The Repair Shop guest breaks down in tears as World War Two diary containing heart-wrenching message is restored - and he shares story from the 'saddest day of his life'
In Tuesday's episode of the BBC programme, Roger and his grandson Thomas brought along a diary from the Channel Islands belonging to Roger's grandmother Lillian.
The pocket-sized book became Lillian's 'therapy' from 1942 onwards, and covered the Nazis' occupation of Guernsey, Roger explained.
The treasured family heirloom was 'falling apart' and 'hanging by a thread' when it was first brought into the barn, and Roger told the experts it had been handled a lot.
Roger had a deeply close bond with his grandmother, and shared with the team his fear that the diary's 'fragile state' threatened to leave the precious entries unreadable.
He requested the book be restored to 'a decent condition, in one piece.'
But Roger's expectations were surpassed when bookbinder Chris Shaw not only fixed the structure, but added faint touches of blue watercolour where the cover's pigment was fading.
Before the unveiling, Roger said he was 'tingling with excitement' to see his grandmother's diary brought back to life.
And he was left speechless upon seeing the renewed book, gasping as he held it in his fingers before passing it to his own grandson.
Unable to contain his emotion, he broke down in tears and said: 'It's just making me think of my gran.'
'It's beautiful,' he added. 'It's taken me back years. It's really lovely and I'm so grateful.'
Roger's grandson Thomas told the experts: 'Seeing him having that connection with his grandparents the way I know I've got that connection with him makes it extra special.'
And of his great-grandmother's diary, he said: 'It doesn't look new, it looks like it's matched it - it's incredible.'
Chris had taken care to give the pocket book a timely and used feel, so as not to erase the signs of the past.
'Like it's just come out of Lillian's pocket,' added the expert.
The diary connected generations of the family with its powerful messages - detailing Lillian's experience living under occupation with little food and the paralysing fear she felt when her son went to war.
Roger went on to tell of the day she died, saying: 'She was a wonderful woman. She was lovely. She died when I was just nine and it was the saddest day of my life.'
Roger discovered the diary in 2021 after his own mother died.
'When I started looking through it, I ended up in tears because of what they had to go through,' he said.
And Thomas celebrated the new-found feeling of connection to his great-grandmother whom he never met.
'It's a surreal feeling having the diary in my hands now,' he said. 'I can actually hold it like Lillian held it and open it to the pages where she would have written in it.
'So, for me it just brings a deeper sense of connection to her and to the diary.
'The story of Lillian is an incredible one and one I'm happy others are going to hear as well.'
A still emotional Roger added: 'It was absolutely wonderful, the tingle in me was unbelievable.'
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