The Repair Shop

S06:E50 - Pete Stardust Drums, Hans Dynasty and Hand Painted Toy Box

Today in the Repair Shop, Jay Blades and the team bring three treasured family heirlooms, and the memories they hold, back to life. First today, instrument expert Pete Woods has a medley of musical family memories wrapped up in a faded fifties drum kit to restore. Mark Winsor's Grandad Pappy, along with his dad, uncle and great uncle were better known as Pete and Stardusters in the pubs and clubs of the West Country in the 1950s, 60s and 70s. Some of Mark's earliest memoires as a child are of watching his family play with Grandad Pappy on drums, and even on very special occasions joining them on stage to play sitting on Pappy's knee. Mark would like to revive the drums and his family's musical heritage, but after years in the garage the drums are more rack and ruin than rock and roll, and restoring them will test even Pete's formidable percussive restoration talents. Next to arrive - the oldest ever item to pass through the barn doors - and an ancient jigsaw puzzle for the barn's resident ceramics expert Kirsten Ramsay. A two-thousand-year-old terracotta figure of a man belonging to Melanie Wells which sadly smashed into several pieces during her family's recent move to the UK from North America. The statue once belonged to Melanie's great grandmother, for whom the statue became an important reminder of her homeland after fleeing China's communist rule in 1943. For Melanie restoring the statue will also restore the link to her great grandmother and her own Chinese heritage, while for Kirsten getting the statue back on his feet again will draw on her own restoration roots, conserving ancient treasures at the British Museum. Finally, another puzzle – this time for art conservator Lucia Scalisi. Emily Ellis's painted wooden toy box belonged to her grandfather Rolf and his brother John. It followed them to the UK when as boys they fled persecution in 1930s Nazi Germany because of their Jewish heritage. As well as reviving the beautiful paintwork, Lucia has the tricky task of deciphering and restoring the fading German lettering before she can return this important piece of family history back to Emily ready to be handed down to her own young son.