Category
🦄
CreativityTranscript
00:00Welcome to the Vipershaw.
00:02I'm ready to see some magic.
00:03Where precious but faded keepsakes...
00:06It's in a bit of a sorry state.
00:08Deep breath.
00:09Are restored to their former glory.
00:11I don't think I'm even breathing at this point.
00:13Lovely.
00:14So exciting.
00:15A dream team of expert craftspeople...
00:18Baby, look at this, come to me!
00:21It's going to look absolutely stunning.
00:23Using traditional techniques passed down the generations.
00:27If someone's made it, then I can fix it.
00:30So much fun.
00:31Restore irreplaceable treasures.
00:37Take it away, Mark.
00:38And unlock the stories that they hold.
00:41Oh my God!
00:43It's like it's brand new.
00:45You're a wizard.
00:46Thank you so much.
00:57Come on.
01:27Very much at home among the green fields surrounding the barn
01:31are farmers Betty and Amy Wilkinson.
01:34They've brought a fascinating souvenir
01:36from the halcyon days of farming for Dominic Chenier.
01:42Hi.
01:43Hello.
01:44Welcome to the barn.
01:46What have you brought in?
01:47It's a beautiful looking thing.
01:48Well, it's better to ask Grandma, I think.
01:50Oh, OK.
01:51It's a glass buttershear.
01:54It's the advancement of the big wooden shurns.
01:58So have you used this then?
01:59I did use it, yeah.
02:01Years have gone by.
02:03I go back to my great-grandad's days of farming.
02:08They was always farming.
02:10We started in 1960 on a tenant farm.
02:13OK.
02:14It was beef cattle, potatoes, carrots, grain.
02:18What was it like day to day then?
02:20What were your roles working on the farm?
02:22Working on the farm, well, I'd get up and we always went out
02:26and fed the animals first and then you'd go in
02:29and you'd have what we call in Lancashire your bagging.
02:32And what's that?
02:34I still have bagging now.
02:36That was your breakfast.
02:37OK.
02:38It's the Lancashire term.
02:40You'd have your bagging, you see.
02:42And then you'd go out and start working the ground
02:45and doing agricultural stuff and it just depended on the season
02:49whether you was harvesting corn or harvesting potatoes.
02:53And you'd get involved with all of that as well?
02:55Oh, yes, yes.
02:56So my main job was drying the corn,
02:59putting it through the dryer as it came in.
03:01Did you enjoy it?
03:02I've enjoyed it.
03:03I wouldn't change anything, no.
03:05Yeah.
03:06The only downside was that I lost my husband in 1997
03:11so David, the youngest son, took the tenancy of the farm over
03:17which Erin, Amy and I are farming.
03:19The same farm?
03:20The same farm.
03:21So Amy, are you now, I know you're working with your dad,
03:24but are you actively working on the farm now?
03:26Oh, yeah, yeah.
03:27So I do my fair amount of stuff on tractors,
03:30tractor driving, machinery stuff
03:32and then I do also the beef side which is probably the bit
03:35I'm a little bit more passionate about because I just like my cows.
03:38Proper family business.
03:39Yeah.
03:40But Grandma was definitely the hardest working person on the farm
03:43because not only did she do all the outside,
03:46she can make Swiss rolls in her sleep, I think, can't you, Grandma?
03:49Yeah.
03:50How do you have time for baking?
03:51You've been running the farm, fixing everything.
03:53Well, you have to do.
03:54You know, you've been farming all your life,
03:56you're used to working outside and going in and cracking inside.
03:59It was just a routine.
04:01So did you used to use this butter churn to make the butter
04:05for the Swiss rolls?
04:06Well, to bake with or either bake with or use on for breading.
04:10Toaster bread, yeah.
04:11Yeah.
04:12You'd probably get a pound, a pound and a half of butter
04:15out of a churn that size but you spend a lot of time.
04:20Does it take a long time?
04:22It takes quite a while.
04:23Does it?
04:24It was hard work but, yeah, well, you get nowhere
04:27without hard work, do you?
04:28Yeah.
04:29Being a family farmer is an integral part of the history.
04:31It's about what life was like in the house
04:33and just how far things have kind of moved on.
04:37What does this symbolise to you, seeing it now?
04:40A great time in my life when the children was little.
04:45I always think that was the greatest time of our married life,
04:48you know, and being one of a big family,
04:51you always enjoy one another's company and you had a great time.
04:55Simpler time.
04:56Simpler time in life, yeah.
04:58Not as fast and as furious as it is these days, yeah.
05:03So what's the dream?
05:04What are you hoping I can do to the butter churn?
05:06It would be amazing if you could get it so that it's usable.
05:09Yeah.
05:10One of the wooden panels inside is broken
05:13and the panels around it was also a little bit mouldy when I found it.
05:17The handle turns and everything still,
05:19but I don't know what you can do with the metalwork on top.
05:22Just the rust has set in.
05:24Yeah, that's the issue.
05:25Fix the wooden paddle, remove all the rust, get it food safe.
05:28If you can.
05:30Well, thank you so much for trusting me with it.
05:32You're very welcome.
05:34See you soon.
05:35See you soon.
05:36Bye.
05:37Bye.
05:38Bye.
