Page 36 - ALG Issue 4 2024

NORTH WEST
71 YEARS
ON THE PLOT
Cliff Brindle first started gardening when he was about 10 years old, helping out his uncle who owned a nearby nursery, and a plot tended by the junior school he went to during the war.This kickstarted a lifelong passion for growing which still lasts today at the tender age of 90. During his stint in the RAF for his National Service, Cliff got his first allotment in 1953 and still has an allotment 71 years later.
Cliff with plotholders from Witton Allotments
Cliff’s allotment is on theWitton Park Allotments site in Blackburn, a site provided by a local benefactor and surrounded by Witton Country Park.
Cliff worked in a cotton weaving shed and the allotment provided a release from a frustrating job and provided a calm place out of the hurly burly of the mill. Cliff had by this time married and the allotment provided a place for his three children to play and get some much-needed fresh air in the days of mill chimneys and smog. Cliff worked shifts and, along with his wife, this provided time during the day for them to tend the allotment.
Cliff ’s main love is growing flowers, chrysanthemums, roses and dahlias. He also grows all the vegetables and strawberries.
During his 71 years on the allotments, Cliff has seen many changes in growing ideas and is still learning today. He doesn’t have permanent beds but digs over the whole allotment each year before planting out in different orders and leaving a soil path in between.
When asked about the hardest thing to grow, Cliff ’s reply was that he thinks carrots
need a bit more attention – but with determination Cliff has succeeded, despite being told in the early days that carrots couldn’t be grown on Witton Allotments!
Cliff was a successful winner of prizes for his chrysanthemums and dahlias in Blackburn and Chipping, but no longer enters shows.
In terms of Witton Allotments, Cliff has seen many changes, such as the opening of a shop to supply allotment holders –
also a meeting place for swapping
ideas and tips. Cliff was also the
treasurer for 19 years and a
committee member for many
more. He has also noticed that
allotment holders have changed
from mainly older retired
men to a younger, more
mixed demographic.
Cliff has always taken
an interest in any new
allotment holders and
is willing to offer any
advice and support.
Cliff has always found the allotments
a respite from the stresses of life. No more so than during the pandemic, where they provided a means to get out of the house and the opportunity to talk to other people (albeit from a distance) and was invaluable in keeping Cliff in touch with others.
Along with the allotment, in his early married days Cliff also tended gardens for people as an additional income.
Cliff thinks the best thing about having an allotment is definitely that it keeps you
in a calm state of mind and is an escape from everyday stresses. Despite having
a double hernia, heart bypass and
cancer, Cliff is still going strong and still enjoying his life down on his plot.
In tribute to Cliff’s dedication to allotment gardening, he was
presented with a plaque at our AGM in July and a
dedication was read out. Here’s to many more
happy years down on the plot.
Jaqueline Taylor, Treasurer Witton Park
Allotments
Cliff with other prize winners Dana Dewhurst – Best Newcomer and Kerry Thwaites – Most Improved Plot
36 | Issue 4 2024 | Allotment and Leisure Gardener
Cliff Brindle