Enter a workshop filled with expert craftspeople, bringing loved pieces of family history and the memories they hold back to life. A heartwarming antidote to throwaway culture.
Season 13 - Episode 14
Silversmith Brenton West is first in the frame when Rio Goldhammer arrives with an antique silver tray with a close connection to his family. Dating back to 19th-century Vienna, it was bought by Rio’s great-great-grandfather and is believed to be a Pidyon Haben tray. These are used in a traditional Jewish ceremony where the first-born male child is symbolically taken into the family from the synagogue. The tray not only connects Rio to his ancestors but is also a miraculous survivor of the mid-20th-century atrocities faced by Europe’s Jewish population. Brenton has the difficult task of forging a new, ornately decorated handle and must employ an unusual technique using silver-filled clay to replicate the missing relief on the rim.
Next to arrive are Diane and Mark from Kirkcaldy, who’ve brought with them a painted canvas featuring the insignia of their beloved amateur dramatics club. The canvas, originally painted in the 1950s, displays the logo for the Leslie Amateur Drama Club, established in 1904 and thought to be the longest running am-dram group in Scotland. The canvas was found during a clear-out in the early 2000s and kept as Mark and Diane believed it was salvageable. For the couple, the drama club holds a special place in their hearts, as it was upon that very stage that they met and fell in love. Now, after years of having no permanent home, the club is moving back into Leslie Town Hall, where it all began, and Mark and Diane wish to place the canvas at the centre of the proscenium arch where it proudly hung before. But the picture is showing its age. There are large areas of paint flaking away, and the timber framework needs investigating too. The couple are entrusting art conservator Lucia Scalisi with the fine detail work required to get this community emblem looking fit for the spotlight once again.
Next in is Anjali Prasad from Manchester, who is hoping that expert bookbinder Chris Shaw can revitalise a copy of the Ramayana, an important Hindu scripture, created by her great-great-uncle in 1914. The paper booklet was written and printed in India in a dialect specific to where Anjali’s great-great-uncle Munshi Ram lived. As a self-educated man, Munshi Ram took it upon himself to help improve the lives of his community and set about writing an accessible copy of the Ramayana, meant for mass consumption. Over 100 years have taken their toll, and the front page of the Ramayana is torn in two, with disintegrating binding and badly frayed edges throughout. With dexterity and skill, Chris injects some vitality back into the sacred text that means so much to Anjali.
The final restoration falls to metal maestro Dominic Chinea who’s faced with disassembling and repairing a large model helicopter brought in by Sally from Norfolk. Sally explains that the helicopter was built by her father Alec, who placed it proudly atop the charity shop he opened in 1999 to support the East Anglian Air Ambulance. The bright yellow helicopter operated as a weathervane and local landmark, helping to draw people to the shop and in turn raise over £2 million for local charities. For Sally, the helicopter is a physical memento of her creative and generous father, who sadly passed away in 2010. Now Dom has the challenging task of getting this helicopter, which no longer spins and has wonky propellors, back in working order, so that Sally and customers of the shop can once again enjoy the sight of her father’s helicopter high upon the rooftop.
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