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00:00Here at The Repair Shop, countless treasures have been brought back to life.
00:07Deep breath.
00:08Oh, gosh.
00:10That reveal so much about who we are.
00:12Happy tears.
00:13And where we're from.
00:15It's perfect.
00:16But there's so much more out there.
00:18Let's do it.
00:19That's not yet made it to the barn.
00:22Beautiful, isn't it?
00:23Absolutely beautiful.
00:24So the team are hitting the road.
00:26This is the perfect opportunity to meet some new people, learn some new skills, and maybe fix a few things on the way.
00:32Yeah, I'm up for that.
00:35On a unique adventure.
00:37Whoa!
00:39We're going to get some looks on the way back to the barn.
00:41To join forces with expert craftspeople.
00:44We're doing 130 hours just hanging on the hazels.
00:48On their most ambitious restorations yet.
00:50They all need replating.
00:51Yes, hundreds of pieces of stone.
00:53Wow.
00:54Keeping heritage crafts alive.
00:56Good job with friends.
00:57I know, isn't it?
00:58And passing precious skills to future generations.
01:01Is he a good student?
01:02He is, yes.
01:03Does he listen to you?
01:04He does, for the most part.
01:06Sparking restorations across the country.
01:08You're part of the history of this now as well.
01:10Today we're heading to Yorkshire, and the magnificent city of York, home to one of the world's architectural wonders.
01:28This is original dating from 1470s, but you can see here how much that stone has gone.
01:35And this is pretty awful.
01:36Where the ancient craft of stonemasonry survives and thrives.
01:41Nothing's coming off.
01:42Give it a bit more welly, then.
01:44As long as you don't blame me if I mess it up.
01:46Back in the barn, we're drumming up a musical challenge.
01:49Look at that.
01:51Oh, you are a beautiful hoop.
01:53And in Sheffield, Dom gets first-hand experience of traditional scissor-making.
02:00I will honestly never look at a pair of scissors the same way again.
02:11This is Yorkshire, long celebrated by its proud residents as God's own country.
02:21I love a road trip.
02:22Yeah, to Yorkshire.
02:24I'm looking forward to it.
02:26Today, Will and Dom are in for a treat.
02:29Yorkshire has a rich industrial heritage, from when it produced coal and steel,
02:35with cotton and woolen mills exporting textiles across the world.
02:41It's also home to one of the country's most celebrated buildings, Yorkminster.
02:47We've been invited to Yorkminster today by Freya,
02:50who is going to show us, hopefully, a bit of stonemasonry.
02:54Yeah, she's one of the apprentices there.
02:55Yeah.
02:56It's good.
02:56They're passing on their skills to the next generation.
02:59At the repair shop, they're never afraid of a big project.
03:03But this is on another level.
03:05It took 250 years for the medieval stonemasons to build the Minster.
03:12Every stone carved by hand.
03:15Oh, my gosh.
03:18Wow.
03:18Now that is a window.
03:19That is absolutely amazing.
03:24Wherever you look, look.
03:25Carved stone, ironwork, gilding.
03:28But this magnificent building is at risk, and it's a race against time to save it.
03:38Yorkminster's centre of excellence has been created
03:40to bring together a team of highly skilled heritage craftspeople,
03:45and the next generation of artisans are preparing to carry the project into the future.
03:50Stonemasonry is one of the oldest crafts in existence,
04:03without which we wouldn't have wonders like the pyramids or Stonehenge.
04:08But keeping projects like this on track demands a continuous stream of fresh talent.
04:14I'm an apprentice of stonemasonry.
04:16I was doing a history of art course, and we had a module that was talking about it,
04:22and the whole class immediately was like,
04:24oh, I want to be a stonemason.
04:25And with an apprenticeship going here at Yorkminster,
04:28and the planets aligned, it's a dream.
04:30It really is, yeah.
04:31What are you up to at the moment?
04:33So, at the moment, I'm doing the masonry for a crooked finial.
04:37So, this is actually going to end up way up in the air, up there.
04:40Yes, almost on the top of one of the pointy bits.
04:43So, the stone that I'm doing is this one.
04:46They all need replacing.
04:47Yes, like, each pinnacle is hundreds and hundreds of pieces of stone.
04:50That's slightly terrifying, is it not?
04:53Certainly so.
04:55Come on, then.
04:56How do we turn this into the beautiful stone that I see on the side of the building?
05:03So, this is a rubber Koenig mallet.
05:05And what you do is you're letting it drop onto the end of the chisel.
05:10You're not pushing it.
05:10So, you're not hammering.
05:11It's the weight of the mallet.
05:13Exactly.
05:13I'm with you.
05:14It's one of the first mistakes you make as an apprentice.
05:16You have to remember it's something that you're meant to be able to do for eight hours a day for 50 years.
05:21Yes, of course.
05:22So, what I'd be doing at this stage is clawing down this surface so you get into a nice rhythm.
05:28Oh, goodness me.
05:29You're not being gentle.