05:49My first impressions of Betty's beautiful butter churn are,
05:52well, it's exactly that.
05:53It's a beautiful thing.
05:55I think my biggest concern is the lid.
05:59The rust has gradually eaten away at that surface so badly
06:03that it's actually made holes.
06:05How I'm going to fix that at the moment, honestly, I really don't know.
06:11The next component that needs a little bit of love,
06:13a bit of care and attention is this wooden,
06:15the whisk kind of blade part at the bottom.
06:18One of them has snapped off.
06:20I need to make a new one of these little wooden sort of rectangle propellers,
06:23fix the other two.
06:25The first thing I need to do is get the whole mechanism taken completely apart.
06:35Perfect.
06:44That's the first piece removed.
07:01Barrel doll.
07:02Oh, barrel doll, barrel doll.
07:05Doll.
07:06Doll.
07:07OK, I'll go bear.
07:08OK.
07:09Let's see what we get.
07:10Connoisseurs of all things cuddly, Amanda Middleditch and Julie Tatchell
07:14are welcoming Camilla Greenwood, who's brought along a VIB.
07:20Hello.
07:21Hello.
07:22Hi.
07:23How are you?
07:24I'm all right, thank you.
07:25Who have you brought with you?
07:27I've brought a very sorry looking bear of my mum's.
07:34Look at him.
07:36He's seen better days, hasn't he?
07:38He certainly has.
07:39So tell us about your bear.
07:41It was given to my mum when she was little.
07:44He was with her throughout her childhood,
07:47and then when I came along he was always kept in my room
07:52and he's just sort of been a continuum throughout my mum's life
07:57and my life.
07:59It's always just been the two of us since I was six months old.
08:03OK.
08:04And she was a very special woman.
08:08You say was.
08:09Yeah, my mum died last year.
08:11So sorry.
08:13There was a fire at my mum's house that destroyed the house
08:20and my mum didn't get out.
08:23Oh, come in, I'm so sorry.
08:26So it is remarkable that the bear survived.
08:30Yeah.
08:31He was just on the lawn outside the house
08:34and I have no idea how he survived really.
08:38Wow.
08:39What was your mum's name?
08:41Linda.
08:42Linda.
08:43She was a single mum and her and I were an invincible team.
08:49She was a solicitor
08:52and she opened her own law firm when I was six months old.
08:57She was remarkable, a force to be reckoned with.
09:00Really.
09:01And kind and fierce in equal measures, you know,
09:04just a very gentle person but determined.
09:07Yeah, yeah.
09:08Do you know, when you talk about your mum,
09:10your eyes light up, there's a really deep affection there.
09:13She was obviously very, very close.
09:15Yeah.
09:16She was my counterpart.
09:18Yeah.
09:19Oh, bless you.
09:20Sorry.
09:23It's important for me to...
09:28..try and rescue at least something.
09:31All of our memories that were built together
09:34and any toys that my mum had saved to give to her grandchildren
09:39have gone.
09:41I'm expecting my first child.
09:43Oh, congratulations!
09:45So it's particularly important for me
09:48to be able to give something to my children
09:53that means something from my childhood and my mum's childhood.
09:57Yes.
09:58So he's got another generation to look after and to play with him.
10:02Yes. OK.
10:03What would you like us to do to your bear?
10:07I think, if possible, remove any evidence of fire.
10:11I'd quite like to eradicate that as much as possible.
10:15But actually, I don't remember him having a great deal of fur.
10:19No.
10:20Because he was loved. Exactly.
10:22So I'd like him to still look loved, but just not as shabby.
10:28So you want him to look as good as he can for a bear of this age?
10:33That's exactly it, yeah.
10:35I'd like him to be inviting to cuddle. Yeah.
10:38He used to make a noise.
10:40I don't know if he still has his voice or not.
10:43He might have lost his voice. OK.
10:45It's a really huge thing for me.
10:48If we can give him a second life, it would mean the world.
10:53We definitely will do everything we can.
10:55Thank you. I trust you to take good care of him.
10:58We will. We will. Don't worry about him.
11:00Thank you. Bye. Bye.
11:07I'm feeling really quite moved, actually.
11:09I'm speechless, completely speechless.
11:11That is, I think, one of the toughest things.
11:13What a brave young lady. Yeah, yeah.
11:16Come on, then. Let's go.
11:26I think he is probably the dirtiest bear that we've ever had.
11:31He is, and probably the worst condition.
11:34One of the worst.
11:36I think, actually, his head is actually pretty good.
11:39This side of his body and this arm
11:41has definitely taken the brunt of the heat.
11:44This will have no strength in it any more.
11:47So, potentially, that panel...
11:49Yeah, I'm a little concerned about what's going on here.
11:52So I think we'll make a decision once he's clean. OK.
11:56And the other thing is, we've got to get rid of that smoky smell.
12:00Yeah. Even if he looks beautiful,
12:02if we can't get him to smell beautiful as well,
12:05every time she picks him up, she's going to be reminded.
12:08OK. Could we start by gently brushing the surface...
12:12Yeah. ..before we take him apart
12:14and get the worst of what is loose off him
12:17before we start to take him apart?
12:19Good idea. Very good idea.
12:24Shall I start with the leg nearest you? Yeah.
12:26Is that OK? Yeah.
12:38OK.
