Â鶹ԼÅÄ

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

First up is a pinball penny slot machine, originally at the bar of a village pub run by owner Jeannine’s family. From the late 1930s until the 1950s, her great-grandfather was the landlord at this local watering hole, and was then succeeded by her grandparents. Jeannine was brought up just opposite the pub, and this antique pinball machine now provides a tangible link to her predecessors. Following a collaborative restoration, mechanical maestro Steve Fletcher and woodwork expert Will Kirk can’t resist staging a competitive game of pinball before handing the slot machine back to its owner.

Art conservator Lucia Scalisi’s expertise is called upon to repair a 1960s hand-painted drag cone - a fibreglass cone with a perspex viewing screen that sits on a motorbike’s handlebars to deflect wind from a rider racing at high speeds. Owner Dan’s father, Chris Bartram, was a drag racer in the 1960s and 70s, but died young when his sons were just 13 and 11 years old. This unique item is a first for Lucia, who asks metal expert Dominic Chinea to create a special perspex stand on which to display this treasured family heirloom.

And silversmith Brenton West undertakes the repair of two art deco-style silver ladies holding mirrors aloft. Owner Laraine sees the ‘silver ladies’ as a link to her beloved great-grandmother, with whom she lived as a child.