© Andreas Behling
New board for the Labbus Mill Association
The newly elected board of directors on March 9, 2024. From left to right: Ute Finze, Treasurer; Bernd Finze, 2nd Chairman; Aileen Hansing, 1st Müller; Nina Kühling, Secretary; Marcel Brandes, 1st Chairman
At its general meeting on March 9, 2024, the Labbus Mill Association unanimously elected a new board - with a mix of new and familiar faces. Marcel Brandes, the previous treasurer, was elected as 1st chairman. "I married my wife Laura in the mill five years ago," explains Brandes, "and was simply enthusiastic about the history and technology of this cultural monument." Within a few years, a simple membership became a board position "and now I am chairman," he smiles, "that's how quickly it can happen."
Brandes emphasises that the work on the board is characterised by equality. "There is no boss here who has the sole say," he emphasises. "We all work very closely together, make decisions together and are all equally enthusiastic about the mill and our plan to make it accessible to the public as a living cultural heritage"...
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This also applies to the newly elected board members Bernd and Ute Finze. The Neu-Sulingers moved here four years ago and discovered the windmill in Labbus, built in 1851, on Mill Day 2022. "We took a detailed tour back then and thought the project was so great that we joined the association right there and then," remembers Ute Finze.
Review: Mill Festival in Labbus, Whit Monday 2023
For the first time under rotating wings
A few weeks after the 2023 Mill Festival, we look back on the day with complete satisfaction. We had advertised the day in advance as "the first mill day at the Labbus windmill under rotating wings", knowing full well that the wind is known to blow where it wants. On Whit Monday, it actually blew where we wanted it to, in such a way that the visitors to our festival grounds could enjoy, celebrate, shop and play all day in bright sunshine and inviting temperatures directly under the rotating wing cross.
The mood among the visitors was happy and relaxed and our many helpers, whether at the cake buffet, in the kitchen, at the beer tap, at the goulash cannon, at the children's entertainment or in the mill, carried out their voluntary tasks with team spirit and good humor. DJ Jensi provided a musical backdrop that everyone enjoyed.
The organized chaos of the set-up hours had turned into a very inviting festive event just in time for the start of the service at 11 a.m. After that, the rush to the cake buffet began, which the crew bravely withstood, but unfortunately the coffee machines did not. Over 60 cakes were served by the hard-working kitchen helpers and the cake buffet was completely sold out. The other catering stands were also taken over by the guests. The pea soup from the goulash cannon was already sold out by 1 p.m.
Overall, this day was so beautiful that it is hard to find words to describe it. Everything was perfect. The gospel choir, which was ...
The first open day of the mill, 22.1.2023
Our first open day at the mill was a complete success. We are very pleased with the visitors, both known and unknown, who found their way to us despite the unpleasant weather. Among them was a couple who got married in the mill twelve years ago and were very happy about the transformation of the mill, as well as two young visitors, Paul (6 years) and Lilli (8 years), who were both able to get involved.
We were particularly pleased to receive a visit from 86-year-old Fritz Drecktrah, who started as a miller's apprentice here at "Henkes Mühle" in 1951. He was able to tell us a lot about the technical equipment of the mill at the time and about his work there, and we were able to show him where he had immortalized himself in the mill in 1951. Finally, he proved on the brake chain that he had not forgotten the correct handling even after 70 years.
Unfortunately, the wind was only enough to keep the mill idling, but it is always a joy to be able to show visitors a rotating, living mill.
The next open mill day will take place on February 26th - always on the last Sunday of the month.
11.9.2022 Open Monument Day
History and technology, restoration and future prospects
The windmill in Labbus took part in the Open Monument Day again on Sunday, September 11, 2022. Almost 100 visitors came to see the mill. The mill is open and the members of the mill association are looking forward to presenting and explaining the results of the completed construction phase II (restoration of the wings and new construction of the gallery). When the wind conditions are favorable, the 20-meter-long blade cross rotates.
The recently completed restoration project took four years and was funded by the German Foundation for Monument Protection, organizer of the Germany-wide Open Monument Day, as well as by funds from the European Union (EAFRD “Cultural Heritage” measure), the Bingo Environmental Foundation, the city of Sulingen and the Labbus Mill Association.
There were guided tours in German, English and sign language.
Donations and proceeds from the Open Monument Day will continue to go towards the preservation of the listed Labbus Mill, built in 1851.
