SPAB Mills Section
Maintenance Course
I have been interested in windmills since the tender age of 2, when my parents bought property in Cranham, they are still local residents to this day. On many occasions throughout my childhood I would pester them to take me to the Mill on open days, with the intention that one day I would eventually become a Guide and show people round the Mill. By the age of 11 I was guiding and by the time I had learnt to drive I was visiting mills up and down the country.
I had even learnt how to help run a mill - travelling up to Soham, Cambs, almost every Sunday for a year or so. When I heard that a “Friends’ Group” was being formed at Upminster, I instantly rang Bob Sharp, got details from him and put my name forward at the inaugural meeting - nearly six years ago. The rest is history.
I was recently sent on a one day course run by the SPAB Mills Section on how to maintain your windmill. This was held at the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum at Singleton - Sussex. This was paid for by the Friends.
The Course covered virtually every aspect of maintaining a windmill, including Health Risk Management and Food labelling for pre-packed foods. We started with an introduction to the day, being followed by a talk on windmill basics (different types of windmill, developments in windmill engineering and regional difference), by Martin Watts. Help and advice from Professional Millwrights was also covered.
After a short coffee break, Dave Pearce of Wicken smock mill gave a talk on “Learning from the Past - Measure Twice not Once”. Dave covered the use of modern materials such as aluminium for castings, plywood for sail shutters etc. These items were used not only to save money, but ease of maintenance at his own mill. Useful devices such as a “Brakewheel Sprag” (to lock the brakewheel in one or more positions) could could be used to prevent the sails turning in high winds, and a locking device on the striking rod (preventing the sail shutters from blowing closed in a tail wind). An interesting talk from a man with hands on experience of the complete restoration of a smock mill to working order.
We stopped for lunch which was provided, this giving an opportunity to talk with many mill and group members from all over the country.
The first talk after lunch was given by Millwright Vincent Pargeter on spotting problems early, repairing with good materials, joints and fixings in Post Mills. Being that a post mill is built almost completely of timber, a lot of jointing techniques are used, also in a smock mill. External timber joints used in items such a sails, fantail and staging last longer if treated with linseed oil once a year. Do this in the summer when the timber is dry. Vincent went on to talk about “creating a work plan” when carrying out any repairs on your mill - ensuring jobs are done safely and correctly with good, strong materials.
The next talk was from Jonathan Cook of Swaffam Prior tower mill. Jonathan runs his mill commercially, and talked about regular maintenance intervals on greasing and oiling bearings checking fixings that could work loose etc and the general care of running a mill as a business. Health and Safety, Fire and Pest control were covered - a commercial running mill must be extremely clean!
After a short coffee break, Luke Bonwick talked about the importance of recording details in mill restoration - using them to assist accurate repair and reconstruction. The talk was very similar to the one he gave at our last AGM, and will certainly help us when restoration work starts at Upminster.
The course was attended by some 40 delegates, the information being given by people with knowledge and experience in running, maintaining and restoring windmills.
I would like to thank the Friends’ committee for paying for me to attend this course and hope that the information will be of great use to us before, during and after restoration of our mill. - Paul Kemp