Page 54 - ALG Issue 3 2019

Yorkshire
Yorkshire and parts of Humberside
REPRESENTATIVE
Vacant
To be confirmed
MENTOR
Tony Urwin
Yorkshire & Humberside 0845 250 1292 turwin.nas@gmail.com
Rotherham Ramblings
Even by allotment standards it was
an unusual week. Calendar filmed us doing a bit of planting, some digging and quite a bit of talking (no prizes for guessing who did the talking). Two underground springs were uncovered on one plot, where a mechanical digger was employed to do some clearing. Lastly, and definitely most importantly, two new allotmenteers took on the “grow your own food and eat it” challenge and signed up for plots.
The tv broadcast turned out to be quite a laugh. Two of the grandsons were having a sleepover when it was shown and came running out to tell me I
was on the telly. The oldest (7 years), said: “They said you were an expert”. This point was picked up on by a few of my friends, who took great delight in questioning the accuracy of the programme makers. All I have to say in reply is they have been in touch and want to come back to do more filming in the summer.
Herself refused to have anything to do with it and finds it all very amusing,
but then it never ceases to interest
me how her mind works. I spent two hours trying to find a missing pair of stepladders the other day. When she came to check on what I was up to and why the task I had been set (putting fairy lights in a small tree) was taking so long, I embarrassingly explained that I had misplaced the stepladder. Instead of setting off an exploding volcanic eruption of Krakatoan proportion, beginning with: “This is what happens when you don't put things away tidily”, she calmly said to put all the stuff I had moved back and to come and have tea and she would pour me a beer.
These seemingly motiveless acts
of kindness and empathy are not unknown and I took advantage of the proposal and thought no more of it. The riddle was solved the next day when she finished a telephone conversation with the daughter person. It appears they
This is what happens when you don't put things away tidily”, she calmly said
(known as The Borrowers) asked to borrow the stepladder to put up some Christmas decorations, so she let them collect said stepladder and proceeded to forget all about it. Apparently said daughter person's hubby has some bushes she, Mrs Borrower, desires
to be pruned and he, Mr Borrower,
will require the use of a stepladder
to perform this task. After I asked –
on more than one occasion – about putting up the lights for Easter, the matter has finally been sorted. The new stepladders I've bought will be delivered on Monday, enabling me to perform
all the tasks for which a stepladder is essential and have therefore been put on the backburner. Smiles and laughter all round... almost.
If you are interested in renting an allotment in Whiston contact Mike on 07802 196688 or mike@leaffield.co.uk.
Fun on allotments
Victory Garden Allotments, Rawdon, had their annual Easter Egg Hunt.
The odd school holiday timings made it rather
difficult to organise, but Charlotte Waldron (one of our plotholders) stepped in at very short notice to organise the event, and what a splendid job she did. What a glorious day it was and what great fun the children had.
With it being so hot, it was not possible to hide all the eggs, so to avoid having melted puddles of chocolate, Charlotte placed foam eggs and stickers in their place which the children found following the clues and finally exchanging the stickers for real chocolate eggs kept in a coolbag. Another great day was had on the allotment by the children.
It is also the Allotment Site centenary year and we shall be opening the site as part of the Heritage Open Days on the 28th & 29th September.
54 Allotment and Leisure Gardener