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00:00A remarkable workshop of wonder.
00:03This is amazing!
00:06Home to experts of every kind.
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.
00:58Morning.
01:00Morning.
01:00Good morning.
01:01Hold on.
01:04Thank you, Pete.
01:13First to arrive at the barn is Lisa Power, with a significant but tattered text from a very different social
01:22era.
01:23Hi there.
01:24Personas and bookbinder Chris Shaw.
01:29Whoa.
01:32Look at that.
01:33Tell us about this book.
01:34This is the first log book from what was then called Gay Switchboard, which was founded in 1974.
01:42It was the first gay helpline in the UK.
01:46Why were people needing to phone?
01:50What you've got to remember is that in the 1970s there was no legal protection for gay people.
01:56People were isolated.
01:58They knew that there were other people out there, but they didn't know how to reach them.
02:02Yeah.
02:02And that's where Switchboard came in.
02:04It's still around today.
02:05It's now called Switchboard LGBT.
02:08Is it?
02:08And it's been taking phone calls and now all other kinds of messages and conversations for over 50 years.
02:16You know, someone will have written in the log book for that time anything that might be of use to
02:22the volunteers.
02:23Wow.
02:23This is the first.
02:25Wow.
02:25Why was the log book needed?
02:28The log books were kind of part diary, but also part survival guide.
02:31It was instructions for us to help us handle the calls better.
02:35Yes.
02:35You'll find simple, helpful information and people needed to know information.
02:39There was no internet or anything like that.
02:42And by the time I joined it, there were 70 volunteers and we were 365 days a year, 24 hours
02:50a day.
02:50It sounds like it was a lifeline.
02:53It absolutely was a lifeline.
02:55Sometimes they needed help, legal help, because you could be sacked for being gay.
02:59If you came out after you were married and had children, you would not just lose custody of those children,
03:05you might actually lose any access to them at all in case.
03:08Oh my goodness.
03:08Because they were afraid that somehow you'd infect the children with your gayness.
03:11It's hard to imagine that that was the zeitgeist of that time.
03:18It's shocking.
03:19You'd start to also get the calls from people who told their parents they were gay and were saying, I've
03:26just been chucked out.
03:27Oh goodness.
03:28Where can I go?
03:29Wow.
03:29But it was really important we were there for them.
03:32Yes.
03:33I know this is very delicate.
03:35It's not even bound together anymore.
03:37What sort of things are recorded in this logbook?
03:39You'll find stuff like a police force, a rural police force, who had staked out a particular area of a
03:46park.
03:47We'd say, oh, this was happening then.
03:50Yes.
03:51So, you know, take care.
03:52Yes.
03:53It was the powerhouse behind the early HIV information.
03:56I would end a call with, have you heard about AIDS?
04:00Wow.
04:00And a lot of people hadn't.
04:02So, we were spreading the information and honestly, I believe we saved thousands upon thousands of lives.
04:08Wow.
04:09Yeah, I bet.
04:09I get the sense that you were all linking arms, hunkering down at the coalface, you know, working to protect
04:17this community.
04:18There's a tremendous amount of spirit, but it wasn't all heavy stuff.
04:22Here, for example, there's a recommendation of a very friendly hotel in Athens that would be safe for people to
04:28go to.
04:29So, what are you hoping I can do?
04:30As you can see, it's basically, it's a collection of loose leaf stuff at the moment.
04:36And really, it would be terrific if it could be properly bound.
04:40If it could actually have a spine and we could open it up and look at the pages in the
04:44correct order without being terrified,
04:46that if we drop it, we'll never get them back in the right order.
04:48But it's nice to also to just show that it's been through the wars and so have we in a
04:54way.
04:54Yeah.
04:55Yeah.
04:56Thank you so much for bringing this in.
04:57Thank you for taking it on.
04:59I'm aware it's a bit of a task.
05:01So, good luck.
05:08Amazing history.
05:09Yeah.
05:09And you really do get some important jobs, don't you?
05:12I'm a lucky man.
05:13You are.
05:13I'll leave you to it.
05:14I'll crack on.
05:15All right.
05:29It's really quite incredible what Lisa and the helpline have achieved.
05:34Incredible people determined in a climate that was clearly quite aggressive towards that side of the community, to say the
05:46least.
05:47And every entry is someone they have helped.
05:52This book is so important to repair because it's the start of the helpline.
06:04It's missing a spine, which is quite significant.
06:08So, I need to put a new spine on.
06:11One of the things I've got to think about is how I'm going to put this back together.
06:17I know by re-gluing it, it's going to disintegrate.
06:21If I stabbed it, which is a very traditional method, I'm going to lose this margin, which isn't good because
06:29lots of the pages have got writing right into the margin.
06:34I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do.
06:36I can think about that while I get the page order right before I can start doing any repairs.
06:54Next, a four-legged project requiring Will Kirk's carpentry capabilities and the saddlery skills of Susie Fletcher.
07:04Did you ever have a rocking horse yourself?
07:06I did and I still do.
07:07Do you?
07:08Three and a half years of age, I've got my rocking horse.
07:10Do you still use it?
07:11I'm not telling you.
07:14It's been on generations worth of giddy-ups, thanks to Paul Banwolf from Gloucestershire, who's come with son Phil and
07:22granddaughter Ruby.
07:24Hi there.
