Page 46 - ALG Issue 4 2023

Yorkshire
Unveiling the Plaque – L to R – Steve Rooke, Leader of the allotment association, and Mike Ashdown, Leader of Glusburn and Cross Hills Parish Council
Cross Hills Allotments Centenary Celebrations
11 and Under winners of the Scarecrow competition with King Edward Potato; L to R adults Mike Ashdown and Martin Pearce, L-R Children Etta and Hugh McSharry
local community. Providing a safe
place for families to grow produce
to eat, interact with others from the community, sharing knowledge and resources. This teaches their children and grandchildren, not only about where their food comes from, but about nature, conservation of resources, recycling, composting, working safely and much more. He also talked about how the allotments had served the community for over 100 years, through two world wars, the great depression, many financial crises and pandemics. He reiterated his commitment to supporting the village and allotment holders in the quest to retain the allotments for the village and future generations. Mike was presented with a box of veg and some flowers as a thank you from the allotment holders.
The refreshments were headed up
by Mrs Margaret Wainwright, with her regular coffee morning helper Daniel Higson (her own grandchildren usually help as well but they were
on holiday). Margaret joined Cross
Hills about 4 years ago after moving from Nottingham, where she had a
plot for many years and was heavily involved in the committee and the social aspects. She brought not only a wealth of experience on her plot, but of running coffee mornings and providing refreshments. It is through Margaret’s endeavours that the social side of our allotments took off. Setting up the monthly coffee mornings, for which she spends Friday baking at least four cakes plus more scones on Saturday morning,
Storm Antoni gave us a few sleepless nights just prior to the event, but fortunately we had a mixture of drizzle, cloud, sunshine and the odd shower on Saturday, and a lovely sunny day on Sunday.
The event was set up by an army of volunteers, putting up gazebos and
a marquee, setting out tables for the stalls and chairs for visitors. Lots of donations of cakes, buns and biscuits for the refreshments, lots of tombola prizes, hand made crafts, fruit, flowers and vegetables, even a mountain bike for a guess the weight competition.
There were other volunteers on plots and to show visitors around the allotments.
On both days the event was well attended by locals from the village, as
Refreshments –
L to R Mrs Margaret Wainwright, Daniel Higson (9), Karen Higson, Ruth Lacey
well as family and friends of allotment holders. The cakes were sold out on both days as was the tombola. The craft stall and the gardening stall both did extremely well.
Mike Ashdown, Leader of Glusburn and Cross Hills Parish Council, gave a speech presenting and unveiling a plaque to commemorate the event.
The inscription on the plaque reads: Marking the centenary of the purchase of this land for these allotment gardens in January 1923 by the Town End
Close Allotments Society LTD. The parish council, allotmenteers and local community celebrates over 100 years of continuous allotment gardening on this site.
In Mike’s speech, he commented on the value the allotments bring to the
We owe Margaret a great debt of gratitude for pushing us to have coffee mornings., Without her enthusiasm, energy, vitality, generosity and personal example (and cakes!), we would not have embarked on the open day events and probably struggled to hold a centenary event
46 Allotment and Leisure Gardener