My wife and I have a new favourite TV show. Apparently it’s been going for ages with multiple seasons and episodes but we’ve just discovered it.
It’s ‘the Repair Shop’ on BBC1 and i- player.
Each week people bring along items that are old and worn or even seriously damaged and a team of experts use traditional skills to restore them. Clocks, jewellery, furniture, antique tools and toys, pieces of art, the list seems endless and no challenge is refused.
Now to some that might sound like watching paint dry but it’s actually intriguing and often quite heart warming which probably explains its popularity. Even King Charles and Dame Judi Dench have brought along items to be fixed.
It’s not just the nature or value of the things. Every object holds a memory for the person who has brought it. There’s a story of a parent or grandparent, who they were and what they did. Often the people want to pass it on to a child or grandchild as a family heirloom.
Several things I particularly like about the show.
One is the courtesy and respect the presenters and craftspeople show to those who visit the workshop, some of whom are elderly. They seem to listen with genuine sympathy and admiration to the accounts of honour, courage and love from bygone days.
Another is the painstaking delight they take in restoring the items entrusted to their care. Things we might think beyond redemption are lovingly cleaned and renewed with sensitivity, remaining as original and authentic as possible.
And then there is the mutual joy when the visitors return to be reunited with their items. The smiles of recognition and delight, the tears. No money is ever mentioned. Some of the things have little intrinsic value but then who could put a price on memories?
There is deep gratitude and the pleasure of a job well done, a service freely given. I love it.
And I think of One Who welcomes me, stained and broken as I am, cleanses and restores me, making me still myself, only better, to be cherished with joy in His family forever.
I could never thank Him enough.
‘Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise;
Give thanks to Him and praise His name.
For the Lord is good and His love endures for ever;
His faithfulness continues through all generations.’
Psalm 100
It’s ‘the Repair Shop’ on BBC1 and i- player.
Each week people bring along items that are old and worn or even seriously damaged and a team of experts use traditional skills to restore them. Clocks, jewellery, furniture, antique tools and toys, pieces of art, the list seems endless and no challenge is refused.
Now to some that might sound like watching paint dry but it’s actually intriguing and often quite heart warming which probably explains its popularity. Even King Charles and Dame Judi Dench have brought along items to be fixed.
It’s not just the nature or value of the things. Every object holds a memory for the person who has brought it. There’s a story of a parent or grandparent, who they were and what they did. Often the people want to pass it on to a child or grandchild as a family heirloom.
Several things I particularly like about the show.
One is the courtesy and respect the presenters and craftspeople show to those who visit the workshop, some of whom are elderly. They seem to listen with genuine sympathy and admiration to the accounts of honour, courage and love from bygone days.
Another is the painstaking delight they take in restoring the items entrusted to their care. Things we might think beyond redemption are lovingly cleaned and renewed with sensitivity, remaining as original and authentic as possible.
And then there is the mutual joy when the visitors return to be reunited with their items. The smiles of recognition and delight, the tears. No money is ever mentioned. Some of the things have little intrinsic value but then who could put a price on memories?
There is deep gratitude and the pleasure of a job well done, a service freely given. I love it.
And I think of One Who welcomes me, stained and broken as I am, cleanses and restores me, making me still myself, only better, to be cherished with joy in His family forever.
I could never thank Him enough.
‘Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise;
Give thanks to Him and praise His name.
For the Lord is good and His love endures for ever;
His faithfulness continues through all generations.’
Psalm 100
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