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Letheringsett Mill News
MILL NEWS |
15th April 2008 |
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November 2007 |
Delivery of New Millstones
April 15th 2008 It is an unique occasion in any mills history to have a a brand new pair of stones. Letheringsett watermill was originally built to house four pairs of millstones. One of the existing pairs of stones is a pair of 200 year old French burr stones quarried in France and cut during the Napoleonic revolution. The long awaited millstones were ordered fourteen months ago as a result of Mike Thurlow winning the UKTV Food Hero Award 2006. The quartz and granite chip millstones were specially made for Letheringsett watermill in Holland by Hans Titler who makes all the grind stones for the German and Dutch mills. Once working, they will double the mills output overnight.
The millstones were delivered from Holland to the UK, arriving at Letheringsett by lorry. Mike Thurlow inspected the millstones prior to the next stage which was to get the stones into the mill.
The frame used for lifting the existing millstones for maintenance was attached to the new runner stone. This enabled the millstone to be lifted and turned to an upright position. Once upright, strops were put through the central hole and attached to the teleporter forks. The millstone was then slightly lifted allowing it to swing in position aligned with the door.
  
The first millstone was raised but then lowered again to allow adjustments to shorten the length of the strops. The teleporter lifted the millstone up and skillfully maneuvered it through the stone floor doorway.
With the teleporter strops released, the millstone was rolled into position along sacking to protect the edges. Another strop was used to attach it to a pulley and hoist.
The millstone was gradually lowered to lay flat on the floor. As the bed stone weighs 560k and the runner stone 760k, nearly a ton of quartz, it was important that the millstones were lowered very gradually and gently and positioned over main floor beams.
Pictured above right. The new runner stone is positioned next to one of the 200 year old French burr millstone. With the runner stone in a safe position on the stone-floor, the process was repeated to lift the bedstone into the mill. The new pair of millstones will be fitted and in production very soon! |
The Official Opening of the Grain & Bin Floors
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Eastern Daily Press Norfolk Food Awards 2007
The Eastern Daily Press Norfolk Food Awards 2007 - Outstanding
At the recent EDP Norfolk Foods Awards ceremony held at the Ramada Jarvis hotel, Norwich, the winner of the Outstanding Achievement Award was won by Mike Thurlow of Letheringsett Mill.
This award aims to recognise a high level of performance and standards, fresh thinking and by inspiring the development of their skills in others by mentoring.
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CONGRATULATIONS!
Mike Thurlow, who has run Letheringsett Watermill, the last working watermill in the county for the last 20 years, celebrates as he was officially named as the nation's Local Food Hero in the competition run by the television channel UKTV Food. Although the standard of the competition was extremely high, Food Judges including Gary Rhodes, praised Mike and awarded him a £40,000 cheque. This will allow Mike to develop plans he's had for the mill for a while, including buying a third set of mill stones to increase the production of flour by 50% and to create a children's virtual reality centre, an educational facility to increase younger visitors knowledge about where food comes from and how it is produced.
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