91Èȱ¬

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

Mike Suffield is seeking help from the barn’s resident master hatter Jayesh Vaghela. He has brought to the barn a magician’s top hat that once belonged to his Uncle Ted, who was a father figure to Mike growing up. Ted loved magic and passed on his passion to Mike, along with a whole host of impressive illusions. Mike performed his own magic act for many years until his uncle’s death in the late 1980s. The collapsible hat has not seen the limelight for over 30 years, but now Mike’s young granddaughter has begun to show an interest in magic, and Mike would love to pass the hat on to her. But it’s a challenging fix for Jayesh – not only must he smarten up the faded, threadbare fabric but he must also mend the internal mechanism that makes the hat collapse and pop back up.

Next to arrive is Katie Baldock with a metal case that used to hold the tools of two generations of sign writers in her family. Both Katie’s grandfather and her father used this case throughout their careers, and each paint smear tells a story. Safe inside the case is a tin of the original brushes her grandfather used. Metal restorer Dominic Chinea is hugely impressed by this artist’s time capsule. Katie has inherited the family’s creative gene and has started sign writing herself, and she would love to begin using the case.

Finally, the barn’s mechanical wizard David Burville and bear ladies Julie and Amanda collaborate on an unusual project. Fiona Wright has brought in a mechanical model of a butcher, who stood proudly in her family’s butcher shop for years. Dressed in fitting attire, he appeared to chop a joint of meat and entertained customers while they waited to be served. They no longer have the shop, and the model went on the blink years ago, but the family can’t bear to get rid of this cheerful fellow. Fiona hopes the team can help her fulfil her promise to her late father and get the model working once again.