Category: news

Heage Windmill attracts 30 vintage tractors

2016 Tractors z04Heage Windmill celebrated National Mills Weekend, co-ordinated by SPAB (Society for Protection of Ancient buildings), by staging its always popular Tractor Day.

2016 Tractors z06
Tractor Day organiser John Allsop, of Belper (left) with his tractor (right), and an old colleague John Wright

The sun shone all day so it was pleasantly warm for the big crowd of visitors  who came to the mill.

On site was a very wide range of some 30 vintage tractors, most of which had been lovingly restored.

There was also a large gathering of stationary engines, some of which  were working.

In a tent, the Nunsfield Radio club was hard at work, making contact with numerous  other similar groups located  at other mills also open over the weekend.

2016 Tractors z01In addition the Friends of Heage Windmill ran a fund raising bric a brac stall which attracted a lot of interest and helped the restoration funds.

Also on display were the refurbished sails, waiting to be fitted, and some of the large rotten timbers which had caused the mill to stop working and producing flour.

Replacements have already been fitted and although some more work still is needed, it is getting closer to the date when the sails will turn again.

2016 Tractors z09

 

 

 

Win a Holiday for Two in Strutt Cottage

b122c0429d-IMG_4241Derwent Mills Cottages are kindly boosting our Trouble at Mill Appeal by offering a 7-night stay for two at Strutt Cottage in Belper, which you can win by buying a raffle ticket for only £2.50.

df7d0d16e2a19417971dc3223b1c8435712d584dThis early 19th century mill worker’s home, described as ‘a welcoming, cosy cottage with vintage touches and a relaxing feel’ contains a ‘well-equipped kitchen, clean pleasant bathroom with new electric shower, a surprisingly spacious double bedroom and a cosy living room with a convincing but easy to use cast iron real flame gas fire. All linen and towels are supplied and even free WiFi is also available.’

bed view1aIf you win the holiday, you can choose a week inbetween October 1st this year and March 31st of next year.

Tickets are £2.50 and are available at the Windmill or from volunteers.

The raffle will be drawn at Autumn Tractor Day on September 4th at 12 noon.

To read more about Strutt Cottage, click here

derwent-mills-cottage-living-room

 

 

Cream Teas & Cake Event Raises £300

Cream Tea EventMany of the good folks of Crich look down onto the windmill at Heage and enjoy seeing her working- not standing like a pepper pot with no sails!

A group of the members of the Trefoil Guild and Muddlealong Groups therefore decided to do something to help restore her back to her former glory. They organised a cream tea and cakes event, with some side stalls , and between them raised the admirable sum of £300 pounds for the Trouble at Mill Appeal.

A cheque was duly  presented at the mill to Lynn Allen (Friends of Windmill) by Hazel Pilgrim, with her colleagues Margaret Upton , Di Fretwell  and Stella Gill in attendance with Meg Tarlton (Sec. Heage Windmill Trust) looking on.

Lynn said: ‘We are always so grateful for all contributions to the repair fund.  Getting the windmill back to working order cannot come quickly enough for us.’

We were also presented with some excellent woodcuts and paintings of local windmills (including our own, of course) by a well known local artist, which will be framed and shortly offered for sale in the mill visitor centre. Another donation which will raise funds for the repairs!

Adrian Farmer opens Heage Windmill 2016 season

2016 Opening - Adrian Farmer 001On a cold, blustery morning at Heage Windmill, Heage Windmill’s 2016 season opener Adrian Farmer warmed the cockles by praising the volunteers of the mill for their ‘astounding’ efforts in not only creating a great visitor attraction but also raising in excess of £40,000 towards the restoration of the sails and cap structure, only eight months after launching the appeal.

‘You should all be very proud’ declared Adrian, who knows all about volunteering, having been Highly Commended in Visit England’s 2012 Tourism Superstar Awards.

2016 Opening - Adrian Farmer 006Adrian, coordinator of the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site, arrived at the windmill in style, driving a vintage tractor kindly provided by John Allsop of Belper.

Chair of Trustees Piers Bostock welcomed the gathering of volunteers, friends, visitors and guests – including the High Sheriff of Derbyshire Oliver Stephenson and his wife Fiona.

The Chair of the Friends of Heage Windmill, Angela Ward (wearing a fetching furry hat), then introduced Adrian, listing his multifarious achievements, including his several books about Belper and the Derwent Valley and his close association with Belper, which began when he joined the Belper News as a 23 year-old, making him the youngest newspaper editor in the country.

2016 Opening - Adrian Farmer 009After cutting the ribbon and declaring the season open, Adrian and his wife Mary were presented gifts by Heage Windmill’s very own Easter bunny Wosemary Wabbit.

It’s usual to present the guest opener with a bag of Heage Windmill flour.  However, with the sails having been removed last summer for urgent repairs, founder Trustee Alan Gifford handed Adrian an empty brown paper bag but which bore a label promising to fill it with flour once the millers start milling again.

2016 Opening - Adrian Farmer 016Ironically, in spite of the wind, one miller said that it was actually too windy to turn the sails!

The sails should be turning again at the end of April.  In the meantime, the windmill is open for visits every weekend plus Bank Holidays through until October.

