The Old Diocesan Issue 10 - Magazine - Page 27
NEWS
MOSTERT MILL PHOTOGRAPHS JEREMY DANIEL, COURTESY JACK JOURNAL
THROUGH
THE MILL
Before and after: Mostert’s Mill photographed
after the devastating fire of 17 April 2021, and
more recently in 2023, for Volume 6 of Jack
Journal, Bruce Jack’s (1987G) biannual magazine
on all things interesting (not just wine…).
In the afternoon of 17 April 2021,
Andy Selfe (1968F) and his specialist
team completed the re-lining of the
Mostert’s Mill brake wheel and resizing
of its brake blocks – the final step,
they hoped, in correcting problems in
the operation of the historic working
mill that was “never right” following
its restoration in 1995. The next day,
the 2021 Table Mountain fire struck,
and all their hard work was incinerated.
(See more photographs in Issue 7.)
Fast-forward to December 2023,
and Andy, along with the Restoration
Committee of Mostert’s Mill, was
recognised at the Cape Town
Civic Honours ceremony, where
he received a Mayor’s Medal for
his efforts in restoring the mill. Andy
is the only South African member of
the International Molinological Society,
and he knows that the challenges of
making a mill built in 1796 operational
again are substantial. Sometimes
he just makes a plan; sometimes
he resorts to YouTube. For more on
this process, see our longer interview
with Andy online, or visit his blog at
mostertsmillafterthefire.blogspot.com.
Andy Selfe, centre, receives the Mayor’s Medal from Geordin Hill-Lewis.
THE OLD DIOCESAN | 23