Original subtitles

BIRDSONG

In The Repair Shop today...

- This work is very, very fine.

- ..with craft so detailed...

- If my teardrops are 0.1 of a mil too big,

they won't fit in here.

- ..the experts need to keep their eyes on the ball.

- Look at that! - Oh! - See?

Luckily, I've got the reflexes of a cat.

- That was quick. You must have been a goalie.

- No, I played basketball. - Ah, OK.

- BIRDSONG

First to arrive at the barn is Hattie Smith,

along with her mum, Jane.

They've brought a prized possession in need of attention

from ceramics expert Kirsten Ramsay.

- Hello! - Hello. - Hello.

- Take a seat.

- Oh, thank you.

And at cushion, as well! - Ah!

- That's luxury. - It is luxury, isn't it?

So, what have you brought in for us, then?

- It's actually a bowl made by Mum.

- And is that what you do, you used to...?

- I used to... Well, from the age of 50, I was a potter.

- Why did you become a potter?

- Well, I was a painter and decorator with a friend in Keswick.

- Right. - We were brilliant wallpaperers.

- JAY LAUGHS

- And then the local paper had this advertisement

about Carlisle Art College wanting older students.

And whoopee, I went!

- THEY LAUGH

- I did a foundation course, you know, through all the departments.

And I got to the clay and I never got out.

- Oh, how lovely! - Stayed there. - THEY LAUGH

- It was wonderful. Really wonderful.

- Let's have a look at it. Oh, it's in pieces.

- Is it possible to take it out? - Absolutely.

- Thank you. Gosh! Beautiful!

So we've got a porcelain bowl with an incised decoration?

- Yeah. - Yeah. Lovely. - Yeah.

- Gosh! That is absolutely beautiful!

Even broken, I think it's beautiful.

- THEY LAUGH

- I always sold very, very well,

and that was what supported me and Hattie.

- Yeah. - I made my front room into a workshop.

- The kiln room was at the back of the house

and the workshop was at the front of the house,

and we kind of lived in the middle of it.

- That's quite cool. - Yeah.

- So, what year was this made?

- Early '80s. - Early '80s, yeah.

- And then, how did it get broken?

- So that was my fault. - OK.

- So, um...I was caring for Mum,

she wasn't so well and I was cooking meals for her.

And unfortunately, a jar fell into it from the shelf above

and it exploded.

- I tried to say, "Oh, well, it's just one of those things",

but I think you realised how I was upset.

It really was one of the very first ones that I did. - Was it?

- Well, I'd been sort of known for making bowls

with fish designs on them. - Yeah?

- And I did lots of them, but this was the best one.

And it was a lovely shape, wasn't it, Hattie? - Yeah, yeah.

It's a very important bowl. - Very important.

- You know, you can see, actually,

I didn't use conventional tools, really, at all. - No.

- My favourite tools were a broken penknife.

That was just perfect for... - Oh, wow!

- ..a sort of delicate line.

And the eyes were always penned.

The other end. - Yeah.

It's really, really beautiful.

- Why have you not got it fixed?

- Normally, I would have done it myself,

but I can't do close, careful work any more.

- Right. - I think this is probably the first time we've ever had the maker,

you're going to repair for the maker. Is that correct?

- Yes, I think so. - So the maker's actually going to see it.

- I feel privileged.

- So do I.

- THEY LAUGH

- Well, leave it with us, and, um...

..we'll let you know when Kirsten's worked on it.

- I can't wait. I'm really looking forward to this one. Thank you.

- Thank you so much.

Thank you, both of you.

- You're more than welcome. You take care now.

- Lovely to meet you. - Bye. - Bye-bye.

- BIRDSONG

- I'm so excited to work on this fishbowl.

I think it's absolutely beautiful.

Initially, I'm just going to see

whether Hattie managed to collect all of the pieces.

It's a bit of a puzzle, but I've got this lovely decoration

that's helping me to work out where the pieces actually go.

Because this bowl is made of porcelain,

the breakages are quite smooth.

And instead of the pieces locking together,

they tend to slide around, a little bit like a slippery fish.

I think it's probably mostly there.

