Page 58 - ALG Issue 2 2017

Eastern
Well into Year 5,
and most still think
Welcome to our new members...
Bovingdon Allotments
Great Barton Allotment Assoc Romford Smallholders Society Rowstock Allotment Group Aylsham Town Council Mountnessing Parish Council 9 individual members
it is fun
“If you don’t set yourselves up as a self- managed site I shall smack your wrists”. That is essentially what Karen Kenny said to our Steering Group in autumn 2011. Over the years since then, we have often commented on what sound advice that was. In October 2012, 60 allotment plots were set up on a cereal stubble at Hale Road allotment site in Swavesey, between Cambridge and Huntingdon. The vast majority of the founding members are still here in 2017, which we suspect is strongly against the trend for a new allotment site.
The site is managed by a committee of 10 or more plot holders who maintain the waiting list, collect annual plot rents, pay the land rent, water rates, public liability insurance and sort hedge cutting, grass cutting, importing livestock manure or compost and other activities too tedious to mention here.
Because it was designed from scratch our site includes a host of bene ts such as:
• A large, solid car park with a wide entrance gate controlled by a combination lock.
• Eight large water tanks on site so that nobody walks more than 30 metres to water.
• Rabbit and deer-proof fence all the way round the site: plot fences are not needed.
• An £11,000 waterless, odour-free toilet installed in June 2016.
• Sheds are allowed on site.
• Cycle stands on site.
• Cattle and horse manure and local
authority compost are always
available in the car park.
• Recycled produce and useful items
cupboard.
The total area of land within our sturdy
perimeter fence is slightly over 1 hectare and the site cost just over £14,000 to set up in full (apart from the waterless toilet) in autumn 2012. The main funders were the Big Lottery Fund Awards for All Scheme and Swavesey Parish Council, with top-up grants from three other funders.
We decided at the start that a plot size
of 10 poles was imprudently large for Swavesey residents and carried the risk that unused land would become weedy. So we went for half that size and settled on plots with dimensions of 22 m x 5.7 m (24 yds
x 61⁄4 yds). All plot holders are relieved that we reduced the size and agree that it is big enough to grow plenty of fresh food while not being so big that digging in autumn and weed control throughout the season become dif cult tasks. We also have several half-size plots.
The main advantage that tenants nd in having an allotment plot is that we have very
fresh vegetables harvested on the day which taste much better than produce from the supermarket. The next major bene t is that it allows us to keep active in the fresh air and physically t without having to wear Lycra.
Average annual rainfall is low in our area at only 547 mm (211⁄2 inches) so it is important that we have plenty of water near to each plot. We have dip-tanks with no taps or hoses. After four full growing seasons, our average water use per 5 pole (150 sq yds
or 125 m2) plot has been 4.17 cubic metres per year costing £4.20.
At least three quarters of the work on our site is done by women and many plots have women as sole operators. There are also
34 children under the age of 12 associated with our site and in June 2016 we installed a waterless toilet costing £10,707, of which £10,000 was generously provided by the Big Lottery Fund Awards for All Scheme, with the Saffron Community Foundation kindly supplying the rest. During Student Enrichment Week in mid-July, two groups of Yr 8 and Yr 9 students from the local Village College, each around twelve in number, with
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Our soil is on the heavy
side but now that we
are in our fth cropping
year the digging has got
noticeably easier because
of the large amount of
bulky organic manures we
have incorporated. Indeed,
some of the plots now
have topsoil resembling
John Innes compost. With
many weighbridge tickets
available it can be quite
accurately calculated that
in four full years we imported at least 390 tonnes of manures. Around two thirds of this has been local authority compost and the remainder split between cattle manure and horse poo. Assuming a wheelbarrow load of manure typically weighs 40 kg this means that each 150 sq yd plot has received 185 wheelbarrow loads on average - honestly it does. Some of our plot holders are accused of being easily amused.
So what rent do we charge for our plots? £44 for a 5 pole plot and £26 for a half plot. This is probably quite a bit more than on most sites but we continue to have a healthy waiting list of people who are keen to join in the fun with a plot of their own. Our chairman has much sympathy for these unlucky people and would like to do something to help
them. Indeed, as a step to that end he has suggested that in 2018 the plot rent should be doubled in order to test what the market will stand but the management committee won’t let him get away with it.
teachers, worked on site over three days, making
a bug hotel for the under 12s, applying fertiliser to the main grass tracks, spreading shredded bark on internal paths and other tasks, including some weeding! Having the toilet on site allowed them to bring packed lunches and stay all day.
Our plot holders consist of individuals, couples,
families both with young and older children, retired people as well as working and young persons. In 2016 the 1st Swavesey Beavers used part of Abigail’s plot (who helps to run the Beaver Scout group) to grow a wide range of crops from radishes to tomatoes
in order to learn where their food comes from and for their families to taste really fresh food. Some of these youngsters, possibly with a bit of help from parents
and grandparents, grew better crops than Abigail! Nearby plot holders often heard their delight when they dug up a potato or pointed out how quickly their beetroot were growing. They made such good progress that they have taken a plot of their own in 2017, paid the annual rent and signed the Tenancy Agreement, which includes a rule that no camp res or even barbecues are allowed on site. Some of the older blokes dug their plot for them last autumn. Selwyn Richardson
Chairman Hale Road A&GA
Our plot holders consist of individuals, couples, families both with young and older children, retired people as well as working and young persons