ποΈ The Repair Shop (2006) - Season 16 Episode 3
Melodies find their voice again at the Barn. In Episode 3 "The Violin That Sang Again", a war veteran's cherished violin β silent since 1945 β arrives for restoration. Can luthier William restore its song... and honor the legacy of the soldier who carried it through battle? Plus: a broken music box, a faded family portrait, and more soulful restorations.
πΉ Episode Highlights:
β’ War violin revival: restoring the instrument that survived the battlefield
β’ Music box resurrection: a grandmother's lullaby brought back to life
β’ Family portrait restoration: faded faces revived for future generations
β’ Owner reactions: music, memories & the power of heritage preservation
β’ Signature Repair Shop soul: artistry, history & emotional connection
πΉ Series Info:
β’ Format: Documentary / Restoration Reality / Heartwarming Serial
β’ Original Network: BBC One (UK) / BBC iPlayer / International Syndication
β’ Series Launch: 2006 | Season: 16 | Episode: 3 | Title: "The Violin That Sang Again"
β’ Setting: The Weald and Downland Living Museum, UK | Language: English
β’ Runtime: ~60 minutes (full) | Clip/Highlight version: ~10-15 min
π§ Prefer audio? Listen to BBC feel-good podcasts & restoration stories on Spotify, Apple Podcasts.
π Enjoying the series? Hit LIKE, SUBSCRIBE, and comment: "Which restoration moved you most? π" Turn on notifications π for Episode 4!
#ShowTVMovies #TheRepairShop #BBC #ViolinRestoration #S16E03 #HeartwarmingTV #RestorationStory #BritishTV #BingeWatch #MusicalHeritage
β οΈ Copyright Disclaimer: This video is shared for promotional, review, and informational purposes only. All rights to "The Repair Shop" belong to BBC Studios and Ricochet Productions. This upload complies with Fair Use guidelines (Section 107, U.S. Copyright Act). No copyright infringement intended.
Melodies find their voice again at the Barn. In Episode 3 "The Violin That Sang Again", a war veteran's cherished violin β silent since 1945 β arrives for restoration. Can luthier William restore its song... and honor the legacy of the soldier who carried it through battle? Plus: a broken music box, a faded family portrait, and more soulful restorations.
πΉ Episode Highlights:
β’ War violin revival: restoring the instrument that survived the battlefield
β’ Music box resurrection: a grandmother's lullaby brought back to life
β’ Family portrait restoration: faded faces revived for future generations
β’ Owner reactions: music, memories & the power of heritage preservation
β’ Signature Repair Shop soul: artistry, history & emotional connection
πΉ Series Info:
β’ Format: Documentary / Restoration Reality / Heartwarming Serial
β’ Original Network: BBC One (UK) / BBC iPlayer / International Syndication
β’ Series Launch: 2006 | Season: 16 | Episode: 3 | Title: "The Violin That Sang Again"
β’ Setting: The Weald and Downland Living Museum, UK | Language: English
β’ Runtime: ~60 minutes (full) | Clip/Highlight version: ~10-15 min
π§ Prefer audio? Listen to BBC feel-good podcasts & restoration stories on Spotify, Apple Podcasts.
π Enjoying the series? Hit LIKE, SUBSCRIBE, and comment: "Which restoration moved you most? π" Turn on notifications π for Episode 4!
#ShowTVMovies #TheRepairShop #BBC #ViolinRestoration #S16E03 #HeartwarmingTV #RestorationStory #BritishTV #BingeWatch #MusicalHeritage
β οΈ Copyright Disclaimer: This video is shared for promotional, review, and informational purposes only. All rights to "The Repair Shop" belong to BBC Studios and Ricochet Productions. This upload complies with Fair Use guidelines (Section 107, U.S. Copyright Act). No copyright infringement intended.
Category
πΉ
FunTranscript
00:01A remarkable workshop of wonder.
00:03This is amazing!
00:06Home to experts of every kind.
00:09Thank you!
00:11Together, they revive beloved belongings.
00:14Oh, get an idea of it.
00:16This is amazing.
00:17This is absolutely brilliant.
00:19Bringing both the items...
00:22This looks like it's seen much better days.
00:26And the memories they hold.
00:30It's him.
00:31You ready?
00:32Yeah.
00:32I'm ready.
00:33Back to life.
00:38Wow.
00:39It's amazing.
00:41They are stunning.
00:44I like it.
00:47Welcome to the Repair Shop.
01:00You alright, Will?
01:01I've never seen you concentrate so much.
01:03Hey.
01:04What are you up to?
01:05Oh, okay.
01:07Fancy a game?
01:09Why not?
01:09Okay.
01:10It's been a few years though.
01:12Mind my knuckles.
01:15Oh!
01:16Do you know what the joke is?
01:18That's your drill.
01:19Yeah, great!
01:25Hey, Geoff.
01:27This is great, isn't it?
01:28It's gorgeous.
01:29It's quite a rare little thing, this.
01:31It's very nice.
01:31It really is, yeah.
01:33The first visitors to arrive today are sisters Julie and Tracy, who have travelled from Gosport
01:39to Hampshire.
01:40They're hoping pinball wizard Geoff can work his magic on a globetrotting gaming gem.
01:47Welcome to the barn.
01:49This must be yours.
01:51Definitely is.
01:52Yes.
01:53What exactly are we looking at here?
01:55We always refer to it as the pinball machine, but I know it's got a different name, but
02:00we can never say it.
02:01Come on then, try.
02:03Pinchillata.
02:05Or Pinchetta.
02:06Very near.
02:07Pachinko.
02:08Pachinko.
02:09Pachinko.
02:09Oh, yes.
02:10How exactly does it work?
02:12If I remember rightly, you put the ball in through the hole there.
02:15This is the lever that you would ping the ball around, and it would spin, drop through
02:21wherever, and it'd go ding, ding, and then eventually they'd come out here.
02:26Whereabouts did you get it from?
02:27Our dad got it from Japan when he was in the Navy in Singapore in 1970.
02:33So did he do lots of travelling then?
02:35As children, he was away an awful lot, six months to a year sometimes, yeah.
