FOLK EX II - Friday 5th to Sunday 7th March 2010 in new Workspace Units at Herdmans Mill, Sion Mills.  OPEN TO ALL!

Fri: Noon - 10pm   Sat: 10am - 10pm   Sun: 2 - 6pm 

Following the great success of last year's FOLK EXHIBITION in the Parish of Urney Church Hall, it has been decided by the Parish of Urney Select Vestry to hold a FOLK EX II - a bigger version of Folk EX I - in the new WORKSPACE UNITS at Herdmans Mill, with bands, dancers, choirs and Sion School Orchestra also performing over the 3 days.  EVERYONE is most cordially invited and it will be a good opportunity to see the impressive restoration of the old Maintenance Block of the Mill.   The Exhibition opens at noon on Friday 5th March 2010 and continues on Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th March.   Entrance Free.  Donations in aid of the Repair Fund for the beautiful Church of the Good Shepherd will be welcomed.

Venue at Herdmans Mill                        In aid of Church Repairs

The Workspace Units are now complete and ready for occupation by tenants.  Please contact Sion Mills Buildings Preservation Trust (028 8165 9772) or Herdmans Ltd (028 8165 8421) for more information.

GREAT DOCUMENTARY FILM OF SION MILLS  NOW AVAILABLE

The new documentary film "Sion Mills - Masters of Irish Linen;  the story of a world-renowned flax spinning mill and its people" is absolutely excellent, with the DVD on sale in aid of further regeneration work by SMBPT.  It tells the story of Sion Mills from its beginnings and is 24 minutes long.  Some of the villagers took part in the film and the reviews to date have been heart-warming.  So buy your copy now from the Trust Office; or from Online Sales on this website; or from one of the village shops (Mace or Spar).  It costs £10 per DVD (+ £2 p&p if bought online). 

FOLK EXHIBITION celebrating the Centenary Year of the Church of the Good Shepherd - in Church Hall at top of the Mill Lane, Sion Mills 13th - 15th March.  Official Opening by Paul Clarke on Saturday 14th at 11 am.  Entrance Free.  Donations in aid of Restoration Fund for Church of the Good Shepherd.

Sion Mills BPT intend to hold an OPEN DAY in a few weeks time - date to be announced.  Everyone will be welcome to come and see the transformation of the old building - the first of many to be regenerated hopefully!

Sion Mills Expedition to New Lanark World Heritage Site 1st & 2nd October 2008

A delegation of 20 people set off as guests of Sion Mills BPT and Airporter Co of Derry (courtesy of Director  Norma Smyth, also a Trustee of SMBPT) in one of their coaches on a fact-finding expedition to New Lanark to explore the possibilities of Sion Mills one day possibly becoming a World Heritage Site too.

On 23rd July 2008, Sion Mills was given a stunning piece of Public Art - a bronze sculpture of a bare-footed  flax-spinner operating her spinning frame, with 2 flax plants in flower behind it.  The sculptor is the highly renowned Eamon O'Doherty from Co Wexford who revealed that his mother worked in Herdmans Mill and many years ago he had a girlfriend in Sion Mills and has had a soft spot for it ever since.   His flax-spinner is in the most elegant pose with one bare foot on the floor and one on the brake, with her apron on and her hands reaching out to the threads.  She is really beautiful and already much admired by all who have seen her. The sculpture is donated by the HEART project - a cross-border project covering Heritage Environment Arts & Rural Tourism and funded by EU funding through DARD and also by the International Fund for Ireland.   This involves several villages on both sides of the border and each is getting a piece of Public Art..  Today saw the launch of the sculptures in Raphoe and Lifford as well as Sion, followed by a lunch in Lifford Courthouse. 

What a shame it took the collapse of a major section of the stable block to spur the Government into action, but the new Environment Minister, Sammy Wilson, announced on Thurs 19 June that Compulsory Purchase had been activated that day and that the stables would come into government ownership on the 19th of July.  A court injunction was granted against the owner to prevent him doing any more damage to the building and a hoarding has since been erected around it with a pedestrian  walkway in front. 

We understand that HEARTH, a most experienced Buildings Preservation Trust based in Belfast, will be restoring the building when they have the funding and an end use in place.    They will have a difficult job on their hands, but that is nothing new to them as they have worked miracles on ruined buildings for many years, and I think that everyone will be pleasantly surprised to see what can be done in what might at first appear to be a hopeless case.    It will be a first for the North West and should become an icon of hope for the future of what is left of our Ulster Architectural Heritage which, in 2001, merited the title "Blink and You'll Miss It."

