Mill for All Seasons HLF project - the story so far

The latest news at the Mill is that we have a new HLF project called "A Mill for All Seasons". The project runs until June 2018 and will involve fitting new millstones and renovating parts of the mill mechanism so that we can mill using motor power as well as wind power. We'll be using this blog to keep you up to date with what we're doing; future posts  will be in more detail, but to start us off here is a quick report on progress so far!  

June 2017

·         Local groups contacted about outreach, school visits and community exhibition

·         Advertising in place for new volunteers

July 2017

·         Outreach sessions: Carers group, Scouts and Beavers, Swavesey WI

·         Press release sent out and interview with Radio Cambridgeshire

August 2017

·         Carers’ drop in session at the museum

        Day centre outreach talk

·         Windmill box created for use in handling talks and with special school pupils

September 2017

·         Mill workshop for volunteers

·         Visit from Burwell Early Learners

·         Talks for public at Fen Edge Harvest Fair event

·         Top millstone removed in preparation for being replaced

October 2017

·         Burwell brownies outreach and craft session

·         CPD session with teachers from Burwell Village College

·         U3A group visit

November 2017

·         Tractor refurbished and ready to run

·         Engage outreach group at library

·         Colourbox nursery visit

·         Burwell village college visit

·         Millwright dressing bedstone

·         Sensory box session with Castle School

Update - 10 February 2015

After some of the strong winds last month one of the striking gears, the gear which controls whether the shutters are open or closed, was bent and the shutters were forced closed. 

Abseiling off the top of the mill, reattaching the striking gear after being bent back.

A brave member of the team abseiled up the sails to release the striking gear and gently lower it to the ground. Once on the ground they used the contraption pictured below to bend the gear back into shape, it was then raised back up and reattached to the sail.

The device used to bend the striking back into shape

Update - 8 January 2015

The new girders shown on the last update were successfully fitted by the mill team. The new girders have stopped the distortion that used to occur as the cap turned in the wind.

The new girders installed in the cap either side of the brake wheel

Four guide wheels have been fitted in the cap, two at the rear and two on the sides, which keep the cap centred on top of the tower. They've fixed one of the major problems we had which was when the wind pushed on the cap, it caused it to slide backwards and disengaged the gearing that kept it facing the wind. However, for the past three weeks the mill has been rotating on its own to face the wind, and has been through some strong winds without any problems.

The two guide wheels at the back of the cap

Close up on one of the guide wheels

The waterproofing was completed just before the weather turned and apart from a very small leak in the cap, has also been successful.

The next job for the mill team will be to prepare the mill stones in order to start milling flour.