02:40Did you go and visit your father in Singapore when he was stationed there?
02:44Yes, we did.
02:44We all moved out there as a family.
02:46We lived across the border from Singapore in Malaysia itself.
02:50I was nine, and then Tracy at seven and a half, because there's four of us, see?
02:55What was life like out there for a child at such a young age?
02:59Brilliant.
03:00Oh, wasn't it?
03:01Mainly because school finished at 12 o'clock.
03:04Did it?
03:05It was too hot.
03:05That's an easy day.
03:06Yeah, it was an easy day.
03:07It was lovely.
03:08Yeah, it was such a good life.
03:09When's the first time you saw the machine?
03:11When we moved into our house.
03:13When Dad come with this, it was like, wow, this is ours.
03:17Yeah.
03:17Yeah, this is for us.
03:18So we've actually got photos of us outside, and I am front and centre of the machine.
03:24You know, I always remember the noise it made going around the metal rim.
03:28I can hear that now.
03:30Dare I ask how long ago was it it last worked?
03:3471 is when we got back to the UK.
03:37It would have been unpacked from its crate.
03:39Yeah.
03:39We probably would have had a few goes, and Mum swiftly said, right, that's it.
03:43It went to the loft, and there it stayed until last year.
03:47Why did you keep it for that amount of time?
03:48It was very much, you know, part of Dad's journey.
03:52It's our connection to living in Malaysia and the times we had.
03:56And he always would say, I'm going to have to get that repaired.
04:00But then, sadly, he got really poorly and passed away Christmas last year.
04:05I'm so sorry.
04:06Yeah.
04:07What are you hoping I can do to this lovely machine?
04:10From memory, it lights up.
04:11Also, every time it hit these here, it dinged.
04:15Yeah.
04:15So, it was quite noisy, actually.
04:17Yeah.
04:17Delightfully noisy.
04:18Little tings and ding, ding, ding, ding.
04:20Yeah.
04:21And just come alive again.
04:22Yeah.
04:23Well, it would be really nice to take you back down memory lane and to get this working
04:27for you.
04:28We'll see you very soon.
04:29Bye.
04:30Bye-bye.
04:33This is great, isn't it?
04:34I'm looking forward to having a go on it, yeah.
04:36Well, you've got to fix it first.
04:37Yeah, it needs some love and attention.
04:39Do you want a hand?
04:40Yes, please.
04:42You okay like that?
04:43Yeah.
04:44There we go.
05:00What an amazing and gorgeous machine.
05:03I have worked on one in my life in 1971 when I actually owned one myself but had no idea
05:09what to do with them.
05:10But I'm a little bit in the dark.
05:12I'm sort of mildly nervous.
05:15Looking at the front, the first thing that strikes me is this looks very poor condition
05:20and very, very rusty.
05:22So, one of the first things I'm going to do is take this metal frame off and send it
05:26off to be re-chromed.
05:27That'll make a huge difference.
05:29Once the frame is out, I can obviously get to the play field, which will need a bit of
05:34polishing up, but generally that's in very good nick.
05:37One of the problems of this machine, because it was wall-mounted, is that it's not stable.
05:41So, I'm going to talk to Win and see if we can make some type of cabinet.
05:46At the back of this machine, I've got the electrics.
05:49There's a bit of wiring going on here and I presume that different lights come on at different
05:53times with these switches, but I need to put a new power supply in before I can sort that out.
05:58Then I've got all the mechanics.
06:00This machine works by being full of balls, which run down little pathways.
06:04Unless the balls run really freely and easily, the machine won't work.
06:09So, my first job is to make sure the balls can flow freely.
06:25Come on then, Susie.
06:26How is your football knowledge?
06:28Oh.
06:29Strong?
06:29No.
06:30Great.
06:31I know there's a ball.
06:32Goodness me.
06:33There's some players.
06:35Okay.
06:35We're about to have a lesson.
06:37Okay.
06:39Stepping in to give Susie a crash course in the beautiful game, our brothers Kirk and
06:45Ian Russell from Glasgow.
06:50Hello.
06:51Hi.
06:51How are you doing?
06:52This looks interesting.
06:54So, this is the 1963 Scottish Cup Final Matchball, which belonged to our papa, our grandfather,
07:02Ian McMillan, who played for Rangers in that Cup Final, which they won 3-0 against.
07:07The rivals Celtic.
07:08Congratulations.
07:09Wow.
07:09That's amazing.
07:10This is the actual ball?
07:11Yes.
07:12From the Cup Final?
07:13That's right.
07:13Yes, this is the one.
07:14How on earth have you got hold of this then?
07:17So, this ball was smuggled off the pitch by one of his teammates, Jim Baxter.
07:23This was likely to be our papa's last Cup Final for Rangers.
07:27Such was his position in football.
07:29As revered as he was, I think he was coming towards the end of his career and I think
07:33his teammates knew of him as being a good player, a gentleman, and I think we're more
07:37than happy for him to be given some kind of award for that.
07:40Yep.
07:40So, he put it under his jumper, took it off the pitch so that it could be given to our
07:44parts.
07:45Brilliant.
07:46It was headline news, there was clippings and photographs of Jim Baxter with the ball
07:50up his jersey.
07:51So, did Jim Baxter present this to your granddad?
07:54Briefly.
07:55The referee, they caught up with him and took the ball back because you were not allowed
07:59to take the balls in those days and so the ball was then taken to the Scottish Football
08:04Association.
08:05But thanks to, I think, a lot of persuasion from various Rangers players and the management
08:10team, they managed to persuade SFA to give it back to our grandfather.
08:15What an incredible piece of history.
08:17It's an extra special, the mentor that we have from that.
08:20Wow.
08:20So, your grandfather was really like a top, top player, was he?
08:24Yeah.
08:25He won four league titles when he was there, three league cups, three Scottish cups.
08:30He played in a European Cup final.
08:32He scored two goals in a Champions League semi-finals.
08:34He's inducted into the Rangers Hall of Fame and into the Scottish Football Hall of Fame
08:39as well.
08:39So, he had a fantastic career.
