THERE was a time when this country was powered by water and tomorrow, Saturday, May 12, the grand water wheel at Forge Mill Needle Museum will be swinging into action.
It’s all in aid of National Mills Day, a UK-wide celebration of the time when Britain was the workshop of the world.
Forge Mill has an ‘overshot water wheel’ where water was channeled to flow over the top of the wheel and onto its paddles, thereby turning it.
Experts reckon that in it’s heyday the Redditch wheel had an output of 37 horsepower.
The museum will also be offering guided tours at 11.30am and 2.30pm offering visitors a chance to be taken around the mill by experts and learn all about how and why Redditch produced 90 per cent of the world’s needles in Victorian times.
The museum coffee bar will also be open and serving light refreshments.
