FRED Dibnah was a bluff, no nonsense man, who despite being terminally ill with cancer battled on to the end.

Fred was a Bolton man but he had a particular fondness for the Tyldesley and Atherton area.

He died, surrounded by his family and friends, just weeks after completing his final TV series made as he toured the country on his beloved steam traction engine. And one of the last stops he made on that tour was at Thomas Smith's nut and bolt works in Atherton.

He made frequent stops in Tyldesley too - usually at the Mort Arms in Tyldesley town centre where he enjoyed a Thursday night pint with down to earth locals in the tap room. He often turned up with two or three mates and his familiar flat cap for a natter with the ex-miners who made the Mort their local.

Sadly, like Fred, most of them have gone too, but there'll still be a good few glasses raised in his memory.

The steeplejack turned TV star had stopped chemotherapy treatment for prostate cancer after just one session because he said it made him too ill. He continued smiling through the pain and managed to complete filming the 12 part TV series which will be screened in the New Year.

In July this year Fred even drove his steam traction engine to London to collect his MBE from the Queen but he had to park his eight tonne green, black and gold restored traction engine in a nearby barracks. At the time he said he couldn't wait to get out of his posh morning suit and back into his work clothes and flat cap and resume filming his tour around the country.

But in September, shortly after filming ended, his condition deteriorated. He was taken to Bolton Hospice where he died at midday on Saturday (Nov 6).

Married three times, he leaves behind his wife Sheila three daughters Jayne, Lorna and Caroline and two sons, Jack and Roger.

Good friend and ex-miner Alan Davies, former Lancashire mining museum curator and now Wigan Borough archivist regularly met him for a drink in Tyldesley.

Mr Davies said: "Fred genuinely loved Tyldesley and the atmosphere in the Mort Arms and the fact that people there didn't fuss over him. He had a very strong interest in mining history and was full of admiration for miners and the hardships they faced.

"With Fred what you saw was what you got. He loved chatting and he presented and highlighted industrial history and heritage in a plain, concise no-nonsense style.

"He adored the winding engine at Astley Green - he thought it was magnificent. He just wanted the place to develop.

"He will be greatly missed. He had so much potential for the future."

His funeral will take place in Bolton on Tuesday and Fred's coffin will be carried to church on a trailer pulled by a newly-restored steam engine. The procession will be headed by his steam engine Betsy.