News is coming in of an open day at Fred’s former home and location of the planned “Fred Dibnah Heritage Centre”.
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The event is due to take place in the afternoon of June 5th 2010 and is limited to only 40 people.
As well as your host Leon Powsney and his lovely wife Jan, the following will also be present: Alf ( Elf ) Molyneux talking about his memories of Fred, author Alan McEwen will give a talk as well as other surprise guests.
We are told that there will be food galore, refreshments will be served including the famous flat cap ale made by the local brewer.
Visitors will be treated to a guided tour of the house and yard, including:
- tours of Fred’s workshed
- take a walk around his main workshop where the steam roller and tractor used to be kept
- the top of swan mill chimney in the garden
- the mineshaft, which is now lit up showing it’s immaculate brickwork and workmanship
- the beautiful 50ft chimney in the garden
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For anyone travelling a distance accommodation can be arranged locally for everyone else travelling by car (one of the issues that delayed the initial planning permission) is promised ample parking facilities.
If you have any further questions about the event please post below, in our forum or email Leon directly.
Dear Leon & Jan,
Firstly it’s great news to hear that the open day events have re commenced, and clearly in aid of a very good cause.You may be aware that i have monitored your website almost daily in anticipation of an opportunity to see Fred’s life in (iron).I understand that money needs to be raised to improve the venue, but i feel that a figure of £100 per person detracts from Fred’s principles.I’ve heared that Sheila has described him as being frugle,and that leads me to believe that Fred would’nt have paid such an amount.All said & and and done, it is to some extent a business venture that you must largely fund and re coup ove time through sheer numbers of visitors.My point is,why could’nt it have been £50 per person with just a sandwich tea & coffee in these hard hit times,bearing in mind that your average steeple jack is out of work.What will the projected entry fee be in the future.
Hi Darryl, thanks for you message I’m sure Leon will post back as soon as he can. Joe.
Hi Joe, Still no reply from Leon.Ive asked what the standard entry fee is likely to be at the end of April when the heritage centre is open to the public, and for those of us wo are not too bothered about owning the first ever ticket.Cant help but feel that those with limited funds are being drip fed opportunities.Many thanks and look forward to hearing fro you.
Hi Darryl, to be honest this is the first time i have seen this forum and these posts, so i havent been ignoring you I just didnt know it was here, I have been so busy trying to get “Freds Place” ready for opening, that I have had to be very focused, the standard price for a visit when we open will be £12, visitors will indeed be offered a cuppa and a sandwich, and I have to say that it is not our intention to drip feed anybody anything Darryl, I have funded this restoration myself with some help from individuals who are true fred fans that have either bought some of the merchandise we offer or have got behind our sponsor a brick campaign, but it has been a very expensive project both in terms of money and damned hard work, I have had no help from any corporate entities, not for want of asking, and although you feel it would be better to charge say £50 per head for the evening and offer less this would not be commercially viable, it really is hard work catering for the number of people that came to our last open evening taking a lot of organisation and helpers and we are strictly limited in numbers allowed, we did carry out research to find out what visitors were happy to pay for a “special” evening and £100 seemed to be the acceptable figure, for those ( and I know there are plenty ) that cannot afford this we will be opening the centre and charging the above mentioned £12. People do not seem to realise ( and this is not a critiscism, just a fact ) that there are many expenses involved in getting the place ready for visitors, before we can get public liability insurance we have to have a complete rewire of the workshop and sheds to make it safe for the public, we have to satisfy health and safety on many area’s, we have to make it safe for disabled visitors, I dont want to bore you but the list is endless, and as you say money is tight, well its tight up here as well, I have tried to get some big corporates involved but im sorry to say they dont want to know, despite the fact that there would be massive publicity for them, I also appreciate that not everybody is bothered about ownign the first ever ticket, but lets not forget Darryl that this is one heck of a momentous occasion, we have made history here, and this will be a very collectable item that one person does actually want to own and if it helps us raise money to fettle this place then what is the harm in that. I hope I have answered your queries to your satisfaction even though I have been up since 6.30am today and am still doing admin at 11.45pm, thats the pleasure of being head cook and bottlewasher.
Thanks for such a comprehensive response Leon.No one would or could ever doubt your commitment,and £12 is very much in line with both frugle Fred’s principles & the average recession beaten fans situation.Good luck and i look forward to seeing the centre.
Excellent work you’re doing. Only just heard of the museum plan, so just found this website. £12 seems a fair price. I’m not so well off, and any more would have been out of my range! I look forward to a visit when it’s up and running. I’m not so big on celebrity ‘heroes’ but Fred was one of the few who really deserved the title. When he died, I had slight worries for the future of his house and things, so it’s really pleasing to know it’s in safe and appreciative hands!