I'm going to steam-clean, methodically, all of these edges,

and then I get to the really lovely stage,

where I start to bring the bowl back together again.

- BIRDSONG

Next into the barn is Liz Gamblin from Oxfordshire,

with a family treasure that's come off the rails.

- Hi! - Hi! Are you OK?

- Yes, thank you. - Good! What have you brought along?

- I've brought a little silver train.

- Amazing. Come inside. I'll get the door for you.

- Thank you.

- Brenton, look at this!

- I'll take it out.

- Wow! Silver train. It's a very small silver train.

- It's very small.

- There's not two more wheels in the box?

- No, I'm afraid, sadly not, no.

- So, what is this?

- Well, it is a Jewish artefact

and a spice box.

So the front comes off there... - OK.

- ..and you put spices inside,

cloves, or things that smell nice,

and it allows the scent to perfume the air.

- What a beautiful little thing.

- It's part of a set,

and it's something that you use at the end of Shabbat.

Shabbat is Jewish Sabbath.

And there should be three things here.

This little train with spices in it... - OK.

- ..a little candle,

and there should also be some kind of a cup for holding wine in.

And you say some special words

over the wine and the candle and the sweet smell,

and that will last those good feelings

into the next week, until the next Shabbat.

- Have you learned all of this from family traditions?

- No. I'm not practising Jewish, my family isn't practising Jewish.

My mum told me the family's story was

that when you put the spices in,

you put it on the table when you're having a meal with friends

and it's supposed to sweeten the conversation.

- Where on earth did you get it from?

- It belonged to my great-grandfather.

His name was Moritz Gruenwald.

And he probably bought it in around the 1880s.

He was Chief Rabbi of Bulgaria.

He very sadly got ill and died.

My granny would have been about four when her father died.

- How did the train end up in the UK?

- In 1939, my granny and my grandpa and my mum were living in Vienna.

But after Hitler's invasion of Austria, they had to leave.

So they came to England as refugees.

- So, just had to go? - They had to leave.

They were allowed to bring clothes, and that's it.

But somehow, this little train, my granny must...

- Your granny sneaked it somewhere.

- ..have managed to smuggle it through.

It was all she had from her father.

- How much that must have meant to her,

to actually think, "No, I'm taking this".

It just says a lot, doesn't it? - It is amazing. - Yeah.

- And there's something about holding an object

that you know has belonged to other people who are important to you.

- And they've held it as well. - And they've held it as well.

It's a really important link for me.

It's a link to my granny and to her father.

It's a sense of giving you

an idea of where you've come from.

It's, you know, it's quite an important line for me.

- So, what are you hoping Brenton is able to do?

- I'm hoping that it could have four wheels.

- At least four wheels. - Yes. - Yeah!

- And perhaps a little bit of TLC.

So it's a bit dirty. - OK.

- The chimneys, are they supposed to be that angle?

- I...I think probably not.

- Will you actually use it if Brenton's able to fix it?

- Oh, I think I would. You know, why...why shouldn't I use it

to sweeten the conversation? Yeah, definitely

I think that would be lovely.

- It's been an absolute pleasure meeting you.

And I promise you, your little train is in safe hands.

- Thank you very much indeed. - Thank you for bringing it.

- Thank you. - Bye. - See you later.

That looks so fragile. - It is so small.

- I can't wait to see the wheels you make. - OK. - Love it!

- This work is very, very fine.

The train is made using the filigree technique,

which is very, very, very thin strips of silver

which are bent into shape.

It's a technique used a lot in jewellery.

The rear wheels are missing completely.

So I've got to fabricate these wheels

from these little tiny bits of silver,

and, er...I've never done that before.

So it's going to be really difficult.

I've got to make this undercarriage

which holds the axles and the wheels.

Cos this is broken on one side here,

and this end is completely missing.

So the axle just wouldn't attach. There's nowhere for it to go.

I'm going to give it a good clean.

And by cleaning it, I get to know an item a lot better.

- BIRDSONG

- The fishbowl has gone together beautifully.

I've got one tiny sliver left to try and fit in,

and I can then think about introducing the adhesive.

