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The new boy in the East
I have been involved in allotments for over 40 years, but always as a plot holder. I always thought that it was just about growing fruit and vegetables. How wrong I was.
Having taken the ame for Eastern Region from Jeff Barber, who is a
very hard act to follow, I nd that it is far more involved. Various problems on sites, large and small, all need the same amount of help and support. What I have found throughout is that all the members of various committees are always willing to support and offer helpful advice. I am really looking forward to helping members of the Eastern Region over the coming three years. On a very positive note I would like to publicise two events:
Saturday 10 February 2018
East Anglian Potato Day, which
is being held at Stonham Barns, Pettaugh Road, Stonham Aspal, IP14 6AT. There will be over 85 varieties of potato and also garden tools. Doors open 9.30am.
Saturday 24 February 2018
South East Essex Potato day,
which is being held in conjunction with Trustlinks at Growing together, Gardens 47 Fairfax Drive, Southend, SS0 9AG. Over 30 varieties of potato will be on sale, as well as onion sets and a seed swap.
Both events are well worth coming to.
Ray How
City of Ely Allotments Association – Awards Evening 2017
As the allotment year ends, the Association held their Annual Awards Evening on the 4th September at Centre ‘E’ in Barton Road, to recognise the successful efforts of several tenants in the tending of their plots.
The evening is a social event where, during the break for refreshments, the tenants get a chance to talk and discuss their own individual problems, and hopefully nd an answer, or help, from each other.
There were two illustrated talks during
the evening, the rst by two ‘Agronomists’, Denise Ginsburg and Sarah Cook. They are both experts in the eld of weeds, and gave us a detailed insight as to how the different types germinate, grow and spread. They nished with an explanation on the best ways to control and eradicate them. The other talk, on the ‘History of Vegetables’, was given by Les Turner, one of our tenants, who has been a professional gardener for many years, having trained at Kew Gardens.
There were extra awards this year, with the usual overall cups and certi cates being supplemented by four new trophies for the best plot on each site - the two smallest sites being amalgamated for this award. There was also a new trophy for a mystery category as decided by the Bridge Fen Reps, which turned out to be the best kept plot on their site by a tenant under the age of forty. It was noted that some of the tenants who put their names forward for this award were discounted as they clearly did not comply with the age quali cation.
We would like to thank Jeff Barber, now retired Eastern Region representative of the NAS, for doing the judging back in July, and we were extremely grateful to the Worshipful Mayor of Ely, Councillor Richard Hobbs for attending the evening and carrying out the presentations.
The winners were as follows: 56
• A J Fenn Cup (for the best allotment in Ely) – Stewart & Teresa Bye (Bridge Fen)
Second place certi cate – Vala Carter (New Barns)
Joint third place certi cates – Colin & Olive Bowles (New Barns) & Rosemary Reardon (Bridge Fen)
• Holden-Rolfe Cup (for the best small plot) – Alan Church (New Barns) Second place certi cate – Gareth & Bev Owen (Upherds Lane)
Joint third place certi cate – Dave Tomlins (Upherds Lane) & Kate & John Mitchell (Upherds Lane)
• Michael Ungar Memorial Cup (for best newcomer) – Zenia Cornwell (Bridge Fen)
Second place certi cate – Stephen Foot (New Barns)
Third place certi cate – Baiba Bertule
(New Barns)
• Jack Clarke Trophy (for best plot on
Bridge Fen) – Stewart & Teresa Bye • Maurice Hobbs Trophy (for best plot
on New Barns) – Vala Carter
• Nigel Clarke Trophy (for best plot on
Upherds Lane) – Gareth & Bev Owen • Jack Kemp Trophy (for best plot on
Back Hill & Canterbury Avenue) – Lisa
Harbinson
• Peter Merton Trophy (for the best plot
by an under 40 years old on Bridge
Fen) - James Meers
The photograph, by kind permission of Ely
Standard, shows some of the award winners together with the Mayor of Ely, Councillor Richard Hobbs, and me third from the right. I must confess that the cup I am holding
is just for the photograph, as the actual winners could not attend the evening.
Graham Bond
Chair, City of Ely Allotments Association
Rosedale
Road & Bull
Meadow AGM
At our AGM on the 6th October 2017 we held a produce competition. The winners were all chosen by attending members:
• Sue Maloney, Best 3 x Vegetables below ground (parsnips)
• Elaine Stevens, Best 3 x Fruit/ vegetables above ground (sweet peppers)