I have seen & used Fred’s garden & house while he was alive. This is a total waste of money, and a con. Please do not be fooled. None of the Fred Heritage is there anymore.
Like Leon says, there’s a load of H+S crap that he’s obliged to conform to, and with the best will in the world you couldn’t expect it to be left as-was, with junk (sorry Fred!) lying about everywhere, although I know that way of working was a big part of what Fred was about. Also a lot of stuff was nicked, sold off or trashed! The whole project will doubtless take time to get ‘right’, as slowly items are restored and/or bought and returned, criticisms like yours’ are not constructive or helpful at all. Let people make their own minds up and give it a chance. People are trying to do good things! What have you done?
would i be able to look round freds house workshop etc if i came up in sep ?
Hi Bill
We are not sure when the Heritage Centre will be officially open to the public. I will post details here as soon as we get an update.
you certainly will be able to have a look around freds workshop, yard and groumd floor of the house in sept. bill, we are hoping to be open in june 2010 but have lots of work to do yet to get it ready and to satisfy health and safety, we are keen to make it a very interesting and informative tour, and intend to keep it as original as possible without too many changes. anybody that requires further details can meail us at freddibnahtours@live.com cheers Leon
No worries Darryl thanks for your good wishes, see you soon mate, and hey everybody come on dig deep just sponsor one brick and help us get the place fettled.
cheers leon
Any news on how this open day went? Did many attend?
Hi folks yes the day went fabulously it was a great success, we had around 25 paying guests and just as many helpers, as we like things to go smoothly, we will not be doing any m,ore like thast though for the foreseeable future as it really was hard work, however the official opening is on the 15th June and its a historic day really, its the FIRST EVER official open day of thr FRED DIBNAH HERITAGE CENTRE, and we are so so proud of how the place is looking now, so come on and have a look for yourself, YOU MUST PRE BOOK though as its a stipul;ation of the council planners that we dont have droves of people just turning up, if we did this would cause us problems with the planners and could jeopardise our existence, look forward o seeing you all here regards leon
hmm mr stong seems like you are suffering from delusions perhaps you should have gone to specsavers, you havent even been to our place since we opened so maybe you should change your medication, and if you persist in this garbage i will take legal action
Leon, if Mr Strong is ‘sceptical’ (understatement?) of your project, offer him a free ticket, ask for a chance to convince him his concerns are unfounded and that you are genuinely doing the best with what you have. Please, no trading petty insults on here.
you are of course quite right, I dont have many enemies because I believe in treating people as I would like to be treated, so if Mr strong would like to contact me at freddibnahtours@live.com i would be happy to show him around so he can see for himself how we have brought life back into this wonderful example of English heritage that Fred was so proud of.
Maybe put him through the bending rollers?
ouch !!
Well Mr Kevin Hall, I am entitled to express my opinion. However do not ask me ‘What Have You Done?’ thats NOT constructive at all. I was a part of the Haulgh many years ago. The local people are still a part of me & I know that they also have the same opinion and have taken this matter to court. People who want to know more about Fred, may aswel use the internet or other means to understand the great Bolton icon he was. None of his many artifacts are there, his whole house inside & out has been stripped, I had a great opportunity to go to Freds house when he was alive, I also bidded for the house myself, and went in again. This made up my mind.
oh dear mr strong i am afraid you are quite wrong in your sweeping statement, there are many, many of Freds artifacts still here to be seen, the house has certainly not been stripped bare as you say, and 90% of his machinery is here in the yard and is being lovingly refurbed, his famous mineshaft is still here, ( unless that is somebody has been in and stolen it since I last went down it the other day ) His chimney is still here unless the same thieves that have run off with the mineshaft have also taken the chimney and I havent noticed, His workshop with the massive Cinccinati lathe, the mechanical hammer, the mechanical saw, the shaper, the threader, the buffer, the sander, all wonderful victorian artifacts belt driven by steam, are all still here, along with his band saw, his planer his stone cutter which he used to make his window sills for the house, the top of swan mill chimney in the garden is still here, I know it is, because I sat on it in the garden today, His wonderful workshed with all his tools is still here and is truly spell binding, Oh Mr strong you are clearly not aware of the full facts, and once again I invite you to come and see for yourself, it would appear that the things most important to Fred differ from what is important to yourself such a few ornaments in and around the house, Fred was passionate about his yard and his machinery and I can assure you Mr Strong its all here for everybody to see, so before you make accusations such as “its a con” please get your facts right and if you cannot be bothered to answer my genuine offer to show you round then you have no right to make such accuations because they are unfounded and incorrect, and i might add libelous, so take care Mr. Strong Many thanks Leon