Fred Dibnah heritage centre closing

Not truck related as such, but for those that followed Freds exploits, it’s a sad day.

facebook.com/Fred-Dibnah-He … Xc&fref=nf

Ken.

A real shame, Fred Dibnah was surely one of the last really great engineers of his time…

Sad news, Fred Dibnah was a hero of mine. The sort of guy you could listen to for hours. I even attended one of his ‘a night with Fred’ talks years ago and he signed a book for me.
In my job I’ve met loads of so called stars but this guy was just a down to earth chap that loved doing what he did.
The only guy that gets close these days is Guy Martin.

AndrewG:
A real shame, Fred Dibnah was surely one of the last really great engineers of his time…

Fred Dibnah was a hero of mine, what a great character he was and a steam enthusiast rather than a great engineer, his nerves of steel and head for heights put him in as one of the all time great steeple jacks of our time. I attended an evening with him where he did public talks, very dry sense of humour and just an interesting character. I saw Mike Tyson on one of these dinners and wanted my money back at the end, would have paid triple for Fred Dibnah evening as it was that good.

Casper68:
The only guy that gets close these days is Guy Martin.

Apparently he was approached, via a 3rd party and couldn’t or wouldn’t get involved.

Ken.

Unfortunately the yoof of today generally have no interest in their heritage or history hence we need to be members of some club or other to fit in. To be British and proud of your past is not cool!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Such a shame, I have quite a few of his books and Dvd’s, a very entertaining and clever man.

The full announcement copied from Facebook

It is with mixed feelings of regret and relief that I am announcing to you, our supporters on FB people first and then publicly that the Fred Dibnah Heritage Centre is closing down this winter and will not be re-opening, in other words this is the end of the Fred Dibnah Heritage centre.

This has been a fantastic journey for me and one that I will treasure for years to come, it has been a privilege knowing that the Heritage centre has brought pleasure to many thousands of people from all around the UK and to many visitors from around the Globe, including the USA, Canada, Australia, Holland, Germany, Belgium, New Zealand, all of whom would not have had the pleasure of visiting their Hero’s home otherwise.

For personal reasons that I will not go into at this time I have decided that it is time for me to take a long awaited and well earned break. Having brought Freds home and workplace back to life over the last 8 years from virtual dereliction into a successful and very popular visitor attraction, dedicated to the memory of a great man, and having tried so hard to find a buyer to carry the Centre on into the future, unfortunately this has not been possible having tried absolutely everything possible at great cost to myself, mentally, physically and financially,

Opening the Heritage centre was a massive risk for me personally and financially, and I now having turned age 70 this year I need to get back to some form of normality so my wife and I can enjoy what years we have left in peace.

As I have not been able to find a buyer to carry on the Heritage centre I am left with no other option than to close down and sell everything ( and I mean EVERYTHING ) off, we will be holding an auction in the new year so if you would like to own a genuine piece of Fred history / memorabilia or even one of his machines, or tools, or spanners, please email us at freddibnahtours@live.com to register an interest, we will be organising an auction catalogue in the new year as well.

If you have not visited the Heritage centre then I would recommend you do so very soon as once we close the doors that will be it.

fredthered:
Unfortunately the yoof of today generally have no interest in their heritage or history hence we need to be members of some club or other to fit in. To be British and proud of your past is not cool!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The yoof of yesteryear weren’t that interested in steam engines and Victorian engineering, it was the older people who remembered them from thier childhood and went on to restore them.
Sadly our education system and economy isn’t on the side of the yoof of today who actually want to get their hands dirty and build things, but in my job I’ve met many amazing young engineers who not only can work on computers, but can bash together some great bits of equipment to get round problems or to make things better, and one thing the UK is very good at is small scale complicated engineering projects, I’ve been to companies from the very big in modern premises to basically a bloke in a shed and find they’re leaders in thier field of engineering and they make stuff to export round the World.
I recently went to the launch of a major Germen car manufacturers latest supercar and was amazed when I found out the car had been built in the UK, not that you’ll get that in the publicity. And the bloke leading the project was the bloke who gave me my first motorsport.

fredthered:
Unfortunately the yoof of today generally have no interest in their heritage or history hence we need to be members of some club or other to fit in. To be British and proud of your past is not cool!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Rubbish. Youth on the whole are rarely interested in history - it’s once you become aware of its meaning (and it can mean very different things to different people) that interest arises.

I’m fascinated by industrial history for a variety of reasons. For example, in physical architecture I might reflect on the sheer scale of the achievement. But you have to have some life experience, and some historical knowledge of construction, to know what scale is.