With the very tiny pieces,

it's just not possible to try and get tape on to that.

So I'm going to use a little bit of wax

and see if I can get that in there.

I've got a heated spatula,

and I'm just going to pick up a little bit of the melting wax

and transfer it on to this sliver,

and holding it in place while the wax hardens.

The great thing with the wax is that once you've

bonded all your pieces and they've gone hard,

you can then just pick the wax off.

I now need to use my adhesive to bond the bowl.

I'm just easing the adhesive along the crack.

What I'm looking to see is that some of that is drawn

down into the break line.

This probably doesn't look very dramatic to anyone else,

but what I'm seeing is exactly my dream.

The adhesive is being drawn down into that crack,

and it just disappears before your eyes.

It's very slow and it's very subtle, but it's happening.

It's so satisfying.

Where I've got these areas of tape,

the adhesive will still get to those areas under the tape.

I'm now just going to work my way around all of these cracks

and fill each one with the adhesive.

- RAIN PELTS

- Quick!

- I'm confident that this adhesive is cured,

and I can now handle the bowl.

The look of the bowl is really quite satisfying.

The joins have disappeared beautifully.

I can also hear that it's gone together incredibly well.

If you tap it, it's got that lovely ring to it.

And that, to me, indicates that all the joins have bonded really well.

If there was one crack left that hadn't been bonded correctly,

you wouldn't get that lovely ring.

Unfortunately, there is a piece missing from the rim.

I'm going to take a mould from the next fish along

and I'm going to use that and put a colour fill into the mould.

I'm using an impression material,

and this will give a really amazing amount of detail.

I'm just going to press it on...

..and overlap it slightly

so I've got that nice edge as well.

So I'm going to move that around.

For this missing section, I've mixed up some epoxy resin

and I've bulked it with fumed silica.

I'm just gently supporting the back of the mould.

And I'm just going for a cool fill here

to mimic the porcelain body.

Once that's hardened, I can then

put the green glaze decoration over the top,

and also work in that incised decoration.

- Brothers Pete and Mick Howell are next to arrive at the barn,

with an heirloom in need of Suzie's saving hands.

- You all right? - Yes.

- Oh! - Look at that!

- THEY LAUGH

- See? Luckily, I've got the reflexes of a cat.

- That was quick. You must've been a goalie.

- No, I played basketball, that was me. - Oh, OK.

- So, this...is yours?

Where'd you get it from? - It's out of my mum's loft.

- OK. - So she passed a couple of years ago.

- Right. - And my grandfather

was a football-maker back in the, um...'40s and '50s.

- Did he make this? - Did he make that one? - Yeah.

- He did?! - Yeah. - Wow!

How did he get into making footballs, then?

- The family was involved in leather-work, boot-making.

There was more money in footballs than boots,

so my grandad went that route.

- And in 1951, he demonstrated football-making

at the Festival of Britain.

- Wow! They only had top people there.

It was just a celebration of people just saying,

look, after the Second World War, we're great.

We can do all this stuff. So he must have been good.

- Yeah, I'd like to think so.

- But you can't beat a handmade football. - Oh, no, not at all.

- You can't beat that. - No. That's the only thing we've got.

- That's it? - Yeah.

Cos we thought we'd lost the only one.

- We went to play football,

the ball got kicked and it disappeared

into a lot of undergrowth.

Started again with another ball

and forgot all about it, went home.

- Right. - We got home, and of course, me dad and me mum...

- The old man went bananas. - ..were not happy. - Wow!

- And we all went up as a family,

searching through stinging nettles, trying to find it.

And, um...we thought that that was gone.

We didn't think there was another one.

- So, you thought you'd lost, like, the family kind of football link?

- Yeah. And then we found this one in my mum's loft.

- Wow! How did that feel when you saw that? - Yeah, that was great.

- Been living with the guilt for 50 years.

- THEY LAUGH

- And suddenly, everything's all right.

- THEY LAUGH

- You know. - Yeah.

- So, this is the last one? - Yeah.

- There's no more linked to the family?

- That's it. - No. No.

- So, what was your grandad like?

