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00:00A 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.
00:26...and the memories they hold.
00:30It's him.
00:31You ready?
00:31Yeah, yeah.
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 all right, 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.
01:32Yeah.
01:32The first visitors to arrive today are sisters Julie and Tracy, who have travelled from Gosport
01:39to Hampshire.
01:41They'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.
02:05A pinchetta.
02:06Very near.
02:07Pachinko.
02:08Pachinko.
02:09Pachinko machine, 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, was 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.
03:14When 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.
03:28And I 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 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.
04:15So it was quite noisy, actually.
04:17Yeah.
04:17Delightfully noisy.
04:18Little tings and ding-a-ding-a-ding.
04:20Yeah, and just come alive again.
04:22Yeah.
04:23Well, it would be really nice to take you back down memory lane
04:26and to get this working for 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.
04:36We'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 OK 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 and very, very rusty.
05:21So one of the first things I'm going to do is take this metal frame off and send it off
05:26to 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 polishing
05:34up, but generally that's in very good nick.
05:37One of the problems with this machine, because it was wall-mounted, is that it's not stable.
05:42So 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 times with
05:54these switches.
05:54But 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.
06:05Unless 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. How's 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.
06:35OK.
06:35We're about to have a lesson.
06:37OK.
06:39Stepping in to give Susie a crash course in the beautiful game are brothers Kirk and Ian Russell from Glasgow.
06:50Hello.
06:51Hi.
06:51How are you doing?
06:52Hi.
06:52This looks interesting.
06:54So this is the 1963 Scottish Cup Final match ball, which belonged to our papa, our grandfather, Ian McMillan,
07:03who played for Rangers in that Cup Final, which they won 3-0 against the rivals Celtic.
07:08Congratulations.
07:09Wow.
07:09That's amazing.
07:10This is the actual ball from the Cup Final.
07:13That's right.
07:13Yes, this is the one.
07:14How on earth have you got hold of this then?
07:15So 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, as revered as he was. I think he was coming towards the end of
07:32his career and I think his teammates knew of him as being a good player, a gentleman, and I think
07:37we're more than happy for him to be given some kind of award for that.
07:40So he put it under his jumper, took it off the pitch so that it could be given to our
07:44papa.
07:45Brilliant.
07:46It was headline news, there was clippings and photographs of Jim Baxter with the ball up his jersey.
07:51So did Jim Baxter present this to your grandad?
07:54Briefly.
07:55The referee caught up with him and took the ball back because you were not allowed to take the balls
08:00in those days and so the ball was then taken to the Scottish Football Association.
08:05But thanks to, I think, a lot of persuasion from various Rangers players and the management team, they managed to
08:11persuade 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.
08:20So your grandfather was really like a top, top player, was he?
08:24Yeah, he won four league titles when he was there, three league cups, three Scottish cups, he played in a
08:30European Cup final, he 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 as well.
08:39So he had a fantastic career and I'm very proud of him.
08:42Wow.
08:43Yeah.
08:44Incredible achievements.
08:45Yeah.
08:45What was he like as a grandad then?
08:48He was a big part of our lives.
08:49We'd go and visit him regularly most weekends and he would take us out the back garden.
08:53That's probably where you got your football skills from.
08:57Practising 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 and kick it around,
09:05kick it around the flat, kick it around the garden.
09:07Never spoke about where it was from or what it was, so 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?
09:14Yes.
09:15Really?
09:16Oh my goodness.
09:19Can I have a look?
09:21Of course.
09:21I love that you just had no idea as kids, it's just another football.
09:25It's even got a signature on it.
09:28Look.
09:28Oh, look at that.
09:29Whose signature is that?
09:30That's his signature.
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 that makes it look
09:45more like a ball and 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 and Rangers are quite keen for it to be to display
10:02the Ibrox in their trophy room, which would be just fantastic.
10:07I think all 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 round the front anymore.
10:13Please.
10:13Those days are done.
10:14Thank you very much.
10:15See you soon.
10:15Bye.
