Page 42 - ALG Issue 3 2023

Northern
Northumberland, Cumbria and Durham
REPRESENTATIVE DEPUTY REPRESENTATIVE
TBC TBC
100-year celebrations
Sunday 30th April 2023 saw Newcastle Bank Allotment Association of Chester-le-Street, County Durham celebrate its 100th Anniversary. To celebrate the occasion, Craig Martin, Councillor for North Lodge and Chester-le-Street, was invited along by the Association to unveil a Centenary sign that has been produced by Association member Brian Mason.
The sign has been erected to commemorate this historic event along with name plaques that have been affixed to access gates, after members decided to use the names of famous gardeners as a means of identifying
the lanes. Monty Don, Alan Titchmarsh, Percy Thrower, Capability Brown and Geoff Hamilton, were the names chosen.
Councillor Martin very kindly accepted the invitation, and the unveiling took place on the anniversary date at a well-attended gathering of members undeterred by the relentless rain.
On unveiling the sign, he said: “It is an honour to be here to mark such an historic occasion for the local area.”
He recounted tales of his own family and childhood and the excitement of awaiting his father returning home with the first of the year’s potato crop, saying: “There is nothing quite like produce grown by your own fair hands.” He recalled that “they always tasted far
better than the ones bought from the supermarket.”
The Newcastle Bank Allotments site sits on an area of land in the centre
of the town between Newcastle Road and Picktree Terrace and boasts a membership of 38 from 46 plotholders working 54 plots; 39 are privately owned and 15 are owned by the
Local Authority, having been sold or bequeathed to them by members. Also on the site is a small store offering gardening supplies to the membership and wider public. Hidden from view on three sides by public and residential buildings to such an extent that many
in the town are unaware of it being there, the site offers an area of calm and tranquillity as the bustle of urban life goes on around it.
Initially 12 acres of land was purchased and divided into 102 plots by Trustees of the then named Newcastle Road (Chester-le-Street) Garden Purchase Association from the Right Honourable John George, Earl of Durham, on 30th April 1923.
The Trustees consisted of William Greenwell Sugden, John William Mynott and Joseph Thompson and together they paid a princely sum of £2000.
Mr. Mynott remained on the board of Trustees until his death in 1975 which led to the appointment of a new board of Trustees. The transfer of deed for the
On unveiling the sign, he said: “It is an honour to be here to mark such an historic occasion for the local area.”
sale contained express covenants that the land be used for allotment purposes only and so plots were then sold to the citizens of Chester-le-Street.
The site consisted of blocks of plots separated and accessed by lanes of tractor width to allow for deliveries, and the gates to the site were locked once per year to prevent a right of way being created by prescription.
Just like allotment sites up and down the country, the Newcastle Bank site faced pressures of being eyed for development and in the mid-1960s
the Local Authority decided to enact
a compulsory purchase of part of the land despite strong opposition from the allotment holders.
A public enquiry ensued which unsurprisingly found that the purchase should be allowed to proceed.
42 Allotment and Leisure Gardener
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