Or seeing a large engine, I might note the audacious scale of castings (and it’s audacity is not apparent until you know something of the difficulty and danger) and precision of machining (when it relied more on physical human skill, or on huge milling machines that were themselves a marvel). And also the evidence of engineering pride in little details like carefully crafted handles, polished knobs, and engraved plaques on control panels - the sense of importance and meaning of these things to those who made them, the sense that they were machines built for those who made them, and for those who would use them.

Or in the archives of great corporations, you glimpse at times the sense of greater moral purpose, the moral values of an economic system, which guided their activity - something sadly in short supply nowadays.

It’s only once you have some appreciation of all the small details and contexts, that the greatness of historical achievements becomes perceptible, confidence in the power of human endeavour swells, and it becomes worthwhile to imagine what else can be achieved in future.

An interest in history and futurism is, in every sense, the culmination of a human life’s work.

muckles:

fredthered:
Unfortunately the yoof of today generally have no interest in their heritage or history hence we need to be members of some club or other to fit in. To be British and proud of your past is not cool!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The yoof of yesteryear weren’t that interested in steam engines and Victorian engineering, it was the older people who remembered them from thier childhood and went on to restore them.
Sadly our education system and economy isn’t on the side of the yoof of today who actually want to get their hands dirty and build things, but in my job I’ve met many amazing young engineers who not only can work on computers, but can bash together some great bits of equipment to get round problems or to make things better, and one thing the UK is very good at is small scale complicated engineering projects, I’ve been to companies from the very big in modern premises to basically a bloke in a shed and find they’re leaders in thier field of engineering and they make stuff to export round the World.
I recently went to the launch of a major Germen car manufacturers latest supercar and was amazed when I found out the car had been built in the UK, not that you’ll get that in the publicity. And the bloke leading the project was the bloke who gave me my first motorsport.

There is a reason that most F1 and Rally cars are designed and built in the UK. There are blokes in sheds (more likely small industrial units) all over the country, turning out precision engineering and especially prototypes. It takes skill and experience to make a complicated part from a blueprint.

Rjan:

fredthered:
Unfortunately the yoof of today generally have no interest in their heritage or history hence we need to be members of some club or other to fit in. To be British and proud of your past is not cool!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Rubbish. Youth on the whole are rarely interested in history - it’s once you become aware of its meaning (and it can mean very different things to different people) that interest arises.

I’m fascinated by industrial history for a variety of reasons. For example, in physical architecture I might reflect on the sheer scale of the achievement. But you have to have some life experience, and some historical knowledge of construction, to know what scale is.

Or seeing a large engine, I might note the audacious scale of castings (and it’s audacity is not apparent until you know something of the difficulty and danger) and precision of machining (when it relied more on physical human skill, or on huge milling machines that were themselves a marvel). And also the evidence of engineering pride in little details like carefully crafted handles, polished knobs, and engraved plaques on control panels - the sense of importance and meaning of these things to those who made them, the sense that they were machines built for those who made them, and for those who would use them.

Or in the archives of great corporations, you glimpse at times the sense of greater moral purpose, the moral values of an economic system, which guided their activity - something sadly in short supply nowadays.

It’s only once you have some appreciation of all the small details and contexts, that the greatness of historical achievements becomes perceptible, confidence in the power of human endeavour swells, and it becomes worthwhile to imagine what else can be achieved in future.

An interest in history and futurism is, in every sense, the culmination of a human life’s work.

Disagree with both. My experience is that young people are very interested in both history and heritage.

It’s subjective and a learning curve, and generally the more they learn the greater their interest is developed… it’s almost a basic instinct to be curious about the past.

In many ways, history is like art… what for some is inspiring and outstanding is completely boring to others.

I’m very interested in Art, Architecture, WWI & WWII… less interested in Engineering history… yet still interested - just to a lesser degree. Interested in religion and couldn’t give two hoots about Royal Ancestry - with exception to the aforementioned inclusion of arts and crafts adorning the castles and stately homes.

I’d argue that everyone is interested in history.

On the OP - Didn’t know there was a FD Heritage Centre, might visit before it closes it’s doors for good… can’t imagine it will be the most interesting place to visit… but ‘I did like that’… watching Fred! Especially the chimney demolishing.

muckles:

fredthered:
Unfortunately the yoof of today generally have no interest in their heritage or history hence we need to be members of some club or other to fit in. To be British and proud of your past is not cool!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The yoof of yesteryear weren’t that interested in steam engines and Victorian engineering, it was the older people who remembered them from thier childhood and went on to restore them.
Sadly our education system and economy isn’t on the side of the yoof of today who actually want to get their hands dirty and build things, but in my job I’ve met many amazing young engineers who not only can work on computers, but can bash together some great bits of equipment to get round problems or to make things better, and one thing the UK is very good at is small scale complicated engineering projects, I’ve been to companies from the very big in modern premises to basically a bloke in a shed and find they’re leaders in thier field of engineering and they make stuff to export round the World.
I recently went to the launch of a major Germen car manufacturers latest supercar and was amazed when I found out the car had been built in the UK, not that you’ll get that in the publicity. And the bloke leading the project was the bloke who gave me my first motorsport.