07:25Hello.
07:26Hi there.
07:27Nice to meet you all.
07:28Everyone loves a rocking horse.
07:30Tell us a bit more about it.
07:32Well, I made it 55 years ago.
07:35Wow.
07:36Did you?
07:36My wife was desperate to have one for our children.
07:39Her name was Christine, but she was always known as Teenie.
07:44At the time, we didn't have the money to buy one, and they were a lot of money even then,
07:48so in a drastic moment I said I'd make one for Philip and Hazel, my daughter.
07:54Yeah.
07:55And I basically used bits of wood I had hanging around.
07:58There was probably mahogany and bits of pine and all sorts of things in there.
08:03I worked every evening and every spare hour I had when I wasn't at work.
08:08Then I started six weeks before Christmas, and it was finished on Christmas Eve.
08:14Good job.
08:15Well done.
08:15Good job.
08:16I presume that you're a cabinet maker by trade.
08:18No, no, I'm not.
08:19I'm an engineer, really.
08:20Really?
08:21Yeah.
08:21This puts me to shame.
08:22Does it?
08:24It must have been a big surprise to get this on Christmas Day.
08:28Yes, it was.
08:28Yeah.
08:29Yeah.
08:29Amazing.
08:30My sister was put on it first.
08:32What?
08:33Yeah.
08:34Yeah.
08:35But, you know, that's life, isn't it?
08:37Yeah, fantastic Christmas.
08:39And what was your wife's reaction when she saw the horse?
08:42Oh, she was thrilled to bits with it ever since then as well.
08:46For nearly 30 years my wife ran a playgroup at home, and she had a very special way with children.
08:55And it was in the playroom, and it was used every day.
09:00How many children will have known this horse?
09:03Hundreds.
09:04Hundreds?
09:05Yeah.
09:05Wow.
09:06Have you been on this, Ruby?
09:08Oh, yeah.
09:08I mean, one of the things that I love about it the most, I have memories of, you know, being
09:14on the horse with my cousin, Ria, you know, dressing up and riding it.
09:20And so it is a really special part of my childhood.
09:24What are you hoping that we can do for you?
09:27Well, I would like to think that all the woodwork part of it would be back to as it was.
09:32I mean, because it's made of so many different pieces of timber, there's some nasty cracks in it.
09:38Yeah.
09:39The saddle, I mean, that was padded and see how terribly worn it is.
09:43Now, if we can restore the rocking horse for you, where's it going to go?
09:47Back in its place.
09:48Back in its place.
09:49In the playroom.
09:50It's just my playroom now, really, you know.
09:54Are there great-grandchildren who will be able to use this?
09:58Oh, yes, there are Philip's got some grandchildren.
10:02So it really does mean the world to me.
10:04And in memory of my wife, it would be lovely to have it looking like it did when she saw
10:11it first.
10:12We'll do our best for you.
10:14Thank you ever so much.
10:15I look forward to seeing it.
10:17OK.
10:17We'll see you very soon.
10:19Thanks a lot.
10:19Bye-bye.
10:20Thank you very much.
10:21Bye-bye.
10:25OK, who's getting this first?
10:27Well, I think if I remove the saddle.
10:29Yes.
10:30And then you can see what you can do with the woodwork.
10:32Perfect.
10:33Would you like a hand?
10:34I think that would be helpful, yes.
10:36I thought you were about to say, nay.
10:39No?
10:40Oh, solid.
10:55So, overall, the leatherwork is definitely needing attention.
11:00But the first thing I need to do is to remove the saddle and then the horse can go over
11:05to Will.
11:07I'm very excited that Paul wants this saddle to be fully refreshed
11:14because it does give me a little bit of liberty to put my own stamp on things
11:19and maybe just bring it to life a little bit more.
11:23I've got all these ideas whizzing around in my head.
11:35The cogs have also been turning for Chris over how to repair the switchboard logbook
11:42without compromising its contents.
11:45I've been pondering of how to reconstruct this book.
11:49So what I'm going to do is to make the pages into folded pages
11:54and that's by joining them down the middle.
11:58That way the pages will open beautifully, you're not going to lose any of the margin
12:03and long-term it's going to be a proper book.
12:06To do that, I'm going to join them with some tissue paper.
12:12Then I'm lining the first inner section into place and I stick it halfway
12:19and then I'm going to fold over the other half and then just run all the way along.
12:28And then at lightning speed I'll open it and then get an iron on to dry it.
12:38And you can see straight away it's a different beast.
12:42The pages just lie flat.
12:45So once all the sections are made, I'm then going to sew them together.
12:58Crank, it is fascinating seeing all this different writing, isn't it?
13:02It is.
13:02It's like it really is a story.
13:05To me, it is really quite close to my heart, this, because a lot of my friends died,
13:11particularly in the 80s.
13:12Oh my goodness.
13:13From HIV.
13:15Wow.
13:16And it's as relevant today as it was, what, 40 years ago, 50 years ago?
13:21Shocking.
13:21It's gone so quickly, hasn't it?
13:28Next, Katherine Crimes from Wakefield, who's brought along a precious piece of art for expert
13:35and paper, Angelina Baccalaro.
13:38Hello.
13:39And paintings restorer, Lucia Scalese.
13:42Hi.
13:42Welcome.
13:44Hello.
