Main content

Devon - Emergency Surgery for Daisy the Cow

The team face their quirkiest fix yet – a giant fibreglass cow lantern. Also, luthier Julyan brings a banjolele back to life, and Dom gets a crash course in brilliant cutting.

In this episode, the experts lend their skills to a community project, hear the story behind a new treasure to be repaired, and visit a local crafting hero.

Will and Dom travel to Devon, and where better to find Daisy, the oversized fibreglass dairy cow lantern? She’s been a fixture at Hemyock Light Parade for a decade, but time hasn’t been kind to their bovine mascot. She’s lost an ear, a couple of hooves, and her body is dirty and cracked. It’s going to take some lateral thinking, and the skills of some exciting new experts, if she’s to take her place at the head of the parade once again.

In Poole, Will meets Ronnie, who has a musical instrument that reached the peak of its popularity in the 1920s and 1930s and which he would like fixed. It’s a banjolele that his father, part of the Windrush generation, brought from Jamaica to England. Most famously associated with George Formby, Ronnie’s mixture of banjo and ukulele is struggling to play a tune now, suffering from damage to the frets and a loose drum head. They’ll need to be fixed before luthier Julyan can even think about starting the cosmetic work required to the veneer.

Dom checks in on an old friend in Torquay. He’s at Dave Smith’s workshop, overlooking the harbour, to try his hand at the lost art of brilliant cutting before turning a newly decorated piece of glass into a Victorian-style mirror. As Dave can boast clients like David Beckham, John Meyer and Disney, it’s a rare chance for Dom to get some tips straight from a master craftsman. Fish and chips by the sea are an added bonus.

Available now

43 minutes

Audio described

Credits

Role Contributor
Expert Dominic Chinea
Expert William Kirk
Expert Julyan Wells
Participant Simon Crawford
Narrator Bill Paterson
Executive Producer Rob Butterfield
Executive Producer Hannah Lamb
Series Producer Dave Martin
Director Ingo Nyakairu
Producer Tanveer Bari
Production Company Ricochet Ltd

Broadcasts