BRIXTON WINDMILL - MILL MEMORIES
Most people don’t know that there’s a windmill in Brixton. Like some sort of black and white beacon, it stands in the center of a scrap of park, surrounded by a housing estate. It’s visible from both the allotments nearby and the prison. It has become an unusual hub for community activities and is seen by many who know it well, as a part of their local culture and their community’s identity. Something so unusual has become something to be proud of.
From 2012 to 2013 I worked with Friends of Brixton Windmill to create ‘Mill Memories’, an archive of local peoples' memories and stories about Brixton Windmill. The aim of this project was to preserve its importance in South London's history and culture. Our proposal to the National Lottery Heritage Fund, won a grant of £13,000 to get the project off the ground.
We designed posters to attract local people, whose memories would be valuable to the archive. These were displayed by local businesses, schools and clinics around South London.
Creating an archive
Working with oral history interviewers we created workshops for the local community to come and learn oral history interview techniques and film making skills.
We created a teaser film as part of a PR pack to send to organisations interested in taking part. It also lived on the Friends of Brixton Windmill website, to inform visitors.
Whose Memories?
We worked with the Media Trust to document and record peoples’ memories from different social groups around Brixton. A number of different community organisations took part, including The Media Trust, Age UK, Brixton Prison,The Old Post Office Bakery, Owlsworth IJP, Morley College, UAL, YCN and The Methodist Church. Their memories and stories are available to view on Memory Pin and through the Brixton Windmill website and in a book named after the project. The project launched the archive in collaboration with The Big Lunch at an event where local theatre groups re-enacted and retold the stories to the public.
And even puppetry.
Taken at the Big Lunch event where we collected memories.
Here are all the local organisations and businesses we worked with to make it happen.