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 to arrive is Gita Diwan with a very special leather wallet that once belonged to her father. Between 1939 and 1941 Gita's father was a freedom fighter, struggling for India's independence from British rule. As contemporaries of Mahatma Gandhi, Gita's parents travelled to marches and peaceful demonstrations around India and during that period her father carried his money in the wallet. Gita's father was imprisoned by the British for around two years for his efforts to secure independence but was treated as a hero by many fellow Indians. After her father's death Gita's mother used the wallet before passing it to Gita. Now the years of use have taken their toll, restoring it is a task for the barns resident leather expert Suzie Fletcher. The combined skills of ceramic specialist Kirsten Ramsay and electronics expert Mark Stuckey to coax the barn's next arrival back to working order. Dominic Nasmyth-Miller arrives clutching a small wooden dog kennel with, lurking inside, a china model of a dog named Polly. It was built by Dominic's grandpa in the 1940s, and by an ingenious feat of acoustic engineering, Polly could be enticed out of her kennel simply by calling her name. Sadly Polly hasn't answered her call for many years and Dominic is keen to revive her for the next generation to enjoy this treasured family pet. But first Mark Stuckey must unravel the secret of how Polly works, while Kirsten must restore her cracked figure. Finally a bicycle made for two wheeled in by John Phillips. This unusual tandem was created by welding two normal bikes together back in 1977 – the Queen's Silver Jubilee year. To mark the occasion John painted the bike red, white and blue before embarking on a tour of France with his wife Deborah. The bike hasn't been ridden for many years, but after Deborah's recent death, John wants to restore the bike to working order and get back in the saddle to raise money for charity in her memory. With so much work to do, both the barn's bike expert Tim Gunn and metal maestro Dominic Chinea will have a job on their hands to get this bike back on track in time for this year's Jubilee celebration