05:30Considering the time invested in this stone already, the expense of the stone, you're really chipping away at it.
05:36Well, I mean, it's probably an eighth of an inch off where it needs to be so you can afford to give it some welly.
05:43To remove it.
05:43Yeah, OK.
05:44Love it.
05:44Tell you what, I've never done this before.
05:48Are you going to let me have a go?
05:49You can if you'd like to.
05:51Really?
05:51Give us some courage.
05:51Oh, I would love to.
05:52I'd love to.
05:54As long as you don't blame me if I mess it up.
05:56So, one and then away.
05:58And then one, then away.
06:00Nothing's coming off.
06:00Give it a bit more welly then.
06:02There we go.
06:03OK.
06:03That's better.
06:04There we go.
06:05And it's good to be able to get into a rhythm.
06:06Oh, that was a big chunk.
06:08Yeah, that was fine.
06:09Yeah, so what that is called is when you pluck a piece of stone.
06:11OK.
06:12So, that's absolutely fine at this stage.
06:14But it's not something you want to do when you're right on the surface.
06:16It's not OK later on.
06:17Not later on.
06:18I'm with you.
06:19Great.
06:21You know what?
06:21I can see how this seems to be the perfect kind of marriage of traditional heritage crafts
06:28and skills, but the heart of it and the soul of it comes from you guys with your hands.
06:33I think that's what is so special.
06:35Definitely.
06:35I think it's all something that's been passed on for hundreds and thousands of years.
06:39Yeah.
06:39And it's important to remember that these are the skills that made the cathedral in the first place.
06:47With Dom on the tools in the stone yard...
06:49Will's heading up to the dizzy heights of the Minster Roof.
06:59In the expert company of Head of Works, Alex McCallion.
07:06Really don't like this at all.
07:09Oh, it's windy as well.
07:11Oh, God.
07:12I'm going to head down here.
07:15I'm going to do this right, right.
07:17I'm just going to cling on to the scaffolding, I think.
07:21This is original dating from 1470s, but you can see here how much that stone has gone.
07:27I mean, it's literally the limestone is just returning back to the sediment that it was formed from.
07:33That's really bad.
07:34It is, yeah.
07:35So that's saltation and water damage.
07:37So we'd have been downwind from four coal-fired power stations.
07:41Yeah.
07:41So the damage that nitrogen will have done to this building is huge.
07:45I mean, the air is so much cleaner now that the power stations have gone.
07:48But now the biggest threat is climate change and water.
07:52And it's not just in this location here.
07:54It's over the entire cathedral, right?
07:56It is, yeah.
07:58So we're dismantling this whole buttress and then rebuilding it.
08:02So it's an incredibly complex project.
08:05Yeah.
08:05How long is it going to take to fix this entire pinnacle?
08:08It'll take about six months to dismantle it and then 12 months to rebuild it.
08:13It's amazing.
08:14Well, and to see these beautiful pieces of art, really, all carved to match the original.
08:19How does it feel to see people start their journey here?
08:23That's why the Centre of Excellence is such an important project,
08:26preserving the heritage craft skills, but doing more restoration.
08:30But for us, it's about looking after this magnificent building.
08:33Yeah.
08:33And we're getting on top of it.
08:36Slowly.
08:37Have you ever thought about giving stone carving a go yourself?
08:40I have had a go myself.
08:42And?
08:42But I think I'll stay writing planning applications.
08:54Oh, no, now we're in trouble.
08:55Oh, Dom.
08:56Here he is.
08:57Dom, such great work.
08:59Just don't look at that bit.
09:00Was that you?
09:00Was that you?
09:01No, no, no, no, no.
09:02Can I have a go, please?
09:03Of course you can.
09:04I don't know about you, but that's making me nervous.
09:06So basically, I don't want to do what Dom's done there.
09:09Have you done this before?
09:10Yeah.
09:11Have you?
09:11I did a one-day course.
09:13Got some experience there.
09:13Well, try and smooth out my little rough bit there.
09:16Go on.
09:16Smooth out the rough.
09:17Gently.
09:17Okay, I see.
09:18Yeah, so what you're going to do is you're going to stroke.
09:21Wow, look.
09:21There's nothing coming off.
09:22There we go.
09:22There is.
09:23There's nothing coming off.
09:24Should I be more aggressive?
09:25You can be a little aggressive.
09:26Yeah.
09:27Oh.
09:28There you go.
09:29So you do one and then push across.
09:31Look at that.
09:31New apprentice.
09:33Whoa, whoa, whoa.
09:33Don't go too near the edge.
09:34Don't go too near the edge.
09:35I'm fine.
09:35Look.
09:36Careful.
09:36Loads of space.
09:37No, you're right near the edge.
09:38No, no, no.
09:38I'm smoothing out the rough.
09:42Keep it straight, Will.
09:43Nice straight line.
09:45No, I think I've done quite well there.
09:47Well, I'm glad you think so.
09:48I've just remembered.
09:49This is going up on the cathedral.
