Heritage cash pumped into sawmill (From Oxford Mail)

Heritage cash pumped into sawmill

4:42pm Sunday 2nd August 2009 in News By Hayley Cover

SIX organisations in west Oxfordshire have been given cash boosts to help support community projects.

One of the main beneficiaries is Combe Mill Society, which has been awarded £500.

The working industrial mill is part of the Blenheim Palace estate in Woodstock.

The society was established in the 1970s to preserve the content of the mill and educate the local community and schoolchildren about its engineering heritage.

The sawmill was originally powered by a water wheel and a beam engine.

West Oxfordshire District Council awarded the money as part of its heritage grants to support community initiatives.

The cash will help replace some of the wooden wedges and buy a water pump to give visitors a demonstration.

Combe Mill Society trustee Tony Simmons said: “West Oxfordshire District Councilhave supported us for several years and we are extremely grateful.

“We have a lot of schools that come to see what we do. The children are fascinated by the beam engine and water wheel.”

The five other organisations benefitting from the heritage grants included Bampton Community Archive and Local Studies, Minster Lovell Experience Film Project, Chipping Norton Museum, Oxford Bus Trust and Swinford Museum.

Swinford Museum, in Filkins, near Lechlade, received £500.

The cash will be put towards the cost of producing ‘a snapshot of time’ using photographs to show the museum’s history.

The museum is one of Oxfordshire’s oldest and was set up by the late George Swinford in the 1920s. It features a collection of local domestic, agricultural, trade and craft tools.

Minster Lovell Experience Film Project was awarded £400.

The project has been set up by a group of people who want to produce a film about the village, both past and present.

Oxford Bus Museum Trust, in Long Hanborough, was given £350.

It displays a range of former Oxford buses and currently has eight. The money is to improve the exhibition hall floor.

Bampton Community Archive and Local Studies in Bampton has been given £350.

The organisation was set up in 2002 by a group of history enthusiasts to gather information on the history of Bampton. The money will go towards creating three exhibitions.

Chipping Norton Museum was awarded £250.

It stocks more than 2,000 postcards of local places and events.

District councillor Hilary Biles, member for leisure and tourism, said: “We are very pleased to support these worthy projects.”

hcover@oxfordmail.co.uk