Richard Gallé
Miller and Webmaster.
On 2nd October, the Watermill Society suffered a great loss in that Dibnah Richard Gallé sadly passed away. Our thoughts are with his family. Richard was one of the original team of Dibnahs who saved the long derelict Shelsley Watermill, including the access and waterworks structures it depends on.
Head miller
He was very much our head miller, having gained the necessary skills by attending demonstration workshops at other working mills.
Webmaster
In addition Richard’s computer skills were invaluable and central to creating the original Watermill Society website. He took on the mantle of Webmaster and compiled a regular blog, detailing the various aspects of the mill’s restoration as it progressed.
Snapshot
He will be fondly remembered for many things, but especially for his period miller’s apparel that included a bowler hat and red neckerchief. He is also indelibly ingrained into the Dibnahs’ collective memory as the early-days brave soul in the frogman outfit, who spent an exhausting day working underwater in the millpond, with regular sustenance being floated out to him on a wooden board – see photos. It is down to Richard, and specifically one of his daughters (a graphic designer), that we are still proudly using the Shelsley Water Mill Society logo that she crafted around the time the Shelsley Dibnahs first came into being, some 20 years ago. Richard’s 21st October funeral service was, predictably, extremely well attended and Shelsley’s watermill was run during the service in his honour.