Ducks !! Everybody loves our ducks, we were given half a page in the Chronicle with a picture, and so we should. We are starting a colony of Muscovy ducks due to a kind donation of a pair of youngsters from Dorothy Harrison at Nenthead. Daisy, Donald’s original partner was stolen, which was in our press report. This resulted in a donation of a further four from Miss Kinward of Fenham. Meanwhile I had bought four in Hartlepool so we now, with losses and swapping have settled for Scruffy, a young drake, Donald, our original drake, Dopey, a lovely little duck with a black cap, Snowey, a lovely duck with a white head and neck and Amy, another young duck with a speckled head and neck. So this family keeps us busy feeding and cleaning and the two drakes have to be kept separated, we hope this will resolve itself after the mating season.

More to mill business, some of our volunteers Mark and Ben have been carrying out sterling work under the pole barn, sometimes in freezing and wet weather, to renew the sideframes of our ex Etal and Ford’s sawbench. Has anybody out there got a vintage tractor or two with a pulley to power up the big bench for a weekend?

Speaking of volunteers and doing things, has anybody with gardening knowledge a couple of hours a week to see to our now established sensory garden and other flower beds? Please let us know.

Have we a Charlie Dimmock to attend to our pond, planting the surrounds and clearing the weeds from the banks and in the water? Also for a couple of hours per week.

A date for your diary is May 13th & 14th - National Mills Weekend. All are welcome to see us running for these two days free of charge.

We hope to have a garden shed in use on our allotment by Easter and this will clear some of the clutter which has always been on the floor of the mill and make viewing a more direct experience.

Education is coming to the mill and a display, courtesy of Simon Smith Design and a Technology Teacher from Kells Lane Primary School is on display on the balcony, showing how the 7-9 year old pupils have been involved in water power and the construction of water wheels as a design and build project.

Looking out of my office window I can see puddles forming on the lawn and the ducks sitting with their heads tucked in their wings whilst steady rain falls, it has done so all night!! I hope our stand at the Spring Flower Show isn’t too wet.

One final note, we are still looking for further Trustees, so come on all you retired business executives, share your wealth of knowledge with us - we only meet once a month for about one and a half hours. Speak to Trevor at the mill for further information.