Joe's team set sails for future of Lytham Windmill

It’s the biggest job yet on the iconic windmill for veteran millwright Joe Gillett and his colleagues in Wesham, who have worked on replacing sails on the Lytham landmark on a number of occasions before but never a new full set.

The wood used to replace the sails broken in bad weather in the autumn hails from the Pacific coast of the USA and Joe says that around a ton of it is needed for each sail.

The primary arms for the sails measure around 30 ft.

The sails are tapered and once built, the wood needs to be treated, then left to settle and acclimatise before they can be mounted.

“It’s a job we are proud to do,” he said. “Lytham Windmill is a great landmark and has to face all weathers, so it makes sense to replace all four.”

The iconic windmill, which dates back to 1805, has been without its four sails since last autumn after a spate of bad weather damaged some of the sails.

Coun Michael Sayward, a Lytham councillor and chairman of Fylde Council’s tourism and leisure committee, said “Lytham windmill is such a beloved and iconic part of Fylde, and we’re excited to see it return to its full glory.

“We all were devastated by the damage caused by last year’s harsh weather, and seeing it without sails was heart-breaking, but watching the millwright at work we’re confident it will be back to its former beauty before long.”

One of Lytham Windmill’s sails snapped in two in blustery weather on October 1 last year, and it was later found to be rotten inside.

A second sail was damaged in further bad weather and soon afterwards, the windmill was down to a single sail, which was removed by contractors.

Fylde Council owns and maintains the windmill, which previously lost a sail to high winds in 2011.

Following that, the remaining three were removed to allow for repairs to the windshaft support.

Back in 1998, gale force winds also caused three of the windmill’s sails to completely snap off.

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