- Very, very happy-go-lucky, very smiley.

You know, just a general, all-round good guy. - Good guy.

- Was he a keen footballer himself?

- Funnily enough, we can't remember him being into football at all.

- I think it was a trade. - Yeah.

- "I'm going to work, I'm making footballs." - Yeah.

- So, what do you want Suzie to do to this one, then?

- It'd be nice to, um...

..for it to be round again, wouldn't it?

- THEY LAUGH

- Does it have a bladder in it? - It's...

- Oh! - ..got something in there. - Ooh!

- It doesn't sound very healthy, does it?

- Got that bad crease in it. - Yeah.

So, you'd like me to get rid of those... - Yes, please.

- ..and try and make it look a little bit like it used to? - Yes, please.

- And who's going to be looking after it?

- Well, that's true. We might have to have a game.

- Have a game? - Yeah.

- Winner takes all.

- Winner takes all!

- THEY LAUGH

- Well, leave it with us.

- Thank you so much. - OK. - Thank you very much.

- You guys take care now. - Take care. - Thank you. - Bye-bye.

- This is great! The workmanship is amazing.

Each one of these panels are individually sewn into place.

It is like a jigsaw puzzle of leather.

I'm going to just start undoing this lace

and having a look,

see what's going on.

Ooh!

That leather actually doesn't want to move.

So whilst I'm really keen to have a look inside,

I don't want to force anything here.

So I'm just going to start by cleaning this

and getting this leather hydrated

and getting it a little bit more malleable.

So I just need to go over the entire ball very carefully.

And then, as things start to loosen up,

I can have a peek and see what's going on inside.

- BIRDSONG

- So I've prepared some silver

to make some new wheels for the little train.

I'm just bending this round on my ring pliers.

They've got a curved...inner face,

so it helps it to curve to the correct curve.

So that's one ready for soldering.

Might as well do both of them while I'm at it.

And basically, what you need to do is just make sure the two faces

are meeting each other as close as possible with no gaps,

so that when you solder it,

the solder hasn't got a huge gap to try and fill.

This torch has the sweetest little flame,

which is really, really hot and also very controllable.

So it's fantastic for fine work.

I have got to be careful I don't melt the silver.

That actually just did melt. I wasn't concentrating.

That shows how hot this torch is.

I'll remake that first wheel,

but before that, I'll solder up the second one.

Luckily, I've got lots and lots of silver with me.

Try again.

Heating this more carefully this time.

The solder has just flowed into the joint.

That is now a complete circle.

I've got to make nine teardrop-shaped spokes

that fit inside my hoop.

If my teardrops are 0.1 of a mil too big,

then by the time I've made nine,

that will be a millimetre, and they won't fit in here.

This is easy getting eight in,

but is number nine going to be happy to go in?

Perfect!

I'm really, really pleased with that. Um...

Now I've just got to solder them in position.

Spot-on! We've got one wheel done,

I've now got to make another one exactly the same.

So I've got some circles of silver, which I hope are matching

the circles on the original wheels.

I'm now going to hit this circle with a...doming punch.

And what that does is it makes a dome, which is similar to that.

I've now got to solder that in place,

and that wheel will be ready for its axle.

There's nothing to attach the axle to.

I've got one little hoop left there.

So I need to make a new undercarriage for this.

I've got the shape that matches

the original undercarriage.

I've now got to replicate that at the other end of this piece of wire,

and then make a mirror image of that

to go on the other side to hold both the axles.

I've got to get these accurate, or the train will sit on an angle.

I'll heat it evenly

so that the solder flows along the wires

and on to the floor of the train.

So I'll just let that cool down now, but I'm so excited,

I just want to see what these wheels are going to look like in place.

And they're going to look brilliant!

- Kirsten has also been successful in replacing missing pieces.

The specialist filler in the fishbowl

has now set, and is really to be coloured.

- I'm going to be using a cold-cure acrylic medium

that's suitable for ceramics.

And I'm going to add to it some powdered pigments.

And the aim is to try and blend it in

so that it looks like this green glaze.

There's not a huge amount of painting to be done on this,

but these final touches are just going to make the difference.

