Page 4 - ALG Issue 4 2024

NAS team at Gardeners World Live
Chairman’s Comments
It has certainly been a strange year, growing-wise, so far. Depending on who I’ve spoken to, there have been differing opinions about how successful it has been. Potatoes have been good, brassicas not good and soft fruit very good. It
has probably been my best year for blackberries, and as a result the freezer is bulging. It has been the coldest summer for nine years in this country, but with record-breaking heat in much of Europe. That’s the good thing about allotments:
if you grow a wide variety of crops, we will have weather that suits something, so we will never be totally downhearted. Conversely, we will never get too excited and happy as something we’ve always grown successfully in the past, will, for no apparent reason, fail.
If it were needed, another good reason for teaching youngsters to grow food is that it can create a good approach to life
in general. For instance, the more you put in – whether it be effort, time, even money – the more you get out. It does no harm to expect and then deal with the unexpected, and to not allow setbacks to put you off. All useful life maxims.
As well as trying to get growing vegetables on the school curriculum, I
will continue my efforts to preserve the allotments we have.The creation of new allotment sites and a much bigger say in how they are managed, together with other practical solutions to shortening the waiting lists (which keep new and energetic people from feeding themselves and feeding their inner need to garden), are all very much my goals. And, because I am a gardener, I will not be put off by setbacks.
I have been to quite a few gardening and flower shows in the last year and have met a great deal of, mainly, very nice people.The hope is that some of my enthusiasm and fervour ignites a spark in a few of those I’ve met and that allotments act as a seed for
a healthier, happier community. As my wife said to the people of Burnside Allotments at their 100-year anniversary celebration:“I wish I could bottle their community spirit and sprinkle it around a few other sites.” Mike Farrell
Yorkshire Regional Representative and Chairman, National Allotment Society
Mike with Carol Klein
Mike with Adam Frost
Could you blow the NAS Trumpet?
We are eager to hear from people who are keen to take on the role of NAS President, our interim President
Jeff Barber has done a sterling job as the face of the
NAS but is now looking to hand over the position.The NAS President represents our movement to the wider community, keeps a close eye on national allotment issues and helps to promote the Society. If you have public speaking skills and the ability to inspire and motivate people we would encourage you to contact Head Office.
Mike with Sue Kent
4 | Issue 4 2024 | Allotment and Leisure Gardener