12:48Dom is doing some rather more aggressive cleaning,
12:52preparing to blast the rust from the antique butter churn.
12:57Being perfectly honest, I am nervous to blast this lid.
13:02It's so thin, this hole where the corrosion is around the side
13:06is without a doubt going to get worse,
13:08so I'll keep everything crossed
13:10that there is still some lid left after this process.
13:17All right. There goes nothing.
13:23I'm going quite slowly and being careful as I can.
13:28But you know what? Whatever's left of this lid...
13:32..I reckon there's going to be enough that I can save it, hopefully.
13:50As expected, the blasting process
13:53has left me with a kind of slightly holey lid,
13:59and this needs to be watertight.
14:01So I'm going to use a solder to try and fill those holes.
14:14I need to gently warm the steel up,
14:17and then I'm introducing this liquid, which is a flux,
14:20which is going to help to clean the surface.
14:23All right, let's see what happens.
14:29That, I think, once that's cooled, has gone remarkably well.
14:34The main thing is that these three or four holes that are in this area
14:38are no longer holes. That is brilliant.
14:40I can now just carry on that process
14:42and fill in all of these holes, all the way around the actual lid.
14:47I'm on a bit of a roll now.
14:49That being said, it's all a matter of staying nice and calm.
14:52All right, so then I can do that.
14:55I'm on a bit of a roll now. That being said, I've still got the troublesome area where
15:18the worst bit of the damage was. I can't bridge that big of a gap with just the solder alone.
15:24So I'm going to try this stuff, which is woven copper wire. So then when I try and flow the
15:29solder in, it gives it something to stick to, to bridge the gap. I have no idea if it's
15:34going to work, but in theory, it should.
15:37Oh, there it goes. Nice, nice, nice, nice. You can see the holes in the mesh of the copper
15:48wire just as it's absorbing the solder, it's just becoming solid. It's perfect that it's
15:53doing exactly what I was hoping it would do.
16:01Oh, that is it. Yes. Oh, I'm so chuffed.
16:05That has gone so well. Obviously it's dirty, it needs to tidy up, and then I can send all
16:10of the components of the butter churn off to be tin-plated. That's brilliant.
16:23That's brilliant.
16:50Sun's shining out there. It's nice, isn't it?
16:52It's really lovely. Yeah, absolutely.
16:54It's about time.
16:55Yeah.
16:56The next hopeful visitor is Manisha Shah from Surrey, with a right royal assignment for
17:02Queen of Ceramics, Kirsten Ramsey.
17:07Hello.
17:08Hello.
17:09Welcome to the barn. You okay?
17:10I'm fine, thank you. Wow, this is beautiful. This is a coronation bowl. It was given by
17:19my grandfather to my mum around 1953 to celebrate the coronation.
17:26So this bowl has been passed down through the family then?
17:31Yes, so mum passed away last year and I have it now.
17:35Right.
17:36My mum's name was Suryakala. Suryakala means the rays of the sun.
17:41Oh.
17:42My grandfather travelled from Gujarat in India in around the 1912s, arrived at the coast
17:50of Kenya in Mombasa and initially set up a business there. He then moved to Nairobi and
17:57decided to import furniture from Kashmir and for the coronation it was decided to also
18:04import items that would celebrate the coronation because in Kenya at the time there was a large
18:09British population.
18:11So it's become quite a significant piece.
18:14It has because this bowl mum brought with her when we moved to England in 1968 and it
18:20would sit on the table. We used it as a fruit bowl. It was always there in times of joy
18:26so this bowl has many, many memories for us.
18:29This is the one constant thing that's always been there.
18:33Absolutely. It just signifies a lot. We are from a very small community called the Oshawa
18:39community where girls got married quite early and played quite traditional roles in the
18:44family. But my grandfather was very, very adamant that his six daughters would have
18:50an education and mum, at the age of 16, was the first woman in our community to have a
18:57driving licence in Nairobi.
18:59How fantastic is that?
19:00And she would take my grandfather to the shop, run any errands that needed running. Their
19:06relationship was very, very strong and I like to think he gave it to her because he saw
19:12in her a strong, very courageous and determined woman because on this bowl there are just
19:19women and they have come to celebrate the achievements of another great woman.
19:24But what's wrong with it?
19:25There are cracks, bits that have chipped away and some of the women have been just
19:32completely erased.
19:34Yeah, look at this poor lady here. She's almost gone and I guess the women on the bowl
19:39is what makes it so special. That's why it was so special to your grandfather at the start.
19:43That's right. If the women could be brought back to life, maybe it could then be passed
19:47down for a few more generations. That would be wonderful.
19:51It's going to be a lovely project for me to work on and I'm looking forward to getting
19:57to really examine some of these characters and see what they're doing. So thank you very much.
20:02Thank you very much.
20:03Lovely to meet you.
20:04And you. Bye-bye.
20:05Bye.
20:20What an absolutely beautiful bowl Manisha has brought in. I've not really seen anything
20:27like this before. My initial starting point is going to be to clean it and by cleaning
20:34it, it's going to give me a much better understanding of what it is I'm dealing with.
