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

Camera expert Brenton West tackles the repair of a broken 1960s Eumig cine-projector. This vintage home movie player holds the key to a lifetime of happy memories for its owner, 80-year-old Allan Barham. Allan was a keen amateur cinematographer, and faithfully documented the early years of his marriage to wife Fran on his 8mm camera. Sadly, Fran has recently passed away, and Allan is now keen to re-live those early years he captured on film, of Fran and their young family. The pressure is on for Brenton to get this machine running once more, but having not worked for nearly 30 years it turns out to be a challenging fix.

Furniture restorer Will Kirk takes on a unique challenge – a hand-crafted spinning wheel originating from Shetland, which hasn’t been used for nearly 50 years. Brought in by Christine Hunter, the spinning wheel was the property of her auntie Annie, whose spinning demonstrations were once a popular tourist attraction on Shetland. But with the wheel now battered, bent and broken, Will has a huge challenge ahead to get this traditional tool turning once more, so he calls in two heritage craft experts to help with the reconstruction of this unique piece of family history.

Art conservator Lucia Scalisi carries out an extraordinary repair job on an old painting of a much respected ancestor. Cracked, filthy and torn, the canvas has deteriorated almost to the point of no return, and the frame has been lost altogether. Lucia has her hands full with this one, but the eventual transformation is spectacular.

And cane expert Rachel South revamps a little wicker rocking chair steeped in precious childhood memories for Ushma Knapp. The chair was hand-made by her her father over 30 years ago, and it has huge emotional significance for Ushma. Show less