Page 47 - ALG Issue 2 2023

East Midlands
Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire, Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Northamptonshire and Rutland
Welcome to our new members...
Bridge View Allotments Buxworth Allotment Longyards Volunteer Allotment
Group Mansfield Woodhouse Nocton Park Allotments
8 Individuals
Broughton Town Council
East Bridgford Parish Council
REPRESENTATIVE
Paul Howgill
37 Meredith Road, Rowley Fields, Leicester LE3 2EP
07803 828 777 allotmentbaron@aol.com
DEPUTY REPRESENTATIVE David Stirland
07973 919641
stirlandalisonmarg@ gmail.com
DEPUTY REPRESENTATIVE Russell Attwood
rattwood.nas@ gmail.com
Groby Allotment Society News
CHRISTMAS AT GROBY
By the time you read this, Christmas will be a vague memory, but at the time of writing I am still trying to get organised!
We had our Christmas Open Shed Sunday event early, on 4th December, and everyone was invited as usual. To celebrate Christmas, and to also say thank you to all our loyal social event visitors over the year, we offered free mulled wine, hot drinks, mince pies or Christmas cake cupcakes to all comers.
Our Christmas stall, with lots of homemade beautiful Christmas decorations and wreaths, all made from recycled materials, went down a storm! We are lucky to have a very talented member who made all of these herself!
Santa also managed to take time out of his busy schedule to pay us a visit again this year and eagerly listened to the Christmas wish lists from the children, handing them a small present to take away. He had a warm mince pie and some organic carrots for his reindeer as usual!
We hope that some of our visitors got back home okay, as some felt the need to warm themselves against the cold weather with
several servings of mulled wine! I think that one or two perhaps walked home on ‘unfamiliar legs’ that lunchtime!
DEFIBRILLATOR
We took delivery of a defibrillator recently, a vital piece of equipment that could save the
life of anyone suffering a heart attack. It is fully automated with a recorded message explaining what to do. We decided on one at our last AGM and so, in consultation with our neighbours, we decided that the best place to site it was on the URC church wall, next to an allotment entrance and next to a public footpath, so it can be of wider use to the village.
We had help from the local Thomas Herbert Smith Trust Fund and help, support, and donation of the cabinet by the Joe Humphries Memorial Trust.
We hope it will never need to be used but we are so pleased that it is there to potentially save a life if necessary. In January 2023 it joined
the list of defibrillators available for use so emergency services can see where each one
is on the ‘circuit’ and direct anyone to their nearest machine.
HOGLET PROBLEMS
After the end of a very cold spell, just as it rose above freezing, an allotmenteer encountered a very hungry and very small hedgehog gobbling up the food she was putting out for the birds. It looked far too small to survive and so we took it to our local hedgehog rescue lady. She estimated that it was only about ten weeks old. So, she took it in to look after, feeding it up so it can come back home to the plots when the weather is warmer. However, it’s unlikely that there was only one hoglet from this late litter and so we’re checking to see if we can find
any more, as they must weigh 650g to survive. Hedgehogs usually sleep through the winter months, only coming out briefly during warmer spells to grab a snack before sleeping again. As they are really good at munching up many garden pests, we are happy to welcome them back to our allotments very soon!!
Carol Lincoln, Secretary Groby Allotment Society
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Allotment and Leisure Gardener 47