20:40I think it's a composite material, possibly a paper pulp or wood pulp and onto that I
20:48think there's a skimmed layer of this plaster. But these missing areas on the figures need
20:56to be filled and remade. They're not just raised and flat, they're raised with detail
21:04on them. So I think it's going to be quite difficult to recreate those shapes. Once I've
21:10done that, it's going to be retouching in these beautiful colours. The painting is exquisite.
21:18It's really, really fine. So I've got to try and match that. So there's quite a lot to
21:24be done. But for now, I'm just going to carry on cleaning and see if I can bring these colours
21:30back to life.
21:31Having carefully dismantled the fire-damaged bear, the toy team must now assess each piece
21:56and determine whether to save or to scrap.
22:00Right, it's decision time.
22:02It is, it is.
22:03I'm quite happy with this arm and that side of the body and that leg.
22:08Yeah.
22:09But this is the piece of the chest that had the singeing through and if I can't get that
22:16much, much better, that might have to go.
22:18And are we both in agreement about this one?
22:22Yeah, I'm afraid.
22:23There's nothing we can do with that.
22:25No.
22:26Definitely. Let's go.
22:27Having washed all the parts of Camilla's bear, we managed to make him smell fresher and feel
22:55But we've had to make decisions about pieces we can keep, pieces we can't.
22:59And this leg, no matter how hard I try, I can't make it back into a leg.
23:04So the plan is to make the arm out of this leg because less material is needed for an arm.
23:13This, this is good arm.
23:17And if we're clever with this piece of material, we can transfer an arm onto there.
23:23And that cuts off that horrible corner that Camilla doesn't want to see.
23:27That way, this arm is going to match absolutely perfectly because it's made of his original material.
23:33It's so important that we keep as much of the original as possible because that is Linda's bear.
23:38And Camilla will want to know that as much of her mum's bear is there as possible.
23:44Very carefully.
23:47There really isn't any room for error because this is literally all the material that is original that I've got left.
24:02These are the two pieces that make up the chest and tummy panels.
24:07I'm fairly certain that these blobs, which are slightly sticky, are something that dripped on him in the fire.
24:15So I have made the decision to remove this panel and create a new one.
24:38I'm turning my attention to the wooden part of the butter churn.
24:52One of these sort of paddles was actually missing.
24:55And in taking it apart, I've noticed that another one was actually cracked and about to break.
25:00So the best thing to do is to actually replace two.
25:03I've sourced a lovely piece of cherry, planed it down to size to press nicely into the original grooves.
25:09Good as new.
25:12Once this glue is dried and I'm happy, I will coat all of these pieces in a food safe oil to seal the wood.
25:25I'm happy there so I can clamp that up and leave it to dry.
25:34Drawing on more than a quarter of a century of restoration know-how,
25:38Kirsten is meticulously filling in the missing areas on the majestic bowl.
25:45That's most of the foundation filling done.
25:48So I'm now going to see if I can create my own bespoke filler
25:54to try and recreate these lovely three-dimensional undulations in the fabrics and the face.
26:01I need a material that is softer that I can shape.
26:06So I've got an acrylic paste.
26:09This is quite a thick paste that you can use for painting texture.
26:18And I'm going to add to it some, they're called glass bubbles.
26:23It's like an inert filling material.
26:28And what I'm hoping is that this will give me a filling material that I can shape whilst I'm putting it on.
26:37I am going to try and start building up this section here.
26:41I am going to have to refine the shaping once this has gone completely hard.
26:47So I'm going to have to go back and work my way over each of these just to get it absolutely spot on.
27:11The next stage really is to refine the shaping.
27:28I'm quite happy with the way that this lower arm is feeling.
27:33So I'm just going to sand and shape the arm here and see if I can make that smooth.
27:41I think I'm going to have to put my super specs on just to see that level of detail now.
27:50I can suddenly start to see these figures coming back to life.
28:12This is the arm that I've made out of Camilla's bear's leg.
28:18So now I'm sewing it inside out.
28:21When I get to the end of this seam here, you'll be able to turn it through and see how it's doing.
28:28So this is where we find out if it's worked.
28:34So this is Camilla's bear's original arm and this is the one I've just made and I am absolutely thrilled to bits.
28:41The next thing I need to do is to get some stuffing in here, add the new joint and close the top.
28:55I've almost finished Camilla's bear's new body panel.
29:00I've got his tummy all together, but this new piece of material is still looking a bit too new.
29:07I've removed some of the hairs to represent balding and I've shaved away bits of it too to represent the rubbing.
29:16And now I've just got to try and improve the colour.
29:19And for this I'm just using scrunched up newspaper using hopefully the ink if it'll come off and make it look more like the original panels.
29:28The next part is my favourite part of any restoration.
29:33It's putting the face back on.
29:36It's when they start to come alive and you start to see that character.
29:39We really couldn't put his original eyes back in because they had melted in the fire.
29:44So we're giving him a pair of eyes that match as well as we possibly can
29:49and they will give him that warmth back into his body.
29:52All the steel pieces for the butter churn are back from being templated and now much safer to be in contact with food.
29:59And this butter churn, all of these components are the original components of the churn.
30:03So we're going to be using the same material to create the churn and then we'll be using the same material to create the churn.
30:09So we're going to be using the same material to create the churn.
30:12All the steel pieces for the butter churn are back from being templated and now much safer to be in contact with food.
