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…
Author: Liz Bartram
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…
Volunteers power the Mills Archive
Today marks the start of Volunteers’ Week. A national annual event running 1st-7th June, the purpose of the Week is to highlight the incredible work that volunteers do. Our own volunteers are no less deserving of this recognition, we are very proud of them and the contributions that they continue to make to the success…
A windmill postcard with a message from war-torn Europe
This intriguing missive was found by volunteer Tom Hine. The picturesque windmill captured on the front of the postcard carries with it a message that jumped out at Tom for several reasons… The references to wartime The writer, Mr Dré Smit of Gouda, describes recent war developments to the recipient, Lottie. He writes that “The…
A welcome education in 18th and 19th century millwrighting
Last week we were visited by Dr Jim Moher, author of a new publication about millwrights who were working in London at a time of great technological and social change. The impressive work – The London Millwrights: Masters and Journeymen in the late 18th and early 19th centuries – has been published by the Archive as the…
Archives and Air Hangars
Our project – Archives & Air Hangars – has benefitted significantly from £10,000 we received from the Pilgrim Trust last year. Read on to find out what we have achieved for our milling records so far… The overall goal for the project was to improve storage conditions for our archival material so that it is…
International Women’s Day: Women on War Work
Today is International Women’s Day. We thought it fitting to highlight one example of the contribution that women have made to milling. Inspiration for this blog comes from Lydia, our intern in 2017 who was exploring the Archive for items that are particularly special. The gem she found is a cigarette card dating back to…