10:15Thank you very much.
10:16Bye.
10:16Bye.
10:17Bye.
10:17Bye.
10:18Bye.
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 has completely perished and I can tell that because it's rattling around in there.
10:43I'm going to have to open this ball up to be able to remove the old bladder.
10:50So 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.
11:11But I just have to wait and see what happens.
11:15There we go.
11:16Now, as I just press this panel down, I can expose the old bladder here.
11:22And that's 60 plus years that that'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 it today.
11:46And there's some writing on the side.
11:48Made 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 the 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.
12:20Will.
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 a 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.
12:48At his bench, Jeff is taking a closer look at the intricate inner workings of the pachinko machine.
12:55So I'll give the machine a very basic initial clean and now I'm just seeing if the actual mechanisms work
13:01or not.
13:02Balls drop in through here and they fill the machine up.
13:05So all these little counterweights have to be able to move freely.
13:10They then run through here, through here, then they run through here and this should move and it's not.
13:20It seems a bit jammed.
13:21So I'm going to lay the machine down and see what's wrong with it.
13:28OK.
13:29I'm just going to look inside its innards and if I pull this nail out, I'm going to remove this
13:35little plastic cover.
13:38Right.
13:39Right.
13:39Found 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, oh, these are about
13:53the right size.
13:54They'll do nicely.
13:56Now, 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 haven't a clue what it is.
14:05So I'm going to take it out now and take a peek.
14:12Oh, it's got bells in it.
14:14It's got bells.
14:15The 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.
14:25Fantastic.
14:25That's lovely.
14:26Love it.
14:27Absolutely love it.
14:28Now I've got rid of the blockages to the machine.
14:29I've got to take it all apart.
14:32Really thorough, deep, clean.
14:33Get 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, hello.
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, Drokmos, was a captive held by
15:42the 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.
15:57He was in Singapore where junior 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.
16:21Jokmos 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?
16:45The 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 are in the same boat as
17:03you.
17:04It gives you that hope.
17:05Antidote to despair.
17:06Yeah, exactly.
17:07But that's why raggle-taggle is so important.
17:09That's what your father focused on in the camp.
17:12I think that's entirely right.
17:14It's 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 inside.
17:25It'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?
17:41Absolutely.
17:42There was only one copy and there were 800 people to read it.
17:46Really?
17:46Wow.
17:46So they were allowed half an hour per individual to read it.
17:51That's why it's worn and torn and the mosquito netting covering.
17:56Is that mosquito netting?
17:58It's mosquito netting and 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.
18:09It 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?
18:30It would be astonishing if you could in any way hold the pages in some way back.
18:36I would love somebody to conserve it for future generations.
18:43I'm really looking forward to getting stuck in and reading the contents as well.
18:47I cannot thank 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, I 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 know what? Never good at football.
20:04No?
20:05No.
20:06I fenced.
20:07Did you?
20:07Fencing for about 15 years.
20:09Strike the pose.
20:09The problem now is, if I lunge...
20:13Alright, I can't get back up.
20:15The knee's gone.
20:16You'd be easy to beat.
20:17It's okay.
20:27Susie has fitted a new bladder in the football and is trying to figure out how to sew it back
20:33up without 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 it.
21:28I need to get the curve of the needle inside and come out of this hole here.
21:35But everything is really, really tight.
21:39And 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.
21:53So close.
21:55It's just so close all the time.
21:57There 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.
22:09Now I'm just going to start pulling up from where I began and start tightening the whole thing up.
22:34So this seam is nicely pulled together and it looks really, really tidy. I'm very happy with it.
22:41It'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, but how Ian must have felt
23:05with his teammates going into that game.
23:09So now I'm in the danger zone. I can feel the resistance on the pump.
23:20Can't hear anything. Can't feel anything.
23:24I think we're good. I think we're good. It feels really good.
23:27It feels like a ball again. It's got some life in it.
23:30I'm now going to attend to the areas where we've got some surface cracks before I hand this over to
23:35Lucia.
