July 2005

WINDMILL NEWS JULY 2005

Friends of Upminster Windmill
Registered Charity Number 1097976

Chairman

Bob Sharp, 4 Plough Rise, Cranham Upminster. RM14 1XS
01708 224060

bobsharp@ukonline.co.uk

Secretary
John Winn, 58 St Mary’s Lane, Upminster RM14 2QP
01708 509973

secretary@upminsterwindmill.co.uk

Treasurer
Jean Webb, 2 Fairkytes Avenue, Hornchurch. RM11 1XS

citambcx@members.v21.co.uk

Vice-Chairman

Roger Fuller, 66 Highview Gardens Upminster

Membership Secretary
Neil Morley, 121 Hacton Lane, Upminster RM14 2NL
01708 505865

neilmorley@hotmail.com

Editor
John Winn, 58 St Mary’s Lane, Upminster RM14 2QP
01708 509973

secretary@upminsterwindmill.co.uk

Upminster Windmill Preservation Trust
Chairman
Bob Sharp, 4 Plough Rise, Cranham Upminster. RM14 1XS
01708 224060

bobsharp@ukonline.co.uk

Vice Chairman
Richard Moorey ,10 River Drive, Upminster. RM14 1AS
01708 225845

rfmoorey44@tusker.co.uk

Secretary
Frank Morley, 42 Gaynes Park Road, Upminster. RM14 1AS
01708 703740
fajmorley@tusker.co.uk

CHAIRMAN'S LETTER

Having taken over as Chairman again, I would like to thank George for his services. For those who may not know, George has been involved from early stages of our efforts. When he was Chief Librarian the Windmill was one of his responsibilities and, as he has said, I would frequently pester him about windmill maintenance and repair. In 1995 a report on the condition of the Windmill was submitted to George and he and Ivor Cameron, who was Mayor at the time, created a Windmill Steering Group which eventually led to the Cost and Feasibility study and the creation of our group and the Upminster Windmill Preservation Trust. Since his retirement George has, as you know, continued his support of the Windmill. He remains a member of our committee and has offered to assist with publicity matters.

At our last committee meeting we welcomed Neil Morley who has taken over from Brenda as Membership Secretary - many thanks for your work ever since the inception of the Friends in 2001, Brenda. We also welcomed Jean Webb who has taken over as Treasurer from Sally who has also worked hard for us since 2001. Last, but no means least, Roger Fuller joined us as Vice-Chairman.

We are now well into the 2005 season of openings which have been reasonably well supported on most occasions. In May we had National Mills Weekend. We were supported by the Havering and District Amateur Radio Club who operated station GB2UW on the HF (Short Wave) and VHF bands. Contacts were made with stations and the certificates awarded to the club are on display in the Windmill. On the Sunday we also had the usual display of tractors and stationary engines.

Parties from three schools have visited he mill between last December and the end of June. We have had visits by the Beckenham & Bromley branch of the Historical Association, the Riverside Ladies Evening Group, Hornchurch Rotary Club St Laurence Wives Group and Gill Roomes' Brownie Pack. Our thanks go to those members who have helped as guides for these visits. A number of talks to clubs and societies have been given by Richard Moorey and me.
Further visits will be made by schools, Brownie packs and other groups. A number of talks to clubs and societies have been booked for this year and 2006. If you are a member of a group who would like to make an evening visit to the mill or to have a talk about the mill at one of your meetings, please contact Richard Moorey or me.

The Tuesday afternoon work continues and various jobs are in hand. Gerry Quest and Paul Kemp, having finished the making and fitting of the stock clamps, are now working on the restoration of one of the winnowers. Roger Fuller has been doing conservation work on the wooden teeth of the brake wheel and the wallower. Other members of the Tuesday afternoon party have been doing other small but necessary jobs. There are many more tasks to be dealt with, including fitting ropes or rails to help conform to the dreaded health and safety requirements.

Outside the mill, we have been trying to encourage growth of plants adjacent to the container but this had not worked very well due to lack of watering. Now that we have a water supply this problem has been relieved. We would welcome any Friends whose bent may be more towards gardening than practical work or acting as guides to take an interest in this. As time goes on we hope to develop this area to make the site more attractive to visitors and provide an additional interest for school parties visiting the mill. If you are interested please contact me or any other committee member. We shall also have to do work towards clearing brambles and scrub in areas where English Heritage wish a geophysical survey to be carried out.

