41:04Yes.
41:04Yeah, that's it.
41:06It's good.
41:21Oh, here it is.
41:23Here we go.
41:24Okay.
41:25See if it's worked.
41:26Give me a shake.
41:27Oh.
41:28Oh.
41:31Sweeties.
41:32Sweeties.
41:33Brilliant.
41:34Right.
41:35That's worked so well.
41:37Oh.
41:39Unsurprisingly, there are more eager volunteers.
41:43Press the button.
41:47FING
41:47Nicely done!
41:48Very good!
41:50So how was that?
41:51It's amazing, so exciting.
41:53The sweetie tube, sorry, the cash tubes are working again.
41:56Yeah, brilliant to see.
41:57but that sound of the of the carrier clunking into the little port there is very familiar yeah
42:04something's coming it's your turn is it yeah what have you got raf there you go oh it's a note
42:14sweets have all gone
42:19this little window in the wall feels like a bit of a window into the past in a way doesn't
42:24it
42:24absolutely and people will be able to use it if they want to just like my children have today
42:29yeah and may or may not get sweeties out
42:33chrissy's hard work has paid off but hearing the sound was really evocative and took me back to
42:39especially i think a time when i i queued up early in the morning to uh for a sale item
42:45and paid my
42:45money and up it goes so so yes it took me back to that time these tubes for me symbolize
42:53that family
42:54connection back to sam's ancestors that installed these in the first place and it's been so lovely
42:58seeing sam's kids getting involved with their heritage what a day it's been
43:06if you'd like to see more fantastic fixes and restorations
43:10and search bbc iplayer for the repair shop on the road
43:14so
43:21it's
43:22it's
43:31it's
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