We’re working hard to engage more people with our heritage
We’ve had a busy but wonderful summer working with a wide variety of groups & organisations to engage new communities with the Mill & share all it has to offer!
1ST CHARMOUTH CUBS EARN THEIR ENVIRONMENTAL CREDENTIALS AT TOWN MILL
We started off the season by welcoming the 1st Charmouth Cubs to the mill and had a great time hosting this dedicated young group who were all working towards achieving their Environmental Conservation badge.
In order to achieve their badge, the cubs have been looking at sources of renewable energy so being powered solely by water - and also a generator of electricity from our small hydro-electric system - a visit to Town Mill was the perfect venue!
During their visit, the group saw how just water from the River Lim is used to turn the mill’s huge waterwheel and how this drives the cogs and gears to turn the giant millstones and produce wholesome flour.
Akela Mel Davies told us “the cubs enjoyed a very informative tour of the Town Mill and were able to participate in trying our different milling methods and ask lots of questions. We were even treated to a bag of flour which we plan to use to make breadsticks at our forthcoming camp!”
BRIDPORT BADMINTON CLUB “MAKE A RAQUET” AT THE MILL
We also welcomed an energetic bunch from the Bridport Badminton Club - a little further afield and all first-time visitors to Town Mill.
Like all first time visitors, they were captivated by the mill and its scale - yet the simplicity of the milling process and how natural energy from the river is harnessed to create enough momentum to mill our wholesome flours!
This local group all understand the benefits of movement, using the mantra “let’s use it, or lose it” - and the exact same can be said for the mill which undoubtedly benefits from regular, gentle use.
Thank you to all the badminton players for coming to visit us!
TOWN MILL WORKING WITH THE WOODROFFE SCHOOL DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY STUDENTS
In July we were delighted to complete a project we had been working on in collaboration with The Woodroffe School to produce a range of student-designed artistic festival flags to be displayed at the mill.
With a brief of “What does Town Mill mean to you?” the active and well-supported DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY lunchtime club led by passionate teacher Sara Vincent completely embraced this textile-focused project with the students producing 10 wonderful images, all with very different interpretations of the mill and which as a body of work, captured the geographic, historic, artisan, commercial and social aspects of the Town Mil site.
The flags have done a fantastic job of explaining visually that Town Mill really does have something for everyone - and have been brilliantly effective at not only bringing a festival-feel to the Miller’s Garden this summer, but also creating intrigue, with visitors pausing longer in the garden to look at the flags’ finer details, almost working as “leaflets” for explaining all there is on site!
It was wonderful to welcome Mrs Vincent to the mill with three of the participating students for a flag planting ceremony and to thank the students for all their hard work - everyone has been thrilled to see their paper representations come to life in flag-form!
STUDENTS FROM THE WORLD-REKNOWN BOAT BUILD ACADEMY VISIT THE MILL TO AUGMENT THEIR UNDERSTANDING OF WOOD & WATER
We were delighted that students from Lyne Regis’ BOAT BUILDING ACADEMY accepted our invitation to come and explore the mill fully with us this summer - there is after all, a natural affiliation with a watermill and the heritage craftsmanship of traditional boat building, with both applications requiring a delicate understanding of the relationship between wood and water as well as applying ancient skills and traditions.
We welcomed students from the current 40-week boat building course - currently working on a 16’ Gartside Motor Launch and a 16’ 6” Goran Haven Crabber. The Boat Building Academy is an educator, equipping students with life-changing skills and opportunities to work in boatbuilding with deeply traditional foundations. These hands-on students have a natural affinity with tradition, process and method and we hope this inaugural visit of the current 40-week’ers to the mill will become an established tradition with successive classes.
We wish all the students the absolute best, both with their launch day in December & their onwards journeys - fair winds and calm seas to you all from everyone at the mill!
It has been possible to undertake this community focused work because of the generous support of The National Lottery Heritage Fund who have recognised the significance of our special heritage site and acknowledged its latent potential to connect with communities beyond those that find us of their own accord.
Using money raised by National Lottery players, The National Lottery Heritage Fund supports projects that connect people and communities with the U.K.’s heritage and this support - by funding a community engagement resource - specifically enables us to pro-actively reach out to schools, organisations and community groups and discover how they want to engage with the mill.
As part of this process, one of the things we have been doing is to develop a range of educational materials aimed at school-aged children and we very much look forward to sharing more news about this as it develops.
In the meantime, if you are a group or organisation that would like to know more about what the mill could offer - or the spaces we have available for community-focused projects - please do get in touch by dropping us an e-mail at : jackytownmill@gmail.com