08:41I'm very proud of him.
08:42Wow.
08:43Yeah.
08:44Incredible achievements.
08:45Yeah.
08:45What was he like as a granddad then?
08:48He was a big part of our lives.
08:49We'd go and visit him regularly, most weekends.
08:51He would take us out the back garden.
08:53That's probably where you got your football skills from.
08:57Practicing free kicks in the back garden with him, teaching us and things.
09:00Whenever we went, we always made a beeline for the cupboard to get the ball out.
09:04Kick it around, kick it around the flat, kick it around the garden.
09:07Never spoke about where it was from or what it was.
09:09So, just very humble and very modest.
09:11Let me just get that right.
09:12So, whilst you were a kid, you'd use this one?
09:14Often.
09:15Really?
09:16Oh my goodness.
09:20Can I have a look?
09:21Of course.
09:21I love that you just had no idea as kids.
09:23It's just another football.
09:25It's even got a signature on it.
09:27Look.
09:28Oh, look at that.
09:29Whose signature is that?
09:30Yeah.
09:30That's his signature.
09:32Yeah.
09:33The bladder.
09:33That doesn't sound good.
09:37What is it that you would like me to be able to do?
09:41So, it would be great if it could be returned maybe to a sense of structure.
09:45It makes it look more like a ball.
09:47And the leather would be brought back to life a wee bit.
09:50It would be great if we could see the signature maybe a little easier.
09:54And what would be the plan for the future of the ball?
09:57Yeah, well, we've actually been in contact with Rangers.
10:00And Rangers are quite keen for it to be to display the Ibrox in their trophy room.
10:05Which would be just fantastic.
10:07All we can say is leave it with us.
10:09Yeah.
10:09Do the best we can.
10:10Absolutely.
10:11But promise me, you won't kick it around the flat anymore.
10:13Please.
10:13Those days are done.
10:14Thank you very much.
10:15See you soon.
10:15Thank you very much.
10:16Bye.
10:30This is amazing.
10:32I've got a ball here that is so well known in the Scottish football folklore.
10:37The bladder itself is completely perished and I can tell that because it's rattling around in there.
10:44I'm going to have to open this ball up to be able to remove the old bladder.
10:49So that's started the process.
10:53Actually, I'm quite scared because the thing that I'm really worried about is sewing it back together.
10:59And when I come to inflating the new bladder, will the old seams hold up?
11:06If they don't, it's going to create a lot of extra work for me.
11:12But I just have to wait and see what happens.
11:15There we go.
11:16Now, as I press this panel down, I can expose the old bladder here and that's 60 plus years that
11:25that's been in there.
11:31It's going to give up the fight.
11:33It really is going to give up the fight.
11:36There we go.
11:37Oh, my.
11:42So that has definitely had its day.
11:46And there's some writing on the side, made in England.
11:50And more importantly, it's got the size on it, a number five.
11:53So I know the size of the bladder that I need to find.
11:57I can pop in a new bladder, fix it into position and then close up this seam.
12:04And then once I've got this sewn up, I'm going to have a chat with Lucia and see if she
12:11can highlight the signature.
12:14OK.
12:20Will.
12:20Hey, Jeff.
12:21Hi there.
12:21That Pachinko machine.
12:23Yes.
12:23I really desperately need a cabinet for it.
12:25Right.
12:26Because the machine isn't freestanding.
12:28So what it needs is a box around it so it can be static and put on the table.
12:33OK.
12:33Because in theory, they usually go into the wall, right?
12:35That's it, yeah.
12:36I've done some sort of basic diagram.
12:39OK.
12:40Leave it with me.
12:40Really appreciate it, Will.
13:02Hello.
13:03This idol pushing,ΠΊΠΈΠΌΠΈ yeah.
13:04And while I'm still hoping the top of thisbrid Pit Pachinkum, it's about locating machine.
13:07I've done that before messing with me.
13:10To do this video, we're useful.
13:13Did you have any new slottenins at the top of this side?
13:14That's kind of fun.
13:16Do you know how to grab this Using Π²Π΅Π΄ Pachinkum to utilize?
13:19It depends on what you have to do on this side constructing?
13:19It depends on what you have to maintain.
13:21Did you see a littleΠ»Ρ of this footage but it's at home on it?
13:28That's got an actual angle, as an outdoor expresident configuring now.
13:31And if I pull this nail out, I'm going to remove this little plastic cover.
13:38Right, found the culprits.
13:41Look at this.
13:42A little rubber ball and a little stone.
13:47Amazing.
13:48I wondered if a younger Julie or Tracy may have run out of balls and thought,
13:52oh, these are about the right size.
13:54They'll do nicely.
13:55Now, that's working beautifully.
13:58That's all free.
13:59That's absolutely perfect.
14:01And then there's this chute that goes into this weird box.
14:04I don't have a clue what it is.
14:05So I'm going to take it out now and take a peek.
14:11Oh, it's got bells in it.
14:14It's got bells, the bells.
14:17So let's see.
14:18I wonder if I put some balls into here.
14:22I wonder if I can make the noise.
14:24Fantastic.
14:25That's lovely.
14:26Love it.
14:27Absolutely love it.
14:27Now I've got rid of the blockages to the machine.
14:29I've got to take it all apart, really thorough, deep clean, get rid of all the debris and rust.
14:35Then I can put it back together and then feed the machine with those hundreds of balls and check if
14:41it works or not.
14:50Jeff has asked me to make a cabinet for the pachinko machine.
14:53All of the woodwork has been done.
14:55Everything's been cut out, measured precisely.
14:57I now need to glue and screw everything together.
15:00I'm hoping my measurements are right because if it's too small, the machine's not going to fit inside.
15:13Next, Peter Moss and his son Alex, a hoping bookbinder Chris, can rewrite the future of a publication that tells
15:22a tale of human resilience and hope.
15:25Hi there.
15:26Hello.
15:26Hello.
15:27Hello.
15:28What do we have here?
15:29This is Raggle Taggle.
15:31This is very precious to us.