Visitors have a chance to view the sails close up as they are now on site.

Pictured left are some of the volunteers who all helped with the restoration of the sails.

Here are more photos from the opening.

Special Events at Heage Windmill

Sat/Sun 14th/15th May – National Mills Weekend with Tractor Day on the Sunday. Nunsfield Radio Group will be there on both days.

Sat/Sun 25th/26th June – Flower Festival.  This is to be held at St Luke’s Church, Heage with flowers also on display at the windmill.

Sunday July 10th – Bike Day with giant Bric-a-Brac sale.

Sunday October 30th – Cobweb Day.  This is also the final day of opening in the 2016 season.

Sunday December 4th – Santa Day.  More details nearer the time.

Heage Windmill Repairs Report

Heage Windmill Sail Restoration - Feb 2016 12More progress is being made on the repair and restoration of our sails.

The millwrights are working on the major repair while the mill volunteers are moving well with the refurbishing and painting of the sails and are approaching completing all of the planned work.

Heage Windmill Sail Restoration - Feb 2016 35They have disassembled the shutters on the old sails, cut out the dead wood on the whips, and have nearly finished painting all of the sails and shutters.

18 coats of paint were needed for the six sails – 3 coats per sail.

They have also been re-assembling the shutters and as each of the shutters is sponsored – there is a number on each referring to a sponsor – those numbers need to be re-stencilled.

It’s hard work but the hope is that all will be ready for the 2016 opening on Saturday March 26th.

 

Amber Valley Drinkers Dig Deep for Windmill Appeal

Amber Valley CAMRA Presentation
Tony Cooper (holding cheque to the right) pictured with Amber Valley CAMRA members Mike Wallis, Jane Wallis, Chris Rogers (Chair), Simon Riddington and David Harper

Heage Windmill’s Trouble at Mill Appeal (TAMA) is £348 better off thanks to the Amber Valley CAMRA Beer Festival held recently.

Heage Windmill Society Trustee Tony Cooper – himself a CAMRA member – contacted Amber Valley CAMRA to ask if he could shake a tin at their annual beer fest.  The next thing he knew, the Trouble at Mill Appeal had been adopted as the Festival’s nominated ‘good cause.’

The result was a collection of £348 which was presented to Tony, on behalf of the windmill, at AV CAMRA’s branch meeting at the Spanker in Nether Heage.

‘AV CAMRA really took the mill’s appeal on board,’ says Tony.  ‘As well as having a display desk at the festival, we had a whole page in the free festival programme where our appeal was explained, and the CAMRA cash desk volunteers were collecting cash from departing drinkers throughout the four-day festival.’

As Tony continues: ‘Thanks to the generosity of local people and the goodwill and support from groups like AV CAMRA, we now have sufficient funds to get started with the majority of the work involved in repairing the sails.’

Alan approved as flour miller

Alan Eccleston - Flour Miller CertificateControlling and operating a 200 year old machine is not a task  for the faint hearted. Apart from learning how to using the various controls for the sails and other machinery, they have to learn to observe the weather, especially the wind, as its direction and force are essential factors  to the safe operations of the mill.

Everyone who ‘drives’ Heage Windmill undergoes a lengthy training period and then has to pass a practical ‘exam’ before he or she is permitted to be in sole control of the windmill. However those millers who seek to produce the renowned Heage flours, using the traditional mill stones,  still  has to continue to gain more experience.  The miller is now producing a ‘foodstuff’ so, apart from learning how to operate the mill stones and the feed and processing gear, he/she now has to ensure compliance to numerous regulations, something which the old-time miller never even knew about.

Heage Windmill Portraits 024Retired Rolls-Royce engineer Alan Eccleston, who lives in nearby Lower Hartshay, has just met all these exacting requirement and over the weekend was awarded his ‘Flour Miller Certificate’ by Piers Bostock, Chairman of Heage Windmill Society. In making the award Piers said ‘He  was delighted to welcome  Alan as a fully qualified person who could mill grain into flour –there are not many of them.’ Alan on his part said: ‘Ever since becoming a volunteer at the mill I have aspired to be able to mill and I am now delighted to join the elite group of qualified windmillers here at Heage’.

Don’t forget: Flour is normally on sale every weekend at the windmill, although sometimes lack of wind deems otherwise!

 

Windmill gains TripAdvisor Excellence Award

TripAdvisor CertificateHeage Windmill’s visitors have recognised the windmill’s wonderful customer experience, gaining us a TripAdvisor® Certificate of Excellence award.

Now in its fifth year, the award celebrates excellence in hospitality and is given only to establishments that consistently achieve great  reviews on TripAdvisor.

When selecting Certificate of Excellence winners, TripAdvisor takes into account the quality, quantity and current nature of reviews and opinions submitted by travellers on TripAdvisor over a 12-month period.  To qualify, an attraction must maintain an overall TripAdvisor bubble rating of at least four out of five over a 12-month period.

Piers Bostock, Chairman of Heage Windmill Society said: ‘There is no greater seal of approval than being recognised by one’s visitors. We always have tried to offer a great experience but this is the crust on our loaf when our visitors themselves declare how well we perform. I congratulate all of our team of volunteers for their tremendous and consistent  efforts.’