30:19And this butter churn, all of these components are the originals.
30:22I think that's going to mean a lot to Betty and Amy.
30:25Now I just need to get it all back together again.
30:43Betty's family may have been farmers for hundreds of years, but the role of women changed,
30:49meaning the butter churn fell into disrepair as granddaughter Amy rolled up her sleeves and took on the farm.
30:59Hello. Welcome back.
31:01Thank you very much.
31:02Come on in. It's lovely to see you both again.
31:04Thank you very much. You too.
31:05How has it been on the farm? All okay?
31:07Yeah. It's nice and sunny at the minute, so yeah, it's nice.
31:10Make hay while the sun shines.
31:12Definitely.
31:13Getting stuff done.
31:14Are you excited?
31:15Yes.
31:16Can't imagine what you've done to it, really. Can't imagine.
31:19Do you want to have a look?
31:20Yeah.
31:25Oh, wow.
31:26Oh, my. I never expected it looking like that.
31:30No.
31:31It looks nearly new, doesn't it?
31:34Yeah.
31:35Oh, there we are.
31:37Oh, wow.
31:38Oh, wow.
31:39I just can't believe how, like, how you've managed to fix it, to be honest.
31:43It was coming in old around here, wasn't it?
31:45That is, I'm quite proud to say that that is actually the original lid.
31:48Oh, wow.
31:49So shiny as well. I can't believe how shiny it is.
31:52It's marvellous now, isn't it?
31:54Yes.
31:55A little surprise. I've got some cream.
31:57We're going to give it a go.
31:58Will you show me? Do you mind?
31:59Yeah, go on.
32:00We'll give it a go.
32:01You'll have to show us how to do it.
32:08Perfect. Perfect.
32:09I hope you're feeling strong.
32:10Yeah.
32:14Look at that. Full of confidence, straight in there.
32:16I'm so nervous.
32:19Do you remember doing this?
32:20Yeah.
32:22It was amazing to make butter for the first time in the churn,
32:25and amazing to make butter with Grandma.
32:27I think she did most of the work, to be honest.
32:31Amy, it must be nice doing this with Betty.
32:33Oh, yeah.
32:34Look at that smile.
32:35Yeah.
32:39It felt lovely to see it back in such good condition
32:43and to be able to use it again.
32:45Yes.
32:47Oh, there's your butter.
32:50Yeah, there's your butter.
32:51Oh, wow.
32:54Do you want a taste?
32:55Go on.
32:57I'll probably make some more butter in it
32:59and then pass it over to Amy, and Amy can make butter.
33:03Yeah.
33:08MUSIC
33:18Next, the power of music in times of trouble.
33:22From Londonderry in Northern Ireland,
33:24Gerry Macaulay is here to see antique audio expert Mark Stuckey.
33:30Hi.
33:31Hello there.
33:32How are you, Steve?
33:33Welcome. You OK?
33:34Great.
33:35Suitcase input with us.
33:37What have we got here?
33:38Physically, we've got a Watkins Westminster amp,
33:421958 model, like myself.
33:44What, like a guitar amp?
33:45A guitar amp, yes.
33:46OK.
33:47I bought it in 1972 or three for the princely sum of £2.50.
33:53£2.50.
33:54And I walked away happy.
33:56But historically, this amp is actually the sound of punk and dairy.
34:02What do you mean by that? That's quite a statement.
34:04Myself and my friend Donald McDermott, who's fortunately deceased,
34:08we were in a band, we called the band Dick Tracy and the Green Disaster.
34:12Dick Tracy and the Green Disaster?
34:14Yeah, named after two Andy Warhol paintings.
34:17Oh, OK.
34:18We were sort of two outcasts, punk was our thing,
34:21because we weren't into the music of the time.
34:23At least one thing, you didn't smash it up at the end of the concert.
34:26No, I wasn't in Townshend, we couldn't afford to.
34:29You spent £2.50 on it.
34:31Exactly.
34:32Punk, where we came from, it wasn't really a fashion statement.
34:35Right.
34:36It was more an attitude of mind.
34:38Oh, OK.
34:39How you looked at things and how you said,
34:41no, that doesn't work, I'm doing it this way.
34:43We were raw.
34:44We only played around dairy.
34:46We knew we were absolutely atrocious, you know.
34:50We were so bad they actually threw chairs at us, you know.
34:55We just wanted to enjoy it.
34:56And we always had a love of music.
34:58We always...
34:59Me and my friends were always into music.
35:01And in many ways, music saved us,
35:03because we could have quite easily have gone down other paths.
35:06The troubles in Northern Ireland in the mid-'70s were their height.
35:09Yeah.
35:10It would have been very easy to be distracted, I'll say.
35:14Derry is a divided city.
35:16It is physically divided by the River Foyle.
35:18The West Bank is predominantly Nationalist Catholic
35:23and the East Bank is predominantly Protestant Unionist.
35:27The two sides never came together, unless in conflict.
35:30You know, you went down to town, you didn't know...
35:32You went out at night and your parents didn't know you were coming back.
35:35So that's what your teenage years...
35:37That was our teenage years.
35:38We were often in bars and you had to have lock-ins
35:42because there was rioting going on outside.
35:45It must have been tough being in a band
35:47and wanting to play in pubs and bars and things,
35:49with so much conflict and sort of divide going on.