15:33This is a book created in a prisoner of war camp where my father, Jock Moss, was a captive held
15:41by the Japanese Imperial Army.
15:44So your father was in a prisoner of war camp?
15:46Yes.
15:47He was there for, I think, three and a half years in total.
15:51How did your dad end up in the camp?
15:52He was a member of the Indian Army in Kuala Lumpur.
15:58He was in Singapore where senior officers walked past with a white flag and a Union Jack to surrender to
16:07the Japanese.
16:09Allied troops who were captured by the Japanese during the Second World War were sent to prisoner of war camps
16:15all over their newly acquired empire to be used as slaves for the war effort.
16:21Jock Moss was sent to one of 14 camps on the island of Taiwan, known as Shirakawa, Camp 4.
16:28Do you know much about the conditions of the camp?
16:30From what I hear, I understand the conditions were pretty atrocious.
16:34He certainly had nightmares for the rest of his life.
16:36Goodness me.
16:38So this is a prisoner of war camp magazine, basically?
16:41It is basically a prisoner of war camp magazine.
16:43Who would have contributed to this book?
16:46The prisoners in the camp for the benefit of the other prisoners in the camp.
16:53Basically as a distraction against the misery and despair that they all had.
16:59So if you can read something like this, you realise so many other people in the same boat as you.
17:04It gives you that hope.
17:05Antidote to despair.
17:06Yeah, exactly.
17:07But that's why raggle-taggle is so important.
17:10That's what your father focused on in the camp.
17:12I think that's entirely right.
17:14It was terribly important to him and therefore to us.
17:18What was your father's involvement with the magazine?
17:20My father was the editor of it.
17:23It's absolutely beautiful.
17:24It's unbelievable.
17:26They are a series of stories and handwritten, typed, painted, puzzles, amusing anecdotes.
17:38Was it one copy and then was it passed around?
17:42Absolutely.
17:42There was only one copy and there were 800 people to read it.
17:46Really?
17:46Wow.
17:47So they were allowed half an hour per individual to read it.
17:50That's why it's worn and torn and the mosquito netting covering.
17:56Is that mosquito netting?
17:58That's mosquito netting.
17:59And brown paper and rice glue.
18:02It is truly unique, isn't it?
18:04Absolutely.
18:05It's one of my fondest memories of my grandfather was actually going through this magazine.
18:09I mean, it was always about the people who contributed and brought it to life.
18:13What did your father do with the magazine when he returned home?
18:16He decided that it should be printed and there were about 400 copies made and distributed.
18:23And in order to print the book, sadly, some of the pages had to be cut out.
18:29Yeah.
18:29What would you like me to do?
18:31It would be astonishing if you could in any way hold the pages in some way back.
18:37I would love somebody to conserve it for future generations.
18:42I'm really looking forward to getting stuck in and reading the contents as well.
18:47I shall not take you enough.
18:49We'll see you very soon.
18:50Really great.
18:51Thanks so much.
18:52Good luck.
19:08Goodness, I have never, ever seen a book like this.
19:13It's phenomenal.
19:15What a title page.
19:17Sport.
19:19And what a beautiful drawing of factory roofs and chimneys.
19:24It's a testament to the resourcefulness of the prisoners.
19:28It looks like craft paper.
19:30It's mosquito net.
19:32It's a really historical, important book that needs to be maintained.
19:39There's a long way to go with this book.
19:42It feels very, very weak along the spine.
19:45All the little scuffs, I will stick down.
19:48I just need to conserve that.
19:49The first thing I need to do is to get it dismantled internally so I can repair the pages.
20:01Did you ever play football?
20:03Do you not? Never good at football.
20:05No?
20:05No.
20:05I fenced, fencing for about 15 years.
20:09Strike the pose.
20:09The problem now is if I lunge, all right, I can't get back up.
20:15The knee's gone.
20:16You'd be easy to beat.
20:17It's OK.
20:27Susie has fitted a new bladder in the football and is trying to figure out how to sew it back
20:33up
20:34without popping the replacement.
20:37Now I've been giving this closing of the seam a great deal of thought.
20:42I've got very old fragile leather and I've got a bladder that is very close to the surface here
20:50and I'm using very sharp needles.
20:53So I'm using like a saddle stitch because that's how this was originally sewn together.
21:22This is by far the hardest part because I've got no room to sort of work in.
21:29I need to get the curve of the needle inside and come out of this hole here.
21:35But everything is really, really tight and it's fighting me.
21:41It's just so awkward.
21:45But I'm going to battle away here.
21:47I will not be beaten.
21:53It's so close.
21:55It's just so close all the time.
21:58There you go.
21:58Yay.
21:59One little stitch.
22:03Oh, I'm so pleased.
22:04I'll take it.
22:06Right.
22:06So that's that first bit done.
22:10Now I'm just going to start pulling up from where I began
22:15and start tightening the whole thing up.
22:34So this seam is nicely pulled together and it looks really, really tidy.
22:40I'm very happy with it.
22:42It's going to hold this ball together nice and tight as I pump up the bladder.
22:48Hopefully all the other seams are going to hold too.
22:51That's my biggest concern here.
22:53So I just need to pump it up.
23:00So you can imagine, I mean, I feel nervous just blowing up a ball,
23:03but how Ian must have felt with his teammates going into that game.
23:09So now I'm in the danger zone.
23:11I can feel the resistance on the pump.
23:20Can't hear anything.
23:22Can't feel anything.
23:24I think we're good.
23:25I think we're good.
23:26It feels really good.
23:27It feels like a ball again.
23:28It's got some life in it.
23:30I'm now going to attend to the areas where we've got some surface cracks
23:33before I hand this over to Lucia.
23:55Geoff has got the frame of the pachinko machine gleaming and is ready to see if this arcade antique
24:01can still spring into action.
24:04I can lift the machine up.
24:06We can open it up.
24:10Now the moment of truth, I'm going to put balls in the machine and see if the mechanism works.
24:25So I'm going to go to the front and here I place a ball in this little hole here,
24:31comes through to the plunger and off we go.
24:36The mechanism seems to be working.
24:38That's a very good start.
24:45Hooray!
24:45I won!
