Page 54 - ALG Issue 2 2017

Brookhouse Drive Allotment
Association Lottery Award
Community Garden
The management committee of Brookhouse Drive Allotments in Crewe is pleased to announce that we have been awarded £9070 from the Big Lottery Fund (Awards For All) to develop our community garden with the partnership of Cheshire Wildlife Trust and Pebble Brook School.
Marlene Harper Site Representative
in the allotments in Crewe.”
“The grant from Awards for All is excellent
news for local people and wildlife in and around the allotments at the Brookhouse Road site. With so many young children today not appreciating where their food comes from, it’s vital to give them this chance to learn about growing fruit and vegetables locally in a wildlife friendly way.”
Nick Rowles
People and Wildlife Of cer, Cheshire Wildlife Trust
A group of local volunteers will develop an area of land at Brookhouse Drive Allotments as a community food growing plot and wildlife friendly garden.
The community garden will include raised beds for vegetable growing, herbs and nectar rich plants for bees and butter ies,
a compost demonstration area, bug
hotels and animal homes, bird boxes and bird feeders. The area will also include
an outdoor classroom with seating, a re pit, and the redevelopment of the existing polytunnel as a shelter/classroom. We will bring in professional staff from Cheshire Wildlife Trust (CWT) to deliver gardening and food growing projects, pond dipping and habitat studies with local school children. Cheshire Wildlife Trust staff will lead after school gardening sessions with Pebble Brook School from April to July when the evenings are lighter. CWT staff will also lead eight 1/2 days of holiday gardening club with interested children and parents over the summer break and Easter holidays, so that the garden can be maintained outside of term time. The idea of the sessions is to
instil in the children a love of gardening and nature and to get them to appreciate where their food comes from. There will be training opportunities for local residents to learn about food growing, composting, wildlife friendly gardening and related topics.
We will use volunteers to clear out and replant the existing pond on the allotments and install a pond dipping platform, so
that the pond can be used by local school children to investigate and learn about a freshwater habitat and the creatures that live there. We will hold a harvest festival celebration event towards the end of the project to welcome in the wider community and to celebrate its success.
Cllr Simon Yates (Leader, Crewe Town Council) said, “this is terri c news; the Council has invested very heavily in the allotments since 2013 to address historic under investment. The formation of the Allotment Federation and the ongoing work of the associations is a credit to Crewe. This additional investment brought in by
the Association is to be commended and speaks well for the continued improvements
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