Comments on: Open day at Fred’s house: June 5th 2010

By: leon Powsney

leon Powsney — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 21:39:14 +0000

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

By: Mr Stong

Mr Stong — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 21:14:20 +0000

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.

By: leon Powsney

leon Powsney — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 18:49:09 +0000

ouch !!

By: Kevin Hall

Kevin Hall — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 18:17:35 +0000

Maybe put him through the bending rollers?

By: leon Powsney

leon Powsney — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 10:32:49 +0000

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.

By: Joe

Joe — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 09:58:51 +0000

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.

By: leon Powsney

leon Powsney — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 22:24:32 +0000

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

By: Kevin Hall

Kevin Hall — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 22:15:41 +0000

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?

By: Mr Stong

Mr Stong — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 21:33:44 +0000

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.

By: leon Powsney

leon Powsney — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 10:18:48 +0000

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