09:51It is indeed.
09:52So some of my craftsmanship is going to be immortalized
09:55for many more years to go.
09:56Absolutely.
09:57It's quite a nice fort, though, to think that I know
09:58it's a very, very small part, but we've had a little
10:01small part of this amazing building.
10:04Do you know what?
10:04I cannot wait to come back and try and spot this up there.
10:08I think with Dom's craftsmanship, I think I'll be able
10:11to find it.
10:12Let's get out of here and let Freya get on.
10:14Come on.
10:17Dom will be back to follow the progress of Freya's stonework,
10:21but time now to hit the road.
10:23That is a big job.
10:26That is a big job.
10:27You sound like a builder.
10:28Yeah.
10:28That's going to take a long time.
10:32It's a joy meeting new craftspeople,
10:34but the team are also searching for time-worn treasures,
10:38crying out for a little help from the experts back in the barn.
10:45So Will's on a solo mission into what was once coal mining country.
10:50Coal has been part of Yorkshire's story since Roman times,
10:55with mining becoming a major industry by the 19th century.
10:59From this proud industrial past was born a beloved musical tradition.
11:05In Cawthorne, near Barnsley, 75-year-old Elvin Affey
11:10is hoping the repair shop team can save an instrumental part
11:14of village history.
11:17Elvin, what a drum.
11:19I know, it was beautiful, isn't it?
11:21It's actually the original drum belonging Cawthorne Brass Band
11:26from 1873.
11:281873?
11:291873, that's when the band started.
11:32So how long have you been playing with the band for?
11:34Come this September, I'll have been playing with the band 43 years.
11:37And throughout the year, there's various events in the village,
11:41the carnival, open gardens, doing Christmas caroling and all like that.
11:45Sound like you're busy then.
11:46Oh yeah, we're very busy.
11:48Very busy.
11:49No, I presume you're not currently playing this drum.
11:51No.
11:52No.
11:53But I've been thinking it would be about 2003, 2004.
11:58That's a long time.
11:58When it was last period.
12:00I've had some fun with it, actually.
12:02One occasion, I tripped over my own feet.
12:05And the drum went down the road, I leaned over it,
12:08and I'm still playing, like that.
12:10And the tenor and player, either side of me,
12:12they just put an arm out and scooped me up.
12:14And we continued, and cornet players behind couldn't play for laughing.
12:19How important is it for brass bands to be in this part of Yorkshire?
12:24It's part of the very fabric of the area.
12:27Barnsley in particular was a coal mining area,
12:30and every colliery had its own band.
12:33Of course, with the demise of the collieries and what have you,
12:36a lot of bands folded.
12:38Yeah.
12:38But we're still going strong.
12:40Yeah.
12:40Yeah, we're still going strong.
12:42It's such rousing music.
12:45Yeah.
12:46And if I'm stood outside at road and there's a brass band playing,
12:50if it comes marching down, it makes me feel very emotional.
12:54It gets inside you.
12:55And friendship with other members.
12:58Yeah.
12:58You get to a band and you're having a laugh and a joke.
13:01You look forward to going.
13:02It's comradeship.
13:03Yeah.
13:04Friendship.
13:04What exactly would you like to have done with the drum?
13:08Well, for science, the skin's put back on.
13:11It doesn't want repainting.
13:13It just wants cleaning.
13:15Not a little bit of touch up here and there, you know,
13:18but basically as it is and cleaned.
13:21What would it mean to the band to have this playing again?
13:23Well, I think it's not just part of band.
13:25It's part of village.
13:27It belongs to a village.
13:28Will's taking Elvin's dilapidated drum down to the barn
13:34for specialist restoration.
13:36But first, when in Yorkshire.
13:40I'm making the ultimate cup of tea.
13:42The ultimate.
13:43Look at this.
13:45You know what, after all that walking around today,
13:46it's quite nice to sit down.
13:47It is, yeah.
13:48Yeah.
13:48I did not realise York Minster was so massive.
13:52It's huge.
13:52I can understand why they're doing so much work to restore it
13:54because it's just a constant job.
13:56However, it has created a lovely hub
13:59of stonemasons and stone carvers.
14:01And it's the heritage crafts
14:02that keep these things moving forward.
14:04Giving a part of history a future.
14:07Exactly.
14:08I've picked up a massive job for Pete.
14:10Have you?
14:10You know the really big drums?
14:12When they go like that.
14:13Yeah, yeah.
14:14Like a marching band.
14:15Marching band, yeah.
14:16But that drum is a big old job.
14:17Time to get it back to the barn.
14:19Okay.
14:21Well, it's been quite a day, hasn't it?
14:22Yeah, there's so much going on.
14:23Goodness me.
14:24Actually, we won't toughen me up with you.
14:38At the barn,
14:40Wills delivered the Cawthorn Brass Band's prized possession
14:44to Pete, our musical master craftsman.
14:48It's quite interesting, actually, because it is old, without doubt.