23:54Geoff has got the frame of the pachinko machine gleaming and is ready to see if this arcade antique can
24:02still spring into action.
24:03I can lift the machine up. We 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.
24:31It comes through to the plunger and off we go.
24:36The mechanism seems to be working. That's a very good start.
24:45Hooray! I won! Amazing!
24:47I've got the noise, the pachink sound when you actually win and we think that's where the name pachinko actually
24:53came 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 so I need to get on
25:02with the electrics.
25:13The electrics are relatively simple but it's some nice bulbs that flash on when you get a win, which there
25:18are only two but do brighten up the game.
25:21Now both the bulb holders and the bulbs have seen better days and 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 the yellow cables.
25:41Nice steady hand. Great, that's good.
25:45Right, well that's soldered beautifully.
25:47I've just got to do the second one now that I can put some power onto the machine.
26:06Right, wires in place.
26:08The moment of truth. Stand the machine up, let there be light, hopefully.
26:16Well if all is working, there should be a light here, right in the centre and a light up there.
26:28Geronimo!
26:32And the switches work as well, which is lovely. I'm very, very, very pleased.
26:36I just need to play the machine and make sure everything works as it should.
26:50Chris has fully dismantled the Prisoner of War magazine and 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, my trousers for example, was missing.
27:14And the delight is that he's done a drawing of himself without any trousers and he's got some hairy legs
27:20and knobbly knees.
27:22Utter delight.
27:24Laughing and having humour raises the spirits and 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 and 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.
28:10I've got seven more pages to rehinge and then I am going to sew the text onto this piece of
28:19cloth, which is how they did it in camp.
28:22And then I can give it a new spine.
28:50Geoff and Will have reached the final stage of their report.
28:54to prepare of the pachinko machine.
28:56All right, Geoff.
28:57Anna, Will.
28:57Will, fantastic job on the cabinets.
28:59That's fabulous.
29:00If you'd give me a hand, I'd be very grateful.
29:02Happily, happily.
29:04OK.
29:05Lovely.
29:05Lovely UK there.
29:06There we go.
29:08Oh, please fit.
29:09Hold on.
29:15Oh, Geoff, it fits.
29:17That's absolutely brilliant.
29:18I'm so pleased.
29:19It 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, give it a final polish, and we're done.
29:27When this retro Japanese marvel arrived, it was a rusty relic with jammed mechanics and lights that had been out
29:35for 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.
29:44Stick this over here.
29:46Now, Julie and Tracy have returned, hoping the buzz, bells and bling have been brought back to the machine that
29:54holds memories of their father and their childhood in Malaysia.
30:01Hello.
30:02Hello.
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.
30:15Oh 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.
30:49Mm.
30:50Really takes you back.
30:51We had it from Dad.
30:53He's not here to see it.
30:58He'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?
31:09Yes.
31:10Okay.
31:15Oh!
31:17I remember that sound.
31:21It is great, isn't it?
31:26Oh!
31:26Just missed.
31:27It's the sound.
31:28It just takes you back.
31:29You could close your eyes, you could be back and play it.
31:31It's amazing.
31:33It took me back.
31:34I felt like a kid again.
31:36Mm.
31:36Brilliant.
31:37Absolutely brilliant.
31:38You 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.
32:22It'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, thanks.
32:30It is a folk instrument, yeah.
32:31Yeah, but it's at the heart of any Cretan music ensemble.
32:36But particularly at big parties called Rvendi,
32:39where you would be celebrating the community, an anniversary,
32:43or you'd be celebrating something like the Orange Harvest,
32:46or a celebration of cheese pies.
32:49Cheese pies?
32:50I love cheese pies.
32:51That'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...
33:02And it's something that Alex loved.
33:05My mother is from Crete,
33:06and Alex had been going since he was a small child.
33:10So Alex spoke the Cretan dialect.
33:13Really?
33:14And he just loved the music.
33:16So 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,
33:35including some shepherds from the mountains,
33:37going up to the sheep shearing.
