Page 32 - ALG Issue 1 2020

How far back do you go?
Isle of Dogs & District Allotment Society
First recorded in 1892, and officially formed in 1913
1913-1945
The allotments grew to engulf most of the Mudchute and were fenced off and even policed. The site extended to the edge of the playing field alongside Stebondale Street, where a stretch of water separated the bank and playing field. Ex Secretary Harry White recalls: “This was the easiest way for locals to enter; through the wooden fencing which was always broken. All through our childhood days, we would bunk in and fish
for newts and tiddlers to our hearts’ content until we heard the yell: ‘Dock Copper!’ and everyone had to scarper.” The ditch dried up after the 1939-45 war when the Port of London Authority owned land. During the war, the allotments helped feed the East End during the ‘Dig for Victory’ campaign.
Images from the Island History Trust Collection courtesy of Friends of Island History Trust and lender named against the text.
NO: MU14 The Mayor of Poplar and his wife, costume suggests 1910-20. Understood to be on the Mudchute, and the occasion could be the opening of land for use as allotments, land given by the Port of London Authority for growing food during the war. The allotments covered all the high part of the Mudchute within the original banks, until 1965. The young women could be workers from the nearby rope factory.
Lender: Harry White
IHT: G17 John Bates (born 1924) with his mother Elizabeth Kate (nee Redfern, 1882-1966) and older brother Leonard pre 1930, on the allotments near Cahir Street. The Bates family lived at No.1, Marsh Street until 1932, when they moved to Dagenham. The houses on the north side of part of Cahir Street were demolished and the allotments disappeared, when new blocks of flats (Arethusa House, etc.) were built there by the London County Council in the mid-1930s.
Lender: Bob Farman
How far back do you go?
2020 sees the 90th Anniversary of the National Allotment Society. To celebrate, we will be looking back at the history of the NAS – but what about the history of your allotment plot or site?
Send us a snapshot or two that you feel defines your allotment’s history, and your photos could feature in our 2020 Anniversary editions of the magazine.
PAST & PRESENT...
Decades or months, your allotment doesn’t have to be many years old to take part!
Submitting your images:
• Weappreciatethatolderimagesmaynotbeavailableinthebestresolution
but suggest that 300dpi high resolution photos are best.
• Providecaptions–Whenandwherewerethephotostaken? • Emailto:jodie@crestpublications.com
32 Allotment and Leisure Gardener