Episode 31

Ceramics conservator Kirsten Ramsay is entrusted to rescue a porcelain figurine of a nurse holding a child. The elegant figure was a retirement gift given to Niall’s mother, Margaret, who was a paediatric nurse for nearly 40 years. The serene figurine epitomises all that Margaret was and, when she passed away recently, it became even more symbolic. However, it was badly broken during a house move. Kirsten must delicately embark on this precarious puzzle.

Paper conservator Angelina Bakalarou is excited to be preserving a storytelling scroll, painted on fine silk and backed in handmade paper. The extensive scene depicts a group of Indian women planting trees. It was created around 1950 by Romita’s mother, Sangita, while she was studying fine art and craft at university in eastern India. The story scroll, which is over a metre long, has been rolled up for over 70 years - it is terribly creased, and the humid Indian climate has not been kind to the watercolours. Angelina must draw on all her expertise to safeguard this beautiful work of art.

The final caller at the barn is gardener Rik with his great-grandad’s favourite spade. Rik inherited not just the aged spade from Sydney but also his green fingers. Rik fears Sydney’s trusty tool might have dug its last hole, but not if master of all things metal, Dom Chinea, has anything to do with it!