35:53Well, you went to the punk venues.
35:55People didn't ask, what side are you from, what side am I from?
35:58No, you can get on, you can't get on.
36:00It did bring people together from both sides of the community.
36:03Yeah, it's that punk attitude.
36:05Yes.
36:06You're welcome.
36:07I want to go and listen to music and I want to hear this.
36:09That's my style of music and my attitude.
36:11Were there any other bands doing something similar to you?
36:13Not really at all.
36:14We were probably the first.
36:15The Undertones were contemporaries of ours.
36:17The Undertones as in Teenage Kicks?
36:19Yes, yes, yes, yes.
36:21What, you knew them?
36:22Well, we were all friends, like, yeah, yeah.
36:24We only lived down the street.
36:25Everybody knew everybody.
36:26Derry's not that big.
36:27But us poor little boys who knew nothing
36:30were the ones who started that.
36:32Good on you.
36:33On this amp.
36:34What's wrong with the amp?
36:35Two channels with the tremolo.
36:37One of the channels isn't working.
36:39I don't know whether the channel doesn't work
36:41because it's a broken wire, a valve gone.
36:44Perhaps it was a music lover.
36:45Maybe it was a music lover.
36:47Maybe it rejected the music.
36:49A kick of a shock.
36:50LAUGHTER
36:52Right.
36:53Assuming that I get it working,
36:55then you're going to come in with a guitar
36:57and let us hear what you used to do.
36:59Are you prepared for that?
37:01I'd rather you didn't.
37:02LAUGHTER
37:04You may regret that, but I would.
37:06Brilliant.
37:07OK, so fully repaired, what will you do with it?
37:09Unfortunately, it's Donal's 30th anniversary
37:11of his death next year,
37:13and I think it would be fitting to do a reunion gig.
37:16All right.
37:17How nice.
37:18That's fantastic.
37:19I've got a lot of work to do.
37:20Right.
37:21I can't wait to get started.
37:22Good.
37:23So, nice to have met you.
37:25Take care.
37:26Lovely to be here.
37:27All the best.
37:28All right.
37:29Safe journey home.
37:30Bye-bye.
37:31Bye-bye.
37:32I can't work out if he's being modest
37:34or if he genuinely is really bad at playing the guitar.
37:36We'll find out.
37:37I guess so.
37:38LAUGHTER
37:51MUSIC PLAYS
38:08I've taken Gerry's amplifier apart.
38:12First job I'm going to do is test the valves,
38:15because the valves do most of the hard work.
38:17A valve is a voltage amplifier.
38:20Without these little devils, you're not going to hear anything.
38:24It takes a very small signal from the guitar
38:27and then amplifies it sufficiently to drive a loudspeaker
38:31so you can then hear it in your ears.
38:34Checking the emissions of the valve to see how good it is,
38:37and this one is only half as good as it should be.
38:42After 60-odd years of life, it's now time to be retired.
38:46So, out with that one.
38:48We've found one little problem.
38:50I'm sure there's going to be a few more
38:52before we get to the end of our journey.
39:05I've done a lot of work
39:07filling and creating these raised areas on the bowl,
39:12but it's the detail and the depth of colour
39:15that's going to start to bring this all together.
39:19I think I just need a little bit of orange.
39:21I need a little bit of warmth in that skin tone.
39:28You look at it and you think, oh, it's beige,
39:31but actually there's so much more to it than that.
39:35That looks better.
39:40It was really lovely hearing Manisha talking
39:43about how this was given to her mother originally
39:48as a celebration of women and the women in her family.
39:54And I think my favourite is this group up here,
39:57and it's just friends gathered around,
40:00as you could imagine for a marriage
40:02or, in this case, the coronation.
40:05So, yeah, I can absolutely see
40:08why this was so important and has such meaning.
40:13It does seem with every little bit of colour
40:17that I add back into this bowl,
40:19I can see it coming back to how it was originally.
40:23There's still quite a lot more to be done.
40:44Having transformed the burnt fur pieces,
40:47Julie and Amanda must now fluff, fold
40:50and fasten Teddy back into shape.
40:53Look, he's finished.
40:55Oh, wow, look at him.
40:57I hope that we've been able to eradicate
41:00as much of the fire as possible,
41:02and that's what I want Camilla to go,
41:04wow, that's the bear I remember.
41:06And not see the fire.
41:08And then she can have new beginnings and new memories.
41:11Yeah.
41:12With her little baby.
41:13Yeah.
41:14That's it then.
41:15I've got his arms and his legs on.
41:17Just need to put his head on, then it's his stuffing.
41:20Yes.
41:21Along with his new growler.
41:23Fantastic.
41:25Then you can go home to your mum.
41:32Once a tragic reminder of a devastating house fire,
41:36this bear will now serve as a lasting memento
41:40of Camilla's much-loved mum.
41:45Hello.
41:46Welcome back.
41:47Hi, thank you.
41:49So have you missed him?
41:50Yeah, I have.
41:51I've been thinking about it a lot.
41:53It's been a real comfort to know
41:55that there will be something salvageable.
41:58So are you ready to see him?
42:00I'm not sure.
42:02I am.
42:03You don't.
42:10SHE LAUGHS
42:13Hello.