33:40There's music, and there's food and drink,
33:43and it's really quite an experience, yeah.
33:46How long did he play this for?
33:47He played it until 2019, when he could no longer play it.
33:53Oh.
33:53Because he developed motor-neuron disease.
33:57And...
33:58Excuse me.
34:01He lost the ability to use his hands.
34:04He couldn't walk.
34:05And so he had to stop playing.
34:08And so...
34:08Oh my goodness.
34:09It's inevitably fatal.
34:11But Alex was 31 when we lost him.
34:1431 years old?
34:15Yeah.
34:16We lost him in 2020.
34:17Wow.
34:18But 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.
34:39But I just want to see it whole and played again.
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.
35:09Bye-bye.
35:10This 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.
35:29So I'm going to be preserving that.
35:33This hole in the front is an absolute disaster, really.
35:37First 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.
35:47I just want to break the glue seal.
35:51This 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.
36:51Susie'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,
37:11the N on the end of McMillan, has disappeared.
37:14So I thought I can actually reconstruct that.
37:17I found a few of his signatures on memorabilia online.
37:21And I've been practising just in pencil, but this is the one I'm going to use,
37:25this nice soft N.
37:26I literally have to guess this in terms of the size that I want it to be.
37:38And so he takes the little railway tunnel of the N from the bottom.
37:54That's good, I quite like that it looks a bit sort of smashed up.
37:56You can see it's there.
37:59You actually know what it is, even though it's broken,
38:01and 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.
38:27Yeah.
38:27Ooh.
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 and get the bits of wood roughly back in
38:54the 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
39:29to make sure that it goes all the way down through the crack
39:33so 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
39:45and 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?
40:36Looks interesting.
40:37Oh yeah, this is the Cretan Lyra, and look at all this Greek writing inside there.
40:42Oh wow, yeah, fascinating isn't it?
40:45Letters I don't even know.
40:46No, no, I get a lot of Dutch writing inside the fairground organs that I do.
40:50Of course.
40:51Maybe you should learn Greek and I should learn Dutch.
40:53Do you know, there's an app for that.
40:55Is there? Yeah, brilliant.
40:55I think so.
41:02Chris has got the pages of the Prisoner of War magazine back together as one
41:07and now needs to add the all-important spine.
41:11The pages are all sewn.
41:13I've got my fabric hinge all ready to be stuck to the board
41:19and then over that I'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.
42:00Once the spine is complete, I can then move on to repairing 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.
43:09And with this former, which to make really, I just drew round the outside of the Lyra in the rough
43:17shape 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.
43:30The 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 Plaster of Paris.
43:53I think he would find this really funny, actually, before I made Elephants and Crocodiles.
43:58And now I'm making a cast for Cretan Lyra.
44:02OK. It looks quite creamy now.
44:05Now I can pour the plaster in.
44:07I want to make sure that I've got enough in all the way round the mould,
44:10so 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 of the 1963 Scottish Cup Final football.
44:43The cheer's given the ball back to me, and 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 to get this in the best condition I
45:04can before I give back to Curtin Lyra.
45:13This piece of footballing folklore was a long way from being match-fed when it arrived dull and deflated after
45:22Rangers legend Ian McMillan had used it for kickabouts with his grandson.
45:29How's it looking? Are you happy?
45:30I'm really happy.
45:32It looks like a football again.
45:34It looks healthy.
45:35Well done.
45:37Now Ian and Kirk have returned, hoping Susie has been able to breathe new life into the ball that sparked
45:45a 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?
45:55Excited to see the ball today, that's for sure.
45:58They're excited and nervous, obviously, talking about it, the whole way, coming down to see this.
46:02Now that, obviously, Pabst has sadly passed, it would be lovely just to get a glimpse of what it might
46:06have looked like back in the day.
46:08Are you ready to take a look?
46:10Yeah, yeah.
46:11Ready as 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, and it's, yeah, shaped like a football.
46:29This is great.
46:31You can see the signature there.
46:33It's great.
