The Creative Heart of Lyme Regis

 

Following the Prime Minister’s statement on 16 March, The Town Mill Trust made the difficult decision to shut the Mill and The Malthouse Gallery to visitors for a 12 week period. Many of our volunteers are within vulnerable groups and we also expect visitor numbers to be very low due to the advice to the public around social distancing. For all of our mill community, this is a very worrying time, with health, well being and financial worries amongst other concerns. The Town Mill Trust, relies on visitors for our art income, our mill tour donations and flour sales so 2/3s of our income, at the start of our busiest time, has disappeared overnight. The remaining 1/3 of our income comes from  our tenants, who also rely on visitors to generate income. Difficult times, indeed, for all of us. The Town Mill Trust has worked hard to always have 3 months of operating costs in its reserves but we have never anticipated the current scenario where all of our sources of income are under threat for an undefinable amount of time. Over the coming weeks, the Trustees will be considering how best to manage this situation; there may be very difficult decisions to make regarding staff and tenants, but we will seek to minimise the impact to the best of our ability; there is no doubt that every household and organisation in the UK and globally is going to be significantly affected financially and emotionally. We need to be supportive of each other and realistic in our expectations, and hopefully we will all come through it. Please be assured that the Trustees will work with all the Mill community to guide us through this crisis, so that we will be in a position to regroup and get running again when the time is right. We don’t know how long the current measures re social distancing and self isolating will last, and what impact the Government support to each business will have, The Trustees will work with our staff team to continually monitor the government advice and we will review our financial situation regularly.

 

The Friends of The Town Mill play a pivotal role supporting and augmenting the work of the Town Mill’s Charitable Trust which looks after the Mill’s historic buildings The Town Mill is also proud to have created employment opportunities for its small artisan businesses. We need your support now more than ever.

Please consider making a small gift of as little as £5.00 a month today

If you feel this is something you could do please contact petrinatownmill@gmail.com

This ancient watermill, set in the artisan quarter of Lyme Regis, was rescued from dereliction by local volunteers, through a ten-year restoration project. Today, the story of The Town Mill is recounted by volunteer millers and history guides, who mill stoneground wholemeal flour every day, and keep this special place open for everyone to enjoy.

Nestling around a cobbled courtyard, these restored mill buildings house a working flour watermill, as well as art galleries, artists’ studios, a café, a silversmith, a seamstress, a pottery, a bakery & deli, a design agency and a micro-brewery.