[modeleng] Honours

  • From: "Alan Stepney" <alan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <modeleng@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Sat, 30 Dec 2006 19:42:43 -0000

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 


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