April 2005

WINDMILL NEWS APRIL 2005

Friends of Upminster Windmill
http://www.upminsterwindmill.co.uk
Registered Charity Number 1097976

Editors – Richard Saville and John Winn
newsletter@upminsterwindmill.co.uk

CHAIRMAN’S NOTES

Annual General Meeting

This newsletter should be accompanying your agenda and papers for the Annual General Meeting to be held this year in the Derham Hall of St Laurence Church on Tuesday 10th May at 8.00 p.m. The reports for the meeting are included in the Newsletter.

AGMs provide the opportunity not only to hear from your officers as to how we have progressed over the past year but also to hear about plans and hopes for the coming year. Ample time is made available for you to ask questions of officers either formally on presentation of their reports during the meeting, or informally over tea and biscuits afterwards. Representatives of the Upminster Windmill Preservation Trust will also be present to let us know of progress on the transfer of the lease of the mill and how they are planning to obtain the necessary funding to restore the mill to a fully working condition.

After the formal part of the meeting we shall see the Trust’s new state-of-the-art laptop projection system with a display of current work on the mill together with some of the presentational material we take out to clubs and societies when promoting the mill. In all it should be a really interesting evening and of course you will have a chance to meet some of the other Friends.

Past AGMs have seen changes in officers and committee members and this year is no exception. We reluctantly say goodbye to Sally Russell our Treasurer and Brenda Coombs our Membership Secretary both of whom do not wish to seek re-election because of pressure of work and other commitments. Sally and Brenda have been with us since the formation of the Friends and both have generously given of their time on our behalf. We thank both ladies for all their hard work in the past. As a result of our appeal in the last newsletter we have managed to attract volunteers for the vacant jobs and their appointments will hopefully be ratified at the forthcoming AGM. In addition I have informed the Committee that I shall not be seeking re-election as Chairman this year. A range of family and other commitments prevents me from being at most of the mill open days this coming season and I very much feel that the Chairman should be visible at these public occasions. Nevertheless I am still enthusiastically committed to the development of the mill and hope to continue to act vigorously on behalf of the Friends in some other capacity on the Committee if elected.

Finally, please do try to attend the meeting on the 10th May 2005 and I look forward to seeing you then.

George Saddington,

Chairman

SUCCESSFUL VISIT OF THURROCK CHOIR

The Thurrock Male Voice Choir recently paid a successful return visit to Upminster when the 28 strong ensemble gave a delightful and varied concert at the Trinity Church on Saturday 12th March 2005. Led ably by conductor Raymond Venn to the piano accompaniment of Linda Wade the choir gave stirring renditions of traditional national melodies ranging from the Welsh favourite Gwahoddiad to the American Battle Hymn of the Republic as well as classical pieces by France’s Bizet and Faure. Compere for the evening was the versatile John Read, the possessor of a rich baritone voice who also occupied the two solo spots in the programme when he entertained us with a selection of popular Irish ballads associated with the Irish tenor John McCormack, and later in the second half a group of theatre and film hits including a tribute to the late Howard Keel. The choir also gave us a generous helping of popular ‘Songs from the Shows’; but the highlight of the evening was a jazz-inspired section entitled Kings of Swing when the choir’s spirited singing of Glenn Miller’s Chattanooga Choo Choo had the audience tapping their feet. The Friends’ Chairman, George Saddington, publicly thanked Ray Venn and the Choir at the end of an enjoyable evening, reminding the respectably-sized audience (bearing in mind the Havering Concert Orchestra were performing in the Windmill Hall round the corner) that the choir had given their services freely in aid of the restoration of the Upminster Windmill. Thanks were also paid to Jane Moorey, Sheila Sharp, Jo Collins, and Brenda Coombs for providing the refreshments.

QUIZ NIGHT RAISES OVER £800 FOR MILL

Previous quiz nights have always been both popular and profitable and our most recent one held at St. Laurence Church on Saturday 26th February 2005 proved no exception. A preliminary count shows that £844 was raised on the night of which £565 was entrance money, £202 from the proceeds of the raffle, and £77 from the heads/tails raffle for a bottle of Champagne organised by Richard Moorey. Thanks to the energy and persuasiveness of organiser Jane Moorey all the tables were booked on the night and well over a 100 contestants turned up with their booze and food, in most cases determined to win. The Quiz Masters immediately introduced a new and successful twist to the proceedings when they informed the contestants that there would be a choice of subjects for each round and that the tables could vote for, say, Classical Music or Musical Theatre. This appeared to be popular with most tables and gave most of us the chance to avoid those really nasty subjects and even nastier questions – not that this prevented our Quiz Masters from throwing in plenty of real brainteasers. A very successful and enjoyable evening.

STOCK CLAMPS

A major task has been the preparation and fitting of support clamps to the sail stocks. Once the sails were repaired and have been frequently turned it has been thought advisable to support the stocks with clamps which fit to the stocks on the outside of the ‘canister’ at the front of the iron windshaft through which the stocks themselves fit. The clamps strengthen the stocks and also prevent them slipping as the securing wedges swell or shrink with varying weather conditions. The wooden clamps are secured by steel tension studs which pass through the stocks near the canister and by metal clamps which fit round the wooden clamps and the stocks near the outboard end of the former. The special shaped iron work was made by our favourite blacksmith, David Wright.