14.12.2021 From the district newspaper: Gallery construction from January
Waiting for the oak logs for the Labbus windmill
Sulingen – The Labbus windmill in the Sulingen town of Lindern is technically considered a gallery windmill – even if little of this has been seen for almost 15 years. The Labbus mill association has been working for some time to change this in the foreseeable future – and now a time is in sight when the gallery and wings will once again adorn the mill.
In 2006, the gallery had to be removed because it had become dilapidated, and since the end of 2012 the wings have also been missing. The association divided the restoration of the building into several phases with the aim of having a functioning mill again, the first of which was completed last year with the restoration of the mill cap. Since then, the focus has been on Phase II, which involves restoring a gallery and restoring the wings. The association can cover the costs of more than 120,000 euros thanks to various supporters: In the middle of the year it was announced that the Bingo Environmental Foundation of Lower Saxony was supporting the project with 20,000 euros (we reported). The German Foundation for Monument Protection contributed 48,891.15 euros, the association received 30,000 euros from the city of Sulingen and the State Office for Monument Protection provided EU funding from the Directive on the granting of subsidies for integrated rural development (ZILE) in the amount of 14,673.69 euros. The association covered the remaining amount from its own resources.
September 2021 Construction drawings of the new gallery
Our technical advisor, mill builder and mill expert Rüdiger Hagen, has completed the drawings for our new gallery. The dimensions and design elements correspond to the mill's last operating condition. The drawings are handmade and, in our opinion, have just as much artistic as technical value. They will find a place of honor in the mill.
Open Monument Day 2021
This year's Open Monument Day was "small but nice". We had very interested visitors and plenty of time to offer detailed mill tours and have in-depth discussions.
After two years with almost no visitors, we were pleased to show the results of our restoration work and to concretize the plans for the completion of construction phase II: a rotating mill by mid-2022 at the latest!
The local newspaper summed it up nicely (again):
From the press: Molina. Mills and people, June 2021
We are very pleased about a recently published article in the "Molina. Mills and people." In this annual trade magazine, the two mill experts Philipp Oppermann and Torsten Rüdinger, together with experts and mill associations, present mills and their operators, exchange experiences and give tips for the maintenance and operation of mills - whether as a traditional production facility, technical monument, historical building for culture or housing or as a tourist attraction.
We see the publication of our project in this journal as a great recognition of our efforts to restore the Labbus windmill as a living technical monument.
From the press: Der Mühlstein, May 2021
The Labbus windmill is currently featured more frequently in the press. Here is a detailed article from the millstone, the trade magazine of the Mill Association of Lower Saxony-Bremen eV about the history of the mill, the restoration and future prospects.
You can download the entire article here.
19.05.2021 Construction phase II begins
The financing for construction phase II - the renovation of the wings and the reconstruction of the gallery - is in place and we are now in the concrete planning phase. The planned construction cost is €100,000. With a bit of luck, the mill will be able to grind with wind again in 2021 for its 170th birthday.
The German Mill Day 2021 will be postponed to September 12th - at the same time as the Open Monument Day. We very much hope that we will be able to offer a program again this year in some form.
You can find out more in this article from the Sulingen district newspaper dated May 19, 2021.
03.01.2021 Commissioning of the new runner stone
Yesterday was an absolutely successful start to the new mill year in Labbus. We installed the new millstone, which weighs around 1.5 tonnes, without any problems, balanced it with just 1kg of lead and ground around 450kg of wheat.
After the stone was delivered before Christmas, we first erected it on the stone floor, rolled it to the right place, hung it in the crane, marked it out and aligned the bearings for the balancing pick to within less than 1mm and then cast it in plaster.
As always, every tool we needed was already in the mill. Even the compass, which is adjusted to our 145cm diameter stone, was already part of the inventory.
The first test grindings show that the grinder can grind coarsely evenly as well as finely and very satisfactorily and it can be assumed that these properties will improve even further once the new stone has been ground in.
The local newspaper reports (click on the picture for the link):
28.12.2020 Newsletter December 2020
After a very eventful year for the Labbus windmill, we are pleased to present the first newsletter of the Labbus Mill Association with many photos and information about the activities of the past year as well as the plans for what is expected to be a very exciting 2021.
13.11.2020 Our new runner stone is in production
Our new runner stone is in production this week. The millstone maker Hans Titulaer from the Netherlands has now sent us the first photos.
The first picture shows the underside of the stone's grinding bars; these were first cast from a quartz/emery mixture and the specified pattern ("the sharpness") was laid out in the mold. The gaps are then filled with a softer mixture. These form the air grooves in the finished stone, which are used to transport the ground material outwards. The stone is then filled up to the upper edge of the mold with a mass that provides weight. The stone is 40 cm deep and has a diameter of 145 cm.
