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    Images of Fred Dibnah
    Images of Fred Dibnah
    Images of Fred Dibnah
    Ebook163 pages52 minutes

    Images of Fred Dibnah

    By Fred Kerr

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    About this ebook

    You didn't just meet with Fred Dinah you were instinctively drawn close to him, his larger than life personality was truly infectious and his communication skills second to none. Fred had the uncanny and somewhat unique knack of talking through a TV camera so that the viewer actually felt a personal contact with him. The Bolton born steeplejack became nationally known and loved following a series of TV programs. Although an admirer of all things, Victorian he was what the modern media people call 'a natural', microphones and TV cameras did not faze him one bit. This publication takes the reader on a fascinating journey during the making of Fred's last TV series during 2004.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Integrated Media
    Release dateAug 19, 2014
    ISBN9781783469833
    Images of Fred Dibnah
    Author

    Fred Kerr

    Fred Kerr was born in Edinburgh in 1948 where he gained an interest in railway locomotives from both the LMSR and LNER companies whose services permeated the local network. When his parents moved to Corby in 1956 the local steelworks provided further interest from its mix of freight services, including seeing the last of the Beyer Garrets and the replacement Standard Class 9Fs whilst the industrial locomotives of the internal steelworks network offered further insight into the variety of steam locomotives. This was a time of change and during the 1960s the interest in locomotives included the new order of diesel and electric traction without reducing the interest in steam traction. While his interest in Diesel Traction led to his early involvement with the Diesel & Electric Group and its preservation activities during the 1970s, his move to Southport in 1982 restored his opportunities to return to his first love of viewing steam locomotives at work and this album records some of the locations that he chose to visit and the locomotives that he was able to photograph.Today his interest continues as a life member of the A4 Locomotive Society, Keighley & Worth Valley Railway and Ribble Steam Railway whilst he also support bodies concerned with preserving steam locomotives, diesel locomotives and infrastructure extensions.

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      Book preview

      Images of Fred Dibnah - Fred Kerr

      Introduction

      Fred Dibnah – A Great Briton

      The writer was fortunate to have known Fred and been able to observe up close the great man at work entertaining the British public with whom he forged a great and lasting affinity. Not that he would have called what he did work, Fred simply loved life, meeting people, talking to and interacting with them. A great many people will claim that Fred was their friend and they will all be right, in their own special way.

      You didn’t just meet with Fred, you were instinctively drawn close to him, his larger than life personality was truly infectious and his communication skills second to none. Fred had the uncanny and somewhat unique knack of talking through a TV camera so that the viewer actually felt a personal contact with him. Although a great traditionalist and a lover of all things Victorian, Fred Dibnah was what I believe the modern media people would call ‘a natural’, microphones and TV cameras did not faze him one bit. So enthusiastic for the subject matter in hand was he that in truth his eyes saw past the recording equipment, as if he was talking directly to you, his audience!

      Proof of his many successes is fortunately preserved in tangible artefacts, on film and in the written word. His official recognition was highlighted by the award of his British Empire Medal (MBE) which deservedly came in 2004, having earlier been accorded the tribute of receiving not one, but two honorary degrees. But moving away from the public side of his life let us not forget that first and foremost, Fred was very much a family man.

      Born like a great many of his admirers, in humble circumstances he was brought up to appreciate the values of companionship, honesty and the satisfaction which could be gained from a job well done. He was a greatly loved human being, and he left his unique mark upon the world he lived in, and accordingly it is a better place for his having been there.

      Fred was born in Bolton, Lancashire, on 28 April 1938, and it was a town of which he grew to be fiercely proud – so much so that Fred never really took to the idea of Bolton being referred to as a part of Greater Manchester and would proclaim vociferously when hearing it referred to as such, ‘It’s Lancashire, Bolton in Lancashire!’

      e9781783469833_i0002.jpg

      Fred seen at the top of the boiler house chimney at Barrow Bridge Mill, Bolton. He was about to fix the lightning conductor into position. (Simon Warner)

      e9781783469833_i0003.jpg

      The man from the Telly! Fred’s first meeting with Alistair Macdonald. (Alistair Macdonald Collection)

      The terraced streets, canals and industrial landscapes of that fine town were to Fred places of high adventure. Tall smoking chimneys, steam trains thundering past near to the family home and a country recovering from the most horrific war ever visited upon mankind, were all important factors which collectively shaped the life of a person who was to arguably become one of the most interesting men ever to live and work in twentieth-century Britain.

      Many have commented that Fred would have been good at whatever he chose to do and he certainly was a top notch steeplejack whose skills were much sought after by mill owners and industrialists. No doubt because of his successful television career Fred will more likely be remembered for knocking down chimneys in his own inimitable way, not for maintaining them to good order. Fred also had a real affinity with churches, well more accurately church (and for that matter town hall) towers.

      One of Fred’s many profound observations was that if you got it wrong steeplejacking there was a very good chance that you would later be spending ‘half a day out with the undertaker’.

      He never got it wrong. An interesting anecdote concerns his good friend ex-BBC TV reporter Alistair Macdonald, the man credited with first bringing Fred to our TV screens.

      The story goes that during the filming of a 1980s news item the intrepid Alistair climbed with Fred. After the programme had aired some alarmed BBC suits (as Fred called them) asked Fred and Alistair to explain what they had been doing climbing without safety ropes, hard hats and the likes? You will have to imagine Fred’s answer to those charges! It was said that

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