As you may know our 2004 series Fred Dibnah’s Made in Britain is being shown at 15:45 on BBC2 at the moment…

Today it’s episode 9 (of 12) ‘Engines at Work’ in which Fred & steersman Alf meet up with a few old friends at the North Staffs & Cheshire Traction Engine Club.  All the engines are in steam so Fred is in his element, chatting to his mates and enjoying a pint or two!

The next  day Fred goes to see a great friend Len Crane at Bratch Pumping Station.  Len has spent the last six years restoring a great triple expansion engine that was used to pump the water and it’s a magnificent sight.

Fred & Alf call in at the Severn Valley Railway at Bridgenorth for a chat about the loco’s and a tour round the workshops. Unfortunately Fred does so much chatting he misses his chance to have a ride on the footplate – typical!

Moving on from Bridgenorth Fred, Alf and Jimmy visit the Black Country Living

We always got fish and chips from Hobbs when filming with Fred Dibnah

Museum to learn about the rich mining history of the area.  It’s a fantastic museum that we filmed at many times over the years with Fred.  He loved going there – and we all loved the amazing fish and chips from the onsite Hobbs & Sons.  Cooked in beef dripping for that authentic old fashioned taste.  Washed down with a pint of ale you couldn’t hope for a better treat at dinner time.  The fact that we were working made it all the more enjoyable.

I’d recommend a day out at Black Country for anyone.  Children and adults alike it’s a great, hands on,  accessible way of learning more about the region’s rich history.  For more info visit www.bclm.co.uk

If you enjoy the programme there are great value for money Collector’s Editions of the series – with each DVD featuring up to 2 hours of unseen footage available here http://bit.ly/MIBce

“The British showing themselves to themselves, and to the world” is how Labour MP Herbert Morrison described the Festival of Britain that opened today in 1951

Initially intended to be an international festival to commemorate the 100 year anniversary of the 1851 Great Exhibition. However after sending the idea to committee it was decided that the costs were too great especially at a time when reconstruction after the war was a major priority. Instead they decided to host a series of events and displays about industrial design, architecture, science, technology and the arts at various UK locations – although mainly in London.

London’s South Bank was given a remarkable make over – where once stood dilapidated housing and warehouses it now proudly boasted the festival’s centre piece.  And of those buildings the Royal Festival Hall can still be visited today.

It was named The Festival of Britain and was said by festival director Gerald Barry to be ‘a tonic for the nation’. Over 10 million people are said to have visited the six exhibitions, with over 8 million travelling to London’s South Bank alone.

After the war the nation needed a pick me up, people needed faith that the UK could get back on its feet and rise up tall once again. Better quality design would be used in the new house building. Shortages would end and trade would increase. Industries would once again roar back into life and bring prosperity to the nation.

Speaking before the event King George VI said: “The motives which inspire the Festival are common to us all – pride in our past and all that it has meant, confidence in the future which holds so many opportunities for us to continue our contribution to the well being of mankind, and thanksgiving that we have begun to surmount our trials.”

I think that Fred Dibnah may have been a little young to visit but I’m sure he would have absolutely loved it!

Recently the steam and industrial heritage magazine ‘Vintage Spirit’ interviewed David Hall (Dad) about his years working with Fred Dibnah on all our BBC television programmes. Afterwards David told me he’d enjoyed the interview and that Richard had asked some really insightful questions, clearly someone who’d understood Fred’s character.

Here is an excerpt from Richard Murphy’s interview with David Hall from the March 2013 issue of Vintage Spirit:

RM: What is your defining memory of Fred?
DH: There are so many memories . After a day’s filming we’d head back to wherever we were staying, have a couple of drinks, get changed and go out for something to eat. The instant we walked into a pub he became a magnet for people; everyone
wanted to buy him a drink! He’d start to tell his stories and it would get to closing time, the pints would be lined up on the bar, the door would be locked and I’d think, “Here we are again, another lock in.”

There have been some real individual highlights for us both as well. Walking along the girders of the Forth Railway Bridge and going to St Paul’s Cathedral and walking around the outside of the dome were both great, but it was the simple times I
liked the most.

RM: What do you think Fred’s lasting legacy will be?
DH: More than anything he’ll be remembered for arousing interest in industrial history, that’s really what he got his MBE for. Up until we shot The Industrial Age series, (in 1998) very little had been done on the subject. There’s been quite a
lot since then, but it was very much something that hadn’t been covered. Obviously your readership was aware of it, but for the general public it was something that hadn’t been done.

