Good news! BM25 has been printed and sent out to all members. If you are not a member, and still would like to have the book, then best is just to become a member this year.
It is a wonderful production about the windmills in South Africa and more specific about the restoration of the Mostert's Mill in Cape Town.
Cape Town landmark, Mostert’s Mill burned down in the devastating wildfire of 18th April 2021 that did so much more damage. Andy Selfe (F68) had been involved in upgrades during the previous six years, the last being completed the afternoon before the fire. He was immediately put in charge of organising the re-making of all the working parts. He had recorded the processes before the fire, and continued doing so in the three years it took the team to bring the Mill back into working order.
Andy is our only South African TIMS member. He approached the Council suggesting that this restoration be used as the next in their ‘Bibliotheca Molinologica’ series. It was accepted and he was put in touch with Graham Hackney in the UK, editor of TIMS. Graham suggested including Mostert’s place in South Africa’s past, as well as the previous restorations which were carried out in 1935 and 1995, and anything else in between, including the upgrades.
This led to much research, including finding and translating from technical Dutch, the previous restoration reports in two periodicals. Much priceless material was received from the Mostert Family in connection with the early history, which Graham Hackney used to compile the early chapters on the background. In the description of the recent restoration it describes how Andy was able to recruit six other woodworking craftsmen to make the various components, according to their skills and machinery. The only parts to be imported were a pair of used French burr-stones and the sail cloths. Everything else was made in South Africa.
Funding came from private donations from ordinary citizens, overseas crowd-funding, as well as donations from City of Cape Town and Afriforum, but the majority came from the Rupert family, through their Historic Houses Foundation. Many people and firms made very generous donations in materials too.
BM25 is also being printed locally in South Africa for local mill friends. The book has 172 pages with many photos in full colour and is available through Friends of Mostert’s Mill, www.mostertsmill.co.za at the mill, at R350.00 including VAT, which includes a donation towards future upkeep. Chairman John Hammer can be contacted on the email address on the Membership page (where payment can be made) regarding collection. Otherwise Mostert’s Mill is open to the public every third Saturday of the month and copies can be bought there.
