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November 2004
Fred laid to rest
Fred Dibnah died from cancer at Bolton Hospice on 6 November, weeks after filming his final TV series.
This website is dedicated to Fred's life, which he lived to the full.
We therefore leave the coverage of his funeral to others.
Fred Dibnah's Funeral
Final farewell to Fred Dibnah
His final series is due to be broadcast in Spring 2005.
This report is from May 2004.
We leave it here as a tribute to Fred and his attitude to life & death.
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Fred vows to carry on blasting
THOUSANDS came expecting to catch their last glimpse of
two long-standing north west landmarks. But as one came down the other
announced retirement was a long way off yet.
Celebrity steeplejack Fred Dibnah was supposed to end his days of felling
factory chimneys with the demolition of the 175-ft Park Mill chimney in
Royton yesterday.
But as soon as Fred, 66, had seen the 91-year-old structure come crashing
to the ground, he scotched reports that he was also leaving the world of
work.
The TV star is battling cancer and is also spending a lot of time making
programmes for the BBC, prompting reports that this would be his last
demolition job. But after the chimney fell he announced that he would
carry on doing the job he has loved for decades
Fred, who was awarded the MBE in this year's New Year's honours list,
said: "I'm alive, I'm feeling okay and I'm not going anywhere for a good
while.
"There have been reports that I'm packing it all in, but I can't. I'll die
on the job. I am doing 12 programmes for the BBC and that has slowed the
job up for me, but I am carrying on.
"There's plenty of chimneys around here and I wouldn't
mind coming back and having a go at another one of them.''
News of Fred's non-retirement will have delighted the crowd of more than
2,000 who turned out from midday yesterday to see the chimney come down.
Fred had agreed to demolish the chimney for old friend Roy Fisher, who
runs Irlam-based firm County Contracts UK.
As the famous Bolton flat cap wearer set about his work, hundreds of
people gathered to the sides and behind the red brick chimney, eagerly
waiting for it to be reduced to rubble.
A police helicopter flew overhead urging people to keep a safe distance
from the demolition site, as crowds swarmed over the bowling green and sat
on portable building roofs in nearby Royton Park to bag the best view.
Fred set about bringing the chimney down by "burning" it. He removed part
of the base and filled it with telegraph poles which he then lit to cause
it to collapse.
It could not be blown up as it was too close to neighbouring houses - more
than a thousand people living in the Ravenstonedale Drive area behind the
chimney stood on the slopes to watch the demolition.
After posing for photographs on the rubble with his
12-year-old son Roger, Fred said: "We've got no windows broken and no one
hurt so I'm more than happy. It went 90 per cent as I hoped - I would have
liked it to have fallen a little bit straighter. But the job is a good'un.''
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