As you know, last week Ron, Mildred, Guy, Nataliya and Liz travelled down to London at a crazy hour in the morning to prepare for the Spring SPAB meeting and the Mills Archive bookshop. Liz and Nataliya got the 7am train to London which, as a seriously NON-morning person, makes me feel a little queasy but Liz told me that the pastries were delicious so it was worth the early start! I am told that the bookshop was very popular and a great success, the room looks like a good size to hold all the books Ron took down and with all the choice, I can see it was very popular. It was a fantastic experience for the Mills Archive staff to meet old and new SPAB members, many of whom are supporters of the Mills Archive, so it was a great opportunity to be able to put some faces to names!
Ron’s presentation ‘Access to Memory, an amazing new resource’ went down very well as he discussed all the new improvements about to happen at the Archive such as the new website and I think the blog also got a mention, exemplifying the effort the Archive is making to get everyone involved and feel a part of what we do here. Ron said at the end of his presentation that he would send the members more information about the new website and catalogue when it goes live which was received favourably because the new system is going to help people who use the archive be able to navigate it in ways they may not have explored before, so it is all very exciting stuff!
Guy’s presentation also went down very well. I was told that after Guy talked about his work on the Holman Collection, the audience asked lots of thoughtful questions, which anyone who has ever done a presentation before will know is just the best feeling in the world because it shows that people are interested and involved with what was said. I don’t blame them because I managed to get a snippet of Guy’s presentation on Friday and I was completely absorbed in Geoff Holman’s story. What the Archive did to complete the story is really inspirational and I am so glad they were able to talk about it to the other SPAB members because the finished collection and book is really something the Mills Archive and the Holman family are very proud of.
Here is Guy presenting ‘Discovering the Holman Story’
Liz told me that another interesting presentation was given by Jim Bailey, called ‘The families of Heckington Windmill’. Jim is the Mill Manager at Heckingon Windmill which rings a bell because Heckington Windmill is also one of the Mills Archive’s Heritage Partners. Jim is also a member of the Heckington Windmill Trust (previously known as the Friends of Heckington Windmill) which has over 200 members. Much like the Mills Archive, Heckington Windmill is run by many volunteers including enthusiastic guides, millers and shop staff. It is the only surviving 8-sailed working windmill in the country and it is open every weekend.
Here is a link to the website.
Jim Bailey presenting ‘The families of Heckington Windmill’
I know that Jim’s presentation would have been really interesting because when I was researching a bit about Heckington Windmill I came across an article from 2012 about the sails on the windmill being replaced. In the article Jim explained that the mill was originally built for a man named Michael Hare who died before it was completed. Hare’s widow eventually remarried a miller and Jim stated that the miller knocked on the door and introduced himself. His chat-up line was something like ‘I understand you’ve got a windmill and you are a widow. Well, I’m a miller and I’m single. How about it?’ Who said romance was dead? Here is a link to the full article.