First up in the workshop is a mandriola belonging to internationally celebrated folk musician Vin Garbutt. Vin's son Tim and family friend Maggie are hoping Julyan Wallis can restore this piece of musical history so that it can be played again. Vin started his career in the 1960s, busking his way through Spain, where this instrument played an integral part in developing the strumming method that helped him become a globally recognised folk artist. After repairing the damaged bodywork, Julyan needs to restring and tune the mandriola to restore its original sound. Tim and Maggie are overjoyed when the item is returned to them, unlocking a piece of their father and friend's past.

Next, expert weaver Sarah has her hands full with two pint-sized pieces of furniture belonging to Mamta Rajani. These unique chairs are woven from memories of Mamta's childhood with her sister and parents in Tanzania. They were at the centre of family gatherings and outings when exploring the rich African countryside. After being brought to the UK following the sad passing of her parents, Mamta needs Sarah's skills to repair these childhood treasures so that her grandchildren can use them, just as she, her sister and her own children did. The chairs pose an interesting challenge because Sarah must work out how to create new plastic-covered cane, which the chairs were originally made from. After enlisting the help of Dominic Chinea, who creates a new tool especially for the job, Sarah weaves new life into these beloved chairs.

Third to walk through the barn doors are Roddy and his mother Anne Lloyd Jones, who are hoping master hatter Jayesh Vaghela can restore a precious memento of Anne's high-flying husband Trefor. This captain's cap clocked up thousands of miles at the vanguard of domestic aviation before its retirement from the skies 40 years ago. Anne met Trefor as a stewardess when he was a young navigator, and both witnessed the aviation industry transform with the introduction of the Boeing 747, which Trefor captained for 11 years. For Anne, the cap is a reminder of the man who gave her decades of happy married life, and for Roddy, it symbolises his heroic father. Jayesh has the delicate task of returning it to its former glory, so that Trefor's memory can live on.

Lastly, Linda and her son Matthew Bracey have an exciting repair for pinball extraordinaire Geoffrey Harvey – an American retro rarity that belonged to Linda's husband and Matthew's father, Chris. Known as ‘the Neon Man' and ‘the Godfather of Neon', Chris changed the face of Soho with his neon artistry signs and brought his love of Americana into his work. Chris dreamed of owning an authentic American pinball machine, and after finally acquiring this one, he placed it proudly in the studio, where his family and customers could share in his passion. Geoff's repair of this mammoth machine involves meticulously dismantling every cog and circuit to find out why it went dark. Linda and Matthew hope that Geoff can light up this beloved machine to keep Chris's memory alive through the game he loved.

To mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day, the team open the barn doors to four very special items, each with an extraordinary wartime story behind them. 

Horologist Steve Fletcher is honoured to welcome 101-year-old Royal Navy veteran John Holloway, who brings with him a very special timepiece. As an engineer on board the aircraft carrier HMS Formidable, John was responsible for servicing the planes and installing the precisely calibrated cockpit clocks that US pilots relied upon to carry out their missions. Left in possession of one of these clocks at the end of the war, John gifted it to his beloved wife Connie, and it remained on her bedside table for the rest of her life. But now, with the intricate mechanism no longer working, Steve and his watchmaker son Fred have a delicate and very tricky job on their hands to get it ticking again. 

Teddy bear ladies Julie and Amanda also find themselves up against it when faced with 86-year-old Haisi, a small plastic doll who accompanied her then two-year-old owner Ruth on an extraordinary journey from wartime Austria to the safety of the UK. As a Jewish orphan with no passport or papers, Ruth's future in Nazi-occupied Vienna looked bleak, until she – and Haisi – were smuggled out of the country, courtesy of a remarkable feat of subterfuge at Dover customs. Plastics restorer Charlotte Abbott is called in to work on Haisi's cracked and shattered celluloid limbs. However, even with three top experts on the case, it feels like it could be touch and go for Ruth's precious, but very fragile, lifelong companion. 

Also in this VE Day special, master hatter Jayesh Vaghela weaves his magic on an RAF cap with a remarkable story behind it. The cap was worn in combat by Johnny Smythe, a young man from Sierra Leone who volunteered for action and was selected to serve as a navigator with Bomber Command. One of only 60 Black African airmen to serve in the RAF, Johnny survived being shot down over Germany and imprisonment in Stalag Luft 1 before going on to a glittering career as a senior diplomat in his native Sierra Leone. John's son Eddy would love to see the cap restored to a presentable state, with its battle scars preserved, as a testament to his father's many achievements. 

And finally, bookbinder Chris Shaw is left spellbound by the contents of a little autograph book, full of heartfelt and poignant messages written to a wartime nurse by her patients. Brought into the barn by Dorothy Orr from County Antrim, the book belonged to her mother Margaret, who tended to soldiers from all over the world as they were recovering from their wounds in military hospitals across Scotland.