42:14He's beautiful.
42:29Do you need a hug?
42:32It's one thing I can do.
42:34Thank you so much.
42:35You're so welcome.
42:36So, so welcome.
42:40SHE SOBS
42:45Are those happy tears?
42:47Very happy tears.
42:49Did you hear him?
42:54Oh, how wonderful, thank you so much.
42:57How have you done it?
42:59Look at his hands and feet and nose.
43:03Oh, he's just amazing.
43:06I'm speechless.
43:08I just think it's the most incredible,
43:10incredible transformation.
43:12He's beautiful.
43:14What's the future for him?
43:16I want my children to have something of my mum's
43:23and something from my childhood,
43:25because I don't have anything now apart from him,
43:29so that's your future, that's his future.
43:32There'll always be that little bit of your mum...
43:34Yeah.
43:35..with the family, which is lovely.
43:37It's a way of keeping her alive, I think.
43:39Absolutely.
43:40So there you go, take him home, love him, and thank you again.
43:43Enjoy him.
43:44Thank you so much, thank you.
43:46Bye.
43:47Bye-bye.
43:48Bye.
43:51I'm feeling overwhelmed, happy, sad,
43:57but to have something so special to mum and special to me,
44:03to take home and be able to give on to my children
44:06is unbelievably special.
44:36Brightspark Mark is patiently working his way
44:44through the components of the 1950s guitar amp,
44:48trying to diagnose the issues.
44:51I've tested Gerry's valves out of his amplifier.
44:54Now, Gerry sort of mentioned around about 1959
44:58is when I believe he thought this had been made.
45:02This is date stamped August 1957.
45:05Why is that useful?
45:07Well, it tells me roughly when this was done.
45:09Then I can use that to see if I can find the circuit diagram.
45:13The circuit diagram allows me to find my way through the circuit.
45:18And there's another thing which generally can cause problems
45:21and that is the capacitors.
45:23So what I've got to do is remove the old ones.
45:26These are actually on the part of the tremolo circuit,
45:30which is particularly what was not working.
45:33And how it works is that you're taking part of that signal,
45:36you're then putting it through this capacitor resistor network
45:39which alters its phasing.
45:41And therefore, rather than getting a clean sound like strum,
45:45you'll get through the fact it's been fed back on itself
45:50and the capacitors are part of that circuit to do that.
45:54It's a little added effect at the period,
45:57which I guess was quite unique at the time.
46:01I remember when punk first came out.
46:04I understood the idea of the movement
46:06and the fact it was a dress code as well, it was all of that.
46:09It wasn't just somebody attempting to make a lot of noise
46:12and strum a guitar.
46:14But no, it wasn't quite my type.
46:16And I think even then, I'm afraid,
46:18I didn't have enough hair to do anything about it.
46:23OK, that's all the components now replaced.
46:26What I've got to do now is the important thing,
46:28is give it a try.
46:30When I plug this in and I touch it, I should get...
46:34So we'll plug this in here and do...
46:41Yeah, so that side works fine.
46:43Check now the second channel.
46:45Plug that in there.
46:48And I'll do this. What do we get?
46:53Nothing there.
46:55So there's obviously still some problem.
46:58So the interesting thing here, this jack goes in there,
47:02and look, there's actually no wire connecting
47:05to the first stage of the valve to amplify it.
47:08And that's why channel number two is not functional.
47:11So what I propose to do is put a wiring link
47:14from the fitting of the jack plug
47:16to the input of the secondary part of the valve.
47:19So that's what I've got to do.
47:23Let's try it.
47:33OK, that's connected.
47:44So that's all working, so channel two is now operational.
47:48Now that that's done, I'll move on to the case.
47:53MUSIC
48:03What I've now got to do is spend some time on
48:06is finding the best way how I can sort of improve
48:09the overall look of the case,
48:11because it's pretty patchy, to say the least.
48:14What I need you to do is find some Rexine.
48:17It's a very sort of thin paper-based type of material,
48:20but it's really a form of a type of plastic.
48:22You can't get it anymore, really.
48:24Fortunately, I've managed to take a piece of the original Rexine,
48:28which is from inside the amplifier.
48:33Hopefully that will just cover that.
48:36This is like where a lot of the other guys here work,
48:39and you see what they're doing, and it has to be spot on.
48:42I'm never going to be in that league, but I'll do the best I can.
48:46Hopefully, if I do it right, I'll have enough Rexine to complete the task.
48:58Kirsten's wielding her tiniest of brushes
49:01in the crucial croning touch on the coronation ball.
49:06Having let the paint dry on this main figure here,
49:11I'm now ready to try and retouch the face.
49:16But the thing that's really scary
49:19is if you get one of those lines in the wrong place,
49:23instead of looking like one of these beautiful women,
49:28you end up with someone that looks a bit wrong.
49:31I think that's looking OK.
49:37This dish has such significance for Manisha,
49:42and it's a direct link back to her Indian heritage.
49:47It's a really beautiful thing,
49:50so I feel the importance of getting this absolutely right, quite keenly.
49:58So, she looks like someone I'd be happy to meet.
50:02She's smiling, she looks friendly.
50:05I've got a few bits of retouching,
50:09and then it's going to be ready to return to Manisha and her family.
