The Repair Shop

S05:E26 - Bus Ticket Machine, Automaton Piano, Kick-Boxing Trophy

Bus Conductor's Ticket Machine, Victorian Automaton Piano, Kick-Boxing TrophyToday in the Repair Shop, Jay Blades and the team bring three treasured family heirlooms, and the memories they hold, back to life.The barn's first arrival is Steve O'Donnell from Galway Ireland, with a much-loved childhood gift requiring the mechanical expertise of Steve Fletcher. The bus conductor's ticket machine had belonged to his uncle. Owner Steve was fascinated by it as a boy and would play bus conductors during visits to his house, charging his family to sit on the sofa! Fifty years on and it's jammed up and incapable of issuing anything. Steve would love his grandchildren to have a go on it. This is a first for Steve Fletcher and he's eager to open it up, see how it works and fathom a way to get its cogs and levers sparked up again. He cleans off all the hardened grime, releases the locked mechanics and enlists Susie to make a new leather neck strap so that future generations of the family can continue the fun.A team effort is called for when Emma Sadek from London arrives at the barn with a Victorian automaton. She's hoping organ restorer and vintage toy enthusiast David Burville can give a long-retired musical curiosity the chance of an encore. The mechanical pianist doll, which belongs to her elderly mother, is in a terrible state. All that remains of her body is a detached skeleton and head. Her piano is completely defunct. David calls in the cavalry to get this lady making sweet music again. Music box restorer Steve Kember tinkers with the musical mechanism, while Julie and Amanda give her a total makeover. David rebuilds the doll, refurbishes the miniature piano and the transformation is astonishing.And ceramics expert Kirsten Ramsay finds herself with a rather poignant project when Helen Bannan from London brings a hard-won trophy of hers. Helen is a former World kickboxing champion but a tragic recent house fire destroyed most of her possessions and rendered her prized trophy out for the count. The resin statue of the boxer is in pieces and coated in soot. Kirsten carefully reunites the statue with its limbs and cleans it from top to toe.