Main content

Episode 31

Episode 31 of 40

Jay Blades and the team restore a Royal Australian Air Force hat, a wooden toy giraffe that’s on its last legs and a commemorative silver jubilee cup from the 1930s.

Jay Blades and the team revive three treasured possessions, reigniting the memories they hold.

First into the barn is Chris Marshall from Dorset. He has come to see master hatter Jayesh Vaghela about his father’s wartime Royal Australian Air Force cap. Robert Marshall served in the perilous position of rear gunner on the Lancaster bombers and completed an impressive 38 operations. During the Second World War he was posted to Britain, where he met and married Chris’s mother. When the war ended, he returned to his native Australia, where he lived for the rest of his life. Although Chris only met his father a few times, he remembers a modest, kind gentleman. He would like to have the misshaped, faded cap restored as a tribute to his father’s bravery and to one day pass it on to his grandson.

Mechanical maestro David Burville is also on hand to welcome Julia Ford, who has brought in a special toy from her childhood. The jointed, wooden giraffe should be strung to a sprung base, so it can move and bend when the spring is pressed or released. However, the strings have now snapped, and the geriatric giraffe is weak at the knees. He was a childhood gift from Julia’s uncle Joe, who is now in his late nineties. She knows it would make his day to see the giraffe back on its feet once again.

Finally, Tracy Marriot is hoping that the barn’s resident silversmith, Brenton West, can work wonders on her late mother’s silver cup. Her mother, Georgina, was born in 1935, on the day of King George V’s silver jubilee. Commemorative cups like these were awarded to all babies born on that special day. Tracy’s mother cherished the limited-edition gift her entire life, but it has seen better days, and Tracy knows how disappointed Georgina would have been to see it in such a state. Brenton does his research and replicates the missing sections with his trusty hammers and polish.

Available now

43 minutes

Audio described

Music Played

Timings (where shown) are from the start of the programme in hours and minutes

  • 00:13

    The Bbc National Orchestra of Wales, Nitin Sawhney

    I Am In Charge

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Jay Blades
Narrator Bill Paterson
Actor David Burville
Expert Jayesh Vaghela
Expert Brenton West
Executive Producer Alex Raw
Series Producer Rebecca McLaughlin
Director Rich Merritt
Series Producer Tanveer Bari
Production Company Ricochet Limited

Broadcasts

Take Part

If you have a treasured possession that needs restoring, please get in touch.