SMBPT, as part of the funding received for the CRISP Workspace Units Scheme, is spending £100,000 on Environmental Improvements in Sion Mills village and also has circulated forms (thanks to the help of the Community Association in distributing them) to the old Mill cottages and houses through which people can apply for a share of £10,000 to paint the fronts of their houses as part of a Spruce Up scheme.  Strabane Dist Council are administering the £100,000 spend funded by DSD.  Some of the things we have decided to spend it on are:

• Removing tree stumps and replanting mature trees
• Paving around Rec Club and War Memorial
• Repairs to Rec Club steps (listed B1)
• Repairs to listed walls on west side of main road
• Repairs to Ricardo tomb (listed B+)
• Fencing round Community Centre
• Landscaping waste land north of new all-weather play area behind Meadow Park
• Refurbishing the Manager's Brae to make it usable for pedestrians

On the afternoon of Monday 9th June, St Columba's Day, following drastic and inappropriate work carried out by the owner in person on the roof and surrounding structure (shortly after he had been asked to make it safe by the Council), the beautiful and historic village clock tower on the roof of Sion House stables collapsed.  This is a tragedy for the village after all the promises of successive Government ministers over 5 years that the building was to be compulsorily purchased and restored.  After repeated warnings of the deterioration of the fabric of the building, and appeals from all quarters to speed up the process, it must be embarrassing and upsetting for all concerned that this predicted disaster has happened at the eleventh hour.  It is hoped that the building is still able to be saved and that  compulsory purchase will now proceed immediately, as the owner's inappropriate intervention has now finished off the job of ruining an architectural gem by 40 years of neglect.  The stables building was designed by the architect William Unsworth and is an integral and prominent part of the Conservation Area which would be sadly diminished without it.

The firm of McAleer & Teague, Dromore, Co Tyrone, have been appointed by Sion Mills Buildings PreservationTrust  as the Contractors to restore and regenerate the old Maintenance Block and Carpentry & Paint Shop  at Herdmans Mill into Workspace Units.  They have been on site now for 2 weeks and the project will be completed in March 2009,at a cost of £1.3 millions.  The funders are:

The International Fund for Ireland; the Dept of Social Development;  the Dept of Enterprise Trade & Industry (EU funding); the Environment & Heritage Service NI; the Clothworkers Foundation; Strabane District Council; Sion Mills BPT.                                                      

Mrs Judith Walker gave an overview of the Village Heritage Committee's proposed tourism project to the Recreation Club members at their AGM on 24 April 08.  This was well received by those present, as the Recreation Club will be used as a Visitors Centre which will create a welcome revenue stream for the Club through the sale of refreshments and merchandise, crafts etc.

Tenders, as feared after such a lapse of time and consequent deterioration of the Mill buildings to be used for the Workspace project, came in at about £300,000 over budget.  With deadlines hanging over us, all the stops were pulled out, and with adjustments to the Bill of Quantities, the Government Depts and Strabane District Council have managed to close the gap so that the project can proceed immediately, once the successful contractor has been formally appointed.

Manor Architects of Moneymore have completed the Tendering process to appoint a Contractor to build the Workspace Units in the old Maintenance Block at the north end of Herdmans Mill.  A Select List has been drawn up and we await a decision to be made by  the Architects and the Dept of Social Development, who with IFI and DETI are the major funders and are also Project Managing the development.  Funding is tight as, due to reasons beyond the Trust's control, the process to get this project to fruition has been lengthy enough to see major deterioration of the buildings, so costs have risen substantially.  But if all now goes ahead as planned the Units should be completed early in 2009.

