Page 54 - ALG Issue 2 2019

Hempland Lane allotments – York, creating a community space
Hempland Lane allotments were founded in 1919 on ancient fields
in the north of York. We regularly find bits of pottery from roman and mediaeval times, broken clay pipes and chamber pots, and a roman road is thought to run across the site.
There are 130 individual plots, full
size and half size, and we have a thriving association with over 120 members, including many from the local community. We hold a weekly social event where plotholders, dog walkers, and local residents of all ages meet and chat over a hot drink and amazing cakes! We also run a community allotment shop that sells produce donated by plotholders,
Kings Seeds, general allotment materials, and second-hand tools.
The income helps towards the costs of fencing, gate repairs, and general site renovation and improvements. We hold a summer fete, a fun autumn produce show with entries from all ages, and other social events. Unfortunately,
due to the current site layout, the only place available to hold all of our social events is in the car park between our accessible composting toilet and the manure and chippings bays, which is far from ideal!
Over the years we have developed
a strong relationship with the local Community Payback teams who help us every Sunday to maintain the site, clear, re-fence and gate abandoned plots ready for new tenants, make compost bins, and repair sheds. They also provide help to elderly, sick, injured and disabled plotholders, whom without such help would
have had to give up their plots. The teams are seen as a real asset to
our allotment community. 20 years ago, two full size derelict plots were transformed, using grant funding and Community Payback labour, into a 600 square yard easy access area. This area included raised beds, intended
to be used by the disabled, elderly, and partially sighted. However, after 15 years the boards for the beds had rotted through and others had proved unusable. The wooden entrance porch was also rotten and unstable.
After an AGM decision and a consultation with plotholders and
the local community that attend
our weekly social events, we jointly agreed a way forward to invigorate and transform this area. This included creating a new community space for our weekly and annual social events, removing the unused raised beds and replacing them with paving, seating, flower beds and herbaceous borders. We are also improving the easy access area with new robust raised beds, storage, allocated compost bins, an additional water point, and seating. Each bed is of individual size and height to suit different needs and disabilities. We decided to use the local Community Payback team for labour and to seek grant funding from the National Lottery for the materials, the cost of which came to over £13,000. We took time to put together our submission and December 2018 bought the amazing news that we had been awarded funding of £9,999 from the National Lottery Awards for All fund. To help our money go further the project manager has used Facebook to find recycled and surplus materials and negotiated trade discounts with suppliers. We are also trying to get additional funding from supermarket
We regularly find bits of pottery from roman and mediaeval times, broken clay pipes and chamber pots, and a roman road is thought to run across the site
chains, the local parish, and York City Council.
Since January 2019 the local Community Payback teams have worked hard clearing the area, saving us £2500 of contractors’ costs. The Payback teams are now putting up
our new perimeter fence (48 fence panels!), and after that will lay 300 paving slabs. Once that is completed, we will add the finishing touches including an outdoor BBQ, permanent refectory style table and benches
for our coffee mornings, additional seating, and planting for the beds. This will transform the area into something we can be proud of, bringing together disabled and able-bodied plotholders and the local community. Our aim is
to use the new venue for our Summer Fete and BBQ, with ‘The Romans’ Scarecrow competition and much more on Sunday 14th July 2019. Work is now underway on planning this and other 100th anniversary celebrations. We are all very proud of our site and would welcome fellow allotmenteers to come and see what we are doing.
Gayle Enion-Farrington, Chairperson, Hempland Lane Allotments
54 Allotment and Leisure Gardener
For further information please visit our website
www.hempland-lane-allotments.co.uk
or Facebook Hempland Lane Allotments.