13:44What have you brought for us?
13:46So, this is a portrait of my grandma, her name's Madge, and it was painted in about 1956, 57.
13:54So this is almost 70 years old?
13:57Yeah.
13:57Wow.
13:58What's in here?
13:59It's beautiful.
14:01Bits of the painting.
14:02Look at that.
14:03So she qualified in 1956, and this was a portrait to commemorate her graduation.
14:10She was about 21 in the picture.
14:12She was obviously very stylish.
14:14I mean, she's quite a beautiful woman, but she's got the hairstyle of the period, hasn't she?
14:18Yeah.
14:18And she looks super smart.
14:19And whoever painted it, I mean, I think they've captured a very happy moment.
14:24Massively.
14:24This is how we remember her.
14:26Did your grandmother ever talk about her career in nursing?
14:29She did.
14:30So she kind of reminisced on it quite fondly.
14:32We'd always listen to stories about sort of the patients that she'd seen, and it was one of her greatest,
14:37like, prides and achievements.
14:39And what kind of person was she?
14:40Oh, she was fabulous.
14:42She could bake a cake with one hand and rewire a house with the other hand.
14:45She could do absolutely anything and everything.
14:48She would make sure everybody else was sorted and everybody else was fine before she would kind of focus on
14:52herself.
14:52That was kind of her biggest quality.
14:54She kind of taught me a lot of life lessons, and I think her kind of caring nature and her
14:59kind of love for life and love for family, she passed on to everybody around her.
15:03And how come you've got this portrait?
15:06This was in my grandma's possession and she gave it to my mum for safekeeping about 19 years ago.
15:11And then after she passed away, I was going through lots of boxes and we found it in this condition,
15:15sort of in disrepair really.
15:18What's the plan for the portrait?
15:20I'd like to pass it to my kids or my grandkids one day so they remember her as I remembered
15:24her as well.
15:25It means the world to me, obviously. It's my nan as she would have wanted to be remembered, sort of
15:29smiling, proud in her nursing uniform.
15:32This is such a beautiful thing for a family to have, and I think it's quite extraordinary that it has
15:37survived, but well done you.
15:39And yeah, leave it with us.
15:41I'm so excited. Thank you very much.
15:43Good. Please take a good day of it.
15:45Thank you so much.
15:46Absolutely.
15:46Bye-bye.
15:51This is beautiful, isn't it?
15:53It's gorgeous.
15:54It's always something special to have a portrait of a family member, I think.
15:58I wish I had one of my grandmothers.
15:59Yeah, me too.
16:00Yeah.
16:01Right, so let me deal with the structural bits of the paper first.
16:05And then bring it to me and I'll have something to work on.
16:09Exactly.
16:09With the surface.
16:10That's the plan.
16:11Look forward to it.
16:12Yeah.
16:24What a lovely portrait this is.
16:27It's such a beautiful thing to have.
16:29Obviously, at the moment, it's not in the best condition.
16:33The paper is quite dry.
16:36It's really torn in a lot of areas and quite brittle.
16:40There's quite a lot of fragments as well, especially around these edges that thankfully have survived.
16:47And unless it gets stabilized, they will continue breaking apart.
16:53So what I will need to do is get some support back to this paper, get some strength back to
17:01it in order for it to be held.
17:03Fill in all of the gaps that are remaining.
17:06The first thing that I need to do is prepare the back of it.
17:10From the way the paper looks on the back, there seems to be quite a lot of staining from previous
17:16glue.
17:16What I want to do is make sure that there's no more residue of this glue.
17:20Because it needs to be as clean as possible for it to receive the new paper that I'm going to
17:27be lining it with.
17:36With Susie getting to grips with the rocking horse's worn-out saddle, Will can start dealing with all the cracks
17:44in the body.
17:46Paul has constructed this horse out of different types of wood.
17:49Some harder than others, which means it's susceptible to shrinkage and warping in different environments,
17:55whether it's central heating or closer to a sunny window or in a moist environment, creating cracks like this.
18:03Not only have the cracks opened up across the surface, but actually it has kind of moved away from the
18:09surface.
18:10There's a ridge there.
18:12So once I've filled these cracks with teak, which is an oily hardwood,
18:16which is great for this because it's less likely to expand or contract.
18:20I then need to work out a way of smoothing everything down.
18:24In order to open up the cracks, I'm going to use a saw.
18:28I need to open up the space enough to remove any debris,
18:33but I also need to create a nice clean channel.
18:38Now I'm only sawing about a centimetre into the surface.
18:43That'll give me enough room to glue in a decent sized piece of wood.
18:52That's one joint saw and open now.
18:54Once I've opened everything else up that needs to be opened, I can then cut my strips for filling.
19:13The old saddle has seen a lot of wear and we've got this almost completely torn off part here.
19:23There's so much history tied up to this having had so many children playing on it.
19:31How can I incorporate Paul's work into my work?
19:35So I've come up with this idea, just going to line the remaining leather,
19:41and then I can stabilise and strengthen what remains of the original.
19:48I'm then going to build the new saddle on top.
19:52And I think it's going to be bright red.
19:55I'm just going to add that splash of colour, because kids love colour.
20:00In gluing the original leather to the lining leather, I'm going to be able to get that shape back.
20:11Once this is completely dry, I'm going to trim off the leather,
20:15and I can start making the new saddle on top.
