Windmill gains TripAdvisor Excellence Award

TripAdvisor CertificateHeage Windmill’s visitors have recognised the windmill’s wonderful customer experience, gaining us a TripAdvisor® Certificate of Excellence award.

Now in its fifth year, the award celebrates excellence in hospitality and is given only to establishments that consistently achieve great  reviews on TripAdvisor.

When selecting Certificate of Excellence winners, TripAdvisor takes into account the quality, quantity and current nature of reviews and opinions submitted by travellers on TripAdvisor over a 12-month period.  To qualify, an attraction must maintain an overall TripAdvisor bubble rating of at least four out of five over a 12-month period.

Piers Bostock, Chairman of Heage Windmill Society said: ‘There is no greater seal of approval than being recognised by one’s visitors. We always have tried to offer a great experience but this is the crust on our loaf when our visitors themselves declare how well we perform. I congratulate all of our team of volunteers for their tremendous and consistent  efforts.’

Fire Drill at Mill

Fire Drill 004The fire crew at Alfreton came to our mill for a training exercise, seeking to get a ‘casualty’ from the upper floor of the mill. The team of five, led by Incident Commander Andy Lee, arrived in a very shining Scandia fire engine and quickly sorted how they could best use the mill sack hoist shaft  to get the casualty down to ground level.

It was  an interesting visit for everyone involved and one we hope never has to be carried out for real!

Windmill on BBC TV in the 90s

1994 screenshotTwo East Midlands Today reports have been found about Heage Windmill.  View them here…

It is difficult to visualise Heage Windmill nowadays as the wreck it was before restoration, as so much work has been done to bring her back to working order.

Alan Gifford, one of the earliest volunteer workers, has recently found two video clips from BBC TV’s East Midlands Today which clearly show what was faced in bringing the windmill back to life in the mid 1990’s when it was in a seriously neglected condition.

1997 screenshotThe first news report, probably in 1994 or early 1995, shows the eroded condition of the soft ironstone from which she is built.  Alan, with Margaret Kent , the then Chairman of Heage Windmill Society, and Dave Nicholls, another early worker, are seen examining rotten flooring, caused by water ingress.  The condition of some pieces of machinery are also shown.

To see the video, click here

In the second news report – 22nd of January 1997 – the  poor condition of the stone work is again displayed.  Some shots of the internal machinery are also shown, with new paint which has been added by volunteer workers. The group is also seen examining the sail which was damaged by a lightning strike in 1995, whilst Alan unearths what might be a hidden stone path way and a fragment of kiln tile. Dave expresses hopes for the future whilst Margaret cannot wait for the sails to turn again as a result of an application for Heritage Lottery funding which, in due course, contributed to the full restoration, even to grinding corn again and making Heage flour.

To see the 1997 video, click here

Heage Windmill features in The Guardian

Under the headline ‘How setting up a trust can help community restorations,’ Guardian journalist Jo Adentuji has written about the daunting task of restoring community buildings and uses Heage Windmill as a great example of how a combination of funding models, volunteers and expertise enabled the mill to be restored to working order.

In the Guardian article, published on May 25, Heage Windmill Secretary Alan Gifford points out how the local community was integral to the success of the project, and that a sense of community added to the mill volunteers’ grant propositions.

To read the article in full, click here