However, the strain of living with a man so dedicated to his hobbies began to take its toll on his wife: a b "Fred's steam monster barred for his big day", Manchester Evening News, 8 July 2004 , retrieved 30 October 2009 FRED DIBNAH has always been a man out of his own time. Growing up a youth in the 1940s in Bolton, Lancashire, he lived near the railway lines and there began a lifelong fascination with steam locomotives. McBain, Gayle (2 October 2013), "17 facts you didn't know about Fred Dibnah", The Bolton News, Bolton , retrieved 15 January 2019

Chaudhari, Saiqa (23 March 2016), "Life and times of Fred Dibnah celebrated by folk band The Lancashire Hotpots", The Bolton News , retrieved 17 March 2019

No one quite like Fred...", Bolton Evening News, 8 November 2004, archived from the original on 18 July 2006 , retrieved 19 October 2009– via Famous Boltonians

First marriage [ edit ] Dibnah's home, 121 Radcliffe Road, a former Victorian gatehouse in Bolton. Now the (closed) Fred Dibnah Heritage Centre And so it proved. Haworth's documentary about Dibnah won two awards and led to a host of other programmes over the next 25 years. a b Carney, Neil (2005), "On the buses' to 'up the ladders", in Langston, Keith (ed.), Fred Dibnah MBE Remembered: The life & times of a Great Briton 1938–2004, Mortons Media Group, ISBN 978-0-9542442-6-2Dibnah was praised by many notable British people. After reporting on his death, television presenter Peter Sissons remarked: "They don't make them like that any more". Comedian Peter Kay said: "It's very sad news. He was one of a kind and now he has gone I think there will be no one else like him. He was enthusiastic about a way of life that has virtually disappeared now." Brian Tetlow, chairman of the Bolton and District Civic Trust, said: "He's unique, not just to Bolton but to Britain and the world. Our thoughts are with his wife and children." [103] Anon (Date Unknown) Fred Dibnah’s Age of Steam [Online Film] Available at: < https://youtu.be/X_UrJI72Vsc> [Accessed 28 th April 2021]. Sometimes he'll have busted his thumb because he's hit it with a hammer; you couldn't really expect him then to come in and start doing things in the house. I just don't think it's fair though, I think you've got to strike a balance and I think ours is about 90/10. Me for 90 per cent of the housework and Fred for 10." [68] Anon (2016) The Day Fred Dibnah Brought Down the Ballyclare Paper Mill Chimney. [Online] Available at: www.loveballyclare.com>history>the-day-fred [Accessed 28 th April 2021]. Anon (2007) Fred Dibnah’s house, Radcliffe Road, Bolton. The Bolton News. [Online] Available at: < https://images.app.goo.gl/UfuL7Q2cLDr7ZwUF6> [Accessed 28 th April 2021].

Bunyan, Nigel (17 November 2004), "Steam-powered funeral for Fred Dibnah", The Telegraph, London , retrieved 28 October 2009 Dibnah met his second wife Susan Lorenz—a 28-year-old social worker [3]—at a steam rally in Cheshire. In The Fred Dibnah Story (1996) she recalled their first meeting: "He looked sad and miserable, quite a pathetic sort of figure really, none of the bounce that people knew him for." [63] [ full citation needed] He later invited her to a chimney felling in Oldham and then a talk he had been invited to give to a group of fans in Halifax, known as The Fred Dibnah Appreciation Society. Sue moved into Dibnah's home in Bolton and the two married on 27February 1987. [3] She encouraged him to grow a moustache and also to give up smoking. [63] The couple had their first child, a girl named Jayne, in June 1968. Alison was initially worried about her husband's occupation but learned to deal with the risk and to trust Fred. She organised his accounts and even collected debts. She also helped him demolish some of the chimneys that he worked on, by lighting the fire to burn away the temporary supports he had put in place. [31] Chimney felling [ edit ] One day in October 1985, Dibnah attended a solid fuel exhibition in nearby Bury. Upon his return he discovered that Alison had left the house, taking with her their three children, the dog and some items of furniture. [61] Short of money, he was forced to sell his antique AJS motorcycle. [60] He found life without his family difficult but defended his wife: "There is no doubt whatsoever, she were a good help to me and I'm going to miss her. It was just that all the pressure got too much for her." [62] Second marriage [ edit ] Dibnah in 1981 A play titled The Demolition Man, based on his final years, was staged in 2011 at Bolton's Octagon Theatre. [107]Through his television work Dibnah became famous for felling chimneys (by the time of his death he had felled 90), although it was one of his least favourite jobs. [58] As he made more films with Don Haworth, his outspoken views on changing society, work ethics and delinquency, made him the embodiment of the views of many of his fans and epitomised the view of a northern working man. [102] In 1967, following disagreements over who should be invited to their wedding, Dibnah and 19-year-old hairdresser Alison Mary Foster eloped to Gretna Green, to get married. [3] [27] Dibnah had first spotted Alison from the top of a chimney and, when one day she walked into the pub where he was drinking, he asked her out; six weeks later, the two became engaged. [28] They left notes for their parents, caught a train to Carlisle and from there on a series of buses to Dumfries. They had initially planned to stay at the house of a friend but as he had returned to Bolton for his holidays, they stayed instead at a local farmhouse. The two had to be resident for at least 21days to be married and so Dibnah agreed to point the gable ends of a local hotel in exchange for bed and board. Dibnah's interest in steam power stemmed from his childhood observations of the steam locomotives on the nearby railway line, [36] and his visits to his father's workplace—a bleach works in Bolton—where he was fascinated by the steam engines used to drive the line shafting. [37] A small mill near his childhood home was sometimes mothballed and Dibnah once broke in:

Dibnah died from bladder cancer in November 2004, aged 66. [2] Early life [ edit ] Childhood [ edit ] Graduation Summer 2000", RGU News Article, Robert Gordon University, 3 August 2000, archived from the original on 27 September 2007 , retrieved 20 October 2009

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Town says farewell to Fred Dibnah". Bolton Evening News. 8 November 2004. Archived from the original on 23 June 2012 . Retrieved 3 June 2013– via freddibnah.co.uk. Eleven days later, thousands of mourners watched as Dibnah's coffin (on top of which his trademark flat cap was placed) was towed through the centre of Bolton by his restored traction engine, driven by his son. A cortège of steam-powered vehicles followed, as the procession made its way to Bolton Parish Church. During the hour-long service, David Hall told the congregation "He wasn't a posh TV presenter. He was recognised as a working man who had learned through experience." [99] Following the service, led by the Vicar of Bolton, Canon Michael Williams (a friend of Dibnah), he was buried at Tonge Cemetery, behind his home. [100]