West Cumbria Vintage Club is holding a talk, Life with Steeplejack Fred, with Sheila Dibnah at Whitehaven Golf Club on March 20 at 7pm. The event also includes a hot buffet and a raffle. For tickets contact Jim Bennett on 01946 832790.

Links: Whitehaven Golf Club – www.fredtalks.co.uk

First to go under the hammer are one of Fred’s red wooden ladders, they have been stored indoors so they sound like they are in great condition. This item has already had 5 bids on it, so interest is building. More details.

Next up, sadly not in as good condition, is a heavy duty trailer, with bidding starting from 0.99 it certainly ‘priced to sell’ but remember we are reminded that all funds go the Heritage Centre. More details

Fred's Trailer for sale...Click for details.

Sorry, no items available to list. Manual Search?

For a complete list of all items for sale visit the official Heritage Centre eBay store here.

Fred Dibnah remembered, the life & times of a great Briton, 1938-2004

Exclusive to WH Smith written by Keith Langston.

Details

Title:Fred Dibnah Remembered: The Life&Times of a Great Briton 1938-2004
Hardcover: 130 pages
Publisher: Mortons Motorcycle Media (12 May 2005)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0954244265
ISBN-13: 978-0954244262
Product Dimensions: 29.6 x 21 x 0.8 cm

Buy Now

Sorry, no items available to list. Manual Search?

In Fred Dibnah’s “Buildings of Britain”, we get Fred Dibnah’s own distinctive answer to this question, as he takes us to some of the country’s most famous and historic monuments, castles, cathedrals, abbeys, great houses and engineering marvels. One of Fred’s great passions was architecture, engineering and the craft skills of builders, carpenters, stonemasons and structural engineers.His interest was not in architectural theory but in the practicalities of how things were built and with the help of his beautifully executed drawings he was very good at giving simple, vivid explanations of how things like great medieval castles and abbeys were built at a time when technology was limited and there were no power tools, no concrete, no steel, no engines and no heavy machinery.

From Peterborough Cathedral to St Paul’s and from the Humber Bridge to the Blackpool Tower, the book will take us on a tour of Britain’s great historic buildings with a very unique and charismatic guide – Fred Dibnah.

Details

Hardcover: 256 pages
Publisher: Bantam Press (18 Jun 2009)
Language English
ISBN-10: 0593061829
ISBN-13: 9780593061824
Product Dimensions: 24.9 x 19 x 2.8 cm

Buy Now

Among other things, Fred tells of the trials and tribulations of rebuilding a steam roller in his back garden.

Details

Hardcover: 96 pages
Publisher: Line One (1 Dec 1984)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0907036201
ISBN-13: 9780907036203
Product Dimensions: 24.9 x 19 x 2.8 cm

Buy Now

Includes Free 70 minute Compact Disk
Over 150 previously unreleased photographs
Artwork throughout with stunning illustrations by International Artist Brian Smith
4 Articles written by Fred himself before his untimely death
6 Articles written by Fred’s Widow Sheila Dibnah
Plus stories from friends and workmates who have put there feelings into words
Alf Molyneux Paul Donoghue Neil Carney David Hall Ian Thompson

Chapters include:

• The Story of Mr Smith
• They came from the BBC
• Life of a Steeplejack
• Fred visits The Great Dorset Steam Fair
• The Steam Rally scene
• Always in the Papers
• A Date with Her Majesty
• The Final Journey
• The Widows Tale

Details

Hardcover: 128 pages
Publisher: Aardvark Global Publishing Company (14 Jul 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1599719630
ISBN-13: 9781599719634
Product Dimensions: 29.4 x 21.2 x 1.4 cm

Buy Now

Sorry, no items available to list. Manual Search?

The idea originated from watching a film on a Saturday night and thinking what a stinker it was.

“My wife said: ‘If you think you can do better, what would you do?’

“That’s how I came up with Fred Dibnah The Movie.

The article goes on to say:

Mr Williamson works in marketing for a national logistics company, but in spite of his lack of film industry experience, he is confident of raising a budget of between £8 million and £11 million.

We wish Ian all the luck and hopeful he will pop in here to post news on how he’s getting on.

Source

Program One: Wind Water And Steam
Fred starts his journey at the old Bolton, Bury and Manchester Canal where he first discovered his passion for industrial history. As a young boy, he would walk along the towpath, passing cotton mills and old coal mines. Fred fondly retraces his childhood steps before showing viewers some of the many preservation projects he has been working on over the years: a steam-powered pottery in Cumbria, a mill chimney in Lancashire and a steam engine in North Wales.

Program Two: Mill And Factories
In Burnley, he visits Queen Street Mill where the original steam engine still powers the looms in a huge weaving shed. He meets a woman called Evelyn who has worked in the mill all her life and fondly remembers the camaraderie amongst the weavers. For more about the Queen Street Mill and other spinning and weaving heritage spots see The North West Textile Trail, or see the Amazing Animated Spinning Mill!

Program Three: Iron And Steel
Fred traces the development of the production of iron and steel and begins his journey at Ironbridge Gorge in Shropshire, the cradle of the industrial revolution. It was here that Abraham Darby first smelted iron with coke and thus started a dynasty of iron founders in the gorge who were to change the entire face of industry. Fred visits Abraham Darby’s original furnace and rides on a replica of the first steam railway locomotive which was built at Ironbridge in 1803. To see a blast furnace in action see Fred Amazing animated machines!