20:27Now that Chris has got the pages of the logbook married up,
20:32he can begin stitching them all together as one.
20:37All my sections now are together.
20:40I've pre-pierced some holes ready for sewing the book and making it whole.
20:46This linen tape is very, very important.
20:49It's linking the text to the front and back board.
20:53It's going to be very flexible, but its job is immensely important.
20:58Now the tape's cut to size.
21:01I'm going to pin it on a board just to hold it while I'm sewing around it.
21:07And then some sewing thread.
21:15And it's quite a significant moment, because the pages are coming together.
21:21I've looked at these pages as I've repaired them, and it's been fascinating.
21:27So it's lovely to get that feeling of camaraderie.
21:32Every volunteer's got a different handwriting, so that makes the book come alive.
21:37And the amazing volunteers, the feeling of it's a start of something new and it's needed.
21:47There's ideas.
21:49So the first page, drag artists, we could run a register of drag acts.
21:54It's all these ideas that are emerging.
21:56This is social history at its rawest.
22:00It is with great pride that I'm putting it back together again.
22:04And then, once it's sewn, I can think about attaching a new spine.
22:18I've cut the strips of wood to the exact same thickness as the gaps.
22:22So once there's glue in there, it's going to be a nice, snug fit.
22:25I'm going to start off with this crack here.
22:26Now, when I was sawing the damage out of this part,
22:30I didn't actually saw directly from ends to ends,
22:33because the damage is really only on the surface.
22:36So on the inside, there's actually a curvature.
22:38The only tricky thing with that is, the bit of veneer that I'm going to glue in now
22:41has to almost be tailor-made to fit perfectly.
22:45So one trick that I could do is, if I put the wood in like that,
22:50I can actually draw on with a pen the rough shape of the outer surface.
22:57And if I pretty much just remove a tiny section of wood there,
23:01it's actually going to allow me to bury this veneer deep into the horse,
23:05closing up the gaps on the outside.
23:08I'll break that off.
23:10If I put that back in like that, nice tight fit.
23:15Beautiful. I now just need to glue that into place.
23:28I'm going to let that dry.
23:30And once it has, then I can use my chisels to smooth off the area.
23:33Any tiny imperfections can be filled with wood filler.
23:36It's important that that surface is incredibly smooth,
23:39because when it comes to painting, I need everything to be just right.
23:57Paper restorer Angelina has been carefully nursing her fragile patient,
24:03so that she's ready for her first procedure.
24:07I've removed as much of the adhesive as possible.
24:10The next bit that I need to do is to line the paper.
24:15In order to do the lining, I need to humidify the paper.
24:19Humidifying it will allow the paper and its fibers to relax
24:22and become really flexible again.
24:25And it will allow the glue to come in and create a really nice bond with it
24:30and the new paper that I'm going to put in the back.
24:32In order to do that, I'm going to create a humidification chamber.
24:37What I have is a tub and a piece of capillary matting
24:40that I am going to get saturated with water.
24:45This will allow the water to slowly evaporate
24:48and come into the fibers of the painting.
24:53Right. This feels wet enough.
24:56So I'm going to place a piece of bondina on top,
24:59which will act as an extra protection layer.
25:02So this is going to be a very, very gentle humidification.
25:07I'm really hoping that it will take the water as I want it to
25:11and be relaxed and ready for the lining.
25:14I'm just going to cover the surface with a piece of plastic
25:17and essentially making this into a chamber
25:20and wait to see the humidification magic happen.
25:42The humidification has gone very well.
25:45The painting is all nice and relaxed,
25:48so I'm just preparing everything for the lining.
25:51I have a piece of long fiber tissue for the glue to go on top
25:56and then for the painting to go on top of that.
26:01So now comes the hard part, placing the portrait on the lining.
26:07I cannot risk crushing any of the paint or altering it in any kind of way.
26:14Hello, darling.
26:18This is quite nerve-wracking.
26:21So now I'm just going to lay her on.
26:27Okay.
26:29Now that I have the portrait onto the tissue paper,
26:35I can slowly manipulate it and make sure that it lays nice and flat.
26:42Once I have everything nice and flat,
26:45then I will start introducing all of the small pieces back onto the painting.
27:07Piecing together a suitable seat for future riders of the rocking horse has had Susie working at a gallop.
27:15I'm really happy with how the old saddle has come out after it's been lined.
27:22I'm going to put this back on the horse,
27:24then the new saddle's going to be put directly on top of it.
27:29I've used this as a template for the new saddle.
27:32And I've gone ahead and put in some really nice padding.
27:36So it'd be lovely and comfortable.
27:38I've also created the side flaps where the legs lay next to.
27:43This is going to go in this position here.
27:47Now what I can do is tack everything together to hold everything securely.
27:55And then I can go ahead and hand stitch it into position.
28:18Is that a little saddle?
28:19Yeah, it is.
28:20Yeah, yeah.
28:21So when was the last time you went out horse riding?
28:24Actually yesterday.
28:25I went out for a nice hag.
28:26Yeah.
28:27But I had to get off because I dropped my sunglasses.
28:29And then I had to mount without a mounting block.
28:33I've got a good little trip for that.
28:35What's that?
28:35What you do is you find a ditch.
28:37Uh-huh.
28:38You put the horse down in the ditch.
