Bob Wright, miller at Friston Post Mill 🌍

Bob Wright at 88 now works with the trust aiming to preserve Friston Post Mill, near Saxmundham, at which he was miller till the mid 60's. It had been in his family for 4 generation, since 1837 when his great, great uncle Joshua Reynolds bought it. It has been owned for the last 30 years by a local enthusiast, and other trustees are Piers Hartley and Rodney de Little. English Heritage has agreed to fund 20% of the cost of repairs to the Grade II * Listed mill which dates from the early 19th century.

Bob remembers milling for animal feed, and flour, which made the mill dusty (no masks in those days), and work was hard lifting sacks of up to 18 stone. As the windmill trade declined, Bob went to work at the large scale milling operation of Paul's in Ipswich, which brought with it the advantages of a regular wage, rather than having to work hard to collect money from farmers who only paid after the harvest.