14:53Judging by some of the painting that's on the front
14:56and the style of it, definitely 1800s, this drum was made.
15:02But it's still got a good few years of life in it, I think.
15:07I'm just starting by taking this apart.
15:10I love bass drums.
15:12The rope seems to go on forever.
15:1522 yards in old money.
15:19But this rope is a nylon-y type rope.
15:23I've got some nice platted rope.
15:25It looks a lot better.
15:26The one thing that I do notice is,
15:31and it's the bit that always takes the most wear,
15:34is the hoops.
15:37They are chipped.
15:40They have been touched in,
15:42but I think they've reached the end of being useful now,
15:46the paintwork.
15:47So I will strip them down.
15:51I had a quick look at the skins,
15:54which are a bit dubious, to be quite honest.
15:59So I think what he needs is a real nice new pair of English carfax.
16:04So I'll just have to get on the phone and order him some up.
16:09And they sound a lot better as well.
16:12Right.
16:13Final bit.
16:17First thing I've got to do
16:28is start stripping the paint off of these hoops
16:30so I can get them repainted.
16:43As Pete begins,
16:45the delicate operation of burning the old painted finish away,
16:49a restoration on a much weightier scale
16:52continues at York Minster's Centre of Excellence.
16:57Dom rejoins the team
16:58as they strive to replace hundreds of stone blocks fast enough
17:02to save the crumbling facade.
17:05Here, some clever cutting-edge technology
17:08is combined with the heritage skills
17:10at the heart of this crucial project.
17:14Heard all about this amazing machine.
17:16Yes.
17:16So the new scanner we've got here
17:18is top of the line 3D scanner.
17:20It helps us to essentially record all the masonry.
17:24So rather than having to take a week or so
17:25to take plaster casts,
17:26we can do it 10, 15 minutes per stone.
17:29It just means that we can scan exactly what we see
17:32and exactly what is on the building
17:33to help guide the new carvings.
17:36Oh, show us.
17:36Come on, come on.
17:37The scanner here,
17:38as we start the scan,
17:40it's going to project the light
17:41onto the surface that we're looking at.
17:43Yeah.
17:44And it's essentially measuring the feedback.
17:46So if you think of something like sonar,
17:47but with light,
17:48and you get the live view on the screen ready to go.
17:51No way.
17:52The great thing is we can very quickly
17:54and very easily see.
17:56It's got all of that detail,
17:57literally one pass around.
17:59Yes.
17:59Wow.
18:00So it is very, very quick, this scanner.
18:03So then you would go up there
18:04and scan that section with this little machine.
18:07Yeah.
18:07So it gives us a 3D model on our laptop,
18:09on our computer.
18:10So the current process is we will scan on site
18:12and we will cut the weathered carving.
18:14Okay.
18:15Which will then be given to one of our master masons
18:17who will build on top of that
18:19in clay or plaster to get the new design.
18:22And from his reference model there,
18:25he's been able to carve the new one in stone.
18:28Wow.
18:29I'll tell you what,
18:29how can it scan a human?
18:31So it does work.
18:33It doesn't like hair.
18:34Oh no, I'm in trouble then, am I?
18:35It could be an interesting scan.
18:37Can you scan me?
18:38We'll give it a go.
18:38Please, yeah.
18:39So you just stand with your eyes closed
18:41and stand as still as possible.
18:42Okay.
18:43And then I'll tell you when we're finished.
18:44So.
18:47So straight away that has picked up
18:49quite a lot of detail on your face there.
18:56There you go.
18:57So if you want to have a look.
19:01We've struggled a bit with the beard,
19:03but it has picked up quite a lot
19:04and especially on your shirt as well.
19:06Yeah.
19:06It's picked up on all the ripples in your shirt.
19:08It's fantastic for the level of detail
19:10you can capture with it.
19:11Yeah.
19:12That's interesting, isn't it?
19:13Because this whole building
19:14and everything here
19:14is a celebration of heritage crafts.
19:17It is, absolutely.
19:18And I can see that bringing in technology
19:20could be seen as a bit controversial,
19:22but actually it's helping things.
19:24Exactly.
19:25Heritage crafts are struggling.
19:27So the hope is by training people up
19:29and upskilling them as well,
19:30we'll be able to create
19:31almost like a boom in the industry.
19:34Yeah.
19:34But for the future generation.
19:35And it all starts here.
19:36Exactly, yes.
19:37Brilliant.
19:37Brilliant.
19:43The technology helps,
19:45but stonemasons like Freya
19:47also harness their own imaginations,
19:50tracing designs onto the flat faces of the stone.
19:54The last time you will have seen
19:57the pinnacle section that I'm doing
19:59was when it was still in the masonry stage,
20:02so some of it, you know, still needed to come out.
20:04And now we're onto the carving stage.
20:07So this is the design that I have completed.
20:10The first half of one of the Crockett's
20:13has been started by an experienced carver,
20:16and I watched the process
20:18of how he was going around that
20:19and how he was doing that
20:20because this is the first kind of project
20:22that I've done.
