Author: Dee Byrne
The Friends of Windmill Gardens launched Mill Memories (not to be confused with the newsletter of the Mills Archive!) in April this year with a call for members of the public to contribute their memories and stories of Brixton Windmill. Many people have now come forward to contribute.
As well as hearing from George Layzell from West Sussex, whose great, great grandfather worked at Brixton Windmill in 1856 as a “mills man”, the group has heard from Peter Isaac, whose mother Maud Walpole grew up in the shadow of the windmill in the 1900s and often spoke fondly of her memories of playing nearby as a child. Debby Brown also contacted the group to share her memories of when she was accidentally locked in the windmill in the 70s – luckily she was soon found!
If you’d like to share your memories of Brixton Windmill, join in the Mill Memories open day on Saturday 8th June, where you will be recorded or filmed, either individually or in a group, in order to capture as many memories as possible.
The Friends of Windmill Gardens would also like to collect stories at the open day about bread production elsewhere around the world – so anyone who has experience of grinding flour and baking bread using traditional methods is welcome to attend.
All of the Mill Memories, flour grinding and bread making stories will be included in an exhibition to be held later this year at a celebratory lunch in front of Brixton Windmill. The Friends also plan to include the memories in a book and theatre performance and on completion archive them to provide a lasting historic reference for the community.
The Mill Memories open day takes place between 2pm and 5pm at St Paul’s Community Hall, 24 Blenheim Gardens, London SW2 5BZ, on Saturday 8th June 2013. Get in touch now to help record the heritage of Brixton Windmill: visit www.brixtonwindmill.org/memories.
The attached photograph was contributed by Maureen Lemon, who says: “The young boy on the left is my brother Roy Albert Andrews. He was born September 25th 1927. I think he must be about 10 years in this photo. We lived in Tregenna Street, which were lovely little houses almost opposite the windmill. The two girls in the photo I think were maybe the daughters of Mr and Mrs Wenga, who ran a grocery shop just round the corner of Tregenna Street in Blenheim Gardens.”
The Friends of Windmill Gardens along with others are Friends of the Mills Archive and Brixton Windmill have their own Featured mill page.