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What would you take to The Repair Shop?

peter

peter

Administrator
Staff member
In the 5th September issue there are photographs of the items that mean a lot to me, and which I would love to see restored by the experts in The Repair Shop. What would you take along, and why? (Please post SMALL images like the ones below.)

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This clock, a Seth Thomas, was a wedding gift to my Barton great Grandparents, who were married 6 June 1900. It worked reliably until about 3 years ago. It would strike on the hour and the ding of a bell would sound on the half-hour. I miss those sounds, which I knew from my earliest days in my grandparents' home, then later in my mother's home and more recently in my own.

Linda
 
I too have wondered what I would take to the Repair Shop. Possibly the binoculars which belonged to my paternal grandfather. I think he had them with him during the second World War. Inside the case lid it has the name Walter Bushnell Ltd, Calcutta, Simla,Lahore. Looking through them the image is not at all clear. I once enquired about having them cleaned but was told it was not worth it. However, having seen a pair cleaned during a previous episode I am tempted to contact them.

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Another possible candidate is the Facit hand calculator I used when I first started work in 1961. Using this to calculate commission as a percentage of an amount in £ s d was not straightforward. To begin with I had to learn how to express the amount in decimal. For example, £7 11s 9d is £7.5875. The calculator was then used to work out the appropriate percentage, and then I had to convert the answer back into £ s d. I was soon able to do the conversions in my head and can still do so after all these years. When decimalisation arrived it made things like this so much easier.
 
I wouldn't submit anything anymore as I have already submitted 5 items all very different but I have not even had an acknowledgement to any of them, so I have given up.
 
Gwilym'smum said:
I wouldn't submit anything anymore as I have already submitted 5 items all very different but I have not even had an acknowledgement to any of them, so I have given up.
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That's interesting to know. To be fair, they must get a great many applications, and it could be argued that sending even a brief acknowledgement by email to so many people is not good for the planet.
 
Gwilym'smum said:
I wouldn't submit anything anymore as I have already submitted 5 items all very different but I have not even had an acknowledgement to any of them, so I have given up.
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It would be very interesting to see what the items were - I'm sure we'd like to see them, even if the experts didn't!
 
RogerL said:
Another possible candidate is the Facit hand calculator
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Talk about a flash from the past, and have tried to explain many times to family and friends about the Facit hand calculator that was in use in the mid-late 50's in the Birmingham Office where I was a junior clerk. Now I have a picture just as I remember the machine.

The Facit Hand Calculator (along with a Comptometer) were the main calculating tools used by the more senior clerks. Although I was taken through the use of both the Facit and the Comptometer, I never got round to using same in my work because I was called up for National Service in 1958. I can still recall whirring the handle forwards and backwards to achieve a result but never able to explain since how it worked. Thanks for bringing back the memory.
 
RogerL said:
That's interesting to know. To be fair, they must get a great many applications, and it could be argued that sending even a brief acknowledgement by email to so many people is not good for the planet.
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I sent detailed videos with all items and my son even played the theme tune in the background!
 
peter said:
It would be very interesting to see what the items were - I'm sure we'd like to see them, even if the experts didn't!
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Dear Peter I have tried to upload a couple of the pictures but it keeps telling me that they are too big. Sorry about that. Not good with technology, my son sorts all those sorts of things out. There was a small "squeeze box", 2 dolls, a black and a white one, a samavar, 2 portraits of my grandparents which were originally photographs but had been coloured by the photographer, I think for their wedding in 1914 and to be honest is is so long ago very near when the programme began that I have forgotten what the other one was.
 
Gwilym'smum said:
I will try and get my head round it Peter;):( (This is me and technology!).
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It's worth making the effort, otherwise you could annoy your friends and relatives by filling up their inbox with unnecessarily large images. For example, yesterday a member sent me a 15mb image that I hadn't requested - I've had to delete it.
 
Hi Peter I have downloaded it, first step. Next step to find out what to do. Actually it could be very helpful to me as when I do my presentations I do use a lot of photographs (mine not other's without permission) and it does make the size of the presentation quite large. I will try and see what I can do. Thank you.
 
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