Page 54 - ALG Issue 3 2018

West Midlands
Peace and tranquillity...
Welcome to our new members...
Freemantle Allotment Association Oswestry Gateacre & Gardens
2 Individual Members
The second of the 2018 quarterly meetings of the West Midlands Panel of the National Allotment Society was held in an idyllic location just below the south-western slopes of the Malvern Hills on a beautiful Saturday afternoon in May.
The meeting began with a talk by the Allotment Officer for Cheltenham, providing us with an enlightening and amusing talk
on ‘Lost the Plot – an Allotment Officer’s Tale’. In a wide ranging talk she told of her early personal experience of allotmenting, following a three day wait from applying for a plot to hearing that her application had been successful - how times have changed! She described the growth of the allotment movement through the nineteenth and
early twentieth centuries to its post-Second World war decline, and its revival in the late twentieth century into the current century.
A recent survey that she had carried
out had one plotholder giving their reason for being a plotholder as enabling them to have the opportunity to enjoy ‘peace and tranquillity in an urban setting’ ... so different from the desperation for food in the 1940s. Following a short break, the Regional
Representative thanked Fiona Warin for an amusing talk and invited Wendy Thompson, the Colwall Allotment Association Secretary, to give a brief overview of the history of Colwall Orchard Group, a small charity established to restore, promote and celebrate traditional orchards, as well as the establishing of an allotment association.
The Business section of the meeting began with the Regional Secretary reporting on the response to General Data Protection Regulation, as well as making reference to the latest magazine, highlighting the ‘Shed Competition’ and the arrival of the Asian hornet, another consequence of climate change.
The Treasurer assured us that we were still solvent and reminded members that funding was available to support allotment activities. Contact for this should be initially through the Regional Secretary.
The Regional Representative reported that some Federations were experiencing difficulties with the new water billing company, which seemed to be producing readings far in excess of what has been generated previously.
The Regional Mentor had assisted several associations with revising their Constitutions, the creation of self-managed associations, as well as him attending several events.
Finally, the Deputy Regional Representative updated the meeting on the Gardeners’ World event for 2018, it being the second year the Officers of the Region had been involved. The format is similar to last year’s but with raised beds to demonstrate the theme of a four-year crop rotation. During the Show, running from 14th – 17th June at the National Exhibition Centre, the stand will again be indoors
but with a small seating area. This year short talks will be given by Mike Thurlow and several others throughout the Show. He enquired if anyone was interested in volunteering to help on the stand for part of the Show (whilst it may be too late for this year it is something for West Midlands members to consider for next year).
Date and location of next meeting: 11th August 2018 at 2pm, Cheslyn Hay Village Hall.
John McNab
New Allotments Fundraising Success
Upton Bishop Allotment Association was formed in March
2017. We are a small association of only 10 members. All our members are local; some families and some more mature lady members of the community. The majority of our members are on a low income. We have a mix of experience with food gardening and try to run the site sustainably.
The site was set up as part of a social housing development by Herefordshire Housing on pasture land. Although the site had been set up in April 2016 it was a year before we gained access as an association. This meant 12 months of weed growth to be dealt with.
Rabbits were already established on the site. Although fencing had been put in by Herefordshire Housing, it was not purpose rabbit fencing. The association did not have the funds to pay for rabbit fencing, and so we applied to Herefordshire Community Foundation for a grant. Herefordshire Community Foundation are a small charity who give grants to small organisations in the HR postcode area for appropriate projects; we were very fortunate in getting a full grant for the work.
The site is provided with water butts for each plot and one stand pipe for the whole site. Mains water is metered, and in dry periods the water butts did not provide sufficient supplies of water so queues formed at the stand pipe. We were conscious of the possibility of losing water through the tap being left on or from dripping when not fully closed. Wishing to maintain a sustainable site we felt a dip tank would be the solution.
Due to our lack of money we again looked for funding, this
time approaching Monmouthshire Building Society Charitable Foundation. The charity is independent of the building society and supports local groups including groups caring for the environment. Again, we received a full grant.
Both grants have been invaluable in enabling the association to make substantial improvements to the site. We are grateful to both our sponsors.
Chris Clements
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