24:46Amazing!
24:47I've got the noise, the pachink sound when you actually win.
24:51And we think that's where the name pachinko actually came from, from the sound itself.
24:55I am overjoyed.
24:58I could easily spend all day here, but I've actually got work to do,
25:01so I need to get on with the electrics.
25:13The electrics are relatively simple, but it's some nice bulbs that flash on when you get a win,
25:18which there are only two, but do brighten up the game.
25:21Now, both the bulb holders and the bulbs have seen better days
25:25and need to be completely replaced.
25:27I'm going to use standard, modern pinball lamp holders and bulbs.
25:32First thing I need to do is solder this new bulb holder to the red and yellow cables.
25:41Nice steady hand.
25:43Great!
25:43That's good.
25:45Right.
25:46Well, that's soldered beautifully.
25:47I've just got to do the second one now,
25:49so that I can put some power onto the machine.
26:06Right, wires in place.
26:08The moment of truth.
26:10Stand the machine up.
26:11Let there be light, hopefully.
26:16Well, if all is working, there should be a light here,
26:20right in the centre, and a light up there.
26:28Geronimo!
26:32And the switches work as well, which is lovely.
26:34I'm very, very, very pleased.
26:36I just need to play the machine and make sure everything works as it should.
26:41I just need to play the machine.
26:51Chris has fully dismantled the Prisoner of War magazine
26:55and must now reunite the pages that were torn apart.
26:59I've been working on the pages and I found one of my worst fears written about.
27:05He's talking about a vivid dream in which, under public gaze, some vital garment,
27:11my trousers, for example, was missing.
27:14And the delight is that he's done a drawing of himself without any trousers,
27:18and he's got some hairy legs and knobbly knees.
27:22Utter delight.
27:24Laughing and having humour raises the spirits,
27:27and I can see why Raggle Taggle would raise the spirits.
27:30The big issue I have with this book is that the pages have been cut for the printing after the
27:37war.
27:37That's where the major damage has occurred.
27:40And the problem I've got is rehinging them.
27:44So to address this concern, I'm using some really, really fine repair tissue,
27:49and it's heat reactive.
27:52So the glue on it gets reacted by heat.
27:55So I apply it with a heated spatula.
27:58So the glue reacts and sticks.
28:01What I'm doing here is reconstructing the folded page.
28:09I've got seven more pages to rehinge,
28:13and then I am going to sew the text onto this piece of cloth,
28:20which is how they did it in camp.
28:22And then I can give it a new spine.
28:43And then I can give it a new piece of cloth.
28:50Jeff and Will have reached the final stage of their repair,
28:54of the pachinko machine.
28:56All right, Jeff.
28:57Hello, Will.
28:58Will, fantastic job on the cabinets. That's fabulous.
29:00If you'd give me a hand, I'd be very grateful.
29:02Happily, happily.
29:04OK.
29:05Lovely UK there.
29:06There we go.
29:08Oh, please fit.
29:09Hold on.
29:15Oh, Jeff, it fits.
29:17That's absolutely brilliant.
29:19I'm so pleased.
29:20It looks quite smart, doesn't it?
29:20It looks beautiful.
29:21What's left to do?
29:22Just got to drill a hole for the electrics,
29:24give it a final polish, and we're done.
29:27When this retro Japanese marvel arrived,
29:30it was a rusty relic with jammed mechanics
29:33and lights that had been out for decades.
29:38All working?
29:39Yeah, it looks fantastic.
29:40Look at the light back there.
29:41That's lovely.
29:42It looks beautiful, actually.
29:43I'm really pleased to stick this over here.
29:46Now Julie and Tracy have returned,
29:49hoping the buzz, bells and bling have been brought back to the machine
29:53that holds memories of their father and their childhood in Malaysia.
30:01Hello.
30:02Hello.
30:02Hello.
30:02Hi.
30:03Hi.
30:04We're back.
30:05You look really excited.
30:07Yeah, I am.
30:08Yeah.
30:08Would you like to take a look?
30:09Yes, please.
30:10Yeah?
30:10Yeah.
30:11Yeah.
30:15Oh, my word.
30:18Wow.
30:19Oh, my God.
30:22This is beautiful.
30:24The frame's beautiful.
30:25Shiny.
30:27I'm speechless.
30:28Honestly, speechless.
30:31It's on a base, Will.
30:33Did you do that?
30:34Will did an amazing job.
30:36Oh, wow.
30:36Yeah, amazing.
30:37We always used to have to lean it slightly against the wall.
30:39So this is just like perfect.
30:42And is that that light?
30:43That's the light.
30:44Yeah, it's got power to it now.
30:46Yes.
30:48God, it takes you back.
30:50Mm.
30:50Really takes you back.
30:51We had it from Dad.
30:53He's not here to see it.
30:58But he'd be so excited.
31:01We wouldn't get a look in.
31:04Yeah.
31:05I want to ping it.
31:06You want to ping it?
31:10Okay.
31:15Oh.
31:16Yay!
31:18I remember that sound.
31:21It is great, isn't it?
31:26Oh, just miss.
31:27It's the sound.
31:28It just takes you back.
31:29You close your eyes.
31:30You could be back in Malaya.
31:31It's amazing.
31:33It took me back.
31:34I felt like a kid again.
31:35Mm, brilliant.
31:37Absolutely brilliant.
31:39You know, obviously, Dad's not here to see it,
31:40but he would have been so proud and so pleased.
31:52Next to arrive at the barn is Emma McLennan from Kent.
31:57She's bringing a rare instrument that's crying out for a rescue from Luthier Becky.
32:04Hi there.
32:05Hi.
32:07Tell us about what you brought in.
32:08I've brought in today a Cretan lyra, which is a stringed instrument played with a bow.
32:15It's quite a unique instrument, isn't it?
32:17It is, isn't it?
32:17I haven't actually seen one in the flesh before, so it's a real treat for me.
32:21Yeah, it's quite beautiful on the backside as well.
32:24It's nicely carved.
32:25Oh, that's gorgeous.
32:26It's very traditional for Cretan music.