David Hall’s excellent Working Lives book

RM: In your new book Working Lives, you speak to many people who worked in the factories, mills and shipyards of Britain.  How did the idea for the book come about?
DH: It was a follow-on from working with Fred and writing the books with him. When we were filming we went to steelworks, coal mines and textile mills and the people we met were all fairly advanced in years. I felt that if I didn’t get their stories down then we’d be losing an important part of our history.

RM: Do you have any more books in the pipeline?
DH: There are several I’m working on. One is based on the Bolton Mass Observation Worktown project. It was conducted between 1937-39 by middle class artists and intellectuals who went up to Bolton to study the working classes. One of the leading lights of the study had just got back from the New Hebrides where he’d been doing an anthropological study of the population up there. He regarded the inhabitants of Bolton similarly to the inhabitants of these islands; to him Bolton’s populace was a race apart from the rest of the British people. The only complaint Fred ever made while we were filming was that all the best stuff we ever filmed ended up on the cutting room floor. What he meant by this was detailed footage of the inner workings of a mechanical lubricator or something like that. We had to explain to him that, for prime-time television that level of detail would act as an instant turn-off. One of his wishes was that all this detailed film would
be edited and made available. We know that Fred had so much knowledge and passion to share that it seems a waste to leave it unseen.

For the full interview see Vintage Spirit March 2013/Issue 128

All our Fred DVDs are available at www.theviewfromthenorth.co.uk/shop/

Plus look out later this year for the final ever Fred Dibnah collections!

Special offer for my blog readers…

Vintage Spirit is Britain’s number one magazine for steam and industrial heritage. Each month, Vintage Spirit brings you the latest event reports and news from the preservation world, as well as fascinating features on restoration projects,
manufacturers, museums and well-known faces. Plus, relive stories from the past and take a journey into yesteryear with nostalgic photographs from the archives.

Vintage Spirit is available to buy in WH Smith and other large newsagents.

Alternatively, subscribe today with this exclusive offer brought to you by The View from the North:  Just £25 for 12 months (a little over £2 an issue, cover price £3.99) by Direct Debit (continues at £36 every 12 months thereafter).
To subscribe with this offer, call 01283 742970 or visit www.wwmagazines.com/vs/viewfromthenorth

You can visit www.vintagespirit.co.uk to find out more about the magazine, or join them on Facebook to keep up-to-date with all the latest from the Vintage Spirit team.

Sir Nigel Gresley was one of Britain’s most respected and famous steam locomotive engineers.  He was responsible for designing some of the most striking and recognisable engines, including the A1 class Flying Scotsman and my favourite, the A4 class Mallard.

Sir Nigel Gresley

Gresley was born in Edinburgh in 1876, but raised in Derbyshire and schooled in Sussex (bet he had to get up early to catch that bus!).  After attending Marlborough College he took up an apprenticeship at the famous Crewe works. Here he worked in the fitting and erecting shops before moving to the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway to acquire some design experience. In 1904 at the age of 28 he had reached the level of assistant superintendent. A year later he moved to the Great Northern Railway and in 1911 was promoted to Chief Mechanical Engineer. His first A1 class Pacific loco Great Northern was built in 1922.

There were 52 of the class A1 ‘Pacific’ locos built – with 51 subsequently being converted to A3 ‘Super Pacific’ specifications, plus a further 27 new A3s. It’s amazing and quite sad to think that of all those locos only 1 survives – 4472 Flying Scotsman. And my goodness it’s not been plain sailing for her!

4472 Flying Scotsman

She was rescued from the scrapyard in 63, shipped off for an ill fated trip to America in 69, rescued and brought back to England in 73 where she enjoyed several years of main line excursions and trips to preserved railway lines. In 88 she enjoyed a highly successful trip to Australia then in 95 disaster struck when her firebox cracked forcing her to be withdrawn from service. Saved again in 96 with finance for a major restoration and back on the tracks in 99, starting with a run from London to York. In 2004 financial troubles raised their head again, but thanks to a well publicised, vociferous campaign The Flying Scotsman was brought back into the hands of the public after 41 years of private ownership. She now proudly lives at the National Railway Museum in York and attracts visitors from across the world.

