On Tuesday morning when the weather was just right the sweeps on the windmill were turned 180 degrees.

We do this twice every year in order to stop the top sweeps from sagging downwards, and to help distribute the weight more evenly as a windmill is designed to dance, and not to be constantly static.

The occasion was organised by Mr Colin Dellar (a member of the committee) and was undertaken at relatively short notice because the weather is critical and the decision to move the sweeps is always last minute.

Yours truly was away in Spain, and so:

1) I couldn’t alert you to the fact that it was happening in time for you to get up there and,

2) I missed it as well!!

Apologies!

What this exercise did do however, was to highlight the wear and tear this monumental structure has to bear.

In the illustration below you can clearly see the weakness of the steel plate at the base of the shaft which will need to be repaired soon. This is where your support of Rottingdean Heritage is so vital in helping to keep this iconic building in tip top condition.

I promise that the next time we arrange this you will be the first to know…anyway to compensate here are some more pictures and a couple of videos for you of the event.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/f0a7ef_d3f09a064c5143478b000e59d68fa315/480p/mp4/file.mp4https://video.wixstatic.com/video/f0a7ef_20281b33207f4b748253ac2a385eaa9c/480p/mp4/file.mp4