20:24So you can't really replace, you know,
20:26good old-fashioned observation of master at work.
20:29It really is a really big sense of responsibility,
20:32but, I mean, it's an incredible privilege
20:34to be able to doing this kind of work.
20:35And I've been really enjoying every minute of it,
20:40even if it's frustrating or, you know,
20:42it gets faffy every sort of thing.
20:54Back at the barn,
20:56Pete's giving the Cawthorn band's drum a thorough clean.
20:59This drum has been around a long time,
21:08so it's quite dirty and quite greasy.
21:12So I'm giving it a rub down.
21:15And especially, I'm hoping that the lion
21:17comes up just a little bit smarter.
21:21So, once I've finished cleaning it up,
21:25I'll get the brushes out,
21:26give it a bit of a retouch in some places
21:29that look a little bit odd.
21:32Then I'll give it a nice coat of varnish.
21:34They actually want to use this bass drum.
21:58And, obviously,
21:59they're going to want a nice sound out of it.
22:01So, to do that,
22:03we've got to put some decent heads on.
22:14The vellum head has now been soaked.
22:17As you see, it's nice and flexible.
22:19Makes life nice and easy.
22:21So we'll just get the hoop on there.
22:25So I'll just put something on there
22:27just to hold it flat while I'm doing it.
22:30So it's nice and easy to lap.
22:37Put that on there.
22:39There it is.
22:44All I'm doing is tucking it around the hoop.
22:48When it dries out,
22:49the chance of getting that off there
22:52will be non-existent.
22:54It really is tough stuff.
22:57If you're not careful,
23:02you can actually pull the hoop out around.
23:07But when you've been doing it long enough,
23:09it's as much a feel
23:11as it is an actual sort of action.
23:14I'm going to do something risky.
23:20I'm going to take that off.
23:23No, it's not that risky.
23:24It's not as risky as you thought.
23:26Look at that.
23:29I hope you are a beautiful hoop.
23:31That's the first one done.
23:45I've now got to do the second one
23:47so I can get the head
23:49what we call mounted up.
23:51In other words, roped up.
23:52With Pete making headway in the barn,
24:00in Yorkshire,
24:01Dom's heading for what was once
24:03the global centre of steel
24:04and cutlery production.
24:07Sixty miles to the south of York
24:09lies Sheffield,
24:11celebrated in the past
24:12as steel city.
24:13And while the metalwork industries
24:16have seen a decline,
24:18still flying the flag for Sheffield steel
24:20is one of the UK's last
24:22handmade scissor makers.
24:25Dom's stopping by
24:26to get some tips on the snips
24:28from expert Jonathan Reid.
24:32I've got to say,
24:33what an amazing building you're in here.
24:35You'll find courtyards like this
24:36all over Sheffield.
24:37Historically, you had separate businesses in them.
24:40You'd have scissors
24:41that had been worked on
24:42by about 15 different
24:44mesters around Sheffield
24:45and they'd all do piecework
24:46and a rack of scissors
24:47would go from one business
24:48to the next to the next.
24:50So it would go from the borer
24:51to the finisher
24:52to the putter.
24:53OK, what do you mean by a putter?
24:55So one of the last stages
24:56of scissor making
24:57is putting together.
24:58Ah.
24:59And that would have been
25:00done by the putters.
25:01So you're not a scissor maker,
25:02you're a scissor putter.
25:04Yeah, the idea of putting
25:05the two blades together,
25:06coldsmithing the crucial shape
25:08into that pair of scissors.
25:09So that was carried out
25:10by the putters
25:11and I was taught
25:12by the last two
25:13master putters
25:14in Sheffield
25:15when I turned up
25:15for you to the workshop.
25:18Oh, wow.
25:20Look at this place.
25:22It's brilliant.
25:25So what are you doing
25:26to keep this craft alive?
25:28So I think the most crucial part
25:30is actually getting people
25:31to do the craft.
25:32So it involves
25:33employing people
25:34and training people up.
25:35So we've taken on apprentices.
25:4020-year-old James
25:42joined the company
25:43four years ago.
25:45So what are we grinding
25:46on this?
25:47So we're grinding
25:47the nail holes now.
25:49Which is this bit?
25:49So that's the part
25:50where the screw goes through
25:51and the swage line
25:53that goes down
25:53the back of the plate.
25:53Oh, man,
25:54I've got to get along
25:54here as well.
25:55Yeah.
25:55Let's fire it up.
25:56Let's do it.
25:56Oh, no.
26:04That's about to be flat.
26:06That's OK.
26:06Do a circular motion.
26:07Do a fair ball.
26:07Circular motion.
26:11Now in one motion
26:12right now
26:12on the back of the plate.
26:20They may be wielded
26:22by a new generation
26:23of craftspeople,
26:24but traditional
26:25scissor-making tools
26:27haven't changed much
26:28since the 1600s.
26:30So this is the anvil then?
