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.The first visitor to the barn is Matthew Bowland from Leeds. He's brought a wooden statue of a dapper gentleman for the attention of organ restorer David Burville. Inside the figure are miniature bellows which, when wound up, should give this fellow a whistle. It belonged to Matthew's beloved grandparents and signifies many happy memories of them. A young Matthew was fascinated by the whistling man and would always request his grandad wind him up, so they could listen to his cheery tune. Unfortunately, the jammed mechanism and missing key means David must do some major problem solving to fulfil Matthews long held wish to hear the whistling man once again. Mechanical whizz Steve Fletcher and silver smith Brenton West join forces to repair a photographer's timer. It belonged to Gillian Hoy's much missed father, who was a passionate amateur photographer. The device is used when developing images in a dark room and Gillian was in charge of setting it, when she helped her father as a little girl.  Sadly, it's no longer fit for purpose – rusty, dented and won't keep time reliably. Gillian has big plans to get it back up and running so her daughter, who has followed in her grandfather's footsteps, can use it in her dark room. And Will Kirk, who works wonders with wood, takes on a little carved owl, who houses an ink well. Phin Hall received it as a childhood gift from his grandad, but it came a cropper when an overzealous twelve year old Phin knocked it over, spilling the ink and damaging the owls head. The stained owl was hidden in a box, in the attic, for over thirty years and was only discovered recently during a house clearance. Phin, who writes for a living, would love to get his feathered friend in fine fettle again.