Page 52 - ALG Issue 4 2019

West Midlands
Shropshire, Staffordshire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Warkwickshire
Odibourne Allotments, Kenilworth
Centenary Years 1919-2019
‘HOMES FIT FOR HEROES’ WAS THE FAMILIAR CRY FROM THE GOVERNMENT IN 1919!
AND THAT LED TO THE DEMISE OF ONE ALLOTMENT SITE AND HERALDED
THE CREATION OF ANOTHER IN LEAFY WARWICKSHIRE...
THE ODIBOURNE ALLOTMENT SITE IN KENILWORTH
A couple of years ago and with our 100th anniversary looming we asked one of our tenants, committee member Martyn Partridge, to research our origins and he came up with the following, which is an abbreviated version of his original research. Our thanks go to Martyn.
A LITTLE BIT OF OUR HISTORY:
In 1919, when the First World War
had ended, Kenilworth’s then
‘Urban’ District Council rallied to the Government’s request to build homes fit for heroes. Unemployment was high and housing was in short supply.
They soon located a spot suitable to build houses on, but unfortunately there was already an established allotment site on this area of land. It was known then as ‘The Noah’s Ark site’, so named for its proximity to a house nearby with a high-pitched roof!
In keeping with legislation (The 1908 Smallholdings and Allotments Act), the Council acknowledged that they had to find replacement land for the soon to be evicted tenants. This coincided with the sale by auction of a local estate owned by the late William Thomas Pears. A substantial government loan secured the deal and the Noah’s Ark tenants were given notice to quit their plots!
The angry tenants demanded that a Town’s meeting be held to air their grievances, but their letter, addressed to the Chairman of the Council, was never given an airing and remained on the table, deemed to be of insufficient importance to the majority of Kenilworth’s Ratepayers, and the disgruntled plotholders were totally ignored.
They finally caved in and with no voice, moved a couple of hundred yards on down to the newly acquired piece of land to start all over again. This new allotment site was then named ‘The
It was known then
as ‘The Noah’s Ark site’, so named for its proximity to a house nearby with a high- pitched roof!
Odibourne site’, so called because of the diverted water course used to drive the paddles of the Oat Mill at the far end of the site.
The Council ran the site until 1983, when management was then handed over to a Committee of tenants.
FAST FORWARD TO 1994 AND TO THE PRESENT DATE:
Twenty five years ago, (where have all those years gone), I was invited to join the Committee – the first woman to have been asked to do so, and then shortly afterwards took on the Secretary’s role. I have seen lots and lots of changes in that time, great improvements to our site, made possible because we got our act together and thought of ways
to improve our bank balance, and therefore our strength to develop. We organised competitions, took part in local events such as our annual Lion’s Show, selling surplus produce. We hold
52 Allotment and Leisure Gardener