26:32Yeah, this is the
26:33Stidi anvil.
26:34What's this on top?
26:35That's the putter's ring.
26:37Probably the most
26:38specialised piece
26:39of equipment
26:39in the workshop.
26:40It looks very simple,
26:41but this offers
26:43the recess
26:43that allows us
26:44to bend the scissor
26:46into shape.
26:47OK, so you're hammering
26:48into that void
26:49to bend the shape.
26:50I've got this blade here.
26:52You can see there's
26:53quite a severe curve
26:54compared to the rest of it.
26:56About here?
26:56Yeah, you want to be
26:57taking that out.
26:58OK.
26:59You want to be
26:59straightening that.
27:04I'd use a bit more force.
27:05A bit more heavy-handed.
27:06Here we go.
27:07That's one of those skills
27:12you can only pick up
27:13with time, experience.
27:15Absolutely.
27:15Isn't it?
27:16Yeah.
27:16Is that looking better?
27:18Yeah, it's getting there.
27:19So if we're almost there
27:20with the shape,
27:21what does the finished
27:21product look like?
27:22Well, once we've screwed
27:24the pair together,
27:25we take the scissors
27:26to the grindstone
27:27and we'll finally put that
27:28edge on the pair of scissors.
27:30So then they become sharp?
27:32Yeah.
27:33Beautiful.
27:33I will honestly never
27:35look at a pair of scissors
27:36the same way again.
27:48Hoops painted,
27:50shale cleaned
27:51and varnished,
27:52Pete's now ready
27:53to bring the Cawthorn
27:54brass band's drum
27:55back together,
27:57first repositioning
27:58the newly re-skinned heads.
28:00So that one I know
28:03is what's called
28:03the batter head.
28:05I know that's
28:06on the right-hand side
28:07as the drum's played.
28:10So quite a simple process now.
28:12You just put it on there
28:15and convince it
28:19it's going to go on there
28:20and stay on there.
28:21Now we've just got
28:30to turn it over.
28:33Could be a bit of juggling
28:34going on here.
28:48So far, so good.
28:49It's just going to hold there.
28:59Brenton, is there any chance
29:00you could just
29:00hold it, please,
29:02while I...
29:03What have I got to do?
29:04While I rope it up.
29:05OK.
29:05OK, just hold it down.
29:07It's all right.
29:07Don't be afraid of it.
29:08So tell me,
29:09what's the rope for?
29:10The rope actually
29:12goes from side to side.
29:14Right.
29:15It actually holds it all together.
29:17OK.
29:1722 yards.
29:18Wow.
29:19So those little leather bits
29:21you're putting on there,
29:22what are they for?
29:23They're the braces.
29:24Braces.
29:25You can move them up and down.
29:26It tightens...
29:27Oh, tensions.
29:28It tensions it, yeah.
29:29Wow.
29:33And what happens
29:34if you forget to put one in?
29:36You go back to go.
29:38Start again.
29:39Start again, yes.
29:41Right, move it around one.
29:42Yeah, OK.
29:43OK.
29:43OK.
29:43OK.
29:43OK.
29:43OK.
29:43OK.
29:49I think I should stay there now.
29:50Thanks, Brendan.
29:51Yeah.
29:52It's been a pleasure watching you.
29:53OK, Pete, well done.
29:54Good luck with finishing it.
29:55Thanks very much, mate.
29:56OK.
29:57Yeah, I need a bit of luck.
29:58You will.
29:59OK.
30:00OK.
30:01Well, that's five done.
30:02Another eight to go.
30:03And we can get this drum back on the road.
30:06And we can get this drum back on the road.
30:07And we can get this drum back on the road.
30:08And we can get this drum back on the road.
30:16hour玩 wzglnten
30:22And we can get this drum on the road, OK?
30:24Oh, well done.
30:25and we can get this drum back on the road.
30:37And that's a job for Will,
30:40who's beating a path north to reunite Elvin with his drum.
30:46I'm always so proud at the work that people do in the barn.
30:50Pete has really excelled himself
30:52because I personally think that he's done a fantastic job on the drum
30:56and I'm sure that Elvin's going to be just as pleased as I am.
31:05I'm hoping to see a sparkling new drum,
31:08not over-restored, but in usable condition,
31:11that we can use it and play it again.
31:14Elvin, good to see you.
31:16It's been a few weeks.
31:17Yeah, well, it has.
31:19Every week there's been people asking how we're going on with drums
31:22and I says, well, I don't know.
31:24They're not bearing it.
31:26Well, it's been a big job.
31:27Quite literally, it's a big drum.
31:28Yeah, it is a big drum.
31:31One of the lovely things about this
31:32is that it's not just a sort of antiquity
31:36that sits on a shelf to be looked at and dusted once in a while.
31:40No.
31:40This is something that actually has a function.
31:43So is that the plan to use it?
31:44That's the plan we're going to bring it back into use
31:46when we've got parades, Remembrance Day and things like that.
31:49Yeah.
31:50And hopefully it'll have another long life.
