film more documentaries. With his newly found fame, however, came distractions from his work. Visitors would arrive at his house, to see his garden. He began to receive fan mail; one individual wrote to offer Dibnah a steam-powered machine he no longer wanted. One company, who were apparently disturbed to see Dibnah's matches being extinguished by the wind while at the top of a chimney, sent him a sample of their windproof matches. Filming would also interfere with his work. Cameraman Martin Lightening would climb with Dibnah to the top of a chimney—with a 16mm film camera—and film him at work, often hundreds of feet above the ground. Several years later, Dibnah and his family went on holiday, to Blackpool. The trip was filmed for television and showed Dibnah's preference for working rather than holidaying. He did however manage to undertake the removal of a small chimney stack from a business in the town, under a distinctly grey sky and aided by his wife, Alison. His payment for the job was a new front plate for the boiler of his traction engine. Dibnah, however, refused to take any more holidays and, after 18 years of marriage, Alison booked and paid for a holiday to Greece, taking their three children (Jayne, Lorna and Caroline) with her. Dibnah remained at home and was surprised when, upon her return, she asked for a divorce. One day in October 1985, Dibnah attended a solid fuel exhibition in nearby Bury. Upon his return he discovered that Alison had left the house, taking with her their three children, the dog and some items of furniture. Short of money, he was forced to sell his antique AJS motorcycle. He found life without his family difficult but defended his wife: "There is no doubt whatsoever, she were a good help to me and I'm going to miss her. It was just that all the pressure got too much for her." Second marriage Dibnah met his second wife Susan Lorenz—a 28-year-old social worker—at a steam rally in Cheshire. In The Fred Dibnah Story (1996) she recalled their first meeting: "He looked sad and miserable, quite a pathetic sort of figure really, none of the bounce that people knew him for." He later invited her to a chimney felling in Oldham and then a talk he had been invited to give to a group of fans in Halifax, known as