The underside of the stone must then be worked on to give the air grooves the correct, bevelled profile. Lead weights will later be placed in the round boxes on the top of the stone to balance the stone.
WWe are very excited about the grinding characteristics of this new runner, which is expected to arrive here towards the end of the month. We will keep you updated!
29.09.2020 Book donations to the Mühlenverein Labbus eV
Our small library of mill history and mill science has been supplemented by a very generous donation from Klaus Schlüter from Laatzen. Klaus has been interested in technology for a long time and has collected these books over the decades. Now the mill association can benefit from this accumulated milling knowledge!
If you are interested in seeing the books or receiving more information about individual books, please feel free to contact us.
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Another gem from our collection: The book "Architectura Mechanica - Moole Boek" was originally published in the Netherlands in 1686. Our edition bears a dedication from 1759. The book has 32 exquisite drawings of different Dutch mills - here is a small selection of them. The book was a gift from our friends and club members Robin and Julia - we really appreciate it!
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11.09.2020 Open Monument Day next Sunday - this time digital!
08.09.2020 The new runner stone has been ordered!
After the financing of the new runner stone has been secured 100% through donations, we have today sent the order to a renowned millstone maker in the Netherlands. There are many factors to consider when it comes to a millstone - diameter, height, direction of rotation, material, sharpness (the "pattern" on the inside of the stone that determines the grinding properties) and much more.
In the picture you can see how we "traced" the sharpness of the old stone with a wax crayon so that the stonemason can determine the angle or "draft" of the air furrows in each field.
We would like to thank our sponsors and look forward to grinding with our new stone!
25.08.2020 The Labbus mill in the film project "Millland Lower Saxony"
A brief insight into the history and technology of our mill from the film project Mühlenland Niedersachsen by our miller colleagues Florian Butt and Ansgar Rahmacher. Most of the footage was shot a few years ago - in the meantime, a lot has changed, especially inside our mill!
The entire film project, with over 7 hours of film material from over 180 mills in Lower Saxony, as well as explanations and 3D animations on mill history, technology and production methods, is highly recommended! Further details at https://www.muehlenromantik.eu/index.php/filmprojekt
02.06.2020 Future operating concept for the Labbus windmill presented
Unfortunately, the German Mill Day 2020 had to take place without our annual mill festival. The mill festival is always a wonderful opportunity for the Labbus Mill Association to present the history and technology of our mill to a wider public. This year it was all the more sad because the mill has been presented with a cap for a few weeks after the completion of construction phase 1 of the restoration project.
Complete operating concept
Nevertheless, we are very positive about the future and are already planning for the time after the current restoration work has been completed, probably in 2021. We are also presenting our new operating concept here for the first time, which we are already working towards.
We are striving for a living mill that turns regularly and produces small quantities as part of a demonstration operation. We want to offer the products (animal feed, baking grits and wholemeal flour) for sale in the mill. Our mill is still available for guided tours, even spontaneously, and for visits by school classes and kindergartens. The mill's wedding room will continue to be used for civil marriages and, in addition to our regular mill days, we will of course also take part in the German Mill Day and the Open Monument Day in the future.
As a semi-professional, voluntary demonstration operation that uses wind power to mill grain, we will meet the conditions for the recognition of artisanal milling by UNESCO as a living cultural heritage.
A standing mill is a dead mill. Therefore, true to our motto "a breath of fresh air for the Labbus windmill", we strive to create a living, accessible mill that offers the public, across all generations, the opportunity to experience the traditional milling craft, technical development, agricultural history and sustainable monument preservation first hand.
Mill Day 2020 - unfortunately fallen victim to the coronavirus
Whit Monday 01.06.2020
Today is a very strange day for us. Normally we would be fully occupied with the annual mill festival as part of German Mill Day on Whit Monday. We are very sad that this beautiful event has to be cancelled this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nevertheless, we were able to make good use of the time off over the last few weeks to overhaul the mill's technology and get it up and running. In the next few days we will be presenting our future operating concept here for the first time.
As a small consolation, we are pleased to present a project by our miller colleagues Ansgar Rahmacher, Florian Butt, Romke Schievink and Bea Tilanus: the first virtual mill day! We from the Labbus mill will also be there from around 1:32:00.
25.05.2020 New residential area around the mill? We are worried!
The windmill was technically designed to be located in an open field and to take advantage of the prevailing wind conditions there. Our experience with other mills shows that buildings around a windmill can significantly impair its ability to rotate and operate.
