A charity is raising funds to save and restore the nineteenth century Jelleyman’s Mill site, beginning with a fun packed family day of music, food, drink, craft market, games, an all-day open mic stage, heritage tours and a vintage yarn kilo sale!
Jelleyman’s Heritage Arts Charitty (JHAC) announced today that they will be hosting JelleyFest 2024 on Saturday 10th August at Jelleyman’s Mill, Puxton Lane, DY11 5DF. This will be the first in a series of fundraising events for the charity, with all proceeds going to towards developing the charity’s aims of saving and restoring the victorian rope mill itself and developing the site into a community hub of small businesses, creatives, and community interest groups, preserving one of the last vestiges of Kidderminster’s internationally acclaimed carpet industry.
On the day, free to attend, there will be a craft market with indoor and outdoor pitches, an all-day open mic stage, heritage tours of the site, food and drink including a bar, a vintage yarn kilo sale, and much more. The charity recently appointed a new voluntary CEO, Samuel Davies, who has been busy attracting new tenants into the office block, organising the clearing and maintenance of the extensive grounds, and developing plans for events, outreach projects, and of course restoring the mill.
Already there are several small businesses based at the mill – therapists, health and safety training, environmental landscaping company – as well as regular groups and classes meeting there, including an international women’s group, art classes and drama groups. There is also a beautiful cafeteria on site which is about to be re-launched, servicing the businesses based at the mill, visitors and passing footfall, and offering a delivery service to the local area.
Samuel Davies, CEO of JHAC, said: “We are incredibly excited about JelleyFest. What began as an idea to host a small craft market and offer some refreshments has grown into a multifaceted event, including heritage tours of the site, an all-day open mic stage for anyone to come along and perform anything (within reason!), and even a vintage yarn kilo sale... having salvaged thousands of spools of wool from the old carpet factory warehouses there are incredible bargains to be had! Every penny raised will go into developing the charity and its aims – bringing Jelleyman’s Mill back into use as a community hub.”
JelleyFest 2024 marks the start of a journey for the JHAC charity. Having done the groundwork over the last couple of months networking with the local community, hosting open days for local councillors, MPs, businesses and community groups to come along and see how we can work with them, and developing a social media presence, the next step is to start fundraising and involving the local community. The long-term goal is to create a community of businesses and creatives that build links between the past, present and future, turning this once derelict site into a thriving hub of community activity.
JelleyFest 2024 is organised by Jelleyman’s Heritage Arts Charity, based at Jelleyman’s Mill, Puxton Lane, Kidderminster, DY11 5DF.
For more information contact Samuel Davies on 07444746445 or info@jha.co.uk
