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What would you take to The Repair Shop?

Discussion in 'Comments on the latest newsletter' started by peter, Sep 4, 2022.

  1. 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.)

    upload_2022-9-4_10-30-56.png upload_2022-9-4_10-31-14.png upload_2022-9-4_10-31-34.png
     
  2. LindaW

    LindaW LostCousins Member

    upload_2022-9-5_23-14-10.png

    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
     
  3. RogerL

    RogerL LostCousins Member

    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.

    upload_2022-9-6_11-25-55.png upload_2022-9-6_11-26-19.png

    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.
     
  4. Gwilym'smum

    Gwilym'smum LostCousins Member

    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.
     
  5. RogerL

    RogerL LostCousins Member

    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.
     
  6. peter

    peter Administrator Staff Member

    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!
     
  7. Bob Spiers

    Bob Spiers LostCousins Superstar

    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.
     
  8. Gwilym'smum

    Gwilym'smum LostCousins Member

    I sent detailed videos with all items and my son even played the theme tune in the background!
     
  9. Gwilym'smum

    Gwilym'smum LostCousins Member

    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.
     
  10. peter

    peter Administrator Staff Member

    The free Irfanview program I've recommended many times allows you to adjust the size of images.
     
    • Thanks! Thanks! x 1
  11. Gwilym'smum

    Gwilym'smum LostCousins Member

    I will try and get my head round it Peter;):( (This is me and technology!).
     
  12. peter

    peter Administrator Staff Member

    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.
     
  13. Gwilym'smum

    Gwilym'smum LostCousins Member

    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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