STEEPLEJACK Fred Dibnah was scaling the heights in Barnoldswick this week to make sure one of the town's landmarks will last well into the next millennium.

Bolton-based Fred - the star of a successive BBC television documentary series chronicling his life and career - was working on the mill chimney at the Bancroft Mill Engine Museum.

The mill itself is long gone, but the engine and boiler house, the impressive cross-compound steam engine which used to drive the 1,250 looms, and the towering mill chimney all remain.

They are preserved and maintained by the Bancroft Mill Engine Trust, formed as a charity in 1980 by local volunteers keen to preserve an important part of the town's industrial heritage.

Last year they were awarded a vital National Lottery grant to restore the boiler and chimney, managing to secure Fred's much sought after services for the chimney work.

It includes repointing, painting existing metal bands and adding new ones to hold the chimney together.

Fred, who prefers restoring chimneys to knocking them down, reckoned once his work was done the chimney would be sound for many years to come.

He enjoys coming to Bancroft where he can share his passion for steam engines with the museum trustees.

And, despite advancing years, Fred showed he can still run up and down a ladder and dangle from a rope with the best of 'em!

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.