32:29So it's a folk instrument, then?
32:30It is a folk instrument, yeah, but it's at the heart of any Cretan music ensemble.
32:36But particularly at big parties called Glendi, where you would be celebrating the community,
32:42an anniversary, or you'd be celebrating something like the orange harvest, or a celebration of cheese pies.
32:49Cheese pies?
32:50I love cheese pies.
32:50That's great.
32:51They should be celebrated.
32:52I know, exactly.
32:53You know, any excuse.
32:55And there'll always be a band with the lyra at the centre playing.
32:58Who does it belong to?
32:59It was.
33:00My son, Alex is, and it's something that Alex loved.
33:05My mother is from Crete, and Alex had been going since he was a small child.
33:11So Alex spoke the Cretan dialect.
33:14Really?
33:14And he just loved the music, so he was keen to learn to play.
33:18And that's why in 2013 he ordered this just taught himself.
33:23My word.
33:24Are you quite proud of Alex and the way that he embraced the culture?
33:28I'm hugely proud of him.
33:30He was a real people person anyway.
33:32He got to know people in every walk of life, including some shepherds from the mountains,
33:37going up to the sheep shearing.
33:40There's music, and there's food and drink, and it's really quite an experience.
33:45Yeah.
33:46How long did he play this for?
33:48He played it until 2019, when he could no longer play it, because he developed motor
33:55and he was a patient and disease, and...
33:58Excuse me.
34:01He lost the ability to use his hands.
34:04He couldn't walk, and so he had to start playing, and so it's inevitably fatal.
34:11But Alex was 31 when we lost him.
34:1431 years old?
34:15Yeah.
34:16We lost him in 2020, but really he played it as long as he had the ability to play,
34:23which is why it's quite an important item for our family.
34:30Sadly, something fell on him, and it bust.
34:34Restoring it will make us almost feel as if we're somehow restoring Alex in some way.
34:39I just want to see it whole and played again.
34:43Yes.
34:43Okay.
34:43And I'm so grateful to you for taking it on, really.
34:46It means so much to us.
34:47It's an honour to me.
34:48I really appreciate it.
34:50We'll see you soon.
34:51Bye-bye.
34:51Yeah, you take care.
34:52Bye-bye.
34:52Bye-bye.
34:53Bye.
35:09This is an absolutely beautiful instrument.
35:12I can really see why Alex loved it.
35:14With these instruments, you press your fingernail to the side of the string.
35:18You don't stop it with your pad of your finger.
35:20So the fingerboard here is quite grooved where Alex's fingernails dug into it.
35:26I love that he's left that little imprint on this instrument.
35:30So I'm going to be preserving that.
35:32This hole in the front is an absolute disaster, really.
35:38First thing I'm going to do is remove this front.
35:41I'm not entirely sure where I'm going to go in.
35:45I don't want to cut anything.
35:46I just want to break the glue seal.
35:50This blade suddenly feels really thick.
35:54And there's no giving this seam at all.
35:58This feels very wrong on a lot of levels.
36:02I'm going to introduce a bit of moisture.
36:04If it's a natural glue, it should dissolve a little bit.
36:12I think I'm starting to get there.
36:14I think the water is doing something.
36:17The slightly bigger blade actually sank in a little bit then.
36:22Yes, that is starting to come away.
36:25My goodness.
36:27I can't tell you how relieved I am.
36:29There was a moment that I thought it was never coming around.
36:33Once I've managed to get round the hole of this front and remove it,
36:36I can actually start to fix the crack.
36:51Suzie's repair of the Scottish Cup final football is all stitched up.
36:56So she's passed it to Lucia to bring the all-important autograph back to life.
37:03I do not want to cover up any of Ian McMillan's signature.
37:07So I think what I'm going to do, the actual end of his name, the N on the end of
37:12McMillan has disappeared.
37:14So I thought I can actually reconstruct that.
37:17I found a few of his signatures on memorabilia online.
37:22And I've been practising just in pencil, but this is the one I'm going to use, this nice soft end.
37:26I literally have to guess this in terms of the size that I want it to be.
37:39And so he takes the little railway tunnel of the N from the bottom.
37:53That's good. I quite like that it looks a bit sort of smashed up.
37:56You can see it's there.
37:58You actually know what it is, even though it's broken, and you can read it.
38:03I'm pleased with it.
38:04I think what I'm going to do now is go back to some of the other lettering on the signature,
38:09and then I'll hand this back to Susie.
38:22Becky is making headway with her repair of the Cretan Lyra.
38:29The main issue is obviously this great big gaping hole in the front.
38:33Gosh, this feels fragile now.
38:36Oh, look, though.
38:38A lovely maker's signature inside and the date, 2013.
38:42It's always lovely to look inside an instrument.
38:45It's a real privilege, actually.
38:48My plan next is to turn my attention to this front
38:51and get the bits of wood roughly back in the correct positions.
39:04I'm just going to clamp it as much as I dare for now to stabilise it.
39:16Now I've got all the cracks aligned, I'm going to glue them.
39:22This is a hot natural glue that I'm using.
39:26I'm going to get as much into this crack as I can to make sure that it goes all the
39:31way down
39:32through the crack so that I've got a really good joint here.
39:37The clamps are going to hold the sides of the crack in position as the glue gels,
39:41so it's really important I get this on quickly and have aligned both sides.
39:48I've got a straight edge here that I can use to check the sides of the crack are even.
39:53I just need to manipulate this a little bit here
39:57to flatten it out.
40:02That's actually gone down quite nicely there.
40:09Both sides of that crack are level, thank goodness.
40:13Once this part of this crack is dry, I can then tackle the rest of them.
40:34So what have you got there Becky?
40:37Yeah, this is the Cretan Lyra and look at all this Greek writing inside there.
40:42Oh wow, yeah, fascinating.
40:44Letters I don't even know.
40:46No, no, I get a lot of Dutch writing inside the fairground organs that I do.
40:50So maybe you should learn Greek and I should learn Dutch.
40:53Do you know, there's an app for that.
40:55Is there?
40:55Yeah, brilliant.
40:55I think so.