31:53Another hundred years.
31:56How's it going to feel taking this out for the first time?
31:59I don't know.
32:00I'll tell you when I've done it.
32:03You ready to see?
32:04I am ready to see.
32:05OK.
32:10Oh, boy.
32:11Absolutely marvellous.
32:18All the brass fittings have been cleaned.
32:21New cord, new tights.
32:25Are there new skins or are they existing skins?
32:29These are new skins.
32:30New skins.
32:31Yeah.
32:33Wow.
32:34And the paintwork's been touched up, but not over-touched up.
32:37No.
32:38And you can still see the maker's name.
32:41Myham's Limited, maker's Strangeways Manchester.
32:43Yeah.
32:44Yeah.
32:49And it's lightly touched up on the crest,
32:51which has been cleaned as well.
32:54Beautiful.
32:55These rims, they were in a real sorry state.
32:59They've all been repainted.
33:01Fantastic job.
33:03Absolutely fantastic.
33:05You're going to be looking at this all day now.
33:06Yeah.
33:07You can't help but look at it.
33:11It's beautiful.
33:13Yeah.
33:14Beautiful.
33:15Right.
33:16Have to have a go.
33:26Is that loud enough?
33:27Eh?
33:28Is that loud enough?
33:28Eh?
33:29Are you serious all right?
33:31I can feel that in my chest.
33:33Yeah.
33:33Yeah.
33:34Is this everything you wanted it to be when you sent it away?
33:36It is.
33:37Absolutely everything we wanted of it.
33:39Yeah.
33:40Absolutely fantastic job.
33:43Absolutely great.
33:45Really is.
33:46It's a real pleasure.
33:48Workmanship that's gone into it as well.
33:50It's incredible.
33:51It would be good to vote for anything better.
33:54It would be really good.
33:57The guy that's done it wants a medal.
34:02And that is music to the ears of the repair shop team.
34:05But they aren't done yet.
34:13At York Minster, there's one job left for Dong.
34:17Freya, how's it going?
34:21Good to see you again.
34:22This is looking beautiful.
34:23Isn't it?
34:24Yeah, we're very pleased.
34:24The detail is amazing.
34:26Yeah, there will have been hundreds of hours that went into this piece of carving in the
34:29masonry.
34:30Yeah.
34:30Good.
34:31I cannot believe that this is going up there today.
34:33I know.
34:34You're going to help.
34:35You're trusting me to help you actually put it back in place.
34:39Yeah, absolutely.
34:40If something, you know, falls off or gets chipped off, we'll make you glue it back on.
34:43Dom makes no claim to be a stonemason, but today he's getting a real honour, the chance
34:51to place a new stone and help restore one of the country's finest historic buildings.
34:57What's the first step?
34:58So the first step is that we need to put this onto a bogey or a trolley.
35:02Ready now, yeah?
35:03Yeah, we can do it straight away.
35:04Let's do it.
35:05It's a tight turn.
35:06You got it.
35:07Yep.
35:09Okay.
35:10Yep.
35:11Let's go.
35:11There we go.
35:12Straight in the lift.
35:13Yep, just straight in.
35:17There we go.
35:18You all right with height?
35:20I think so.
35:21It's an 85-foot ascent to the Pinnacles with a 40-kilo stone to transport.
35:28Easily done on a lift, though the medieval masons would have had no such luxuries.
35:33You ready?
35:34Yep.
35:35Let's go.
35:35You got a hold of it?
35:36Let's go.
35:37Mind the cap.
35:38Right, you've got...
35:43Just a little bit further.
35:44A hoist there.
35:45There we go.
35:45And then we just stop it there.
35:47Right, so this is getting tied up and winched up there.
35:51But first of all, we need to make the mortar.
35:53Ah, we've got some mixing.
35:54Yep.
35:54Well, you do.
35:55You have some mixing ahead of you.
35:58What we've got here, we have two kinds of sand.
36:00We have a finer sand and a coarser sand.
36:03We have water and we have some lime.
36:08Perfect pop it in the bucket.
36:10There we go.
36:10One coars, we're going for the fine.
36:12Yep, two fine.
36:13Two chances of this.
36:15So this is holding all of these blocks in place.
36:18There's no gluing effect.
36:20A mortar needs to be a little more permeable and a little softer than the stone is going to be.
36:27It needs to have a tiny little bit of movement because any building, no matter how beautifully constructed, is going to have a little bit of movement.
36:35There we go.
36:36That's perfect.
36:37Yep.
36:38Final ingredient then.
36:39Absolutely.
36:40It's most important, water.
36:44So if you try and really get the trowel in and like pull around like that.
36:49Okay, so what we're looking here for is a fatty consistency.
36:53Kind of a little bit like when you mix butter and sugar.
36:56It's got that kind of, like that spring to it, but it's also quite dense.
37:00That's looking good though.
37:01That is looking good, yeah.
37:05Whoa.
37:06God, that is, that is quite a workout, isn't it?
