The Feature

Remember Windy Miller from TV's Trumpton? Well, the Fylde had its very own 'Windmill Man' about 40 years before that beloved show from the 1960s. He was Allen Clarke - journalist, author, cyclist and poet… also known as Teddy Ashton in his hometown of Bolton. He first saw the Fylde's many windmills as a young boy and instantly fell in love with them.

Many years later he was able to move to and work in the Blackpool area, where he organised tours of the mills and wrote poems in their honour - and he's credited with saving many of them.

One - Little Marton Mill - was dedicated to him by a local miller, and now Allen Clarke's grand-daughter Shirley Matthews is campaigning to have the mill preserved as a museum.

You can hear how Shirley - who's of course known as 'Windmill Lady' - is following in her grandad's footsteps in Steve Becker's programme 'Windmill Land'.

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Windmill Land
(written by Allen Clarke beside Little Marton Mill)

O Windmill Land, dear Windmill Land,
May thy white towers forever stand,
Green peace around, blue joy o’erhead,
And sails like angel wings outspread:

O Windmill Land, sweet Windmill Land,
‘Tween heatherd hills and sea-laved strand,
Near or afar, ‘neath sun or star,
My heart is aye in Windmill Land.

If you are sad and sick of strife,
If cares and burdens fret your life,
Let Heaven take you by the hand,
And lead you into Windmill Land.