The Repair Shop

S06:E53 - Motorbike Speedway Boots, Electric Organ and Writing Slate

Today in the Repair Shop, Jay Blades and the team bring three treasured family heirlooms, and the memories they hold, back to life. First to pay a visit to the barn, and put their trust in master cobbler Dean Westmoreland, is Hayley Fellows and her mother Wendy. They bring a pair of speedway racing boots, which evoke bittersweet memories. The boots belonged to Mike, who they recently lost to cancer. He raced professionally on the speedway circuit in the 1970's and these electric blue boots were his pride and joy, symbolising his dare devil days. Having them restored was on his bucket list and the women, who miss him dreadfully, are determined to honour that final request. Dean enlists Dom to help with the mangled metal plate on one of the boot's soles, used for breaking at top speeds, while he tackles the battle scarred, faded leather.Organ restorer David Burville faces a mammoth task, when he takes on a 1960's electric organ. It belonged to Jonny Green's dad, who performed on the keyboards in several bands over his lifetime and has passed on his love of music to his son. The keyboard has been broken for decades but accompanied Jonny's family his entire life. His dad could never bear to part with it and always intended to have it fixed up. Each of the 88 keys requires refurbishing and resetting. Fortunately, David is well known for his patience and perseverance and Mark Stuckey is on hand to mend the dated electrics.And Jasmine Asher brings her grandfather's diary and writing slate for the attention of Brenton West and expert bookbinder Chris Shaw. Her grandfather was a political activist in India and lived a most interesting life. He documented key family events in a series of diaries from 1936 to 1989 - just one of which Jasmine manged to salvage. It's the only record they have of his writing and in serious risk of perishing completely, but Chris is confident he can preserve it. Brenton gladly takes on the tarnished, scratched aluminium writing slate, which her grandfather would lean on to document his life.