Recently, the local council of Lindern, to which Labbus belongs, and the building committee of the city of Sulingen approved the preparation of a land use plan and a development plan for a residential and mixed-use area on the current agricultural land around the windmill.
We attended the public meetings and clearly expressed our concerns about the impact of possible development on the visibility of the mill and on ongoing operations due to air turbulence. Both the local council and the city administration clearly emphasized the importance of the mill for the village and the city.
We will monitor this process closely and critically, inform ourselves about the legal situation in terms of monument protection and issue an official statement at the appropriate time.
08.05.2020 First grain delivery to the mill in 30 years
As part of construction phase 3, we are currently busy overhauling the grinding and conveying technology inside the mill and making it operational again.
Construction phase 3
On Friday May 11th there was another small but significant milestone: the first grain delivery to the mill in thirty years! We want to free the elevators and conveyor elements from the residual dust from the long shutdown and therefore first fetched 200kg of wheat and conveyed it to Silo I to rinse it with.
Further information on this construction phase:
22.04.2020 Construction phase 1 is completed
Construction phase 1 is now officially complete. Further information and photos on this construction phase:
13.04.2020 Re-intermeshing of the spur gear
We are currently reworking the 180 combs of the spur gear, part of the gear system that transfers power from the blades to the grinding gear. The wheel itself is made of cast iron, but the combs are made of beech wood. They are about 40 years old and were made by the last professional miller, but were very unevenly shaped. This meant that the cast iron pinion that is driven by the spur gear also ran unevenly.
Our club member Jannik measured the center of each tooth and calculated the exact shape required. Each tooth was removed, cleaned individually and reshaped using a specially made template. Next, we wedge each individual tooth and make the final adjustments so that this part of the system runs smoothly once the wings are back in place.
Even though everyone else has to stay at home, our mill builders are still busy these weeks.
The cap is now finished and is just waiting for the roofer, who is expected to start next week.
Over the last two days, the construction workers have pushed up the octagon on three of the corner posts and replaced the wood of the lower panel (the sleeper wood) which had been rotting for decades due to old water damage.
Next week, the rotten pieces of wood at the base of one of the shafts and at the St. Andrew's cross will be replaced. This will allow the smear ring on which the cap rotates to be brought back into alignment.
It's a tricky task, but one that seems to be going very well so far.
18.3.2020 The wind rose comes to its place
Today we feel like we have taken a giant step forward. The employees of mill builder Pätzmann from Winsen/Luhe have assembled the finished painted wind rose and mounted it on the wind rose stand.
The wind rose ensures that the cap of the mill, and thus the blades, are always aligned against the wind to ensure optimal drive conditions and storm safety.
The colors of the wind rose and the leaves are based on the colors of the mill in its last operating state. Many parts of the former wind rose gear were reused, including the cast iron rosette and the majority of the gears.
The work on the restored cap is now largely complete; the next step is to cover the cap roof and reattach the cap gallery. The work on the wooden octagon is scheduled for next week, so we are confident that the cap will be back in place within a few weeks.
03.02.2020 - 06.02.2020 The cap is here!
It's really exciting at the moment! The millwright has arrived and is reassembling the finished cap on the mill yard this week. Here are a few impressions of the progress.
The cap is scheduled to be put back on the mill in March.
24.01.2020 Voluntary miller training - visit to the mill
Today the windmill in Labbus became a training mill. We had a visit from the prospective volunteer millers from the training course of the Lower Saxony-Bremen Mill Association together with the Diepholz adult education center.
After a tour of the mill and an exploration of the technology, the first step was to grind the grain and then dismantle the grinding mechanism for maintenance work.
18.01.2020 Renewal of the Bütt
After the wooden planking of our Bütt (wooden casing of the grinding mill) had become quite old, club members Henrich and Jan replaced the boards of the old, worm-eaten planking in pinewood, true to the original and with great attention to detail.
We hope that it will continue to serve for at least the next 30 years!
07.01.2020 From the district newspaper
23.12.2019 Living Advent Calendar at the Labbus Windmill
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Photos: Carsten Lucht
10.11.2019 Cap restoration is progressing well
After a site visit to the workshop of the mill builder Pätzmann in Winsen/Luhe, we are pleased to report that work on the cap is progressing well. We are particularly pleased that, despite the very poor condition of the old cap, some of the original wooden beams and the entire cap pre-rotation gear could be reused.
The cap is expected to be delivered to us for completion in January 2020. Here it will be reunited with the wooden wing shaft and the pinion wheel, which were left in the mill yard. Depending on the weather, the cap should be lifted onto the mill as early as next spring.