The problem is that our economy does not express pride in production. I more frequently encounter cheap looking and feeling widgets, unfit-for-purpose computer systems, unrefined architecture, and so on.

Look at the difference in a Mercedes today compared to one built about 20 years ago. The seats have squared elements to their design - yet there isn’t a single part of the human body that is square. These are seats whose parts are designed to stack more efficiently, and whose fabric can be assembled with simple machines that can’t express complex curvature easily - not designed to be sat on more comfortably by the makers or users, and yet it’s only reason for being is to be sat on.

Jingle Jon:

Rjan:

fredthered:
Unfortunately the yoof of today generally have no interest in their heritage or history hence we need to be members of some club or other to fit in. To be British and proud of your past is not cool!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Rubbish. Youth on the whole are rarely interested in history - it’s once you become aware of its meaning (and it can mean very different things to different people) that interest arises.

I’m fascinated by industrial history for a variety of reasons. For example, in physical architecture I might reflect on the sheer scale of the achievement. But you have to have some life experience, and some historical knowledge of construction, to know what scale is.

Or seeing a large engine, I might note the audacious scale of castings (and it’s audacity is not apparent until you know something of the difficulty and danger) and precision of machining (when it relied more on physical human skill, or on huge milling machines that were themselves a marvel). And also the evidence of engineering pride in little details like carefully crafted handles, polished knobs, and engraved plaques on control panels - the sense of importance and meaning of these things to those who made them, the sense that they were machines built for those who made them, and for those who would use them.

Or in the archives of great corporations, you glimpse at times the sense of greater moral purpose, the moral values of an economic system, which guided their activity - something sadly in short supply nowadays.

It’s only once you have some appreciation of all the small details and contexts, that the greatness of historical achievements becomes perceptible, confidence in the power of human endeavour swells, and it becomes worthwhile to imagine what else can be achieved in future.

An interest in history and futurism is, in every sense, the culmination of a human life’s work.

Disagree with both. My experience is that young people are very interested in both history and heritage.

It’s subjective and a learning curve, and generally the more they learn the greater their interest is developed… it’s almost a basic instinct to be curious about the past.

In many ways, history is like art… what for some is inspiring and outstanding is completely boring to others.

I’m very interested in Art, Architecture, WWI & WWII… less interested in Engineering history… yet still interested - just to a lesser degree. Interested in religion and couldn’t give two hoots about Royal Ancestry - with exception to the aforementioned inclusion of arts and crafts adorning the castles and stately homes.

I’d argue that everyone is interested in history.

On the OP - Didn’t know there was a FD Heritage Centre, might visit before it closes it’s doors for good… can’t imagine it will be the most interesting place to visit… but ‘I did like that’… watching Fred! Especially the chimney demolishing.

Have agree to disagree. I see your point but these days the end game is more important than how we got there. I was saying generally and in my own experience.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

fredthered:

Jingle Jon:

Rjan:

fredthered:
Unfortunately the yoof of today generally have no interest in their heritage or history hence we need to be members of some club or other to fit in. To be British and proud of your past is not cool!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Rubbish. Youth on the whole are rarely interested in history - it’s once you become aware of its meaning (and it can mean very different things to different people) that interest arises.

I’m fascinated by industrial history for a variety of reasons. For example, in physical architecture I might reflect on the sheer scale of the achievement. But you have to have some life experience, and some historical knowledge of construction, to know what scale is.

Or seeing a large engine, I might note the audacious scale of castings (and it’s audacity is not apparent until you know something of the difficulty and danger) and precision of machining (when it relied more on physical human skill, or on huge milling machines that were themselves a marvel). And also the evidence of engineering pride in little details like carefully crafted handles, polished knobs, and engraved plaques on control panels - the sense of importance and meaning of these things to those who made them, the sense that they were machines built for those who made them, and for those who would use them.

Or in the archives of great corporations, you glimpse at times the sense of greater moral purpose, the moral values of an economic system, which guided their activity - something sadly in short supply nowadays.

