[modeleng] Re: Honours

Good for John, he deserves the honours.

Cheers Jeff Dayman
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Alan Stepney" <alan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <modeleng@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, December 30, 2006 2:42 PM
Subject: [modeleng] Honours


> For some reason I was missed off  the Queens New Years Honours list.
> However, one name known to many model engineers was there.
> John Wilding has been awarded te MBE.
> -----------------------
> A clockmaker who has spent 40 years documenting the skills of his trade so
> anyone can enjoy it has become an MBE.
> John Wilding, 82, learned his skills serving an apprenticeship in London
> where he said he "did it the hard way".
>
> He then spent four decades making clocks and photographing the process in
a
> workshop at his Sussex home.
>
> Most clocks were now made in factories abroad, but traditional timepieces
> had appealed to him "because of the quality of the workmanship", Mr
Wilding
> said.
>
> He said his books were aimed at amateur engineers and added: "A lay person
> could make them."
>
> "When I started there was so little information on how to make a clock, I
> thought it was time it was made public.
>
> Lights and cameras
>
> "Every clock I make has a book on how to make it."
>
> With 40 books to his name, Mr Wilding has published a book a year.
>
> He said they covered "most of the basic clocks", and he had taken about
two
> or three months to make each one.
>
> But he added: "I have to keep stopping to set the camera and lights and
take
> the photographs."
>
> Once the photographs have been taken, Mr Wilding's work continues with the
> production of the engineers' drawings and the job of writing the entire
> process up.
>
>
>       John Wilding learned his skills serving an apprenticeship in London
>
> He said: "At 82, I don't think I shall be doing a lot more in the
workshop.
> I have produced my last book.
>
> "Very few mechanical clocks are handmade now. Most are made in factories
in
> Germany.
>
> "No-one wants the bother of servicing and maintaining them, and everyone
> wants them to be quartz and radio-controlled, so there is virtually no
> maintenance - you change the battery every now and again,
>
> "But these are traditional clocks that have been made for the past 200
> years.
>
> "And I do it because the quality of the workmanship appeals to me."
>
> Mr Wilding, of Petworth, West Sussex, who will continue to work on
updating
> earlier books, was recognised in the New Year Honours list for services to
> clockmaking.
> Alan Stepney
>
>
> http://www.alanstepney.info
> Model Engineering & steam engine information pages
>
>
> -- Binary/unsupported file stripped by Ecartis --
> -- Type: image/jpeg
> -- File: _42399447_clockmaker2_203.jpg
>
>
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