[modeleng] Re: Honours

Thanks for posting this article and heartiest
congratulations to Mr. Wilding.

Al Messer
--- Alan Stepney <alan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> 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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