From the Editor
A Happy New Year to you all.
Looking through my records I realised that the front of the Newsletter for January 2007 showed the very sad picture of the Mill with the broken sail following the storm. I hope that 2008 will see the missing sails replaced and there will also be a big step forward towards getting the necessary grants for the restoration of the Windmill.
Producing the Newsletter is often a worrying process usually spent chasing various people for articles and other items. This month I have had 3 articles waiting to go in for some time. First was Frank Morley’s series on the history of Milling, then Russell Spencer sent me a copy of an entry he had written 60 years ago in a log book, as a member of the 2nd Hornchurch Rover crew, to qualify for the Ramblers Badge, and Paul Kemp has given me a write up of a course he recently attended given by SPAB - the Society for the Preservation of Ancient Buildings - Mills Section. I hope this is the start of a new tradition, but fear that next time I will again be e-mailing and phoning people as my hoped for deadline arrives and then vanishes into the past. If anyone has anything to do with mills and milling they would like to see in print please let me know. Pictures both black & white and colour are also welcome as they help brighten the pages.
Since the last Newsletter was published we have had the successful Charity Card Sale run by the local Lifeboat Association, and our own Sale in the Mill on 1st December.
I will close with an advanced notice of our Annual Meeting which will be held on Wednesday 14th May in the New Windmill Hall. Formal notices will be circulated nearer the time, but please book the date in your new diaries. If anyone would like to help serve on the Committee, we have 6 meetings a year, please let me know. We also would welcome more volunteers for guides and stewards, even if you can help only one day a month, please contact me.
With best wishes,
John Winn
Surprise Surprise!
The Original James Nokes Upminster Windmill “Bill of Sale” has been discovered!
On a recent visit to a reunion at her old junior school in Grays, Mrs Joan Weeks who lives in Lee on Solent, happened to purchase a local newspaper and out of it fell a “What’s on in Essex”. To her surprise she found that Upminster Windmill was still in existence. The reason for the interest was that her father was a John Nokes, and in his ditty box she had found the original 1849 parchment “Bill of Sale” for the Upminster Windmill, its land, and the buildings (the mill was put up for sale by the Nokes family). Through the web site of “Friends of Upminster Windmill” Joan got in contact with Bob Sharp to arrange a hand over of the “Bill of Sale” to the Friends.
On a very cold and wet day (20th November 2007) Joan Weeks was given a very warm welcome by members of the Friends at the mill where she presented the “Bill of Sale” to our chairman Roger Fuller. We then gave her a conducted tour of the mill.
We thank Joan Weeks for giving us this “Bill of Sale” a copy of which will now be displayed in the mill.
Martin Withers
On a recent visit to a reunion at her old junior school in Grays, Mrs Joan Weeks who lives in Lee on Solent, happened to purchase a local newspaper and out of it fell a “What’s on in Essex”. To her surprise she found that Upminster Windmill was still in existence. The reason for the interest was that her father was a John Nokes, and in his ditty box she had found the original 1849 parchment “Bill of Sale” for the Upminster Windmill, its land, and the buildings (the mill was put up for sale by the Nokes family). Through the web site of “Friends of Upminster Windmill” Joan got in contact with Bob Sharp to arrange a hand over of the “Bill of Sale” to the Friends.
On a very cold and wet day (20th November 2007) Joan Weeks was given a very warm welcome by members of the Friends at the mill where she presented the “Bill of Sale” to our chairman Roger Fuller. We then gave her a conducted tour of the mill.
We thank Joan Weeks for giving us this “Bill of Sale” a copy of which will now be displayed in the mill.
Martin Withers