New timber, about 15 feet long, 8 inches wide and 6 inches thick, would have been very expensive. During our mills tour in 2003 we stopped at Stanton Mill in Suffolk where the late Peter Dolman had made new stocks for the mill by laminating planks. The then owner of the mill was keen to dispose of the surplus timber, together with a redundant clamp and we purchased the same for £100.

From then on the great majority of the work has been carried out by Gerry Quest and Paul Kemp throughout 2004, and this year, with help from others as required. The redundant clamp had some areas of rot and holes which were not in the appropriate places. The rot was cut out and new timber glued into the various holes. The new clamps were formed from three thicknesses of 2 inch planks glued together, the glue lines being normal to the stocks so that the joints are in shear. The clamps were under-coated and top-coated early this year and all steel-work was given a coat of black Hammerite paint.

Bad weather prevented the fitting of the clamps for a few weeks but on Tuesday 15th March the weather was reasonable and four of us made a mid-morning start. All four clamps were carefully hoisted into place using a block and tackle purchased two years ago with such jobs in mind. The clamps were held in place by the purpose made tension studs which pass through the clamps and the stocks. The careful measuring, checking and re-measuring over the past nine months, together with careful drilling of the stocks, paid off and all four clamps fitted perfectly. The iron clamps have been fitted to the outer stock and the inner ones will probably have been fitted by the time this report is read. Paul and Gerry are to be congratulated on the effort they have put into this job.

Hauling the first of the clamps into position - Photo J. Winn

The fitted stock clamps in position - Photo J. Winn

CONSERVATION OF THE WALLOWER

When a firm of mill-wrights visited the mill just before Christmas, it was suggested that we should clean up the wallower, the wooden gear wheel at the top of the main drive shaft. Dirt and grease had accumulated on it and dried out over the years and the wood is very dry. Roger, Martin and Derek Martin have been carefully and painstakingly removing this detritus with a hair dryer, linseed oil and wire wool, revealing the clean wood beneath. The linseed oil (raw, not boiled) is soaking into the wood and it appears that much of the original may be sound enough to obviate replacement. This task will continue for quite a while and we shall then turn our attention to other similar areas.

OTHER WORK

Many other jobs have been tackled during the year, notably the building of two six foot high model windmills which were attached to the Havering float for the New Year Parade in Westminster. These will be used again at Planet Havering in June and the Havering Show in August. Terry Fyffe, who painted the mural in Upminster Library, has promised to find time to enhance the painting on these models before June.

Cupboards have been built in the pastry room on the meal (first) floor so that immediately required sale stock can be kept on site.

Changes have been made to the layout of the ground floor in order to make more room for visitors who have finished their tour and are visiting the sales table or who are waiting to commence their tour. This has also allowed improved displays of pictures etc. Further changes are under consideration.

We continue to keep an eye on the area near the container to ensure that feral trees and scrub do not grow again. Bulbs and dog roses have been planted. These have survived the winter and are growing. The provision of the water supply enables us to keep them watered. Earlier attempts at planting failed because of the lack of watering. This year attention will be given to the area where the Mill House once stood. There is a lot of poor quality scrub and also Japanese Knotweed in this area.

UPMINSTER WINDMILL PRESERVATION TRUST

The signing of a lease has been delayed as the draft presented to the Trust just before Christmas bore little relation to the Heads of Terms agreed earlier. Richard Moorey and I, together with Keith Darvill who is the Council’s appointed representative on the board of the Trust, met with Council Officers and discussed the lease. A corrected draft lease is expected.

The Mill has been visited by IJP Building Conservation Ltd, who have a well established and highly regarded millwrighting practice, and a return visit made to their works. The Morton Partnership who were the consulting structural engineers and project managers for Thaxted Windmill have also visited together with Nicholas Jacob, an architect we met through the Architectural Heritage Fund and the Association of Preservation Trusts. We have also had meetings with the recently retired conservation officer for Kent County Council who obtained Heritage Lottery Funding for and managed the restoration of seven Kentish windmills, including Union Mill, Cranbrook. He is interested in the management of our restoration project. Mildred Cookson, a professional miller (Mapledurham Watermill) and past Chairman of the Mills Section of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, will probably be the person appointed to monitor the project on behalf of the Heritage Lottery Fund. She has shown great interest in the mill for many years.

With part of the funds provided by the Architectural Heritage Fund the Trust has purchased a lap-top computer and associated computer controlled projector. These will enable us to give improved presentations (Power Point) and talks to increase interest in and support of the restoration. The equipment will, of course, be available for use by the Friends as well as the Trust.

Bob Sharp,
Chairman of the Board,

Upminster Windmill Preservation Trust

MEMBERSHIP

For any membership enquiries please contact:

Brenda Coombs, Membership Secretary, 1 Highview Gardens, Upminster RM14 2YU 01708 221298

Email: bd.coombs@virgin.net

Family Membership is £10.00 per year, while Individual Membership is £7.00 per year. As our financial year begins on 1st April subscription renewals are now due.

OPEN DAY SALES

Brian Hayden tells us that for the 2004/5 financial year the total sales of memorabilia totaled £1768.76, and we received £1397.03 in donations. Our thanks and congratulations to everyone involved. Keep up the good work.

OPEN DAYS FOR 2005

The Mill will be open from 2.00 p.m. to 5.00 p.m. on the following days:- 23rd & 24th April, 7th & 8th, 14th & 15th May, 5th, 18th & 19th June, 2nd, 16th & 17th July, 6th & 7th, 20th & 21st August, 3rd & 4th,17th & 18th September, 1st & 2nd October.