David Ruffley MP will be joining fellow Suffolk MP Richard Spring on a tour of Pakenham Water Mill on Friday 2 February at 12.30pm.

The Water Mill is currently undertaking a major fund raising drive.

Pakenham is thought to have had a water mill since as early as AD 43-60. The Domesday Book records Pakenham as being one of the 'Winter Mills' and the present building is believed to have been constructed in the late 18th Century.

The Suffolk Preservation Society became concerned about the future of the Mill in the early l970s, and, in 1978, with the aid of a substantial anonymous donation, bought it from the last owner, Brian Marriage. Following restoration, completed in early 1980s, the Society won a prestigious Europa Nostra Diploma in the 1985.

The mill is the only working Water Mill in Suffolk and flour is sold to visitors. Wheat is stone-ground into wholemeal flour on a regular basis by a group of volunteer millers who work every Thursday morning.

David said:

'Pakenham Water Mill is the last working water mill in Suffolk.

'Historians believe that for nearly a thousand years millers on this site have been using the simple technology of water power to produce stone-ground wholemeal flour from locally grown wheat.

'It is of the utmost importance that we all do all we can to support and retain Suffolk's historic buildings because once they are gone they are gone for good.

'We owe it to future generations to ensure that Pakenham Water Mill is still here in years to come- that is why West Suffolk MP Richard Spring and I are making this important visit to support the Water Mill's fund raising drive.'