The Repair Shop: Family’s bodhrán restored to former glory

The bodhrán had been made by a son from his father’s garden sieve.

Torn, decayed and apparently beyond repair, the traditional Irish drum was taken from Londonderry to England and the team of experts at the BBC One show The Repair Shop.

Its maker Seamus McGuinness died from cancer in 2016, so his sister Catherine and dad Jackie journeyed with the bodhrán to the famous barn in Sussex.

The drum’s restoration featured on this week’s episode and was especially poignant for the family as Jackie had died since it was filmed last year.

But he was able to see the show, with a little help from The Repair Shop team.

Speaking to BBC Radio Foyle’s North West Today programme, Ms Bradley said her mother and father were huge fans of the programme and seeing her late brother’s instrument feature on the show was an amazing experience.

“The people on the show were amazing, nothing was too much trouble for them, they were so polite, so reassuring and made us both feel very comfortable,” she said.

An early viewing of the programme was arranged after she alerted them in January that her father was ill.

“I contacted them and said my father is unwell and it’s coming up to his birthday and mum’s anniversary and it would be lovely to watch it all together as a family,” she said.

“They sent us link to watch the programme early so the full family was able to watch it with dad.

“He was so excited and so proud to be on The Repair Shop,” she said.

Ms Bradley said the bodhrán was in a bad state – with the skin completely torn and the original garden sieve ring tarnished and worn – before it was restored by Instrument expert Pete Woods.

She and her father, Jackie, travelled to England together for the big reveal last October.

Catherine said they both had an amazing experience and will treasure the moment she got to share with her father, who died in March this year.

Ms Bradley said she was delighted her father got to see the programme and also be able to play his son’s bodhrán before he passed.

She said the bodhrán is now proudly back in the family home, “where it belongs”.