Page 50 - ALG Issue 1 2017

West Midlands
Allotment Association Annual Charity Event
Welcome to our new members...
Addenbrooke St Allot Association Bilbrook Allotment And Leisure Society Clarkes Lane Allotment Association The Green Allotment Association
5 individual members
Upton Bishop Parish Council
Each year Mill eld Victory and Alexandra Allotment Association in Uttoxeter holds
a charity event in the High Street to raise money for three charities, the British Heart Foundation, MacMillan Cancer Support and Midland Air Ambulance. As with
most associations, the preparation and implementation of such an event doesn’t come easy! However, over the past few years, the Association has generally managed to persuade the good citizens of Uttoxeter to part with a bit of their Saturday shopping money to help these worthy causes, in return for some very fresh veg (as well as a bit of fruit and a few owers)! Generally, the Association manages to donate around £100 to each of the three charities, which is quite a reasonable result for three hours work.
2016 was a particularly tricky year as far as organisation was concerned. The usual venue, directly outside the Town Hall, was unavailable as the building now acts as a wedding location. Getting the bride caught up with the brassicas didn’t appeal to the Town Council, and probably rightly so!
The second problem was the date, as the Town Council also runs indoor and outdoor High Street fairs, which clashed with the Association’s own availability – so September 3rd was not a very popular date on offer. The Committee’s meeting in August was a bit of a ‘shall we go ahead at all?’ affair. Then the lack of produce was a serious issue, as the
season had been quite dif cult, meaning we had a good crop of beetroot, potatoes and onions, but the runner beans were a couple of weeks behind and the carrots, parsnips and leeks hadn’t really matured. Soft fruit had also mostly gone.
The Chairman, Dave Spokes, and Secretary, Beryl Hopwood made sure
that the event was as well publicised as possible in the town and on the sites.
Other committee members worked hard to persuade plot holders to donate produce and/or participate in the sorting and packing on the Friday evening. The Association is very fortunate to have former Chairman, Jake Leedham and his wife Liz, living close to the main allotment site, so their garden shed could be used for cleaning, weighing, packing and loading. Having veg nicely packed in little bags makes it easier for both the customer and those serving on the stall.
So, when Saturday morning came around, we were a bit more con dent, seeing the decent amount of produce that had been donated by our fellow members. All we needed were enough passers-by to stop, choose some veg and donate! Many customers remarked on the freshness
and quality of the allotment produce and the suggested donations of 50 pence or £1 for the items was very good value. In fact, a few customers even came back to the stall to give a further donation when they had seen the prices in the local
supermarkets. The location itself was a bit awkward – tucked under an arch outside
a closed-down coffee shop, but we were glad that the Association’s banners were prominent enough to advertise our presence. The Union ags were not our doing, but
a consequence of the celebrations for Uttoxeter’s favourite sports star, Adam Peaty, who had won gold at Rio! The ow
of customers was slow rather than steady. The bridal parties kept their distance and the ‘underneath the arches’ location turned out to be useful when the rain came.
Including some generous cash donations from association members, we managed to raise £330 to distribute to the three charities. A lot of hard work but a good result in the end.
Mark Roberts
The Acre Allotment Association, Onwards and Upwards...Success
As we come to the end of the second year of the Acre Allotments self-management committee, it is with great pride I put pen to paper to give you an account of what has happened over the last two years, what we have achieved and what the plan is for 2017.
As a committee of 11 we took charge of the Acre Allotments
on 1st April 2015. We had been planning this day for ve years after ghting all sorts of plans to shut the site down, build on it and reclaim it for other use. You name it, the rumours ew around the local area, but with the support of Liz Bunting, the NAS solicitor, and Maurice Lander, a very knowledgeable gentleman who was the Midlands Rep at the time, we fought to keep our allotments and succeeded. We were handed a parcel of land on a 25 year lease with a ve year review process and a total of 45 plots originally. However due to lack of good management, access was impossible to 10 of the plots. We also had 27 tenants, some of whom were tenants who had not looked after their plots for many years.
2015 brought the rst payments of rents into the account, a grant from Ibstock brick gave us a huge push forward and we were able to reinstate the roads around the site and fence eight out of the ten plots; with this and advertising for new tenants, we went on to enter eight plots and won prizes. The site also won an outstanding achievements award 2015, which again made it all feel worthwhile.
2016 brought rents into our account again, and after long discussions with the Council and Severn Trent water we managed to put a new mains water line in with our own water meter which means we can monitor the water and pay the bill.
We have got a community area up and running with a small pond for the wildlife and we have planted up an orchard of fruit trees so that in a few years there will be fruit for all to pick. This project will carry on for many years and hopefully will establish itself over time. We are still sorting out the drainage on site and the overall maintenance work. At Newcastle Britain in bloom this year we entered 14 plots and won 14 prizes plus the community champions award.
We are feeling very proud of ourselves and our plans for 2017 include fencing the last two allotments so that we can rent them out and work towards another award at Newcastle Britain in bloom.
2016 also bought a sad time for us as we lost an older member from the site, Mr Granvile Rushton passed away earlier in 2016 after 38 years as a plot holder; with him went many of the site memories and lots of old and wonderful garden tips.
Chrissy Mrozicki, Secretary
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