While sat in a meeting in our Founders’ Room, my eyes travelled across the spines of the antiquarian books visible from my seat, and I couldn’t help but notice a small, gold-decorated book covered in tan-coloured leather. The name of the book was too small for me to read from a distance. After the meeting…
Author: Liz Bartram
National Lottery celebrates its 25th birthday!
November 2019 marks the 25th anniversary since the National Lottery was created. Since the foundation of the Mills Archive in 2002, we have been awarded more than £330,000 from the Lottery, through the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Their support has transformed what the Trust has been able to achieve. Before I joined the Mills Archive…
Help save the Rex Wailes Collection
Today we are launching our campaign to raise funds to help preserve and make available the Rex Wailes Collection. Read on to find out more about this significant collection and how you can help to conserve and make the gems in his collection publicly accessible. We received the Rex Wailes Collection after long-term talks with…
The Mills Archive receives a nationally important collection from the Science Museum
The Mills Archive Trust is pleased to announce that it has received one of the most important mill collections of the 20th century from the Science Museum. The material was assembled over decades by the late Rex Wailes OBE, who was an engineer and the leading consultant for the repair of windmills. Rex’s passion took…
The Mills Archive receives the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service
We are thrilled to announce that the Mills Archive has been awarded the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service. To receive this award, equivalent to an MBE for organisations, is a great honour. This accolade represents the valuable contributions and commitment of all our volunteers that make the Mills Archive a success. The Queen’s Award for…
Mills – and our supporters – make the world go ‘round
In the New Year, we launched an appeal for funds towards a new project, ‘Mills make the world go ‘round’. We had been promised £15,000 by the Foyle Foundation, but only if we could secure an additional £8,645 that was needed to carry out the work. Thanks to the generous contributions of our Friends and…
Succession breeds success: one year on
At the time of writing this article we are one year into our National Lottery Heritage Fund-supported project, Succession Breeds Success, and I find myself reflecting on what’s been achieved so far. Here are my top 3 highlights from the project so far. You might recall our announcement in February 2018 that we had received…
Help save your industrial heritage!
Please support “Mills make the world go ‘round’”, a vital project that needs your help. The Foyle Foundation has pledged £15,000 if we can raise £8,645. We need your help to raise the remaining funds needed to open up the Archive to wider interest groups through an important part of the nation’s heritage with far-reaching relevance:…
Honour for Alan Stoyel
We are delighted to announce that the New Year’s Honours for 2019 includes an MBE for Alan Stoyel. Alan is one of the founders of the Mills Archive Trust and has previously been Chairman and long-time Committee Member of the SPAB Mills Section. Over 60 years of active study and practical work on rescuing our…
Milestone for millwrighting in the making
Development Assistant Lucy has just submitted an ambitious grant application to the Heritage Lottery Fund. Read on to find out what we hope to save and the benefits that we hope to offer the mills community. Mill Makers: The Wright Records, is our latest grant application for an ambitious project that – if we are…