Green’s Windmill Trust volunteers have received two more prestigious awards to add to their Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, the Marsh Trust Regional Award and the Nottingham City Homes Award won earlier in the year.
Firstly, on 9th November at a ceremony held at Nottingham Trent University, the Trust received an East Midlands Heritage Award, winning in the ‘Heart of the Community’ category, recognising heritage projects that have had a positive impact on people and/or communities. Staff and volunteers were presented with the award by Aly Stoneman, poetry editor at LeftLion Magazine. Aly visited Green’s Windmill as a ‘secret shopper’ in advance of the awards and wrote a poem about the windmill which she read out at the ceremony. You can read Aly’s beautiful poem below.
Following that, at the Nottingham City Museums and Galleries Annual Volunteer Awards on 4th December, the Mill
volunteers won ‘Top Team’, in recognition of all the efforts and accolades they have won over the last twelve months. Receiving these awards is a testament to the commitment and dedication of the team in what has been such a special year for them. Well done all!
Complementing these awards, we retained both our Green Flag Award and Britain in Bloom Level 5 status for the community garden as well as our Trip Advisor Certificate of Excellence. It’s been a bumper year for awards and accolades.
GREEN’S MILL
Aly Stoneman
In Green’s Mill garden
a terrier chases a ball
among fallen apples,
notes of balm and sage
sing through autumn leaves
cleared from turned soil
and plans are laid
for spring planting.
We are willing
affirm the windmill’s sails;
inside the brick tower
machinery rumbles,
soft flour permeating air,
dusting every surface
as it did two centuries ago
before derelict years
as Nottingham grew –
houses and factories
advancing over farmland.
Yet Green’s Mill remains
a place for milling and baking,
a space to draw breath,
sow seeds, spark ideas –
the core of Sneinton.
We are willing –
white sails turn again;
a kettle whistles ready
inside the garden shed
and wheat whispers
in a rising breeze
plant to grain to bread.