There's something that feels really lovely

about the bowl coming back together again.

This was one of the first pieces that Jane ever made,

and I cannot wait to see her reaction

seeing the bowl back together again.

- The bowl is a precious early example of a style

that became a hallmark of Jane's work.

Today, she has returned, with daughter Hattie.

- Hello, Jane!

Hi, Hattie. Come in. - Hello.

- Lovely to see you. - And you.

- And it's lovely to see you, Kirsten. - Oh, thank you.

- I've been so looking forward to this!

- KIRSTEN LAUGHS

- And Hattie... - Really excited. - ..how are you feeling?

- Yeah, I'm just, um...looking forward to this moment

of having it whole again.

- Good. - Absolve my guilt somewhat.

- THEY LAUGH

- It's really lovely for me to actually work on something

that you made. - Yeah.

- So that was quite special. - Yeah.

- Would you like to see it?

- Yes, please. - Yeah? - Go ahead.

- All right, then.

- Oh! Oh!

- That's amazing!

- It looks just the way...just as it should!

- That's absolutely amazing! - Oh, fantastic, Kirsten!

You've mended all the bits at the end!

- It looks even better. - Look!

Not a single chip! - I know.

- It is a nice bowl, isn't it?

- It's a beautiful bowl.

- It feels absolutely wonderful to see again.

I said I wasn't going to weep, and I'm not going to weep,

but I am completely overwhelmed. - Almost.

- I...honestly didn't think it would look as good as this.

- No, I know. It's just incredible!

It is such a lovely bowl.

- It's been an important bowl in my life.

- Well, it's back now. - And it's back!

- THEY LAUGH

- It's an absolute pleasure to see you both smiling. It's so lovely!

- It's wonderful!

Thank you, my dear, dear Kirsten!

Absolutely thrilled.

- That means such a lot.

I'm going to wrap this up for you now,

so that I can help you take it out to the car.

- Thank you. - Wonderful. - OK.

OK? - Yeah. - Lovely.

- Out we go.

- It really feels amazing.

I never thought I would see it like that.

- It's even more special.

- Yeah. Yeah.

It's even more special, that's the thing.

The bowl will come home and it'll go on the shelf.

- And we'll talk about it... - And we'll talk about it a lot.

- We'll talk about it forever, won't we? - Yeah. Yeah.

- Suzie has thoroughly cleaned the football,

ready to begin moisturising the parched leather.

- The cleaning helps to open the pores of the leather,

so that when you put a conditioner on,

it will be much better absorbed, deep into the fibres.

This is a, um...a conditioner

that's very, very heavy, um...in greases.

And the heat from my hand is melting it,

which is helping it to go deep into all those little nooks and crannies

that are in desperate need of being hydrated.

My hope is that as it gets absorbed by all those fibres,

it'll start getting that malleability back into it,

where I can get my hands in here

and see what's going on with the bladder

without risking any damage to the leather outer.

- How are we doing, Suze? - Yeah, all right, yeah.

Looks a bit different, doesn't it? - A lot different.

- It feels so much better. I can actually move this leather.

There's an old bladder in here,

so I'm just going to pull this out, if I can.

- You know what it's like? It's like a whoopee cushion!

That's what it is, isn't it? - Exactly!

Oh! Ah, look!

Look at this! - It's ripped, as well. - Yeah, it is.

You can feel where it's perished. - Yeah.

- Right, so I need to spend some time getting the rest of that out,

and then I can go ahead and condition the inside.

- Cool. - And then I'll just put a new bladder in.

- All right. I'll leave you to it.

- I'm just sewing around the entry port here,

where the laces go, um...and you put the bladder in.

The stitches, over the years of being used,

have just got worn away.

I think it would be lovely just to make sure

that I get those stitches back and make it look proper.

- Suzie, got you a pump. - Oh, brilliant! Thank you so much!

- How many have you got?!

- So, some time ago, I was in one of those antiquey shops

and I saw this collection of ball bladders.

- So, you just bought them... - Yeah. - ..just in case?

- Well, they're the old type.

- It's perfect. - Yeah.

Will you be able to give me a hand getting it in? - Yeah, yeah. - Cool.

