BBC The Repair Shop’s Dominic Chinea left ‘worried’ about unusual restoration as fellow expert ‘unsure’ on repair
The Repair Shop expert Dominic Chinea was left concerned when his co-star Pete Woods admitted he was unsure whether he was able to fulfil the guest’s needs with the repair.
Melissa Griffin and her mother, Harriet, walked into the barn with a portable drum kit, which Griffin explained was her grandfather’s.
She explained: “This is my grandpa’s portable drum kit in a box. It is packed into the box! The box becomes the drum. His name was Alfred Cowen, Alfie we used to call him then.”
Her mother added: “He got it in the 40s, I think, maybe it is about 80 years old, something like that. It was always around when I was growing up and he was always playing it, he loved the drums.
“Music was just his whole being really. Whenever he went to a party or a function, he would always take his drum kit with him.”
Speaking of her fond memories, Griffin continued: “I would be sitting on his knee and he would do the drums and I would do the symbol and also play the piano as well, so if we were in for the afternoon, he would get it out and have a sing-along.
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“Because we were there so much, it was all so comfortable, we were very very close. He was just an inspiration, a joy, and always smiling.
“The life and soul of the party, he would be asked to sing, and get us to play his drum kit whilst he was singing. My children never met my grandpa, sadly, he passed away before they were born.”
Griffin’s mother noted how it used to look a lot better and revealed: “There is something missing, the triangle is missing, and I do remember there being another drum, but I don’t know where it has gone.”
The hopeful guest added that she wanted her own children to be able to play the drum kit without being worried it would break at the slightest touch.
Chinea told the women that they would “get out thinking caps on” and would get to work in restoring the kit as best they could.
Turning to Chinea, Woods revealed: “I am a drum maker, drums don’t worry me, the triangle does.”
“Well, if you’re worried, Pete, I’m worried,” Chinea admitted before Woods took the kit away and began his thorough work on it.
Taking a closer look at his work bench, Woods said: “These are nice old things, I wouldn’t have minded one of these, suppose before the television and people had to entertain themselves, and it is great. I have got to make up another drum.
“What happened was, this drum would fit inside the other drum, and it would just fit in the case then.
“There is a phantom triangle which seems to have disappeared but I have tried making one before and they are not quiet that easy to make and one of the big problems, this has seen many a parties so I am surprised it is in as good of condition as it is really, it must have been quiet fun.”
Despite his initial fears, Woods managed to create a second drum, restore the box and make a working triangle to complete the kit.
Walking back into the barn, Griffin gasped and exclaimed: “I’m a bit nervous… Oh, look, it is so shiny and new. Look at the quality of the box!
“Oh my goodness, that is incredible. Just being able to give it a big bang and not worry about it tearing or falling apart is special. Thank you, thank you so much.”
Her mother agreed: “Oh wow…oh my goodness! And that… it sounds so good. It is amazing.”