EY writes : As part of Heritage Open Days, the mill opened on Sunday 8 September to a large group wanting to get out of the rain!  Ivor New, Ruth Andrews, and myself did guided tours on all three floors, and later when it stopped raining, to the outside of the building.  We noted 70 visitors, but think there were more; Ivor had been doing a tidy-up in the mill race which he had to abandon to help with tours.

Many visitors had been to other mills and were interested in what makes Hockley so unusual.  There was an enthusiastic response “your guided tours are better than at City Mill” and enquiries about bringing other society’s groups to look round on other days.

RA writes : Prior to the Open Day, Ivor New visited the mill and found that there was so much vegetation in the tail race that the waterwheel was backwatering. So Ivor summoned a work party of Eleanor Yates, Keith Andrews, and myself to help clear it out.