41:02Chris has got the pages of the Prisoner of War magazine back together as one
41:08and now needs to add the all-important spine.
41:11The pages are all sewn, I've got my fabric hinge all ready to be stuck to the board and then
41:19over that
41:20I'm going to attach the new spine.
41:22So this is a major part of a book, the spine.
41:27I found a bit of paper and I am so pleased with the match.
41:32I'm going to use a mixture of paste and PVA.
41:35I don't want it to dry so quickly so I'm going to use PVA to get it stuck
41:40and then the paste is allowing it to manoeuvre.
42:01Once the spine is complete, I can then move on to a pair in the dust jacket.
42:13I am going to start re-sticking the mosquito net down into its correct position.
42:19I'm going to use some rice starch paste, exactly what they'd have used in the camp.
42:24It did the job 80 years ago, so it should do the job now.
42:42Becky has conquered the cracks on the Lyra repair.
42:46She now needs to turn her attention to reuniting its fractured components.
42:51I'm thinking about how I'm going to re-attach the front to the body of the Lyra.
42:56There are absolutely no flat sides on the back of this beautiful instrument.
43:00So I've got no way of anchoring clamps round the edge to re-attach the front.
43:06So the plan is to mix up Plaster of Paris and with this former,
43:12which to make really I just drew round the outside of the Lyra in the rough shape I wanted,
43:18to make a plaster cast.
43:20The reason I need this cast is that it will give me a flat surface here to clamp onto,
43:26and that should make it a really strong bond when I finally get the front back on.
43:31The cling film is used to protect the surface of the instrument from the Plaster of Paris.
43:37So the next step is to mix up Plaster of Paris.
43:41I love doing these jobs. It just brings me back to my childhood.
43:45My grandad was a carpenter. I'm used to disappearing to his shed making things with wood,
43:49but also making things out of the Plaster of Paris.
43:53I think he would find this really funny actually, before I made elephants and crocodiles.
43:57And now I'm making a cast for a Cretan Lyra.
44:02Okay. It looks quite creamy now.
44:04Now I can pour the plaster in.
44:07I want to make sure that I've got enough in all the way around the mould,
44:11so that it's nice and even.
44:13I'll just lift it.
44:18Ah, that's better.
44:20Now I can just leave that to set.
44:22All I have to hope is that the instrument doesn't stick to the plaster,
44:26and that I can get it out.
44:27So, just keeping my fingers crossed.
44:35It's approaching the final whistle for Susie's repair
44:38of the 1963 Scottish Cup Final football.
44:43The cheer's given the ball back to me,
44:44and I'm so, so impressed with what she's been able to do.
44:48It really has brought this ball to life.
44:51What I want to do now is to just put the sheen back into it.
44:58So I'm using a dry cloth and a little bit of product
45:02to get this in the best condition I can before I give back to Curtin Lyra.
45:13This piece of footballing folklore
45:16was a long way from being match-fed when it arrived dull and deflated
45:21after Rangers legend Ian McMillan had used it for kickabouts with his grandsons.
45:29How's it looking? Are you happy?
45:30I'm really happy.
45:32It looks like a football again.
45:34And it looks healthy.
45:35Well done.
45:37Now Ian and Kirk have returned, hoping Susie has been able to breathe new life
45:43into the ball that sparked a media frenzy, and to keep their grandfather's legacy alive.
45:51Hello.
45:51Hello.
45:52How are you doing?
45:52Welcome back, both of you.
45:54How are you both?
45:55I'm excited to see the ball today, that's for sure.
45:58I'm excited and nervous, obviously, talking about it, the whole way coming down to see this.
46:02Now that, obviously, Paps has sadly passed, it would be lovely just to get a glimpse of what
46:06it might have looked like back in the day.
46:08Are you ready to take a look?
46:10Yeah, yes.
46:11The best we'll ever be, yeah.
46:12Okie dokie.
46:19Oh, wow.
46:20That's absolutely first class, isn't it?
46:25That's absolutely tremendous.
46:27And it's, yeah, shaped like a football.
46:29Yeah, this is great.
46:31You can see the signature there.
46:33It's great.
46:34You can really see the signature.
46:35He can properly read that now, whereas before it was so faint.
46:38And it's lovely to think that that's his signature.
46:41He's written that.
46:42Thank you so much, Susie.
46:44That's excellent.
46:44Well, it wasn't solely my work.
46:46Luchia did an amazing job of bringing out that signature.
46:50That really is great.
46:52You can just picture Paps and the team of playing with that ball in the cup final.
46:56Absolutely.
46:57That's quite a special thought, isn't it?
46:59He was a very, very modest man.
47:00But I think for him to see this and to reminisce some of what he went through,
47:05I think you'd be absolutely delighted.
47:07Yeah, brilliant.
47:08Well, I'm very pleased to say it's yours to take away.
47:10Wonderful.
47:11Thank you so much indeed.
47:12Or should we have a kick around outside?
47:13No, this is good to take you back.
47:16Thank you so much.
47:17Much appreciated.
47:22I think they're happy, Susie.
47:24Well done.
47:25No, thank you.
47:27Just to see, obviously, Papa's signature on there.
47:29You can read it now, which is absolutely fantastic.
47:31So it's a very fitting tribute to our Papa.
47:34Rangers have been very kind in offering to display this.
47:38The ball means so much to the Rangers community and to us as a family,
47:41and we're delighted to be able to share it with everyone.
47:50With the cast now set, Becky can bring the elements of the Lyra back together in harmony.
47:57I've put the body into the cast, which does seem to be doing the job.
48:01I do have a good flat surface to clamp on.
48:04Now I've got the trickiest part of this whole restoration, I think, getting the front reattached to the body.
48:10I always dry clamp fronts back onto instruments first.
48:14Because the glue takes hardly any time to gel and dry,
48:17I want to be able to just do it in section after section.
48:20It just makes it a much calmer process.
48:23I'm going to start at the top here.
48:25And I'm going to use my opening knife to work my way round in sections,
48:30forcing the glue in through the seam so that I get a really nice strong bond
48:35and I'm not stressing the wood at all.
