Frederick Travis Dibnah, MBE (29 April 1938 – 6 November 2004) was an English steeplejack and television personality, with a keen interest in mechanical engineering, who described himself as a "backstreet mechanic" After his National Service, once demobilised, he returned to steeplejacking but met with limited success until he was asked to repair Bolton's parish church. The resulting publicity provided a boost to his business, ensuring he was almost never out of work In 1978, while making repairs to Bolton Town Hall, Dibnah was filmed by a regional BBC news crew. The BBC then commissioned a documentary, which followed the rough-hewn steeplejack as he worked on chimneys, interacted with his family and talked about his favourite hobby - steam The massive statue of steeplejack Fred Dibnah has been crafted by a Shropshire, Shrewsbury artist to stand in the centre of the star's home town of Bolton.Jane Robbins won the 2008 commission for the statue. Its set in bronze and shows Fred holding a lightning conductor on one of his trademark chimneys Jane, who lives in Church Stretton and works out of a studio in Abbey Foregate, Shrewsbury, has finished crafting an 8ft tall clay statue of Fred. It will be taken from her studio in pieces on Monday, before a lighter wax replica is created and cast in bronze at Castle Fine Art Gallery, near Oswestry
