The Repair Shop

S05:E41 - Juke Box, Lantern Clock, Lifeboat Compass

Today in the Repair Shop, Jay Blades and the team bring four treasured family heirlooms, and the memories they hold, back to life.First to arrive at the barn is widower Geoff Clark from Sunderland. He is hoping audio expert Mark Stuckey can restore a beloved juke box, which holds memories of a very special person. He bought the 1960's jukebox over forty years ago, around the same time he met his late wife, Marie. The two shared a love of music and the jukebox gave them both such joy. It provided the entertainment at their wedding reception. Their first dance to Moonlight Serenade is etched in Geoff's memory. Sadly Geoff lost Marie to cancer seven years ago. Geoff found it too painful to listen to the juke box for some time…each track held such memories of his beloved wife. Over time the machine began to malfunction and soon became inoperable. Mark opens up this huge dusty vault of memories and begins the mammoth task of reviving it. Metal expert, Dominic Chinea, gives the exterior body work a complete over haul, leaving Mark to clean and repair the hundreds of tiny switches, levers and wires before rebuilding and bringing it back to life.Engineer Frank Black from Glasgow is next to arrive. He has brought the oldest ever item booked into the Repair Shop: a thrilling prospect for horologist Steve Fletcher. The four hundred year old wall clock has laid broken in a box and confined to a cupboard under the stairs for nearly seventy years. Steve relishes every part of the extensive restoration of this impressive clock, as he reveals the various issues and previous fixes. Bit by bit he cleans, repairs and rebuilds this great clock, with Will at his side crafting a new wall bracket in oak for the clock to proudly sit on.Finally silversmith Brenton West welcomes Jo Blackwell from Chichester. She is hoping he can navigate his way through the repair of a seafaring souvenir. Jo is the proud owner of the compass and its binnacle from the lifeboat that saved the lives of her grandparents, father and uncles back in 1939. Returning from a holiday in Canada their vessel was hit by a U boat but they all escaped unscathed! Miraculously the compass is still in good working order but the brass housing binnacle has seen better days. Brenton gets to work bashing, then smoothing out the dents and returning the shine, while Will rejuvenises the wooden base.