50:17This ball, made in India,
50:19celebrated the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.
50:25Careful. Yes.
50:27But for Manisha, it's come to symbolise
50:30her brave and groundbreaking female ancestors
50:33and the fortitude of women.
50:36Hi. Hello. Lovely to see you again.
50:39Lovely to see you too. Have you missed your beautiful ball?
50:42Yeah, yeah. What are you hoping Kirsten's been able to do, then?
50:46I hope the women on there have come back to life.
50:49That is what is so magical about this,
50:52that there were so many women on there.
50:54Are you looking forward to seeing it?
50:56Yeah, I am so looking forward to seeing it. Yeah.
50:59Come on, Kirsten. You ready? Yes.
51:07Oh, wow.
51:16May I? Yes, absolutely.
51:25It's quite overwhelming. I can see it.
51:28I'm not on the dining table.
51:30When we were younger, at my parents' home, when we were growing up,
51:35this is something that we used every day,
51:38that we touched, you know, Mum touched and Dad touched,
51:41and we all, we all touched it.
51:45There's something about a bowl as well, isn't there,
51:48that collects those memories. Yes, exactly.
51:51And there are many strong women that I associate with this.
51:55Mum, my sister, my grandmother.
51:58But you have brought this bowl back to life for us.
52:02Thank you. Thank you.
52:04A very great pleasure and it's yours to take away.
52:08Get it back home where it belongs. Thank you.
52:11See you later. Bye-bye.
52:16I feel quite overwhelmed.
52:19The way that Kirsten has given it life is just amazing.
52:25The women have come to life and it's got to shine
52:30and with that, you know, the memories that came back,
52:34I hadn't expected that. Yeah.
52:54From regal bowl to the sound of rocket roar,
52:58Mark's building up to his finale.
53:01I've completed Gerry's case
53:03and I'm really happy the way it's turned out.
53:06I've fitted the foot pedal because originally it was hardwired,
53:09which means the tremolo effect was on all the time.
53:12Now you can switch it on and off.
53:14What I've got to do now is physically get it from here into there.
53:18That's the fun part.
53:22They never put enough lengths on the cables to do this job.
53:27It's incredibly fiddly, to say the least.
53:31I think this is OK.
53:40So the wires are now back on the loudspeaker
53:43and it's now ready for Gerry and to do punk and roll.
53:47Boing!
53:49Against a backdrop of violence and unrest in 1970s Northern Ireland,
53:54this guitar amp provided a welcome distraction
53:57for a teenager and his friends.
54:00Mark, how's it going? It's going well.
54:02Well, is it? Is it working? You'll have to wait and hear.
54:05I'll tell you what, it certainly looks the part.
54:07It looks a lot better, I must admit. Beautiful.
54:10Better get it covered up. OK.
54:13Former punk guitarist Gerry is hoping to use the amp
54:17at a band reunion to celebrate their friend and band member
54:21who died 30 years ago.
54:23Hello, Gerry. Hello. Welcome back, Gerry. Nice to see you again.
54:27Good to see you.
54:28It's well been written in Tenderhooks,
54:30it's just to see what you've done with the amp.
54:33It's been there for 50 years in that condition
54:36and it would be brilliant just to see it brought back to life again.
54:40It certainly is a beautiful thing,
54:42but it's a lot more than just a guitar amp to you, isn't it?
54:45Oh, it is, surely. It's a life of memories.
54:47You know, it's from my teenage years right through to now.
54:51Do you want to have a look? Please.
54:53Are you ready for this? Yes. Ready, here we go.
54:58Oh, absolutely fantastic.
55:02Ah! My God, you can see your face in there.
55:06What a sound. Isn't it?
55:12New plugs.
55:14And a foot control!
55:16You spotted it.
55:17Oh, hey.
55:19Kiss, kiss.
55:22Well, I know it looks the part.
55:24Yeah.
55:25But you must be excited to hear it.
55:27Well, the thing is, the proof of the pudding, as they say.
55:29Exactly.
55:30There is a guitar for you.
55:31My God. I don't know if you want this or not.
55:33Shall I turn it on for you?
55:36Oh, that's so great.
55:47Yeah.
55:53Brilliant.
55:54Yay!
55:58My God, it's just absolutely brilliant.
56:03It looks like you're having fun.
56:05Oh, hey.
56:06The shines in there are just incredible, Mark.
56:09But I'm so grateful.
56:11That's good.
56:12Well, Gerry, it's yours to take home and annoy the neighbours.
56:16Just what they've always wanted.
56:18Exactly.
56:20Thank you very much, boys.
56:21Lovely to meet you.
56:22All the best.
56:23Take care.
56:24Bye-bye.
56:30You could write a book about what that amp has seen,
56:32what it has actually created.
56:34It looks a very insignificant little red box,
56:38but the noise that comes out of it entertain people
56:42and give them a little hope in their lives
56:45that there is more than what goes on outside,
56:47wherever you were playing.
56:48That, you know, you went outside
56:50and you had a duck with bombs and bullets inside.
56:52You forgot about that.
56:53And it lifted people into what life should be about.
57:04If you have a treasured possession that's seen better days
57:08and you think the team can help,
57:10please get in touch at bbc.co.uk
57:13and join us in The Repair Shop.
57:40BBC Repair Shop