大象传媒

Jay Blades and the team bring four treasured family heirlooms, and the memories they hold, back to life.

The first job of the day falls to cobbler Dean Westmoreland. Angela Rushforth and her daughter Eve arrive with a pair of 70-year-old roller skates that once belonged to Angela鈥檚 mum Irene. Back in the late 1940s, Angela鈥檚 parents' romance blossomed at the Astoria roller rink in Barnsley. They later married and were together for 67 years until Irene鈥檚 death in 2019. Angela is hoping that having the skates restored will give her dad Colin a bit of a lift. For all his years of experience, Dean has never worked on a pair of roller skates before, and with a tear in one of the toes, missing eyelets and faded leather to attend to, he has plenty to keep him busy.

Sisters Fredericka and Louisa Charles have brought in a 1960s radiogram that belonged to their parents. They hope that electronics whizz Mark Stuckey can get it working once again. Their parents were part of the Windrush generation, arriving in the UK from Dominica in the Caribbean. The radiogram was one of their first major purchases after arriving in the UK, and the sisters remember it playing during Sunday afternoon get-togethers with friends and family. Music and dancing brought everyone together, and the sisters remember their father as a good dancer who liked Ella Fitzgerald and Nat King Cole. While Mark tackles the electronics, upholstery expert Sonnaz Nooranvary gets to work replacing a torn fabric panel.

Mechanical expert David Burville is on duty as cousins Tamsin and Daniel arrive with a toy fire engine built by Daniel鈥檚 great-grandfather Francis. Francis was in service during the Blitz, and the model is a replica of the fire engine he worked on. During the war, toys were in short supply, so the engine was made as a present for Tamsin鈥檚 dad. With a working extension ladder, lights and a motor to propel it, the model is a finely crafted piece that takes all of David鈥檚 skill to restore.

Last to arrive is Gita Diwan, with a very special leather wallet that once belonged to her father. Between 1939 and 1941, Gita鈥檚 father was a freedom fighter, struggling for India鈥檚 independence from British rule. As contemporaries of Mahatma Gandhi, Gita鈥檚 parents travelled to marches and peaceful demonstrations around India, and during that period her father carried his money in the wallet. He 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 his death, Gita鈥檚 mother used the wallet before passing it to Gita. Now the years of use have taken their toll, and restoring it is a task for the barn's resident leather expert Suzie Fletcher.