Episode 26

The team restores an elegant wooden desk connected to one of the 20th century’s most important political movements. Susie and her niece Sophia have brought it to be restored. The desk belonged to Susie’s grandmother, Una, a leading figure in the suffragette movement, along with her husband, Victor, who was equally passionate about the fight for women’s rights. The desk is the place where Una wrote letters to her fellow campaigners, read her correspondence and wrote her diaries. Lucia Scalisi and Will Kirk join forces to bring this historic item into the 21st century while retaining its history.

On a campaign of her own, Kirsten Ramsay is tasked with reviving a shop mannequin that was badly bombed in the Blitz. The mannequin, named Bert, has been a family mascot for Rene for nearly a century. It took pride of place in the window of Rene’s father’s tailor shop in the East End of London in the 1920s, but when the shop was destroyed in the war, Bert suffered the consequences. Despite his dents and dings, Rene’s daughter Shelley fell in love with Bert as a teenager when he was being brought down from the loft. Rene’s vivid memories of Bert in the shop window in top hat and tails mean Kirsten enlists the skills of hatter Jayesh Vaghela to get Bert back on his smartly dressed feet once again.

The final visitors to the barn are Dave and his son Lewis from Glasgow, who are hoping Brenton West can get their sporting memento looking champion again. The trophy belonged to Dave’s father, John, who won it while swimming a couple of miles in the cold waters of the Clyde in 1953 at the age of just 19. In later years, John became a frogman in the police, so his youthful swimming success served him well. It’s a labour of love for Brenton, who brings the shine back into this symbol of John’s fortitude and strength.