Page 36 - Allotment Gardener Issue 1 2024

READERS ARTICLES
Camaraderie in Urmston
Granville Park Allotments is a self-managed ground in Urmston, South Manchester. Here they tell us about their journey to creating a valuable communal space.
So far, we have:
• Introduced people together via monthly
events to socialise and learn new skills - social events have included a tea party, a tour of a member’s plot with Q&A and pumpkin carving.
• Provided educational sessions on composting, fruit tree pruning and how to ‘grow for show’. • Held a hands-on session on how to make jam
& chutney. These members were able to put this skill into action and make preserves to sell for our fundraising purposes as well as preserving for their own use.
• Donated regularly to two local community charitable groups who cook meals to feed the homeless in Manchester.
• In the pipeline we have a masterclass on making natural Christmas wreaths and will move in 2024 by gaining feedback from our members to build a responsive schedule for 2024.
At the 2022 AGM, a proposal was made to build a community plot. Our aims were to:
1. Provide a space that can be used for social,
educational and engagement events with
members and non-members.
2. Grow food that can be used for fundraising
at our annual open day to help us keep the membership costs as low as possible to help prevent financial barriers to having an allotment.
3. Make regular food donations to local charities and good causes to support those at risk of food poverty.
4. Widen participation - to offer opportunities to engage with gardening for those whom an individual plot tenancy may not be manageable.
The work to clear the plot started in February 2023. Plot 5a was full of bindweed so it was
a tough job. 152 person hours later, the plot structure was in and we started planting in April.
Twenty-two plotholders contributed to building the plot, including donating their time and items needed such as plants, seeds and paint. A call out was made to the local Urmston community via social media groups and we received donations of paving slabs, pallet collars, bricks, plants, compost, old fencing panels and recycled timber.
Over recent years, we have had a boost in new members who join the association with little or no experience of gardening. This is great news for the future of the allotment movement, but provides a new challenge for grounds to build support networks and help new plotholders develop the skills needed to succeed.
Our community plot now provides a central hub to build that community spirit. We hope that our educational sessions will go ‘hand in hand’ with the informal support that friendship and camaraderie brings.
2023 has been a great first season for
our Community Plot. You can follow our progress by visiting our website at www.granvilleparkallotments.org.uk
or following us on Facebook by searching for ‘Granville Park Allotments’.
36 | Issue 1 2024 | Allotment Gardener