28:40You jump on and then you ride out of the ditch.
28:42Works every time for me.
28:44I'll try it next time.
28:45Yeah.
28:56Chris's restoration is now coming to a close.
29:02So the log book now is all together.
29:05Everything's stuck down.
29:07It opens absolutely beautifully.
29:11It's the same book but structurally it's different.
29:15The spine is looking particularly fine.
29:18I'm really happy with that.
29:19It's a really good colour match.
29:21And the final thing I now need to do is to blend the old and the new.
29:28Just to take the eye away from what I've done.
29:36This book was the very first to log calls when Gay Switchboard opened in 1974.
29:44But just a tattered collection of loose pages, it was in no state to be read.
29:52Now, thanks to Chris, this invaluable record is pulled together to stand the test of time.
30:01And with Sonas, he's paying a visit to the headquarters in London to reunite it with original volunteer, Lisa.
30:12Knock, knock.
30:13Hey.
30:14Hi.
30:14Welcome to Switchboard.
30:16Thank you so much.
30:16Oh, come on in.
30:18This is it.
30:19This is where you do all your great work and help all the people that you help.
30:23The calls, the emails, everything happens from here.
30:26We come with precious cargo.
30:28How are you feeling?
30:29Trepidatious in a good way.
30:31It's really important that it's in a fit state for people who are historians, particularly, to be able to see
30:38how this started off.
30:40This was not a particularly easy time to be gay, particularly to be out as gay.
30:45And so, you know, it shows the people who stood up for our community in the very early days.
30:51Yeah.
30:52Are you ready?
30:53Yep.
30:54Very excited.
30:59Wow.
31:00That looks different.
31:06Oh, my God.
31:07You really have done wonders.
31:09This is amazing.
31:11You're up all hours, Zoe.
31:14I have got immense patience for any of this sort of thing.
31:18You would need to have.
31:19I mean, I'm just in awe.
31:21I mean, I'm still treating it absolutely delicately because I'm terrified.
31:26Yeah.
31:26But actually, this is really robust.
31:29I'm looking at some of the handwriting and it's people I volunteered with.
31:33Wow.
31:34And that's quite emotional because they've gone now.
31:39I mean, this isn't just a book.
31:43This is a bunch of people's lives as they change their bit of the world.
31:49Right.
31:49Yes.
31:50Thank you so much.
31:51Yeah.
31:52Happy reading.
31:55I am really excited that we now have a first logbook which is in a strong enough condition
32:01that I can read it, I can use it, I can see people who I knew in there.
32:08But also, we can now share it with everybody else and other people will be able to use it.
32:12So, it's important to me personally.
32:15It's emotional for me personally.
32:18But it's also an inspiration now for future generations.
32:34Another day at the barn has brought a new story for Sonners.
32:38These look like they should make quite a nice noise.
32:40They should, but they're looking a bit tired, aren't they?
32:43Are they?
32:43OK.
32:44And a jumbo job for drum restorer Pete Woods.
32:49Dennis French from Staffordshire is hoping for the dramatic transformation of two overworked
32:56conga drums.
32:58Hello, hello.
32:59My babies!
33:01Hi.
33:02Welcome to the barn.
33:03Thank you very much.
33:05These are the heart and soul of what I'm all about.
33:09OK.
33:10I bought these lovely babies in 1986.
33:14They were my very first instrumental purchase before I began my acting career.
33:20I bought them for around £70, which is all the money I had then.
33:23Right.
33:24In 1986, I'm a black young person who has a passion in acting.
33:28Yeah.
33:29I wrote a letter to Westminster Arts back then saying, I'd love to do something to do
33:33with acting.
33:34And they sent back a letter saying, yes, it's a new project in Birmingham.
33:39We're working with young people, introducing them to theatre.
33:43Oh.
33:44So I went to one of these sessions.
33:45I loved it.
33:46And they brought in teachers from around the world.
33:49Wow.
33:50Some of these teachers were African drummers.
33:52When they were hitting the tunes and playing the drums and telling me the history of the
33:56drum, that appealed to me.
33:58And I asked whether I can buy them of them.
34:00They said yes.
34:01Fantastic.
34:02And these drums were used in my very first workshop session in a school.
34:07We're teaching them rhythm, rhymes and music and sound.
34:11And getting them moving around and enjoying themselves and building their self-confidence
34:15and self-esteem.
34:16Yeah.
34:16Using the drums.
34:17And they loved it.
34:19And from that day forward, I said, I'm going to use these in any sessions I do.
34:23How did that develop into a career?
34:26Well, we formed a theatre company called Third Dimension Theatre Company.
34:29That was back then probably one of the earliest black theatre companies in the country.
34:35Really?
34:35But in 1995, I was offered a role from a theatre company playing the pantomime dame.
34:41And I said, OK, I'll give it a go.
34:43And we used these drums in the play.
34:46And ever since then, I've been playing the pantomime dame every consecutive year for 30 years,
34:51which makes me, believe it or not, the longest playing black pantomime dame in the world.
34:57In the world?
34:58In the world, yes.
34:59What an accolade.
35:01To my untrained eye, I can't see that there's anything wrong with them.
35:07Pete, you're the expert.
35:09You know what's wrong with them.
35:10The heads after a time, because they've got so much tension, they lose their time, don't they?
35:14Yeah.
35:14Do you think we can restore them or would we have to replace them, do you think?
35:18No, they'd be replaced.
35:20The body, it has to be resprayed, I think.
35:22There are lots of dinks and dents in there to the scratches.
35:25What colour?
35:26I'm going to leave that entirely up to you.
35:30What do you reckon on pink?
35:32Do you use them when you're playing your dame role?
35:35I do.
35:36Do you?
35:37That could be a novel idea and it could work.
35:40What would it mean for you to have these restored?
35:44As I said, it embodies me and what I do, playing back pantomime dame and working in the communities.
35:51It would mean the world to me.
35:53I can't wait to see the end result.
35:55I'm looking forward to it.
35:56We'll be in touch.
35:57Bye.
35:57Bye.
35:58Bye.
36:12These are made of fibreglass.
36:14A lot of the traditional congas would have been wood staves, which if they come apart, they're a nightmare.
36:21This head is well worn, so they're going to need new heads.
36:27We've got to look at the shell, strip it down.
36:29Any repairs on the fibreglass that they're doing, I'll get on with.
36:34But then I've got to respray it.
36:36Now, I did mention pink.
36:38I'm not sure that just a pink drum would 100% work.
36:43So I've really got to come up with something that really suits his personality.
36:49So the first thing I've got to do now is just get all this metal work off and get it
36:54to the chrome platers so they can re-crime plates it.
37:11It's all in a detail for Will now in his part of the restoration of the rocking horse.
37:17Well, I filled all of the cracks, sanded everything nice and smooth.
37:22I've also painted over a lot of the damage to the white areas.
37:27I'm finally touching the detail with some black paint.
37:32Paul created this horse with this sort of dapple effect, which is really nice, but there's no sort of symmetrical
37:39shapes here.
37:39There's no uniformity, which is quite tricky when it comes to matching everything in.
37:45Thankfully, there's still enough of Paul's original design here for me to work out what's missing.
37:50And patch it in.
38:03More of the nurse's portrait is starting to emerge, thanks to Angelina's work on the torn off pieces.
38:11I was able to find where all the little loose bits were going.
38:16However, that still left me with quite a few losses.
38:19To replace these missing areas, I first need to trace the shape of the loss onto a piece of acetate,
38:29and then transfer it on top of a piece of paper that matches the grain of the paper that this
38:37portrait is made of.
38:38I am just tracing with my awl along the edge of the tracing.
38:44I basically just need to make a mark on the paper.
38:49Now that I have my shape on, I'm going to use my microblading tattoo gun to cut through the shape.
38:57This is better than just using my awl or just using a knife because it reduces the force that I
39:04have to use on the paper and the force that I need to use on my hand.
39:09It just makes it feel like I'm using a pen.
39:15All right, let's see how this looks.
39:18Oh wow, yeah, this feels really nice and flush on the paper.
39:23I'm very pleased.
39:25So I'm just going to glue it in.
39:27I'll apply a little bit of pressure.
39:31Right, one down, quite a few more to go.
39:35However, when I'm done, Lucia should have a really nice and even surface to retouch on.
39:52Pete has canvassed Dom's opinion on what colour to spray paint the conga drums.
39:58That would be nice.
39:59I've painted stuff in that colour before.
40:01No, that's boring.
40:03Right.
40:03How about base coat black?
40:07Yes.
40:08In the top coat, put some pink sparkle.
40:13Oh, like a metallic sort of shimmer.
40:15That's right.
40:16Brilliant.
40:26Lucia has now taken possession of the painting.
40:30I'm starting to do the retouching on the insets that Angelina's done on this portrait of the nurse.
40:37The technique that the artist has used is called wetting wet.
40:40What the artist has done is used oil paint, but sort of blended in the colours directly.
40:46There's been no colour mixing on a palette.
40:49It's actually been done on the surface of this oil paper.
40:52So I've actually got to try and mimic this technique with these long watery brush strokes and it's going to
41:00be a bit more difficult because I don't have the space to do it in.
41:03So I'm going to apply this sort of greeny, yellowy, greeny colour and see what happens when I put it
41:08on here.
41:09So let's go.
41:10I'm using acrylic paints.
41:12I'm using these because they'll dry very quickly and I want to try and get this watery effect.
41:20I'm just catching the edges here of the join of the infill.
41:24So I'm going to leave that to dry a bit and move on to the other areas and get rid
41:28of the light colour of the paper and just tone it down and then give myself a surface to work
41:34on.
41:55All the repairs that Angie did around the edges in particular where she did the infills have all been blended
42:01in now.
42:02So I'm now focusing on some of the folds and the breaks that come up to the top of the
42:06paint.
42:07So I'm using my smallest brush and then dotting the paint along the broken area.
42:16A little bit of a painstaking job.
42:20I'm going to leave that a little bit and then come back to it.
42:23But I'm very pleased with that and then once it's finished I'll be able to start fitting it into its
42:27frame.
42:45I've sanded down the drum shots now back to the fiberglass.
42:50So it's down to just putting a little bit of filler in it, sanding it back and then all the
42:57paintwork should be fine.
43:01I'm just going to use a very fine two-pack filler.
43:07Now I've got to look for every little hole.
43:12If you don't get the preparation right the painting is going to look rubbish.