So you're going to put the bladder in... - Yeah?

- Perfect!

- It's ready to pump up, then, innit? - Yes!

Exciting, eh? - This is the big test.

- I'm going to try and keep all the air in

by squeezing it down here.

- OK. - All right, go ahead.

Oh, hang on a minute.

I've got to get my timing right.

When you pump, I've got to let go. - Yeah. All right, ready? - Pump.

Pump!

- GIGGLING

- Did you let go?

No, you said... You were like that, "Pump." You're letting it out.

- All right. All right, pump.

- That's it.

Just say it, I'm watching your hands as well. - I'm watching your face!

- Because your hands and your mouth are not coordinated. - Pump!

Pump!

- Let go when you say, "Pump!" - Pump! - That's better.

Go on. - Pump!

Pump. - Let...

You can't say "Pump" and hold on to it. - I've got to start with the "P".

We've got to work on our rhythm. - No, YOU'VE got to work on YOUR rhythm.

I know what I'm doing. - Do you want to hold this and I'll...?

- I can hold that. - All right. You hold it, right.

Cos I've got cramp in my thumb now. - All right, there you go.

- Here we go. - You're supposed to go, "Pump!"

Pump.

Pump. Oh, there's a hole there. - Where? - Right here! - Aw!

OK, all right, well, I need to fix that. - You're going to fix it, yeah?

- Yeah. - Do you need a puncture kit, then? - I can make one.

- Well, where was you when I had a flat tyre? Eh?

All right, I'll leave that with you. - OK. Thanks.

Well, as we've found a split in this new bladder,

I'm just cutting a disc from the remnants of the old bladder,

so I'm just going to mark where I want the patch to go.

I'm just going to go ahead and pop

glue onto that outer fabric there.

So, I can go ahead and...pop this patch on.

And now what I need to do

is just let this cure 100%,

so that when I come to inflate the ball, it can really hold that bond.

Everything was going extremely well.

The puncture repair was holding and it was blowing the ball up

beautifully, and then all of a sudden, something went pop.

So, let's see where it's failed.

Oh!

Split right the way down the crease.

But better that it happens now, while I'm pumping up the ball,

and it does mean that I've got to get a new bladder.

- Liz's spice train is getting there.

I'm going to have a go at straightening these chimneys.

This filigree is very, very frail.

If I feel it's going to break, I'm going to stop.

So I've got a centre punch, which is tapered

and fits exactly down the inside of the chimney, which is a bit of luck.

So you can see it's just moving there.

I'm thinking about Liz's grandmother,

leaving occupied Austria with this hidden somewhere in her possessions.

And the fact that this is still intact

must mean so much to Liz and her family.

I'm really happy with that. That looks really good.

So all I've got to do now is give it all a good polish

and put it back together.

- With only two wheels and a bent funnel,

this intricate little spice box had ground to a halt.

- Now, that looks amazing. - Very small. Very, very complicated!

- Now Liz has returned to be reunited with the miniature memento

that ties her to her grandmother and her Jewish heritage.

- Here she is. - Hi, Liz.

- Hi! - How are you doing, Liz? You all right? - Yes, thank you. - Bless you.

Look at that smile! She's happy already. She ain't even seen it!

- I'm very excited! It's like a new life for it.

I've been thinking quite a lot about my granny

and about how it was really, really important to her.

It was the only link, really, that she had to her father,

who had died when she was very young.

- Bless you.

Well, she's excited. - Yeah. - And it's underneath there.

Better let her see it.

- GASPS

- Oh, my goodness me!

Oh, it looks wonderful!

- JAY CHUCKLES

- I just love the way it sits on its wheels,

it just looks really happy, and the wheels match perfectly.

- Well done! - Oh, yes! Absolutely! You could pass that round the table.

That's a real piece of craftsmanship, there.

- Certainly is. - This is straight as well, isn't it?

- A bit straighter, yes. - Yes. I thought so. - It's all sorted.

- Thank you so much!

- It's a pleasure. - That is absolutely brilliant!

I think my great-grandfather would be very happy with that. - Yeah.

- And my granny, I think, would be thrilled,

absolutely thrilled to see that.

And what I shall have to do with it now is to put some spices in it.

- Funny you should say that. - Yeah. - LAUGHTER

- Here we go. Some spices.

- Oh, my goodness me! Shall I put some in? - Oh, yeah! - Oh, right.

To make the conversation smell sweet. - Exactly. - Oh, it's wonderful!

Absolutely wonderful. - I can smell the cloves now. - Can you? - Yes.

- Yeah, I can smell... Yeah. - Yes, I can smell it.

- So you're going to be using it now? - Now it's been restored

to its original purpose and its former life, I think

it definitely should be used, absolutely.

- So it's time to take it home, show it off to everybody else.

- Yes. - All right? You take care now. - And you. Thank you very much indeed.

- Bye. - Thank you!

It feels wonderful to have it back, to see the train

how it probably looked

when it was first bought by my great-grandfather and used by him.

It has really restored its spirit.

It makes me feel a lot closer, I think,

to that part of my family history.

- Well, the ball is finally blown up, so all that's left for me

to do is to add a leather lace,

and I've just been researching how to tie these laces, and quite

frankly, there was nothing that explained what the technique is.

They were just photographs,

so I am just going to try and emulate what I saw.

I'm just trying to get this

lace in the very last hole here and it's... A-ha!

There you are, you little monkey!

I now need to just draw them up and give the ball a little

bit of a polish and it'll be ready to hand back to Mick and Pete.

- The leather ball was handcrafted by Mick and Pete's granddad

and is the only example of his work the family has left.

Today, they have returned, hopeful it's ready for safekeeping.

- Hello! - Hello!

- Nice to see you guys. I've heard all about you.

What are you hoping that Suzie's managed to do for you?

- Make it round! That would be amazing.

Bring it back to life, really.

It's a football, you know, it's a living reminder, if you like.

- Now, it looks like you're both trying to look through that sheet.

- No, we are, honestly! Can't keep my eyes off it.

- OK. - Suzie.

- Ooh!

- Wow! Look at that!

Amazing!

- You've done a good job there.

- Yeah, I love it. - I think that's more

of the sort of colour I remember them being, to be honest.

- You've done an amazing job. - Looks a bit...rounder.

- It took several attempts... - Right, OK. - ..to get it...

..looking like this.

- That ball can tell a few stories and I love it for that.

It's overwhelming, really, to think that Granddad actually

fashioned that, he's made that, you know.

It's here with us and will stay with our family for years to come.

- Well, it's very well made,

cos I was able to get inside and see his handiwork, it's extremely good.

- Hearing stuff like that, it's just so lovely to think that he

was an amazing craftsman, as well as a wonderful person. - Yeah.

- We're very lucky. - I think the question on everyone's lips is,

there's two of you, there's only one football,

so who is this going to now?

- We joked that we might have a game to sort of decide who...

Cos I've got a couple of boys, and he's got a couple of boys,

so we could have a game. - Yes! I mean, if you want to see me cry...

Please don't kick this ball around... - No, we won't be.

- ..because it is rather fragile.

We figured the two of you could have a game on the football game,

and I'm going to take this and...

- I'm going to take this,

and you guys can battle it out on the pitch. - Oh, great! - Yeah?

- Yeah. - Right. - Right, let's go.

- Uh-oh! Come on, remember what's at stake here.

- Oh! No spinning! - No spinning!

LAUGHTER

- Oh! - Save! - Come on!

- Ah! - Oh! - An own goal!

- Wow! Well done! - Good job!

There we are, friendly handshake.

- So, Pete, you're the winner. Ready?

- Thank you very much. It's awesome. Thank you so much. - All right, guys.

Thanks very much. - Thank you. - Take care. Bye-bye.

Do you want a game? - Yeah, come on. - Come on, then.

Let me show you how it's done. - Right.

- Winner takes all, and unfortunately, Pete won this time.

But there will be a rematch. - I always win.

I'm feeling over the moon with this.

It's incredible.

This symbolises how proud I am of my grandfather, the fact that

not only was he a lovely man, that the man could make a football.

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