Page 55 - ALG Issue 3 2018

Eastern
Eastern Region Report
The Essex Young Farmers Show was held on 20th May 2018 at Boyton Hall farm, Roxwell, near Chelmsford. What a day! The sun was shining and the crowds were coming; over 20,000 in total for a one day show.
This is the first time that Essex has attended the show and
we were not sure what to expect. We had a covered marquee
of 2 metres by 2 metres, and this was filled with photographs of allotments around the county together with NAS publicity. We were within the Horticultural area with plant sales, organic veg boxes and compost from sheep wool. We were also next to the beer tent. There was a lot of interest shown by the public and I would like to thank
all the volunteers for assisting on the day and answering the various questions.
Throughout the show there was plenty for all age groups and I had my four grandchildren (the oldest being seven) and respective
Welcome to our new members...
Castlethorpe Allotment &
Garden Association Ltd
Grey Towers Gardening Allotment Society Mountnessing Allotment Association West Lynn Allotment Association Stansted Mountfitchet Parish Council
10 Individual Members
parents at the show, and they all came away exhausted but happy. This is the first of a number of shows that we, as the Eastern
Region, are attending, the next being the Suffolk Show at the Ipswich showground at the end of May, followed by the Woburn Show on
the 23rd and 24th June, and the Five Parishes show in Tendring in August.
All of these shows take a lot of planning and support from members of the various associations.
Our next Regional meeting is on the 14th July at Ely, Cambridgeshire, where we have been invited to look at the local allotments.
Please support the region and help it grow stronger.
Ray How, Regional Rep Eastern Region
Shedding Light at Hale Road Allotments
Generally speaking, waterless toilets don’t have windows so they are usually a bit dingy inside.
This was the case at our Hale Road Allotments site in Swavesey (between Cambridge and Huntingdon), so we decided to do something about it. One
of the big advantages of being a self- managed site is that we have access to more than enough organisations willing to fund worthy projects. A very helpful starting point for any community organisation seeking to raise funds for a project is your local Council for Voluntary Service, and we are members of Cambridge Council for Voluntary Service (CCVS). Through CCVS we successfully obtained funding from Cambridge Student Rag Fund for a solar panel, rechargeable battery, bright but soft internal light, and a switch on a timer. Now our plotholders are happy, particularly the
many ladies and children on site.
A further advantage of being self-
managed is that plotholders readily
work together and use their own skills
to the benefit of the allotments. Thus it was a straightforward job for one of our members, a retired electrician, to install the solar powered lighting.
Another plotholder in the metal working industry used his knowledge and skill
over winter to replace the lids on our eight water tanks. These are 1.8m (6ft) long livestock drinking troughs holding 327 litres (72 gallons). We had previously used 16 wooden lids which worked well but occasionally blew off in very strong wind, and required removing, varnishing and storage each autumn. We now have 16 new, shiny silver metal water tank lids with snug-fitting handles, all colour-matched
to the original water tanks. Our Chairman hasn’t questioned him too closely on where the sheet metal came from, or who paid for what must have been a significant labour input, but close examination shows they are well thought out and very well made. Touches like this give an even more professional finish to our site.
Selwyn Richardson, Chairman Hale Road A&GA
The Darren Fazackerley Award
The Eastern Region decided to present an award in memory of Darren Fazackerley, who sadly passed away last year, and whose support of allotments and the allotment movement will be sadly missed by all who knew him.
It was decided that the award would be for the best project or scheme that came to fruition in 2017 but might have been started a few years previously. It was open to all associations or societies who were members of the NAS and had been nominated by an individual or associated member.
The winners for 2017 were Olney Near Town Allotments
In October 2013 the Olney Allotment Holders Association (OAHA) felt it would be great to have a recycling/community area on the local council run, Near Town Allotments.
In November 2014 the Olney Town Council kindly agreed to provide a vacant plot to enable a dedicated Community Allotment.
The OAHA is a not-for-profit group, seeking to provide growing opportunities
for all ages in and around Olney. They have now raised over £16,000 from various grants and donations, including the local MK Foundation, John Lewis, Santander and numerous kind and willing volunteers who support the project in all weathers.
Over the course of five years they have expanded and developed the concept to the extent that they now have three thriving plots, three polytunnels, a series of raised beds, and a safe and secure paved area for wheelchairs rollators.
More recently they have received a donation of 10k from the Big Lottery Fund
for a brand new WooWoo Waterless toilet.
The Community
continues to make
the Community
Allotment a happy
friendly place where
people of all ages
and abilities, ranging from toddlers to great grandparents, can get together for a bit of green-fingered fun. There are growing areas with raised beds and trugs for the less abled.
The award was presented by Eastern Region Chairman Wyn Marshall to Dennis Sotton, representative of Olney Near Town Allotments at the Annual AGM in St Neots.
Wyn Marshall, Chair Eastern Region
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