Windmill Repairs are underway!
Much to everyone’s delight, repair work to the Windmill is now well underway.
Working with local conservation architects Marcus Beale Associates and millwrights, IJP Owlsworth, the first part of the project is to stop the water ingress through the tower. This was work that had already been identified before the sail collapsed. The cap has been repainted and they are now stripping the cladding from the tower in order to replace the perished membrane lining. The tower will then be re-cladded and repainted before the sails are replaced in the early autumn.
This work forms the first phase in the restoration works to the Windmill and will ensure that for the bicentenary of the Windmill in 2017, the structure will be looking at its best. The Windmill is open for business as usual on Saturday afternoons from 2.00pm to 5.00pm and Sunday from 11.00am to 5.00pm.
Fundraising
The Windmill restoration has been supported by a grant of £100,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Thanks to National Lottery players, we have been able to fund most of the repairs, and with generous donations from local residents amounting to some £8,500, we are well on our way to raising the total needed for the project. However, we are still fundraising to restore and repair the Windmill and improve the Museum. If you would like to make a donation, please do contact us at the Ranger's Office.
Volunteering
In the mean time, the Windmill is open for business as usual on Saturday afternoon from 2.00pm to 5.00pm and Sunday from 11.00am to 5.00pm. It is staffed entirely by volunteers and they really need some more support from the community either to help run the museum at the
weekends or to help out with occasional family activity days or to help develop and run our education programme.
Could you spare a few hours from time to time? No experience is necessary and training will be given. Click here for more details
Great views!
Angela, our PA and Communications Officer, was fortunate enough to be allowed to the top of the scaffolding to take some photographs of the work in progress, and took advantage of the height to take photos of the Commons from a not-often seen angle!
