TV Tonight: Roald Dahl’s gate restored in The Repair Shop

A new episode of The Repair Shop is on BBC One tonight.

First into the barn is Hannah Smart, with a moss-covered garden gate which is essentially just a pile of sticks. It comes from the cottage Hannah has just bought which is the former home of Roald Dahl’s mother. When Dahl returned from fighting in the Second World War, he lived at the cottage with his mother, and the gate is even referenced in his autobiography when he describes the moment he came home from the war. Years of neglect had seen the gate disappear beneath the hedge until Hannah unwittingly unearthed it.

As an important landmark in the village with a connection to Dahl fans the world over, wood specialist Will Kirk is tasked with the restoration. The gate is in a very bad state having had all its joints rot away, so the challenge for Will is to work out how to maintain as much of the original structure as possible.

Next, David Burville has an appointment with Glaswegian Jon Keogh, who has a homemade model of a prawn trawler made by his dad, John. The model is a replica of a real boat owned by his father, who took up fishing after his career building boats in the Clyde shipyards came to an end. Having always yearned to make a living from the sea when Glasgow’s shipbuilding industry declined, it was the perfect opportunity to make his dreams come true. Sadly, the fishing industry also declined, and John ended up selling his trawler, something that was hard to cope with at the time. To help him manage, he decided to build an exact replica of the boat he loved from memory.

The model is in a bad way with broken lights, a deteriorating hull and snapped-off rigging. As David gets to work, he finds more problems than anticipated when he discovers the batteries have leaked.

Next to arrive is Mayassa Reip with a piece of history, for the attention of silversmith Brenton West, that’s played a part in generations of family weddings. It’s an ornately decorated silver-framed mirror from Iraq dating back to the early 20th century which belonged to her grandmother who had an arranged marriage. On the day of the wedding, she sat in front of the mirror when her husband-to-be walked into the room – the first time they saw each other was through the reflection in the mirror, and once they met in this way the marriage could go ahead. The mirror has been passed down the female line ever since, and although they no longer have arranged marriages, it has been present at all the subsequent family weddings.

Mayassa now wants to have it repaired so it can be enjoyed by future generations, including when her son gets married next year. The edges of the frame are sharp and coming away and it is heavily tarnished, but it also has major splits running through the silver decoration.

Arriving last into the barn are mother and daughter Mona Roddy and Dearbhla Lennon from Dundalk in Ireland. The have a miniature Irish dancing dress that Dearbhla wore when she was two years old. It has the traditional lace collar and cuffs which had originally been made for mum Mona when she was a child learning to dance in the 1950s.

It’s tradition that the lace collar and cuffs are unpicked and re-sewn onto all the dancing costumes, and Mona wore them until she finished competitive dancing in her early 20s. When Dearbhla was learning as a child, the lace was added to her costume, and since then has been worn by Dearbhla’s own children. Having had an internationally successful dance career in shows like Riverdance and Lord of the Dance, Dearbhla and Mona have a close connection to the lace and the little dress where it all began.

The dress is stained, but the 70-year-old lace is looking very tattered and is becoming undone. It is the job of textile conservator Rebecca Bissonnet to carefully bring the lace, and the dress, back to their former glory.