Page 5 - Allotment Gardener Issue 1 2024

HEAD OFFICE
PRESIDENT’S
SCRIBBLINGS
Well, here we are again! I wish you a HAPPY NEW YEAR and lots of enjoyment on your allotment plot.
I also hope you had a pleasant Christmas with all your fresh vegetables on your Christmas dinner plate. Oh! and not forgetting presents of course. I wonder how many garden tools are in that count.
I am writing these scribblings just after storm Debi which was rather worrying with those high winds. I do hope it didn’t create too much damage on your site.
In October, I stepped down from my role
as chairman of the Yorkshire Region and since that time I seem to have been busier than ever. Why only the day before yesterday, I appeared on BBC Breakfast show talking about allotment waiting lists. The beauty of these appearances is that it gives us the opportunity to put forward the many benefits our organisation can offer society in general, to a nationwide audience. It was also a chance to promote our Developers Guide for creating new allotment sites, as one of the means of reducing those huge waiting lists.
I am also participating in a NAS webinar,
the second in a series being presented to the Yorkshire Local Councils Association. These webinars are always well received – they provide
information and guidance to councils who are in charge of most of the allotment sites in the UK. I shall be stepping down from my role as your
President in June this year at the AGM on 8th June in Sheffield. This is due to health reasons, plus the fact I am getting older and not as agile as I used to be. I have said before that I do not feel comfortable if I cannot apply 100% to my duties.
Looking back, I have been a member of the National Allotment Society for 30 years, actively promoting allotments with various organisations for 25 years, an officer of the Yorkshire Region for a long time and been your President for 7 years, so I have done quite a stint. It has been
a thoroughly enjoyable experience and still
is. Allotments are such unique and interesting places. I can’t see it happening, but I would
love to write a book about some of those experiences with so many amusing sights and happenings.
I have been quite wicked and started on
my homemade grape wine (grapes from the allotment) and it is not even Christmas yet. So, with glass in hand, I shall raise a toast and again wish you all a VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR and hope you have a very enjoyable 2024 on your allotment plot.
P.S. Don’t forget to make sure that the registration of your site’s ‘Asset of Community Value’ has not lapsed. If you haven’t registered, make sure you do so to protect your allotment site.
Also, I recommend that you volunteer to assist with the many garden shows we attend; it is great fun.
Your President
Phil Gomersall
“Looking back, I have been a member of the National Allotment Society for 30 years”
Allotment Gardener | Issue 1 2024 | 5