10. “My first time at The Mill”
Part of People Making Things Happen, a Big Lottery funded project exploring the history of The Mill.
1. Norman Minter
I lived in Walthamstow, not far from where The Mill is. I was looking for things to do in retirement, and I remember walking one day, past The Mill. And there was this guy up the ladder doing some painting, it was Neil, who, subsequently, I got to know very well. And I just looked up, and we started a conversation when he came down the ladder. And he told me a little about what was going on with the building and he took me inside, and it was a bit of a shell really because the architectural students had taken down bits of wall here and there, it was a right old mess. And from that day, really, I started to become more interested in what was going on. And I sort of knew that I wanted to give a bit back to the community.
2. Rasheeqa Ahmad
It felt just open. It has that feeling of immediate accessibility from the street. And I remember being charmed at the time, walking past and seeing all the old Pakistani gentlemen playing cards at the table, and the fact that you could just walk in and have a chat with people and literally, the living room did feel like a living room. So I always felt very welcomed there, and supported in this early part of my practice as a herbalist starting these courses there. And it was quite a formative time in the progression of my work. But also it felt like making quite fast friends in the community. So any time I go in there, I’ll see people that I know from that time and it’s like a bit of a family place, isn’t it?
3. Frauke Dobers
I started wandering through neighbourhoods, exploring different parts, and I just walked through all the streets. And it was maybe in the first week that I walked past The Mill. And the doors were open, and I smelled the smell of fresh wood. And I thought hm, this seems like a nice place. And I think it was when a group of designers were first coming up with the furniture, they were installing things. So it was still in that stage when they were renovating. And I just looked through the window and through the door. It was interesting. And then John, who worked there, 10 years ago, as a coordinator, he just waved me in and welcomed me and explained how it works. So this is when I first entered The Mill.
4. Hilary Davis
When I moved down here, I knew nobody, had no activities, it was quite a shock to find there was nothing to do. And I’m not one for the armchair. I heard about The Mill, so I went into The Mill and said, was there anything I could volunteer for? And subsequently, I met various people at The Mill, including Natasha. And they said, ‘Well, what can you do?’ well when I said sewing, ‘Oh, well, that’s it, can you start a sociable sewing group.’ So that’s how it all began at The Mill, and that was five and a half years ago. We meet every two weeks, and we have quite a little nucleus of people, although it’s sort of dwindled a bit because of the pandemic. The idea originally was to have an idea where you could bring your sewing, you could chat over coffee, and just enjoy, as it is sociable sewing. It didn’t quite work out like that, because I took one or two things in, ‘Oh, where did you get that?’ ‘I made it.’ ‘Well can we make one too? Well, what are we going to make next time?’ And each time I took different things, ‘Well can we make one of those?’ So there’s some of them bring their own projects and work on all the time. Others like to do the project. So quite often, just one week or two week projects. And eventually, they decided that we would make a quilt, just a small nine square wall hanging to hang on The Mill wall. And so there are nine different squares. It’s been really, really enjoyable.
5. Hannah Guthrie
I remember when we had gone out, we’d gone out somewhere for the day. Maybe we’d gone to like Epping Forest or something, and we’d come back and my daughter was screaming, and I was tired, and I was feeling a bit frazzled, in that way that new mothers often can. And we, I knew that my daughter needed changing her nappy, and she needed feeding. And we were kind of like, five minutes walk from home. But when you’ve got a screaming child five minutes feels like an eternity. But we knew we were very close to The Mill. So we just came into The Mill. And I just instantly, like felt completely surrounded by supportive people who like sat me down. And Mo went and got me a cup of tea. And it was just that kind of, you know, after, we were on a bus – after being on a bus feeling very conscious about having a screaming baby and then suddenly being in The Mill and feeling very supported and wrapped in care with a screaming baby was just amazing. So I think that it’s thing for me, that was the kind of like the initial the real benefit that I felt from The Mill was just that knowing that having a support group of generally women, generally women who were older than me so had gone through life experiences that I was just on the tips of and just helped me through what was quite a tough time. So yeah, so that’s, that was kind of where we, where are where I feel my kind of strong relationship with The Mill really started in those having those people who helped me through. And they probably didn’t, they maybe didn’t even realise that’s what was happening.
6. John Onelum
My first impressions, I thought. I thought number one, we’ve got a lot of work to do. Because at the time it was, you know, just so much derelict, but just an empty space but there was such a passion, at least from Alison’s communication to me, you know, there was this his passion from, you know, from the trustees and also the community, a passion to want to see change and want to just transform that community and that space into something that will benefit others. And so, although, you know, before me was, you know, just an empty space, but the trustees of the time, were able to communicate a vision of a space or hub that would really serve the community. And I think I sort of grasped onto the vision. And so yeah, so I was I was excited about it.
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