Chairman’s Letter
Dear Friends,
We are at the start of a new year and I hope it will be a happy and healthy one for you and your families.
2006 was a successful year and I must thank all who ran and supported our events during the year, particularly the Craft Fair and the Christmas Sale. Two other notable occasions were the visit in April by the Flemish millers at the start of their three-day tour of East Anglian mills and the visit by London Mayors as guests of our Mayor John Mylod in support of his charity. We hope the latter event will be repeated this year.
Our progress towards restoration has been delayed during the past year while we and the Council have attempted to resolve health and safety and other issues but now we hope that the Trust will shortly be in a position to accept the lease from the Council. The lease will include an agreement between the Council and the Trust regarding the management of the property. Similarly there will be an agreement between the Trust and the Friends regarding the running of open days and other visits and the performance of repair and maintenance tasks. The guidelines of English Heritage and the Mills Section of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings will of course be followed when carrying out such work. I hope that, when contracts for restoration work are let, there will be opportunities for Friends to assist in the work.
During the winter we have been lime-washing more of the interior of the ground floor brickwork, to make the interior brighter and more attractive and we hope to complete this before openings recommence in April
Once again I must appeal for more volunteers to act as guides and other helpers on Open Weekends... There were occasions last season when we were very short of assistance. We are not alone in this, Shirley Windmill (Croydon) reported in the SPAB’s Mill News that they are desperately short of volunteers.
This year sees the fortieth year of public openings of the mill which commenced with the opening the Havering Arts Festival in 1967. This was organised by the Hornchurch and District Historical Society and that was when I first became interested in our mill and then a number of others. The Society ran the week-end openings from then until it handed over to the Friends in 2003.
2006 also saw the seventy-fifth anniversary of the SPAB Mills Section and, as I was the only section member present at the autumn meeting who was seventy-five last year, I was asked to make the first cut of the celebration cake. Perhaps the time is now approaching when I should take a back seat.
We are thinking of having a cheese and wine party at the mill one summer evening, probably on a week-day. Trevor aims to run our one-day mills tour again this year. Unfortunately the Ford bus was not available on a suitable Saturday last year.
John Drain has set a date for a train, bus and boat outing to the War Cabinet Rooms and Greenwich Naval College (details below) and Alan Wallis has offered a tour (by car) of some timber framed belfries in Essex for about a dozen people. Alan is familiar with the research on timber jointing carried out and written about by Cecil Hewitt.
Finally, when members visit other attractions perhaps they could look out for books, souvenirs etc which they think we might be able to purchase for sale at the mill.
Bob Sharp