Hello all,
I knew Fred for many of his retirement years.He was an important link
in that delicate chain that kept the NSPs alive during the thin times
of the 40s and 50's. He introduced Jim Bryan to Billy Pigg and gave
Jim help in starting off his own career as a maker.He had an intense
interest in the Bellowspipes of the British Isles. I can remember
travelling up to Ediburgh one Saturday with him and Colin to a viewing
of the duncan Fraser Collection arranged by Hugh Cheape. Another hobby
pursued by Fred in his youger days was the operation and construction
of Radio controlled model aircraft.unfortunately the systems were by no
means as reliable as todays. and Fred gained an intimate Knowledge of
the Durham dales searching for flyaways. Once one got used to his
rather patrician manner he was a helpful and knowledgeable friend whose
repairs to my Tom Green Belllows stll stand me in good stead some 15
years after they were made. I stll have the Drummond lathe used by Fred
originally in a wooden shed in his back garden in Stanley Co Durham.
Advancing years and the loss of his wife led him to buy a smaller
lathe which was housed within his home and this continues to serve the
needs of the pipng community in the capapble hands of Tom Swinney.Such
was his skill as an electrical engineer that perusal of the manual for
this small lathe revealed a design fault in the motor control system.
A correction and improvement was rapidly devised, and, Fred being
Fred, the owner of the company distributing these Chinese built Lathes
was informed of the fault in no uncertain terms. Fred was definitely
one of the " Characters " in the Northumbrian piping fraternity and is
sadly missed by me and all who knew him.
Hope this helps
Steve Barwick
-----Original Message-----
From: Barry Say <[email protected]>
To: Francis Wood <[email protected]>
Cc: NSP group <[email protected]>
Sent: Mon, Nov 8, 2010 10:17 am
Subject: [NSP] Re: W. F. Ord
Hi Francis,
W F Ord was more commonly known as Fred or Freddie Ord.
Born 1920, Joined the NPS 1947 Often used to visit Billy Pigg. Worked
as an electrical engineer at Parsons.At some point redundancy(?) early
retirement(?) moved to East Anglia to be involved in a boat building
business. Returned to NE (Stanley Co. Durham) in early 1990s. became
involved with the Society again until his death in 2003.
Colin Ross wrote an obituary in the 2003 NPS magazine, where he said
"Fred was also a pipemaker and collector of Northumbrian pipes which
included Border and Pastoral pipes and he introduced me to the work of
Reid for the first time. This was an inspiration to me as a budding
pipemaker and was the foundation of my teaching at the pipemaking class
I ran for many years at Killingworth"
I hope this gives you a little idea
Barry
On Mon, Nov 08, 2010 at 02:00:13PM +0000, Francis Wood wrote:
An interesting set of pipes has been passed to me for restoration and
fettling. A nicely made classic 7 key set in lignum and ivory, stamped
W. F. Ord.
That's a familiar name to me, yet I know nothing about him or his
pipes. I've promised their owner to ask for help here. Does anyone
remember him or have another set of his?
Francis
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