Events
Annual Mill Events
This page lists annual mill events from the point of view of Mill Trust Directors or volunteers responsible for organising or assisting in running them.
Mills Weekend Open Day
Organiser: Secretary/Assistant Secretary invites the radio hams.
Date: Sunday of Second Full Weekend in May
National Mills Weekend is promoted by the Mills section of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) and occurs annually on the second weekend of May. We open on this Sunday which often falls on a regular open day. SPAB encourages mills that are not usually open to the public to open over this weekend and mills that charge for entry to offer free admittance. We do not offer free admittance - mostly due to this normally falling on one of our regular open days - so we do not participate in SPAB's advertising for the event. Worthing & District Amateur Radio Club (WaDARC) are invited to the mill and they operate a special call-sign, GB0HSM, that is only used at the windmill on this day. They reach out to mills around the world and keep track of contacts on a board in the roundhouse. Each participating mill will be hosting their own local amateur radio club who will be broadcasting with their own mill-specific call-signs. The photographs shows mills, and their call-signs, that were contacted in 2014.
Annual General Meeting
Organiser: Company Secretary.
This is usually held at St. Peters Church, Furze Road towards the end of April or in early June. All members are welcome to attend and should receive notification three weeks in advance, A speaker is invited to speak after the business of the meeting is concluded. The meeting is conducted by the Chairman with reports from the Treasurer and Technical Adviser or Maintenance Coordinator. Volunteers are required to make and serve tea/coffee with biscuits and wash up afterwards.
Speaker may need access to projector and screen or may bring own. Bring along adapters and power cable reel.
In 2020, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, when indoor meetings were banned by the Government, the minimum number of members permitted by the Memorandum of Association met in socially distanced groups at TS Vanguard and conducted the business of the AGM with mailed or proxy votes from members having already been cast and the entire AGM was broadcast via Zoom.
Barn Dance
The Barn Dance is a June event where, for many years, Eric Talbot has presided as caller. Apart from some initial effort by the maintenance team to hang a string of coloured lights along the Long Barn, put out some tables and chairs and a couple of volunteers to man the kitchen to provide refreshments, this event requires little effort from mill volunteers. Eric brings along his own music and amplification system and visitors are encouraged to bring their own food and drink. Some years, if the weather forecast looks dicey, tickets may be printed and sold in advance. For many years this event has been organised by Peter Casebow.
Book Sale
Annual Summer Fete
Organiser: Events Team
Date: Second Sunday of July
The Summer Fete is the main annual fund-raising event for High Salvington Mill Trust Limited. The usual date is the second Sunday of July. In 2020, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, for the first time in decades, the event had to be cancelled. The date for the 2021 event was postponed until August.
The Fete features a traditional mix of stalls and games. <<STUB TEXT -- Needs rewrite/expansion>>
Classic Cars Open Day
Organiser: Ann English
Until 2009 this was the MG Owners Open Day. After several disappointing years and a tendency for the MG Owners to not interact overmuch with visitors, and with an offer from a Morgan owners club to operate a better event, the Mill Trust chose to offer them the opportunity. From 2010, Ann and Quentin English took on responsibility for running the newly named Classic Cars Open Day. While predominantly showing off Morgan cars, Ann and Quentin happily accepted applications for a slot from other interested classic car owners and they regularly attracted a small number of motorcycles to round out the display. With enthusiastic owners engaging with visitors to talk about their well-presented cars, the Classic Cars Open Day has become a firm favourite, and is often the second-most well-attended event, after the Annual Fete.
Sadly, Quentin English passed away on 23rd June 2020. Due to Covid-19 all public open days and events at the mill had been cancelled for the year, but Ann was keen to resume running the Classic Cars Open Day event in 2021, after restrictions had been lifted.
Table Top Sale
Autumn Rural Crafts Fair
The Autumn Rural Crafts Fair was an event proposed by Bob Potts and Peter Casebow. The aim was to showcase rural crafts skills with relevance to restoration and maintenance of the mill so as to attract people with similar skills and interests who might be persuaded to join our team of maintenance volunteers.
Christmas Bonfire Carols
The Christmas "Carols around a Bonfire" event is run every year on a Friday before Christmas, with a collection in favour of the St. Barnabas House and Chestnut Tree House hospices.
The Secretary books the current vicar of St. Peters, a year ahead, or an alternative if he/she is unavailable. Peter Hill, former chair of Sussex Mills Group, has acted as MC in the past. The publicity team advertises the event, to local people only, as the intention is to thank neighbours for their forbearance during the year.
The work team prepares a bonfire near the East hedge, after first cutting out a circle of turf and rolling it up to store safely under the hedge. They hang the strings of external coloured lights from the Long Barn guttering, and if another string is available, the gatehouse guttering. They hang floodlights out of a port side spout floor window of the mill. They will then wind to shine the floodlight towards the bonfire and they may put out floodlights on the field to light up the mill. If winds are strong from the wrong direction then they may need to use a different window to make sure the mill cannot be tail-winded.
Mince pies and hot chocolate are acquired for the kitchen. The carol sheets are currently stored by Jeff Best, who will check and print/staple extra copies, as required. Volunteer money collectors need to be recruited, along with kitchen volunteers, and a couple of volunteers to hand out and collect carol sheets. Hazel Marsden, as Treasurer, currently stores the collection buckets.
After the event, once all the wood has burnt to ash and everything cooled down, a magnet is used to remove any ironware that was attached to the wood used on the fire. The turfs are then carefully replaced. The floodlights and strings of coloured lights are taken down and stored.
For many years, Peter Hill conducted this event, until 2009 when heavy snow made it impossible to get over to Worthing. The local Findon vicar with responsibility for St. Peters was invited to officiate that year, and has been conducting ever since. Technically, the Carols event counts as a service, so the Trust does not require a Temporary Event Notice, and this is easier to argue if the conductor is from the church.