08.09.2019 Open Monument Day
Sulingen District Newspaper, 9.9.2019
On September 8, the Labbus windmill opened its doors to visitors as one of around 8,000 historical monuments throughout Germany as part of the Open Monument Day.
The volunteer millers from the Labbus Mill Association guided interested visitors through the mill and its history and gave insights into the ongoing restoration project and current repair work. The German Foundation for Monument Protection (DSD), which coordinates the action day nationwide, is a major sponsor of the current renovation phase of the mill.
We had many long and sometimes very intense conversations with our visitors. It was especially fun to show 6-year-old Tobi around the mill and present him with his Minimuller certificate.
10.06.2019 Mill Festival, Whit Monday 2019
Such a beautiful day! Thanks to everyone who helped make sure everything went so smoothly - and of course to our many cheerful guests!
Photo gallery: with thanks to Marianne Vallan
From the district newspaper, 11.06.2019:
Large crowds at the 13th Mill Festival at the Labbus Windmill
Many are drawn to the gallery-Holländer
Sulingen – The parked cars, including some from neighboring districts, show it from afar on Whit Monday: The 13th Mill Festival of the Association for the Promotion and Preservation of the Windmill in the Sulingen town of Labbus is once again receiving a great response. Word has long since gotten around that the event, which is part of the nationwide Mill Day, with games and activities for the little ones, market stalls, live music and tasty treats, is a worthwhile destination for a trip with the whole family. “It feels like there is even more going on than last year,” says “leisure miller” Helmut Hansing happily in the afternoon, who has just treated himself to an ice cream – and is now taking over from his wife Aileen Hansing in explaining the technology of the gallery-Dutch windmill built in 1851 to groups of visitors.
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29.05.2019 The cap is gone!
Over the last two days, the mill cap was carefully dismantled by the Pätzmann mill construction company and transported to their workshop. The impeller shaft with pinion gear is still in good condition. This was initially stored in the yard and will later be returned to its old place in the reconstructed cap. The parts of the cap that cannot be reused due to their condition serve as templates for the new cap construction.
20.12.2018 €30,000 from the city of Sulingen for construction phase 2
20.12.2018 On December 20, 2018, the Sulingen City Council approved our application for a grant of €30,000 for the second construction phase of the mill restoration (gallery and wings). Things are moving forward! :-)
New button
The local newspaper reports:
Sulingen - The members of the Labbus Mill Association will probably be able to rely on support from the Sulingen city treasury in their efforts to restore the gallery mill in the east of Sulingen. The members of the Committee for Construction, Order and Traffic voted in a public meeting on Tuesday evening to subsidize the second construction phase with 30,000 euros, under certain conditions.
11.11.2018 Mill restoration: financing for the first construction phase is in place!
We are pleased to report that the Labbus Mill Association has now secured funding for the first construction phase of the restoration and that we intend to start the restoration work before the end of the year. The €100,000 funding package is made up of three tranches:
- €50,000 in funding from the German Foundation for Monument Protection
- €30,000 from EU funds – specifically from the ZILE programme (Guideline on the granting of aid for integrated rural development) for the area of cultural heritage
- €20,000 from the association's own funds. These in turn come from a combination of membership fees, donations and the proceeds from the annual Mill Day
The first construction phase includes the new construction and the installation of the mill cap including the compass rose, as well as repair work on the feet of two of the "Oprichter", the large corner posts of the wooden octagon. As soon as we receive approval for the ZILE funds, the mill builder will be commissioned. He will transport the mill cap, which is currently still on the mill site, in individual parts to his workshop. As much of the original structure as possible will be reused. The beams that can no longer be installed will serve as a template for the new construction of the 20-ton cap. The "moving mechanism" - the large impeller shaft with spur gear - is also in good condition and will find its place in the new cap. A date for the reinstallation of the cap has not yet been set.
At the same time, the board of the mill association is concerned with financing the second construction phase. In this phase, the mill's gallery, which is necessary for operating the brakes and the louvre flaps of the wings, will be rebuilt and the wings will be renewed and installed. The costs for the second construction phase, which will result in a rotating mill, are estimated at around €125,000 according to the report.
In the planned third phase, the remaining technical equipment inside the mill will be overhauled and made operational so that the mill can grind with wind again for the first time in over 25 years.
The mill association has already invested around €17,000 of its own funds in the restoration of the mill. The focus was on ensuring accessibility, safety and demonstrability and on preserving the building structure.
