We opened to the public on 10 & 11 May and this year we celebrated 10 years of working at the mill, we had pictures of various features before work started and in the early stages of work, and later pictures after the work was completed. We also had a selection of metal parts and bones found in the early days to go with the display.

A Breckland Council Inspiring Communities grant allowed us to celebrate the 80th anniversary of VE and VJ Days with pictures of VE Day celebrations on display boards, as a slideshow and in a photo album. Bunting, posters and banners were on the buildings. Ryan lent us VE Day books, Military helmet and dress medals, we were also loaned a copy of The Daily Sketch from VE Day from Narborough Museum which was on display. As our open days are in May we focussed on VE Day more than VJ Day.

All the displays were in our gazebo where we also had Forties music playing. Ryan put a tub of Poppy seeds on a grindstone (with half a brick inside to stop it blowing away) which visitors could sprinkle on our wildflower meadow to remember those who gave their lives in the war. Ryan brought his 1955 tractor which was on show on Saturday, this attracted a lot of interest from visitors.

The recent research into bone mill employees was on a separate display panel in the gazebo along with coprolite (fossils), machinery parts and bones found on site which relate to their work as coprolite grinder, millwright, machine minder, and bone boiler. Jan, who carried out the research was with us on Sunday to answer questions about the workers.

Our model mill made by David Turner, showing how the mill looked in its working days was on show in the visitor centre and we had our water wheel turning with the pump both days. We had trouble getting the wheel turning on Sunday but Fred soon solved the problem by tightening the pump hose clips.

Joe made us two new signs for the main road and our car park so these were used for the first time, they look very professional. Joe visited on Sunday and has offered us another two man saw for our visitor centre display. Transport to and from car park to mill for those who found the 3/4 mile walk both ways in the heat too much was provided by our Gator and trailer with seats and a Hilux truck lent to us by Paul from S&P Motors.

The picnic bench given to us recently by Janis and Keith got plenty of use at the open days, they joined us on Sunday making tea and coffee for visitors and volunteers in our railway wagon kitchen. The sausage rolls, cheese straws, home made cakes and cookies were all very popular. Emma and Debra made cakes with pictures celebrating VE Day and the 10th anniversary of working at the mill which were delicious.

We appreciate all the donations, these help us to keep the mill looking good and open to the public. We were very lucky with the weather, it was sunny, warm and dry both days. We've had a number of people sign up to our website newsletter.

We had around 155 visitors over the weekend. Several visitors asked about our fallen river wall, we plan to make it into a sloping river bank to match the rest of the site which we hope to start soon, see the Repair Plan for details. We had an offer of help with the wall from a visitor who may volunteer with us.

We are looking for volunteers to help look after the mill, the work is varied in a beautiful, peaceful location. We have lots of tea breaks sitting by the river, see our volunteering page for more information and Contact Us to become a volunteer.

Our next open days will be Heritage Open Days on 20 & 21 September. We can also organise group visits, contact us through the website to arrange this.

If you attended our open days, please would you give feedback on our short form, this helps us target publicity more effectively and improve our visitor experience. Thank you for completing our feedback form.

Google maps have updated the aerial view of the bone mill which looks like it was taken on the open days, as it shows the gazebos, umbrella, new shed and greenhouse as well as the fallen river wall.

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