It’s only once you have some appreciation of all the small details and contexts, that the greatness of historical achievements becomes perceptible, confidence in the power of human endeavour swells, and it becomes worthwhile to imagine what else can be achieved in future.

An interest in history and futurism is, in every sense, the culmination of a human life’s work.

Disagree with both. My experience is that young people are very interested in both history and heritage.

It’s subjective and a learning curve, and generally the more they learn the greater their interest is developed… it’s almost a basic instinct to be curious about the past.

In many ways, history is like art… what for some is inspiring and outstanding is completely boring to others.

I’m very interested in Art, Architecture, WWI & WWII… less interested in Engineering history… yet still interested - just to a lesser degree. Interested in religion and couldn’t give two hoots about Royal Ancestry - with exception to the aforementioned inclusion of arts and crafts adorning the castles and stately homes.

I’d argue that everyone is interested in history.

On the OP - Didn’t know there was a FD Heritage Centre, might visit before it closes it’s doors for good… can’t imagine it will be the most interesting place to visit… but ‘I did like that’… watching Fred! Especially the chimney demolishing.

Have agree to disagree. I see your point but these days the end game is more important than how we got there. I was saying generally and in my own experience.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Notwithstanding the fact that in academia, ‘history’ is a huge and broad subject, it is in the top 10 at 8th of the most applied for subjects in UK Universities.

Sourced from UCAS

History: Over 70,000 applicants per term. Although it has dropped slightly this year, and the historic graduation rate is a bit unclear. People often convert from History to other subjects such as Law / Politics etc.

Jingle Jon:

Rjan:

fredthered:
Unfortunately the yoof of today generally have no interest in their heritage or history hence we need to be members of some club or other to fit in. To be British and proud of your past is not cool!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Rubbish. Youth on the whole are rarely interested in history - it’s once you become aware of its meaning (and it can mean very different things to different people) that interest arises.

I’m fascinated by industrial history for a variety of reasons. For example, in physical architecture I might reflect on the sheer scale of the achievement. But you have to have some life experience, and some historical knowledge of construction, to know what scale is.

Or seeing a large engine, I might note the audacious scale of castings (and it’s audacity is not apparent until you know something of the difficulty and danger) and precision of machining (when it relied more on physical human skill, or on huge milling machines that were themselves a marvel). And also the evidence of engineering pride in little details like carefully crafted handles, polished knobs, and engraved plaques on control panels - the sense of importance and meaning of these things to those who made them, the sense that they were machines built for those who made them, and for those who would use them.

Or in the archives of great corporations, you glimpse at times the sense of greater moral purpose, the moral values of an economic system, which guided their activity - something sadly in short supply nowadays.

It’s only once you have some appreciation of all the small details and contexts, that the greatness of historical achievements becomes perceptible, confidence in the power of human endeavour swells, and it becomes worthwhile to imagine what else can be achieved in future.

An interest in history and futurism is, in every sense, the culmination of a human life’s work.

Disagree with both. My experience is that young people are very interested in both history and heritage.

It’s subjective and a learning curve, and generally the more they learn the greater their interest is developed… it’s almost a basic instinct to be curious about the past.

In many ways, history is like art… what for some is inspiring and outstanding is completely boring to others.

I’m very interested in Art, Architecture, WWI & WWII… less interested in Engineering history… yet still interested - just to a lesser degree. Interested in religion and couldn’t give two hoots about Royal Ancestry - with exception to the aforementioned inclusion of arts and crafts adorning the castles and stately homes.

I’d argue that everyone is interested in history.

On the OP - Didn’t know there was a FD Heritage Centre, might visit before it closes it’s doors for good… can’t imagine it will be the most interesting place to visit… but ‘I did like that’… watching Fred! Especially the chimney demolishing.

Have agree to disagree. I see your point but these days the end game is more important than how we got there. I was saying generally and in my own experience.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Jingle Jon:
Disagree with both. My experience is that young people are very interested in both history and heritage.

They tend to be curious if they are around adults that give them a head start on what it’s meaning is.

I’m not trying to be anti-youth - what I’m saying is that a wide interest in history is something that (ideally) develops from life experience, not what you start with.

So to complain about youths having no particular interest in the past, as the OP did, puts the cart before the horse. They haven’t had chance to develop the interest yet.

For example, some veterans cry at the Cenotaph (in a way that probably no youth will) not just because of recalling individual loss, but because they’ve grasped the meaning (much more than they ever did as young soldiers who went off) of the gravity of the loss - of mothers and fathers who spent years investing their time raising them into decent citizens, who had hopes for their future and potential, all to come back in a wooden box, or not at all. Youths would not yet be in a position to grasp those meanings which drive the lives of older adults - it’s part of life that they learn.

