Pye 1416 - My tribute to the 'Repair Shop'- Saved from the dump!

British readers may be familiar with a TV programme called 'The Repair Shop', where a team of experts renovate cherished items that have been brought to them for the attention. They work in the Court Barn at the Weald and Downland Living Museum; a thatched workshop which is as quaint as one might expect.

I am not an expert craftsperson; but I believe that with a little patience, near-defunct items can be rescued from the dump-run. Such was the case with this little radio; it is something over forty years old now and it was something that my parents never threw away - a kitchen set, most of the finish missing off the front, and the plastic window on the front loose and rattling about. But it worked, and it has FM, which is marked 'VHF' on the tuning scale. That's what we used to call it.


I dismantled it enough to be able to glue the plastic window back. I put switch cleaner on the controls. Then I got some detergent and a toothbrush and got all the kitchen grease and grime off the case. I had some spare stained varnish for woodwork and so I used that on the front. A couple, maybe three coats sufficed. In total I put about four hours' work into it. Plus some stuff I had around the house anyway. It's survived!