Until the 1960s, mining was a major industry around Bolton and Fred recollects how his auntie always believed that there was a coal mine under her house. Fred talks about the working conditions down the mines and the camaraderie between the miners that came from working in this hostile and dangerous environment.

At the National Coal Mining Museum for England, near Wakefield, Fred descends to the coal face to see how the machinery the miners used developed over the years. At Big Pit, in South Wales, Fred rides on top of the pit cage to carry out a shaft inspection and in Scotland he is welcomed to the Lady Victoria Colliery by a pipe band. See the Amazing Animated Winding Gear for a look at how the deep mines worked!

Program Five: Railways
Fred recollects his early excitement for steam locomotives as they roared past his bedroom window at night, the driver’s face lit only by the engine’s firebox. Fred’s enthusiasm has never burnt out and in this programme he traces the development of the railway locomotive from Richard Trevithick’s first locomotive to the world record-breaking Mallard.

Fred visits the North East which is rich in railway history. At Bowes Railway near Gateshead he sees one of George Stephenson’s early engineering projects, where a stationary engine pulled coal wagons up a hill with a rope. But at Darlington Railway Museum he admires Stephenson’s most famous engineering achievement, the original “Locomotion No.1″, which was the first locomotive to run along the Stockton and Darlington Railway.

Program Six: Ships And Shipbuilding
Fred examines the skill of the shipbuilders and machine engineers who turned Britain into a great manufacturing nation. In Bristol, Fred visits the SS Great Britain, the first ocean going ship to be constructed by iron and driven by steam, and pays tribute to the designer, Fred’s hero, Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

The SS Great Britain won’t be going to sea again so Fred goes in search of a working steamship. He travels to Scotland to take a voyage along the west coast on the paddle steamer Waverley. Back in England he visits the Windermere Steamboat Museum and sails across the lake in the Steam Launch Swallow. See Fred’s animated Paddle Steamer and build-it game to find out how it all worked!

The DVD also includes additional information covering the 200 locations featured in the programmes.

Details

Format: PAL
Region: Region 2
Number of discs: 1
Classification: Exempt
Studio: Beckmann Visual Publishing
DVD Release Date: 1 Mar 2004
Run Time: 150 minutes

Buy Now

“Fred Dibnah’s World” celebrates the life and work of Britain’s best known steeplejack and national treasure, Fred Dibnhah. Before his death in 2004, Fred presented many popular series, including “Magnificent Monuments”, “The Age of Steam” and “Made in Britain”, all of which attracted viewers in their millions.

“Fred” is the companion to the 12-part “BBC2″ series celebrating the life of this great man, which combines highlights from some of Dibnah’s classic programmes with previously unseen footage. The book can of course go much further than the series, including an extraordinarily account of Fred’s childhood which evokes a lost England and our great industrial heritage.

Fred’s passion for the glories of the Victorian age and his fascination with the landscape he grew up in, plus his admiration for the craftsmen and labourers who made it all possible, captivate us on every page. Fred is the personification of everything that made England great in the first place. And this is a glorious tribute to a man whom millions came to love.

Preview

Details

Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: Bantam Press (2 Sep 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0593056647
ISBN-13: 9780593056646
Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 15.8 x 3.6 cm

Buy Now

Disk One: The Story Of The Traction Engine
From the first steam powered road carriages at the beginning of the 19th century and the early development of the traction engine for work on farms, to the great road locomotives, showmans engines and steam lorries of the twentieth century and the birth of the preservation movement, Fred tells the story of steam power on the roads. Filmed on location at some of Britain’s major traction engine collections – Thursford, Strumpshaw, Hollycombe – and with enthusiasts and builders of replicas of some of our earliest steam vehicles.

Disk Two: Britain’s Biggest Engines
Fred travels round Britain to unearth some of Britain’s biggest and most powerful steam engines. Starting near home he takes us to see the biggest mill engine in Britain in Trencherfield Mill at Wigan Pier and goes to see groups of enthusiasts who are dedicated to preserving some of these engines at the Northern Mill Engine Society in Bolton and Ellenroad Engine House near Rochdale. He visits the biggest pit head winding engines in Britain at Astley Green Colliery Museum in Lancashire and the Scottish Mining Museum. He takes us to the biggest steel rolling mill engine at Kelham Island in Sheffield and some of the biggest pumping engines at Papplewick Pumping Station, Bratch Pumping Station and Kew Bridge Steam Museum. On the way he tells us some of his stories about mill engines and disasters.

Disk Three: On The Road With Fred
The story of Fred’s epic journey round Britain on his traction engine in 2004 for the television series Made In Britain. This specially edited version covers the first half of the journey with all the teething troubles Fred and his mate Alf Molyneux had as they set off from Bolton for the first time; then we follow them on the engine to Cumbria, Central Scotland, the North-East and Yorkshire. For the first time you will see all the bits of Fred you never saw on the television – every stage of this first half of the journey and every stop along the way in full.

Details

Format: PAL
Region: Region 2
Number of discs: 3
Classification: Exempt
Studio: Contender Entertainment Group
DVD Release Date: 26 Dec 2008
Run Time: 438 minutes

Buy Now