46:34You can really see the signature.
46:35You can properly read that now, whereas before it was so faint, and it's lovely to think that that's his
46:41signature.
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 Pabst and the team of playing with that ball in the cup final, absolutely.
46:57Yeah.
46:57That's quite a special thought, isn't it?
46:59He was a very, very modest man, but I think for him to see this and to reminisce some of
47:04what he went through, I think he'd be absolutely delighted.
47:07Yeah, brilliant.
47:08Well, I'm very pleased to say it's yours to take away.
47:10Wonderful, thank you so much indeed.
47:12And enjoy it.
47:12Or should we have a kick around outside?
47:13No.
47:16Thank you so much.
47:17Much appreciated, thank you.
47:22I think they're happy, Susie.
47:24Well done.
47:25No, thank you.
47:27Just to see, obviously, Papa's signature on there, you 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, and we're delighted to be
47:42able 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, I want to be able to just do it
48:18in 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, forcing the glue in through
48:31this seam,
48:32so that I get a really nice strong bond and 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.
49:06But 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.
50:42What, Chris?
50:43You 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
50:57to offer hope to prisoners of war in their darkest of hours.
51:04Hi guys, welcome back.
51:05Good morning.
51:05Good morning.
51:07How have you been?
51:09I'm intrigued, fascinated.
51:12I can't wait.
51:14Shall we take a look?
51:15Please.
51:16Yeah.
51:20Darling.
51:23Darling.
51:24Wow.
51:29That is astonishing.
51:33Absolutely miraculous.
51:38It 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.
51:48Absolutely a pleasure.
51:51I wanted to hand it back to you, looking like it would have.
51:54And you've certainly done that.
51:56And you're now an important part of Raggle Teichel.
51:59That's a huge honour.
52:01Thank you so, so much.
52:03Bye-bye.
52:04Bye.
52:08Well done, Chris.
52:09Thank you, Will.
52:11I'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,
52:22to how it was 82 years ago.
52:25And to be able to see it for the first time intact,
52:29it is wondrous.
52:39Becky is approaching the finale of her repair of the lira,
52:43and it's reached a critical point.
52:46I genuinely didn't know, until I took the clamps off,
52:49whether 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 microfiber 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,
53:31it'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
53:43between a mother and a son.
53:45But an accident had left it shattered and silenced, until now.
53:51Let's have a look.
53:53It looks amazing.
53:55Yeah?
53:56I hope Emma's pleased.
53:57Sure she will be.
54:01Emma is returning with her daughter, Katerina,
54:04hoping 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,
54:19she was telling us about your brother
54:22and his love for Cretan music and culture.
54:25Do you remember him playing this at all?
54:27Yes, yeah.
54:29We're laughing because when he was first learning,
54:32it 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, he was.
54:42The litter was broken, and at the same time,
54:46Alex was physically broken by Meta-neuron 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.
54:59Do you like to see what Becky's done to you now?
55:01Yes, please.
55:02OK.
55:14Look at that.
55:16It's amazing.
55:18You can't tell.
55:20You know, you can't tell at all.
55:22Thank you, Becky.
55:23It'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 barks he made on it,
55:31like the finger marks in the fingerboard,
55:33because that's him.
55:35Embodied in this.
55:36Wow.
55:39Just...
55:41Wonderful.
55:42Just wonderful.
55:43Thank you so much.
55:44Can I introduce you to Fear Lace?
55:46Who's going to play this beautiful instrument for you?
55:50Wonderful to meet you.
55:51Likewise.
55:52Gosh.
55:52So this is it then.
55:53Beautiful.
56:28That is so wonderful.
56:29That's...
56:30I 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 mum 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 hear Alex's favourite songs on it.
57:01I can't wait to hear my children play it.
57:04Sorry.
57:05And bring his spirit back in some ways.
57:11If you have a treasured possession that's seen better days,
57:15and you think the team can help,
57:17please get in touch at bbc.co.uk
57:20and join us in The Repair Shop.
57:47The Repair Shop.
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