Page 42 - ALG Issue 1 2017

Yorkshire
A Grand Night Out
Welcome to our new members...
Boroughbridge Allotment Society 2 individual members
The ‘Leeds Allotment Competition’ followed the Leeds and District Allotment Gardeners Federation Social Evening where prizes are awarded by an invited guest. This year we were pleased to welcome Graham Porter, Horticultural expert and broadcaster to present the prizes to the competition winners.
The Federation added an allotment photographic competition and winning entries will go to making an allotment calendar for next year.
The evening is basically a social with lots of chatting (a thing allotmenteers are pretty
‘Best Allotment Plot’ Gordon Crosbie
Just having fun
good at) and there is always a bar, buffet and a raf e.
At the end of the evening we hold a
fun auction (to raise money for a selected charity). Even we Yorkshire folk were dipping deeply into our pockets, bidding for such donated items as chain link fencing, a compost bin, a water butt, a wheelbarrow and far too many other things to list, so it looks like we will have raised quite a bit.
A good night was had by all.
Phil Gomersall
‘Best newcomer’ Paul and Tina Walker
Photographic competition
Joint ‘Best Site’ winners L-R Lidgett Lane Allotments, Graham Porter, Meanwood Parkside Allotments
Big Grant award for Doncaster Association
Doncaster’s Wheatley Hills Allotments celebrated their grant award success with the grand opening of a composting toilet facility. The 110 plot, 12 acre site launched their brand new sanitary unit at a BBQ Halloween party on October 29th.
The grant of nearly £10,000 was awarded by the Big Lottery Fund (BLF) and our Association had to show a community
need in more than one way. An important element was the Schools Project where local junior school pupils, their parents and teachers engage in an ongoing learning process. Hands-on gardening activities and invitations to the allotment site form part of the instruction. Toilet provision is essential here as youngsters cannot be welcomed without it.
Another key element is a dedicated community plot, where our Association, using its own monies generated by produce sales, has purchased and erected a substantial polytunnel. Materials
to extend this to incorporate a hardening-off unit are on-site and the next project is its erection. The purpose of these facilities is
to promote early growth of seedlings for sale to both our own members and the wider public. Once again, to invite members on to the site, decent toilet provision is obligatory.
In due course, physically disabled folk will be encouraged
to come along too. They will need suitably raised beds and walkways wide enough for wheelchair access, and naturally, enough toilet facilities.
Let us not forget our own membership for they feel the call of nature too! It is the dedication of plot holders, their energy and application which has brought this project to a useful conclusion, and of course the BLF grant.
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