FROM THE MILL
Keep up to date with everything that's going on at Jordans Mill and never miss a thing.
For the second year our Heritage open day of culture and history will take place on Saturday the 8th September and will be open to the public for free, between 10am – 4pm.
The Victorian Mill museum will be open to the public and the iconic machinery will be running at specific times throughout the day. We have free interactive children’s activities and other local partners on site, who will also be providing free activities and demonstrations.
This year, in recognition of the centenary of the Universal Suffrage Act, we are celebrating ‘Extraordinary Women’ and our woman of commemoration is Mrs Pamela Jordan.
As summer is well and truly underway we are pleased to welcome Amber, our new graduate Mill museum guide.
Amber graduates in late September having achieved a first in her history degree – and we are very lucky to have her in the team.
What does a tour guide do?
A tour guide takes you around the Mill museum explaining the history, culture and process of milling – and will also answer any question on the Mill museum and show the mill machinery in action.
We are proud of our market garden heritage and want to share our knowledge and help more people across Bedfordshire to eat healthier and grow more fruits and vegetables at home.
Where did it all start?
In 1929, the term allotment was used to describe a piece of land used for a specific purpose such as market gardening and was promoted during the war with the ‘Dig for Victory’ slogans. In the 60’s and 70’s demand for allotments declined but due to media interest and a boost towards healthy eating and food heritage, plots have once again become popular.
It is amazing what you could see in the river or around the gardens and woodlands at Jordans Mill. Our volunteer Mark tells us a little bit more about Pike and Bream in this week’s feature.
What does a Pike look like?
A Pike has a bony head with forward looking eyes; it has a broad snout and a large mouth too. The mouth contains an arsenal of teeth with rows of backward pointing razor sharp teeth in the top jaw and larger needle type teeth in its lower jaw. The fish is torpedo shaped with fins mainly at the back of its body which can propel it forward at very high speed, when catching its prey.
Our wonderful volunteers do so many things for us and we simply couldn’t do it without them. Tour guide, Jonathan Payne tells us a bit more about why he came to the Mill and how it led him to design a miniature card model of the Mill.
Jonathan retired from work in late 2012 and saw an advert from the Mill recruiting for tour guides and stewards. Jonathan and his wife applied and became tour guides all ready for the grand opening of the Mill and heritage centre in spring 2013.