43:18When this is nice and glossy I'm hoping this is going to come up with a real deep shine.
43:44I've given it a nice coat of primer filler.
43:48It's come out all right.
43:50Now it's all ready for the black paint.
44:13Dennis is celebrating 30 years as a pantomime dine this year.
44:18So I'll give him a nice bit of pink sparkle fit for a dine.
44:34The joint restoration of the nurse's portrait is now almost complete.
44:41I've finished the painting.
44:43It's all ready to go into this frame which I've had made.
44:46And I've chosen a blue which complements her uniform.
44:51So I'm hoping by the time I've finished this and then can hand it back to Catherine.
44:56She'll be really pleased with this beautiful portrait of her grandmother of whom she was very proud.
45:06Brittle and torn, this portrait of a nurse on her graduation day was a shadow of its former self.
45:17Catherine is back to see if the image of her beloved grandmother has been restored to its complete and radiant
45:25state.
45:26Catherine.
45:27Hello.
45:27How lovely to see you again.
45:29Welcome back.
45:30And you.
45:30How are you feeling?
45:31Keeping warm?
45:32Yes.
45:32I'm very nervous but I'm also very excited.
45:34Yeah.
45:35Thinking a lot about Nan this week and sort of everybody's buzzing at home like painting's coming, painting's coming.
45:41So everybody's very excited.
45:42It didn't deserve to live in that cardboard box.
45:44It deserves to be perfect on display and I'm hoping that's what it looks like now.
45:49Are you ready to see it?
45:51Yes.
45:52I have to tell you I'm really excited.
45:54Oh me too.
45:55Yeah.
45:55You ready?
45:56Yes.
45:56OK.
46:04Oh it's so beautiful.
46:07It's perfect.
46:14And you fixed all the bits at the bottom.
46:16That was Angelina, yeah.
46:18It was so great that you actually saved all those broken bits because they've all gone
46:22back.
46:23Amazing.
46:24Yeah.
46:26Her hair's perfect, her uniform's perfect, her makeup, her lipstick.
46:31Absolutely spot on with the makeup and the hairstyle.
46:34Oh it's gorgeous.
46:35It really is a point in time when she was a young woman and had her whole future ahead
46:40of her.
46:41Yeah.
46:42Would she be pleased?
46:43She'd be thrilled.
46:44And that beautiful frame, it sort of highlights her uniform as well.
46:48It's such a lovely way to remember her in her prime and sort of caring for other people
46:52and loving other people.
46:54Thank you so much.
46:55My absolute pleasure.
46:56It means the world.
46:57Great.
47:03Bye bye.
47:05Bye.
47:06I'm so over the moon.
47:08I think Lucia and Angelina have done such an amazing job.
47:11And just, it looks so perfect now.
47:13It's unbelievable what they've managed to achieve.
47:16It's so special and not many people can say they've got a painting of their grandmother.
47:20So I feel very fortunate and very lucky to have this.
47:23She was just amazing and this is how she would have wanted to be remembered.
47:42Pete's restoration of the congas is gathering pace.
47:47All the metal work is back on the drums.
47:50It's all been polished and replated and it's looking great.
47:55His next task is to make sure they can be played again.
48:00I've got some new skins for Dennis' drums.
48:03The old ones, they were pretty far gone.
48:05They'd taken a lot of grief.
48:07These are just a simple bit of rawhide.
48:10So here we go.
48:12There's usually a bit of a punch up with me and the head.
48:17Because they are tough.
48:21The head will not give a decent sound if it's not even.
48:28It's got to be evenly tensioned.
48:30So you've got to be a little bit forceful with it.
48:37This is one of those difficult and tricky jobs we have to do.
48:44Because you've got to convince this tough old bit of hide here that it's going to do what you tell
48:51it to.
48:52God, Steve.
48:54Yeah?
48:55I'm having a bit of a problem here.
48:56Me, Dan.
48:57Please, man.
48:58Yeah.
48:59Try pulling this up through.
49:02There's a hoop in there of pulling it round.
49:05Oh, Steve.
49:06That's not easy, is it?
49:08Blimey.
49:10So how many times have you done this?
49:12Dozens and dozens of them.
49:15And they're a nightmare.
49:16All right.
49:17It's not moving at all now.
49:19Go on.
49:20Right.
49:21It's all very well for you to go.
49:22I'm doing the hard work here.
49:24Well, what do you think?
49:25I've got you doing it.
49:37There you go.
49:38Can I go now?
49:39No, there's another one to do yet.
49:42Go on, then.
49:42Go and get it.
49:49Susie and Will's work on the rocking horse is reaching an end.
49:55Oh, it's very heavy still.
50:01Look at that paintwork.
50:02Where's the cracks gone?
50:04Like magic, hey?
50:05So all I need to do is the saddle and the bridle and I might need a hand with the
50:10mane and tail.
50:11Okay, just let me know.
50:13Okay, thank you.
50:15On the wishes of his wife, a father crafted this horse from scraps of wood and leather for his children,
50:22before it later charmed hundreds of others in the nursery she ran.
50:27But with his soddy saddlery and severe cracking, this show pony was only fit to be put out to pasture.
50:37Its creator, Paul, is back with his son Phil, granddaughter Ruby and great-grandchildren Luca and Lena to see if
50:45his beloved creation is suitably smart for the next generation.
