WINDMILL GETS BRIGHT NEW LOOK

Fifteen linesmen with a head for heights, plus 17 office staff, volunteered for the giant paint job at Stone Cross Windmill, which would otherwise cost 20,000.

Working from telescopic platforms, normally used to work on overhead power lines, the engineers scrubbed the windmill from top to bottom, treated it with herbicide to prevent the build up of algae and finished the work with a protective coat of paint.

The volunteers were painting the windmill as part of EDF Energy's Helping Hands scheme. This encourages all staff to spend two days of paid work time each year helping local community groups and charities with voluntary work.

Dave Picton, chairman of Stone Cross Windmill Trust, said: 'The mill stands there in all weathers and has been attacked by waterborne algae. Any dirt in the rainwater clings to the surface of the mill because the old paint had a slight texture.

'The mill has got dirtier and dirtier over the last few years and needs to be washed, treated and repainted. We would have had to get the mill covered in scaffolding to carry out this project by ourselves, which would have been very costly. It will look so much better when it is clean and it will protect the masonry from the elements.

'It's marvellous of EDF Energy to do something like this. It's such a generous offer and obviously we are not the only ones who the company helps out. It's superb.'