TEAM LEADER'S THOUGHTS by Robert Turner

Another successful year draws to a close, the highlight of which has to be the Water Festival on the Rye in June. Although I contrived to miss it completely, I know how much the mill was enjoyed by the visiting children and teachers.

There is no Water Festival next year. The three Open Days fixed for 2003 are: Sunday 11th May, Sunday 13th July and Sunday 7th September.

The year started with the challenging task of replacing all 52 pit wheel teeth/cogs after the very old ones had begun to break up last year. There’s nothing to match the combination of Owen’s 4 ton hydraulic jack, John’s universal screwdriver/paint tin opener/chisel, and my 101b club hammer; all

essential equipment since the pit wheel unfortunately backs tightly onto a wall. We are now experts at tooth extraction and offer our services free of charge to anyone with an aching molar. Our only requirement is to have a mouth big enough to fit us all in!

We fitted the new English oak teeth/cogs just in time for the May Open Day, which, as always, was a bright and sunny Spring day; a day ideal for showing off the garden so wonderfully maintained by Margaret. In this department we welcome new team member Malcolm Walker who is particularly interested in trees and shrubs.

Bill Page, skilled in machining metal, is another new team member. He quickly made his mark by designing and making a roller which has all but cured the slipping belt problem that has dogged us from the start.

September saw us holding what became the "alternative Wycombe Show", the traditional Wycombe Show having been cancelled this year. It seemed at times as if just as many people turned up as at the real thing! In my opinion it was the most enjoyable Open Day I have experienced, and I look forward to next year’s Pann Mill Show to see if we can do as well, if not better. Everyone involved, no

matter how big or small their contribution, should be very proud of the success of the year.

And what of next year? Well, there are plans afoot to build a bridge across the river immediately upstream of the waterwheel so that visitors have a better view of the wheel, and are able, for the first time, to circulate around the mill building. There is a proposal to return control of the waterwheel to inside the mill; there is the winnower to finish; a flour sorter to start, plus any number of other tasks big and small.

I hope to see you on an Open Day, if not before. Don’t forget that visitors are welcome on Working Party Sundays, the FIRST and THIRD SUNDAY MORNINGS of each MONTH.

MARGARET'S AUTUMN MAGIC by Margaret Simmons

Last autumn I visited Westonburt with the U3A (University of the 3rd Age); it was absolutely magic. I wished we could have stayed there all day, but alas, the coach was booked to go to Chichester and too little time remained. However it did make me think of adding a little autumn colour to the mill garden. Can’t rival Westonburt, but we do have four Euonymus, three of which I am assured will have berries, and a Stewartia which will have autumn colours. As I am now the proud possessor of a hose, everything looks healthier when the rain fails.

When we first had Pann Mill put in the book as open to the public (Margaret is by far the longest serving member of the team. - ed.) a suggestion was made that we could perhaps open sometimes on a Saturday, and reserve the Sunday for visiting other mills. Those with transport can, of course, make visits when they like, but to visit in company is much more enjoyable.

Firstly, we have not revisited Cobham Mill in Surrey, nor invited them back to show how we have progressed. I believe this mill and Pann Mill have something special in common: they must be amongst the smallest traditional working corn mills in the country! I propose we contact them.

Secondly, it is unfortuate that Owen’s Mill near Dunster in Somerset is a little too far away for a quick visit. I was privileged to be taken there on a lightning tour whilst staying with Myra recently, and was stunned at the immensity of the task Owen has taken on. We congratulate him on retiring from local landscaping work and wish him well in restoring his own sawmill. I’m sure he could do with some help, so how about a Working Week-end? Our team Spring week-ends in the early 90s, helping John Bedington at his Charlecote Mill near Stratford-on-Avon, where we cut our milling teeth, so to speak, were so enjoyable. I’m all for it.

JOHN: THE PANN MILL TOUR GUIDE by Peter Hazzard

John tells me he is often fascinated by questions posed by visitors to the mill, and heartened by their favourable comments. Here are his answers and comments.

"It’s lovely and soothing listening to the waterwheel"

Yes, our Open Days attract both interested and interesting visitors who pass comments such as this, ask questions, and tell us about the Mill as they recall it.

"My Grandma used to collect flour from the Mill for her bakery in Easton Street"

This should trigger interesting research! Several visitors remember collecting, in more recent times, chicken feed.

"My Grandfather lived worked here in 1891, carting grain for grinding and flour to customers"

We have been given a copy of his Marriage Certificate which shows him living at Pann Mill. It is now in the Mill archives.

"Got an electric motor turning the wheel then?"

The only way to prove otherwise was to shut and then open the waterwheel sluice!

"Surely the wheel is going round the wrong way?"

The theory of turbine operation was explained.

"What is the flour production rate?"

To be honest we have never measured it, but there is a minimum in order to maintain high quality flour. We will have the answer ready for May 11th 2003.

"Why don’t you sell Hour in the town market?'"

The Mill Restoration Project is essentially for historic and educational purposes. Elsewhere in the Newsletter you will read of our flour being used for pie-making, on an educational project at Hampton Court Palace!

PANN MILL, HENRY VIII AND HAMPTON COURT PALACE by Peter Hazzard

Robert Perrin, in his 1986 book about the newspaper the Bucks Free Press, entitled No Fear Nor Favour, wrote of River Wye’s mills, "At first, the mills only handled the abundant produce from the surrounding farmland, sending the resulting flour by pack-horse and barge to London." Some flour was probably off-loaded at the royal residence of Hampton Court Palace on its way up the Thames by barge; if so, history has been repeated. Flour milled at Pann Mill on our September Open Day went to the Palace by car, to be made into pie crusts, baked in one of the Tudor kitchens. We are grateful to Marc Meltonville for this honour; he is WDC Education Officer attached to Wycombe Museum, and an experimental archaeologist working on a Hampton Court project. Marc formed a research team of 12 to find, prepare and cook food with equipment that would have been used in 1542. The kitchen is now a working kitchen which is open to view by the public.

Hampton Court Palace was built and owned by Cardinal Wolsey. However when he fell out of favour with Hemy VIII, he gave it to the king, who took possession of it in 1529. At the same time as owning this great palace, Henry also owned Pann Mill by confiscating it from the Knights Hospitallers. Apparently the mill was situated in Temple Wycombe Manor and when Henry dissolved the monasteries in the late 1530s, the tenant of the mill, Margaret Vace began paying her 35 shillings p.a. rent to the Crown. We know this is a fact because of a manuscript in the Public Record Office at Kew which recorded the properties in Buckinghamshire that Henry took over. Here is the relevant extract: