Page 47 - ALG Issue 1 2017

Chatburn Allotment near Clitheroe
Our annual ower and vegetable show held on 6th September 2016 raised the staggering amount of £1,014, which we donated to the charity Spinal Muscular Atrophy UK.
It is only a small annual village show but people in the area support us well. This year’s event was only our sixth show with total takings of £6,500 raised for three charities. We hope this is the best news to share with our members.
All the best.
Ernie Sedgwick
Chatburn Allotments near Clitheroe
A New Gardening Year in the North West
Well, as we leave 2016, let’s have a re ection on the year across the region. It’s been good to see that our regional meetings have been well attended in various locations across the North West.
If you have any suitable suggestions for 2017 please let the NW Secretary, Andrea, know. January is already arranged but we welcome suggestions and topics for the remainder of the year.
Haven’t we done well? The increased numbers of events from open days, plant sales, produce shows, potato days (the list goes on) is all down to the increased efforts by societies, associations and federations. It’s been great to see the standard of allotments improve through external funding and many sites in the region have successfully gained nancial support and grants from various sources like Awards for All, Tesco’s Bags for Help, The Co-op community, B&Q giveaways and local ward councillors (yes they still have little pots of cash despite cuts to services up and down the country).
On the show front, in 2016 we again entered Southport Flower Show with the support of the NAS Head Of ce and we were delighted to win a large gold which was well earned, thanks to the valued support from associations including the Blackpool and Manchester areas. Sadly the weather was wet after the opening day but it didn’t dampen the rest of the show.
For the rst time, Blackpool entered
not one but two ‘In Bloom’ competitions. One of which was Blackpool in Bloom; the judges were so blown away by the efforts that they toured all the winning sites and wanted to include Lawson Road as a stop for afternoon tea and cakes. So on the 7th August the judges and friends of Blackpool in Bloom rolled up in a vintage coach for this. We were delighted to be awarded
the Community Gardens award at a lovely presentation in the town’s Winter Gardens, in the presence of the Mayor, the worship Kath Rowson. To our delight, we then found out that the Britain in Bloom, North West judges had awarded Lawson Road an outstanding Neighbourhood Award for its World War display which included war vehicles and
an Anderson shelter showing how families survived the war and how they lived.
We saw this year’s best allotment site go to Stan Pennington Allotment in St Helens and we hope we can again secure our valuable sponsors for 2017; so look out for details and enter your site...what pride it brings when you win. We all had a great day
so we look forward to another one this year. Whilst no longer your Regional
Representative, it is still good to hear of the success and new ventures that our sites are achieving and well done to all those who work so hard to improve allotments and provide the services we offer.
As we enter 2017 we’ve had the Christmas break, eaten too much and had our feet up but now it’s time to start all over again. I know they say time goes quicker when you get older; well, I must now start to agree. Already we are planning for the vast range of functions and events for the year and that’s without starting the work back
on our plots. I’m pleased to report that Alan Hull, our NW Chairman, is doing well and is improving from his heart bypass operation and I’m sure it won’t be long before we see him sitting in his greenhouse barking his orders at poor Peter or Ray. After the last year it’s great to put all these things behind us and now get back to enjoying allotments.
I’m sure your Kings Seeds orders have been dropping on the door mat; what a great company to deal with - Les and his team are so helpful. It’s a great pleasure to have Kings Seeds as our partner in the NAS. If you haven’t used them yet, why not try
for yourself and see the reduction in prices for the same, if not better quality products than the high street. You can also earn your association some discount. It’s still not too late to order, so have a go.
So what different projects do you have
planned for your plot or site this year? Do let us know; let’s get your good news in here for us all to share. Please submit your reports
to John Irwin as soon as possible for future editions.
Christmas has seen Lawson Road Allotments as part of the community by entering not one but two trees in the annual town Christmas tree festival which has seen over 3000 visitors in just two days. Our theme was Christmas Party, with everything hand knitted or made from pork pies, cakes and tri e; I wanted to eat them all. Our second tree was a charity tree for the local homeless and less fortunate, with handmade scarfs and mittens forming a tree, which were then handed out to the community to use. It was a great couple of days seeing school children, locals and visitors calling
in and voting for the best tree and we won again, for the second year, so well done to my team.
As I close, you should already know by now that I am standing for President of the National Allotment Society and I welcome the vast amount of support I have already received. It is so nice to hear from so many of you and I like to hope that I am successful in leading this organisation through some great changes in the coming years.
Let’s have a great 2017 and a successful growing season.
Andy Percival
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