48:49I'm so concerned about getting this front on properly because it was so perfect when Alex played it,
48:54but I am quite paranoid about not getting a good joint between the front and the back.
49:03It looks as though everything's going how I want it to,
49:07but I'm not going to know until the glue has properly dried and I've taken all the clamps off.
49:26Chris is about to write the last line in his repair of the magazine Raggle Taggle.
49:32I'm really happy with the way it looks.
49:34It feels like they would have had this back in the day in the camp.
49:38There's very little I have to do.
49:40It is just toning down and blending the old and new piece of paper that I've put in for the
49:45spine.
49:49I'm using watercolour because it has that nice ability to feel faded.
49:54Add a bit of colour in but it still looks a bit washed out.
50:05I've got a bit of mosquito net to put on top just to make it look really spot on
50:10and I can't wait then to be able to hand this back to Peter.
50:19Created in captivity by prisoners of war after the fall of Singapore to Japanese forces in 1942,
50:27this magazine offered hope and humour for inmates facing despair.
50:33When it arrived in the barn, it was fragile and frayed,
50:37with loose pages hanging on by a mosquito net thread.
50:42Right, Chris, you ready for this?
50:44Yeah, I am.
50:45Very nice.
50:49Now Peter and Alex have returned, hoping to see the magazine as it was
50:54when their father and grandfather created it to offer hope to prisoners of war in their darkest of hours.
51:03Hi guys, welcome back.
51:05Good morning.
51:05Morning.
51:08How have you been?
51:09I'm intrigued, fascinated, I can't wait.
51:14Shall we take a look?
51:15Please.
51:16Yeah.
51:20Charlie.
51:23Charlie.
51:24Wow.
51:29That is astonishing, absolutely miraculous.
51:36Oh, it doesn't fall to bits.
51:41I can't believe you've managed to do all of that.
51:45Thank you so much.
51:47Just beyond words.
51:49Absolutely a pleasure.
51:51I wanted to hand it back to you, looking like it would of.
51:54And you've certainly done that.
51:56And you're now an important part of raggle-tagle.
51:59That's a huge honour.
52:01Thank you so, so much.
52:03Bye-bye.
52:04Bye.
52:07Thanks.
52:08Well done, Chris.
52:09Thank you, Will.
52:12I'm feeling in wonder, really, to hold it in my hand in the condition now,
52:18which must be as near as it would possibly ever be to how it was 82 years ago.
52:25And to be able to see it for the first time intact, it is wondrous.
52:39Becky is approaching the finale of her repair of the lira, and it's reached a critical point.
52:46I genuinely didn't know until I took the clamps off whether the front would have glued properly.
52:51But it has, and it's such a relief.
52:54And it's the bit I've almost been looking forward to the most,
52:58preserving what's left of Alex on the fingerboard.
53:02There are some little dents on here where his fingers have touched,
53:06and I need to keep those.
53:08It's really important.
53:09Usually, I'd sand it all off and make it all beautifully smooth.
53:12In this case, I'm definitely not going to do that.
53:15With just my normal varnish polish and a microfibre cloth,
53:20I'm going to be removing the dirt but preserving the wear.
53:24I can feel the grooves in the fingerboard where Alex played it.
53:27That's lovely, actually.
53:29Once I'm happy with the finish on this fingerboard, it'll be time to put the strings on,
53:33and then Emma can hear this beautiful instrument once again.
53:39This Cretan lira symbolises an everlasting bond between a mother and a son.
53:45But an accident had left it shattered and silenced, until now.
53:50Let's have a look.
53:53It looks amazing.
53:55Yeah?
53:56I hope Emma's pleased.
53:57I'm sure she will be.
54:01Emma is returning with her daughter, Katerina, hoping to hear the instrument sing
54:07that meant so much to their brother and son, Alex.
54:12Hi there, welcome back.
54:14Hi, hi, hi.
54:15Wonderful to see you.
54:16Nice to see you both.
54:18Now, when we last saw your mum, she was telling us about your brother and his love for Cretan
54:24music and culture.
54:25Do you remember him playing this at all?
54:27Yes, yeah.
54:30We're laughing because when he was first learning, it was not the most pleasant experience.
54:36So we had to bear with him over the course of the summer.
54:39But by the end, he was pretty good.
54:41Yeah.
54:41Yeah, he was.
54:42The lira was broken.
54:44And at the same time, Alex was physically broken by metaneuron disease.
54:49And to see it whole again would be a bit like seeing Alex restored.
54:54It's symbolic of renewing and getting things back on track.
54:58That's really beautiful.
54:59Yes.
55:00Do you like to see what Becky's done to you now?
55:01Yes, please.
55:02OK.
55:14Look at that.
55:15It's amazing.
55:18You can't tell.
55:20You know, you can't tell at all.
55:22Thank you, Becky.
55:24It's been a privilege.
55:25It really has.
55:26It's a beautiful instrument.
55:27And I've been very careful to keep all the marks he made on it, like the finger marks
55:32in the fingerboard, because that's him embodied in this.
55:36Wow.
55:40Just wonderful.
55:42Just wonderful.
55:43Thank you so much.
55:44Can I introduce you to Theo Lace?
55:46Who's going to play this beautiful instrument for you?
55:49Hello.
55:50Wonderful to meet you.
55:51Likewise.
55:52So this is it then.
55:53Beautiful.
56:28That is so wonderful.
56:29That's, I know this song.
56:31Oh, you do.
56:32And it's a song about a man singing to his mother after his death.
56:37That's right.
56:39And remembering him.
56:40And so it's just perfect, perfect choice.
56:44Thank you, Theo.
56:46The choice of song was so emotional and so perfect.
56:50And it was his voice singing to his mom and his sister again.
56:55It just feels like we've had a piece of my brother restored to us.
56:59I can't wait to hit Alex's favourite songs on it.
57:01I can't wait to hit my children and bring his spirit back in some ways.
57:11If you have a treasured possession that's seen better days and you think the team can help,
57:17please get in touch at bbc.co.uk slash techpar and join us in the repair shop.
57:53Transcription by CastingWords
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