Bob Sharp

REPORT FROM UPMINSTER WINDMILL
PRESERVATION TRUST

English Heritage visited the Mill on 2nd June together with Sue Smith (LBH Conservation Officer), Nigel Oxley (LBH Heritage Officer) and Peter Cobley (ex Kent County Council and consultant to the Trust) to consider future actions. There was no representative from Havering's planning department on this occasion. A number of sketches for possible visitor centre development have been prepared by Peter Cobley. The visitor centre with educational facilities is a requirement of a grant from The Heritage Lottery Fund. A further meeting will take place on July 1st, when it is hoped that Planning will be represented. English Heritage wish the Trust and LBH to carry out a detailed survey and measured drawings of the mill structure and machinery. EH and LBH will fund this. This survey will be extremely useful as it will be required by the contractors awarded the restoration contract.

A meeting with Guy Selfe (LBH Culture & Leisure Services), Nigel Oxley (LBH Heritage Officer), Sarah Morrison (LBH Property Services) and Joe Woodward (solicitor) was attended on 20th June in order to re-visit the second draft lease presented to the Trust. Many points were discussed and we hope the next draft will be considered acceptable by our legal advisor and ourselves. The main points at issue were our requirement that LBH continue to fund the cost of Buildings Insurance, Maintenance of Electrics, Lightning Conductor, Fire Alarms and monitoring service and to support the project over the period of the lease with an annual grant totaling £5k pa, index linked. These points were agreed.

The management agreement between the Preservation Trust and the Friends will mainly be based on the agreement between Havering and the Trust which will form part of the lease.

Richard Moorey

CHILLENDEN POST MILL

Chillenden Post Mill after the collapse -Photo Ray Harlow

On the 25th May Richard and I ventured into Kent to see Chillenden Post Mill re-erected. The mill was blown over on 26th November 2003, not long after a restoration had been carried out. The cast iron windshaft was broken and the sails demolished together with much other damage. The mill was removed to the yard of IJP Building Conservation at Hendon for repair. This work was in progress when Richard and I visited their yard in April to discuss the restoration of our mill. Much of the main structure of the mill body (or buck) had to be renewed although existing timber was repaired and used wherever possible. A new windshaft had to be cast but it was possible to use the original brake wheel.

The post had been re-erected prior to our visit and when we arrived at the site, preparations for lifting the mill body were in hand. The restored mill buck had been transported from Hendon by road and was standing on a specially made timber frame. This is part of IJP's equipment and had been used on a previous windmill repair. It will probably be used to support the cap of our mill, assuming IJP carry out the restoration work. Strops connected the crane hook to the buck and some of these were tensioned by chain hoists to ensure that the body hung correctly when lifted from the supporting frame. The lift then commenced and, due to the skill of the crane driver, the buck was lowered onto the post with little difficulty. The whole operation was completed in an amazingly short time.

When the buck was correctly seated on the post other heavy items such as the windshaft, with the brake wheel fitted, and the stones were lifted into place. Maximum use was made of the crane as it was on site only for the day. Fortunately the weather was dry, the sun breaking through in the afternoon, making the whole exercise considerably easier. - Bob Sharp

The re-erected post
Photo Bob Sharp

Above left - Lining up post and buck. Above right - The buck seated on the post. Below left - Lowering a mill stone into position. Below Right - Lowering windshaft and brake wheel into position. - Photos Bob Sharp

Finalising the fitting of the windshaft .
- Photo Bob Sharp

VISITS

A minicoach has been booked for Saturday 10th September. We shall visit Kent again. Crabble Corn Mill at Dover, a working watermill, is being looked at as one of the visits, others yet to be decided. Trevor is also talking to Essex County Council with a view to an evening visit to Mountnessing Post Mill.

OPEN DAYS

You will have probably noticed that we have more open days this year. This is because the management agreement between Havering Council and the Trust will require us to aim for 60 open days per year. The Heritage Lottery Fund have also told the Trust that they wish to see an increase in the number of open days and an increased number of visitors. This will considerably strengthen the application for restoration funding.

More openings need more guides and helpers in order to spread the load over more people. For the first time we are operating a rota system so that we can give guides and helpers days off duty.

WE AGAIN APPEAL FOR VOLUNTEERS TO BE TRAINED AS GUIDES AS IT HAS BEEN FOUND MORE DIFFICULT TO ROSTER SUFFICIENT GUIDES THAN HELPERS FOR SOME OPENINGS.

The fact that people are not rostered for a particular day does not, of course, preclude their attendance if they wish to come. - Trevor Watts