It’s subjective and a learning curve, and generally the more they learn the greater their interest is developed… it’s almost a basic instinct to be curious about the past.

In many ways, history is like art… what for some is inspiring and outstanding is completely boring to others.

I’m very interested in Art, Architecture, WWI & WWII… less interested in Engineering history… yet still interested - just to a lesser degree. Interested in religion and couldn’t give two hoots about Royal Ancestry - with exception to the aforementioned inclusion of arts and crafts adorning the castles and stately homes.

I’d argue that everyone is interested in history.

Agreed, except I would say everyone becomes interested in history, so it’s always a bit too early to complain about the interest that youth has in history.

It would be far more ominous to observe that those of middle and old age sometimes have no interest in history, or the future.

I’m with Muckles and Santa, from all successful motorsport teams there is a Fred in a shed developing very complex machinery, the Japanese 2 strokes were developed by an East German who worked in a rocket [emoji573] factory.
Heritage railways are manned by the yoof. Young engineers are building trains, planes, tractors, ships and factory production lines

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Speaking as someone who is involved (on a small scale) in the restoration of vintage machinery etc I can say that there is a big interest among younger folk of engineering from days gone and I know of many lads, and a few lasses, who are involved with continuing the tradition. Some I know of are involved with the various preserved pumping stations around the UK and are learning engineering at college or in their day jobs, others are involved with steam railways etc. Some are already skilled in lathe work and at least two are designing and building their own engines so rest assured our Heritage will be in safehands for many years to come. Fred’s stuff, though a lot of the smaller items have been purchased previously by folk visiting the centre over the years, will be auctioned off in the New Year and a lot of the items are there just as he left them, it is a shame that the centre can no longer continue but everything has a certain time span.

Pete.

Rjan:

Jingle Jon:
Disagree with both. My experience is that young people are very interested in both history and heritage.

They tend to be curious if they are around adults that give them a head start on what it’s meaning is.

I’m not trying to be anti-youth - what I’m saying is that a wide interest in history is something that (ideally) develops from life experience, not what you start with.

So to complain about youths having no particular interest in the past, as the OP did, puts the cart before the horse. They haven’t had chance to develop the interest yet.

For example, some veterans cry at the Cenotaph (in a way that probably no youth will) not just because of recalling individual loss, but because they’ve grasped the meaning (much more than they ever did as young soldiers who went off) of the gravity of the loss - of mothers and fathers who spent years investing their time raising them into decent citizens, who had hopes for their future and potential, all to come back in a wooden box, or not at all. Youths would not yet be in a position to grasp those meanings which drive the lives of older adults - it’s part of life that they learn.

It’s subjective and a learning curve, and generally the more they learn the greater their interest is developed… it’s almost a basic instinct to be curious about the past.

In many ways, history is like art… what for some is inspiring and outstanding is completely boring to others.

I’m very interested in Art, Architecture, WWI & WWII… less interested in Engineering history… yet still interested - just to a lesser degree. Interested in religion and couldn’t give two hoots about Royal Ancestry - with exception to the aforementioned inclusion of arts and crafts adorning the castles and stately homes.

I’d argue that everyone is interested in history.

Agreed, except I would say everyone becomes interested in history, so it’s always a bit too early to complain about the interest that youth has in history.

It would be far more ominous to observe that those of middle and old age sometimes have no interest in history, or the future.

I think we mostly agree on this…

We could argue what is meant by the meaning of the word ‘history’?

But if we remove the (obvious)… word: study. What we are left with is an (interest in) the past. The fact that people develop interest is (to some degree obvious) neither here nor there. Development… could be said of every subject from food to ■■■.

What I’m saying is, all young people are interested in the past and this is developed because of their natural interest and because they pursue that interest.

There is not a single subject, in any area, of anything - that does not include (cover) history or historic content. These often start with Grandparents sharing stories with grandchildren about their own heritage.

I would argue that an interest in history is part of our basic human structure.

Since the beginning of time… people have had and interest in history, hence many of the religious scriptures of religious books.

The book of genesis is basically an early study of the origin of people.

If you take a young child and talk about when their parent were kids… you’ll immediately have their attention.

One of the problems with early education (these days), is that teachers don’t know how to teach - because they don’t understand how to grasp the imaginations of young people.

All that said: If Fred was just starting his TV shows today… I wonder if he would command the same level of interest. I would hope so. It was very refreshing to watch a normal person… he might have to wear a hi-vis… whilst running for his life from a falling stack. :laughing: