Fred Dibnah Heritage Centre to Close

Taken 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.

 

I fear the value of knackered old boiler tubes, rusty rivets and broken brick is going to plummet....

Still, I can't see the family shedding too many tears at the announcement.

 

As has been said many times before "a shed without Fred is just a shed". It is a pity that other folks felt it right to 'cash in' on his memory.
Ray.

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/...ale-Steeplejack-Fred-Dibnahs-Bolton-home.html

 

They were asking 1.25 million for it in 2012 and didn't get any takers. Before it was taken off the market last year it was down to offers around 450k. Who's kidding who?
Ray.

 

There must now be a whole generation who will say 'Who's Fred Dibnah?', so I'm not really surprised. And as someone born and brought up in Bolton, and my brother still lives there, I have to say that the local authority have ne interest whatsoever in the town's industrial heritage and do nothing to capitalise on it and attract visitors.
I'm surprised it's lasted as long as it has.

Andy

 

I think his sons do plenty to keep his memory going. They still have Fred's Aveling roller which attends plenty of rallies and they do their bit to keep the brewing industry going!

 

Fred was more of real man, than this entire generation of self-entitled "children" currently running around and ruining the world for everyone.

 

Oh leave off my generation, some of us are desperately trying to balance an intense uni course with trying to come back occasionally to do a spot of volunteering on a heritage railway!

 

Then you should be using your time wisely. Take it from me, I voluntarily banned myself from forums so as not to serve as a distraction from my studies.

Although, having said that, Universities have been institutionalized since the 60s. The problem is far worse in America than the UK, currently. What with the rise of the violent anarchist and law-breaking left groups, taking over campuses and corrupting the student body and faculty, such as Antif.

Ah well. Make sure you focus on apprenticeships beyond your course. Good luck.

 

It's nice to keep up with what's going on in the preservation world though! Certainly a world I don't intend to leave behind if I can help it.

Thank you for the warning over violent left groups, but I should be ok, I've only joined the dental society and a music one, am I safe?

Happily as long as I pass all my exams a job should be fairly forthcoming at the end - most dental students tend to go on to be dentists!

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

 

A shame indeed, a very unique house that shouldn't really be anything but some sort of heritage centre, after all a replica mineshaft in the garden would deter any prospective homeowner i imagine.

 

Indeed, and his daughters aren't strangers to events and rally fields either
Lorna and Alistair now have two of Fred's old land rovers, having been able to puchase the old air-portable a couple of years ago.

 

Over on another thread you criticise the 'negativity ' of the posts and suggest it could put people off contributing to a heritage railway scheme.

Just wondering if you think your post here encourages the younger generations to engage in the heritage railway movement?

Jon

 

Left wing musical dentists are the very pits. we're doomed

 

Don't feed the Troll.

 

If you want to insinuate something, spit it out please. PM me.

If you want to talk about Fred, oh yes please!

Where's the clip where he narrowly dodges that chimney crashing down?

 

Nothing being insinuated, Jon just asked a very simple question. Perhaps you'd care to answer it?


Keith