37:10And there's more effort to be expended with one more lift before Freya's stone can be fixed into position.
37:18Okay, if you just lift it up and I will pop these underneath.
37:22Go on then, that's it.
37:22There we go.
37:24One here, one here and you pop it down again.
37:26Coming down on your fingers.
37:27There we go, all clear.
37:29Great.
37:30I think that's good.
37:30Right, so now if you go up onto that level and if you operate the winch and we'll get it lifted in.
37:38Perfect.
37:38Okay, I'll head up.
37:39Smashing.
37:48Freya, you ready?
37:49Yeah.
37:50Coming down.
37:57Perfect.
37:58All right, coming up.
38:08It's quite scary, just dangling like that.
38:11Doing great.
38:12Go on, I've got this, it's all right.
38:13There we go.
38:16Right, just make sure it doesn't smack against any bars.
38:19I can't see from my position.
38:21You're my eyes.
38:24You say I'm nervous now.
38:26Great.
38:29Fantastic.
38:30Perfect.
38:31I'll come up and then we'll get watering.
38:32Brilliant.
38:33Yep.
38:35So far, so good.
38:37But let's see what Head of Works Alex has to say about their progress.
38:42How's it all going?
38:45Good, yeah.
38:46Well, you can see how we're advancing at pace on this pinnacle.
38:49Amazing.
38:50So good.
38:50But I mean, it's such important work, isn't it?
38:52It is, and I always think what's really humbling, and Freya, I'm sure you agree, is this will
38:56be here now for 300 years, hopefully.
38:58Yeah, two or three hundred years.
38:59Right, shall we get this fixed in, watered up?
39:02I would love to.
39:03Yes.
39:03I'm ready.
39:04Let's get going.
39:04There you go.
39:20Okay.
39:21How's that looking?
39:22That's looking good.
39:23If you just give it a little bit of a rough there, yeah, through with the trowel, and
39:28then it just gives it a little bit of grip when we're popping it on.
39:32Happy?
39:33Yep, that's looking good.
39:35Great.
39:35Okay.
39:36It's time.
39:38Crunch time.
39:39Should we do it?
39:39Yes, let's go.
39:41This is quite exciting.
39:43There we go.
39:43I'll let it back away.
39:46So we're going to lift this upwards.
39:49You've got it all right.
39:51There we go.
39:52Now we're going to lift it in very, very, very slowly.
39:55Is your corner okay?
39:56Ooh, lovely.
39:57Didn't ding anything off?
39:59No.
39:59We'll just push her in.
40:02Wonderful.
40:03There we go.
40:05How's that feel?
40:06Is it on?
40:07It's on.
40:07It's on beautifully.
40:08It's standing on its own.
40:10You did a great job.
40:11And that's it.
40:11That's going to be there for the next two to three hundred years.
40:14Yep.
40:15Well done.
40:16It's quite humbling.
40:16Yeah, it is, isn't it?
40:18I'm feeling quite proud of the achievement of this.
40:21I mean, how does it feel for you?
40:23We all love it.
40:24We need it.
40:24We're a further step forward to completion of this pinnacle, and then we leave this part
40:29of the cathedral in a much better condition that we inherited it, which is what it's all
40:33about.
40:33It's making sure this magnificent building is here for generations to come.
40:37The only thing better than how good the Cawthorn Brass Band's historic drum now looks is how
40:49it sounds.
40:51Elvin can't wait to hear it lay down the beat for the first time in decades.
40:55I've played this drum in public for over 20 years, and it'll be a great occasion to once
41:02more play it and let everybody see it and hear it.
41:05The first piece of music, it's a march called Home Again, because it's been stuck for about
41:1120 years, and it's gone back to the village and to the band.
41:14I thought being here for the first performance was absolutely amazing.
41:44A real privilege for us.
41:46We thought it sounded fabulous, actually, when he played it.
41:51It was a real reminder of Elvin and how well he plays.
42:06You can hear the drum.
42:08You can really, in the background, see the people that are enjoying the whole performance.
42:12Of course, with the drum being at the front there, it's a feature.
42:15performing today were absolutely great, and I think the people listening appreciated it,
42:35that it belongs to the band, it belongs to the village.
42:39It's just fantastic.
42:40The drum, now safely back where it belongs, Will and Dom take the repair shop back on the road,
42:53ready for their next adventure.
42:55This was worth leaving the barn for, wasn't it?
43:00Yeah, it's nice to come out on a bit of a road trip.
43:02Music and snacks.
43:04Yeah, I'm here for the snacks.
43:05Do you know what makes it even better?
43:07The weather.
43:07Do you know what makes it even better?
43:08The weather.
43:16Bye.
43:23Bye.
43:24Bye.
43:25Bye.
43:26Bye.
43:26Bye.
43:26Bye.
43:26Bye.
43:27Bye.
43:31Bye.
43:31Bye.
43:33Bye.
43:35Bye.
43:35Bye.
43:36Bye.
43:36Bye.