The Council's HEART project (Heritage, Environment, Arts & Rural Tourism) is also to start shortly and some of the things they are implementing in the village are:

• A lifesize bronze statue of a spinner with her spinning frame and a flax plant, to be sited at the top of the Mill Lane
• New signage at village entry points and direction signs to attractions such as the river walks
• Tarmaccing the river walks (already done)
• New bus shelters
• New planters
• New benches in Church Square
• New benches at river walks
• Tree survey along main road in centre of village - action where necessary
• Improve bus parking in front of C of I (already done)
• A village clock in centre of village

The Village Heritage Committee are pulling out all the stops to get the necessary facilities in place for tourists to visit Sion Mills as soon as possible.  In partnership with the Recreation Club it is planned to use the Club as a Visitors Centre during the day which will not only help to bring economic revival to the village, but will give the Club a lifeline to help overcome financial difficulties.  In due course we hope to be able to train some Tour Guides and run courses on Health & Safety for catering from home, as we want as many people as possible to benefit financially from meeting the needs of the tourists.  Local crafts will be most welcome so that they are available for sale.   Progress towards this goal will appear regularly in this column.  The Heritage Committee meets again this Wednesday to keep up the momentum of their programme under the dynamic leadership of the Chairman, Mrs Judith Walker.

The Exhibition of old Photographs of Sion and its people, held in late January was so successful and drew in so many viewers, that we had to open for an extra day on the Sunday.  £1,000 was raised in donations and the sale of photographs, which, after deduction of expenses, went towards the repair fund of the Church of the Good Shepherd.  There have been many requests since to run it again, and for longer, which we will certainly do in due course.  We were delighted by the "buzz" of interest it stirred up in the village and further afield.

A Meeting, facilitated by Clare Mullen of Strabane District Council Community Support, was held in Sion Mills Recreation Club yesterday evening, 24th September, at which representatives of most of the formally constituted groups in the village signed up to the Partnership Agreement for the new Sion Mills Community Forum.  This is to be an umbrella group which will make joint decisions and instigate relevant action for the common good and benefit of the Sion Mills community.  All groups are welcome to join. 

The groups represented on the Forum to date are:  Sion Mills Community Association; Sion Mills Recreation Club; Sion Mills Primary School; Sion Mills Buildings Preservation Trust; Sion Mills Neighbourhood Watch; Sion Mills Angling Club; Sion Mills Swifts Football Club; Sion Mills Scouts; Herdmans Ltd; Sion Mills Bowling Club; Sion Mills Presbyterian Youth Club

Mr Andy Patton was elected Chairman with Mrs Deirdre Amor as Vice Chairman.

Mrs Mary McCrea offered to take the Minutes of the next meeting at which a Secretary will hopefully be elected.

The next Meeting will be held in the Community Centre on Thurs 11 October at 7.30 pm and talks will be given by representatives of Stakeholder Development and the Health Board.

Mrs Arlene Foster, MLA, Minister for the Environment, visited Sion Mills on Thursday afternoon, 20th September 2007, at the invitation of Sion Mills BPT.  The visit was hosted by Herdmans Holdings Ltd and the Minister was accompanied by Mr Michael Coulter, Director of Built Heritage in the Environment & Heritage Service NI.  Mr James Herdman, Chairman and Mr Neville Orr, Managing Director, of Herdmans, gave the Minister a tour of the Mill site, near the end of which they were joined by Trustees and staff of Sion Mills Buildings Preservation Trust and the Chairman of Strabane District Council, Mr Gerard Foley, and 9 Councillors, with the Chief Executive, Mr Philip Faithfull and Ms Geraldine Stafford, Economic Development Officer.  All present inspected the site of the proposed new Workspace Units and the space newly opened up by the demolition of the "Green Shed", and the Minister was shown the turbine house for the hydro-electric scheme, which is helping the government meet its "green energy" targets.  After a cup of tea for all in Herdmans' Offices, the Minister was shown the Mill and village archives in the Trust's Office before driving up to inspect Sion House Stables which are to be imminently compulsorily purchased - a first for Northern Ireland, and in the nick of time.

This project was completed on schedule before the end of August and has opened up an impressively large space immediately in front of the main two storey block, which was the Forge downstairs and the Carpenter's and Paint Shop above. 

This website was launched officially in Strabane District Council Offices on Tuesday, 12th June at 1230, by kind permission of the Council Chairman, Councillor Gerard Foley.   Also announced at the event was a grant of £40,000 to Sion Mills BPT to enable the Workspace Units to be built in the next few months.  Mr Ian Kidd of the Dept of Enterprise Trade and Investment's European Building Sustainable Prosperity programme, who have partnered this funding, was present.  The grant will be used to kick-start the Project by enabling car parking through some demolition (of unlisted buildings) and providing cobbles and paving to meet the high standards required for external works to such an important listed building.