50:51Hi, everyone.
50:52Hello.
50:52Hello.
50:53Welcome back. Great to see you all.
50:55Very nice to see you.
50:56Yeah.
50:57Well, we've got two different ones this time.
50:59Well, it's really nice to meet you both. How are you feeling?
51:01Good.
51:02Excited.
51:03Yeah.
51:03It'd be lovely to see it back.
51:05Yeah.
51:05Looking in his prime.
51:06Now, this is an amazing rocking horse and while Susie and I have been working on it, I mean, we've
51:12constantly mentioned the fact that it's been so well made.
51:15That's nice to hear.
51:18I hope it will always stay in the family, you know, and can't wait to see it.
51:25Okay, here we go.
51:33Oh, my goodness.
51:34That is the best rocking horse I have never seen.
51:39Oh, my gosh.
51:41This is beautiful. That is beautiful.
51:45Really, it's taking me back to the day I brought it into the house from the garage 50 odd years
51:53ago.
51:55I'm over the moon, absolutely over the moon.
51:58I just, I was hoping, but I didn't expect it. This is incredible, I think.
52:04It is so beautiful. It is so much better than I expected.
52:09I can't believe it, to be fair.
52:11The original saddle's actually underneath this new saddle.
52:14Isn't it? It's still there?
52:15Oh, that's lovely, isn't it?
52:16Yeah.
52:17Thank you so much.
52:18Yeah.
52:19I really do appreciate it. I really do.
52:23Now, who would like to have a go?
52:25Oh!
52:26Oh! Didn't hang around.
52:28You come up this way.
52:29Okay.
52:30She's on.
52:31How does that feel?
52:32This is amazing.
52:33Is it?
52:33Is it? Yeah.
52:35It's fantastic.
52:35I never thought I'd see that.
52:37I never in word of stream thought that.
52:40Whee!
52:43Don't fall off.
52:47Okay.
52:50So we got your thumbs up then?
52:53Yes.
52:53Yes!
52:54We got the thumbs up.
52:55Bye!
52:56Thank you very much.
52:57Take care.
52:57Goodbye.
52:58Bye-bye.
53:02For a long, long time, it was really the center of everything.
53:06It became really part of our life.
53:09It symbolizes all the time that my wife was running the playgroup.
53:14It makes me very happy to think that it's going to give pleasure to people again, the way it did
53:20to start with.
53:28Pete has just one last job to do.
53:34The drums are all finished at last.
53:37Couldn't leave it with a stand the way it was.
53:40It just sparked the whole effect of them.
53:42So I've given them a coat of silver.
53:45But now I just need to give them that finishing lacquer to bring the silver up to make it look
53:51really nice and shiny.
53:53And then that would be the drums all ready to go back to Dennis.
54:15Inspired by his African teachers, young actor Dennis made these congas the beating heart of his theatre workshops and performances
54:25as a pantomime dame.
54:27Here we go.
54:31Dennis is back to see if his dilapidated drums can take to the stage once again.
54:43Hello, hello.
54:44Hello, hello.
54:45Hi.
54:46It's here.
54:46It's here.
54:46It's here.
54:47These drums are really where it all began for you.
54:50Absolutely.
54:51They're the first instruments I bought and I've used them ever since.
54:56It's an extension of who I am, of my joy, of my commitment to making people happy, to build their
55:02confidence and their self-esteem.
55:03And that can all be transmitted through a drum, believe it or not.
55:07Yeah.
55:08I feel as though the moment has arrived.
55:11If you're ready to see them.
55:13I'm ready.
55:14Yeah?
55:15Let's do it, Pete.
55:17Right.
55:23You're joking.
55:28Unbelievable.
55:30Look at it.
55:30Look at it.
55:31Look at it.
55:33That is absolutely fantastic.
55:36There's joy.
55:36There's energy in there.
55:38It's been a long, long, long time since I've last seen it in this state.
55:43I'm so, so, so chuffed.
55:46So chuffed.
55:48You didn't go for pink in the end then, Pete?
55:51If you get in the right light, that sparkle has got a little tinge of pink in it.
55:56Wow.
55:58Oh, my life.
56:01Shall I just put the pink in there?
56:04Amazing.
56:05You're a wizard.
56:06You are a wizard.
56:07That would be his pantomime character.
56:10Absolutely.
56:11They're sparkling.
56:13They're energetic.
56:14Yeah.
56:15They're ready to move, to groove.
56:19You offer so much in your workshops and on stage.
56:22So it's amazing to think that these are going to enable you to continue that great work.
56:27Fantastic.
56:28Thank you very much.
56:29Sure.
56:30Thank you very much.
56:30You've got to be wonderful.
56:33All right.
56:33Take care, won't you?
56:34Bye.
56:35Cheers, Dennis.
56:36Bye.
56:40I felt elated.
56:42It was kind of a cathartic feeling, really.
56:45It was like seeing the drums for the very first time.
56:48It brought me back to 1986.
56:50It's a feeling of seeing these drums and buying them and hitting them for the first time.
56:56It was unbelievable.
56:58Unbelievable.
57:04If you have a treasured possession that's seen better days and you think the team can help, please get in
57:10touch at bbc.co.uk slash techpar and join us in the repair shop.
57:26Thank you very much.
57:27Thank you very much.
57:45Transcription by CastingWords
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