During World War 1 Gresley reorganised Doncaster works for the production of armaments and modified locomotives for military use. In 1920 he was recognised for his efforts during the war and awarded a C.B.E.

The newly formed London and North Eastern Railway appointed him their Chief Mechanical and Electrical Engineer in February 1923 and in 1928 production began on his A3 class of ‘Super Pacifics’. Gresley stayed with LNER to the end of his life, despite an attempt by LMS in 1932 to headhunt him as their next CME.

Beautiful Mallard

My personal favourite engine of Gresleys is Mallard (A4 class) and in July of 1938 she set the world steam record of 126mph. A record that has not been beaten to this day!

The stresses of such a busy working life must have taken their toll on Gresley as just two months before he was due to retire he suffered a heart attack and died on 5th April 1941. I wonder how many people today could even hope to achieve all that he did? He is indeed one of our great British industrial heroes and was hugely admired by Fred Dibnah.

Starting tomorrow, 16th Feb, the Historic Dockyard at Chatham are throwing their doors wide open for the start of their 2013 season – and let me tell you, there’s more fun than you can shake a crusty old sea dog at.

Those award winning maritime mighties have a whole year of events in store for you. They kick off with the popular biennial art competition/exhibition entitled ‘Art in the Dockyard with stunning works, all inspired by the dockyard itself’. Continue reading →

All child bearing has been completed – it’s now back to the serious business of selling Fred Dibnah DVDs!  Although only back since last week, maternity leave seems like a mere distant memory.

The social media marketing course I attended last night gave me some good tips

A bit of pretty amongst the industry

so it’s going to be full Twittersteam ahead from here on in.  Dibnah DVDs surely can and will take over the world, it just may take a few weeks…

Although not a man of steam, Charles Dickens  was certainly a man of great talent and lived through the early part of Fred Dibnah’s favourite time – The Victorian Age.

To celebrate the 200 year anniversary of Charles Dickens birth, Gerald Dickens – Charles’ great great grandson will be performing the premiere of a brand new show entitled “The Complete Works of Charles Dickens” at The Historic Dockyard Chatham.  This new show has been specially written for the bicentenary of Dickens’ birth and features extracts from all his major novels in chronological order.

We’re familiar with Chatham as we filmed at The Historic Dockyard with Fred for our BBC2 series back in 2000 called Fred Dibnah’s Magnificent Monuments.  The Dockyard is also somewhere that Charles Dickens himself was very familiar with as his Father was a clerk in the Navy pay office.

Gerald Dickens said of this special event “It is so exciting to perform in Chatham in this bicentenary year.  Charles spent some of the happiest days of his childhood in and around the Dockyard and it was here that so many of his characters and plots were born.  I can think of no better place to celebrate his life and career”

Tickets are priced £15 and can be purchased by calling The Historic Dockyard on 01634 823815.  The price also includes a Q&A session to be held afterwards in Commissioner’s House, Britain’s oldest Naval building still intact.

Beamish is one of our most filmed at locations with Fred Dibnah.  It’s a great place for a family day out where you can have fun whilst learning about our industrial, agricultural and social history.  Each area of the musuem tells the story of Georgian, Victorian or Edwardian living.  You can see how life in the North East changed over a 100 years from a Georgian agricultural lifestyle to the hustle and bustle of the Industrial Revolution.

We were always shown great hospitality on our filming visits, in particular from Jacki Winstanley in the setting up of the filming.  It was great to be able to turn up at the location and know that we were going to be able to shoot some great stuff.  Fred loved the place because it felt real and all the people working there really knew what they were talking about.  On site nothing was too much trouble for the team -  many of whom are volunteers.

Continue reading →

I came across a lovely site the other day with some great industrial heritage paintings from around Lancashire.

The site http://www.industrialinspirations.co.uk/ is owned by Phil Frain and was created by his wife Denise.  There are paintings and prints available to buy and as you can see there are even some featuring Mr Dibnah himself!

Continue reading →

Alan McEwen was a truly great friend to Fred Dibnah over the years. They shared many interests and Alan always had time to advise Fred on his latest boiler complications. They were both passionate about steam and industrial history preservation – in fact up until 2007 Alan’s job as well as his passion was that of preserving our industrial heritage as he was a highly talented boiler maker.

Nowardays Alan is an enthusiastic researcher, writer and photographer of industrial history and with his wife Christine owns Sledgehammer Engineering Press. Continue reading →