Episode 8

Arriving first at the barn is Pernilla de Bellis from Glasgow, carrying her family’s 1869 edition of Dante’s Divine Comedy. Once owned by her great-great-great-grandfather Giuseppe Fermini, the book became a cherished link to her beloved grandmother Nonna Carla, who used it to teach Pernilla to read and to appreciate literature. After Carla’s passing during the Covid-19 pandemic, the book became one of the few physical connections Pernilla still has to her. Fragile, torn and falling apart, the volume is entrusted to bookbinder Chris Shaw, who dismantles the book, repairs damaged pages, strengthens delaminated boards and carefully remounts the curved spine using his 'mummification' technique. Finally, he blends the worn cover with watercolours, restoring both strength and dignity to a treasured family heirloom.

Next to arrive is Mikey Akers from Coventry, accompanied by his mum, Louisa. Mikey received the Pride of Birmingham award aged 16 for his work raising awareness of verbal dyspraxia, a neurological speech disorder he has lived with since childhood. His poem I Am the Boy became the foundation of his advocacy, helping others understand the challenges he faced. Years later, Louisa accidentally knocked the award from a shelf, shattering the angel statuette. Ceramics expert Kirsten takes on the delicate reconstruction, navigating glossy resin surfaces, missing fragments and fragile joins. She rebuilds the wings, fills losses with soft wood filler and experiments with layered hand painting to recreate the award’s pristine, opaque white finish.

The third repair belongs to Justina Sebag-Montefiore from Cornwall, who brings her grandfather Michael’s handmade tsymbaly, a Ukrainian stringed instrument. Michael, known to Justina as Dido Mikeilo, grew up in the Carpathian Mountains before being taken to a work camp in Germany during World War II. After liberation, he settled in England, bringing with him a love of Ukrainian folk music. Unable to bring his original instrument from Ukraine, he built a new tsymbaly using postwar materials, carving wood with the skill of his mountain community. After decades of storage, the instrument is now loose, damaged and painfully out of tune. Luthier Julyan Wallis must reinforce oversized hitch-pin holes, repair weakened dovetail joints and restring more than 78 strings. His careful consolidation is reinforced with a visit to Justina’s home to show her how to tune the instrument so that its music can delight further generations.

Finally, arcade expert Geoff Harvey receives a vintage fruit machine, known as a one-armed bandit, from Maxine Armitage and her daughter Ella. The machine belonged to Maxine’s late husband Ian, whose life revolved around amusement and gaming equipment. Ian kept the machine partly because its manufacturer’s initials, IA Limited, matched his own. After Ian’s passing in 2018, Maxine discovered the machine in their garage and knew it needed saving. Geoff begins by rewiring dangerous electrics, unlocking the cabinet and inspecting the mechanical coin mechanism, jammed microswitch and heavy internal components. He must restore the reels, clockwork timer, payout system and lighting so that the machine can once again spin, click and pay out just as it did in Ian’s youth.