The Repair Shop

Today in the Repair Shop, Jay Blades and the team bring three treasured family heirlooms, and the memories they hold, back to life.First into the barn, for the attention of Master Saddler Suzie Fletcher is a brief case once owner by a father and an intrepid traveller. Owner Rupert Truman treasures this hand me down, as it symbolises his family's adventurous life in Africa and particularly his beloved father. Suzie gets to work dismantling and lining the case's gusset, which is riddled with holes and revives the worn leather. Fine art conservator Lucia Scalisi enhances the initials painted on the front, that are now peeling away, before the pair present it back to an overwhelmed Rupert. Next in are father and son, Simon and Jake Mosely, hoping optics expert Richard Biggs and metal expert Dominic Chinea can get an ingenious, if unorthodox, telescope working again. Simon's grandfather built it in its entirety from bits salvaged from scrap yards and bomb sights while working as an air raid warden during the Second World War. Both Dom and Richard are hugely impressed by this piece of engineering and take great pleasure in fathoming out its construction. Richard cleans, realigns and re silvers the optical elements, while Dom does some up cycling of his own by replacing missing bearings with ones salvaged from an old skate board.Finally, ceramics conservator Kirsten Ramsay is charged with the task of repairing a beautiful decorative bowl that survived the Nazis, journeyed across the world and was kept in the family for several generations. However the bowl came a cropper with a clumsy cat. Kirsten's skill and patience enable her to make it whole again.