Page 5 - ALG Issue 4 2020

Chairman’s
comments
“May you live in changing times!” (a Chinese curse)
Well I am not so sure; the COVID situation has made many people change their work habits. Thousands are now working from home and seem to be quite reluctant to return to offices and workplaces. This, as I see it, affects staff with clerical duties that can be done on a computer remotely. I do not think assembly line workers have the same working from home option.
So how has this affected the National Allotment Society?
The last Annual General Meeting in Llandudno was a success; we were made very welcome, and despite the difficulty some attendees faced reaching the resort, it went well. Everyone was looking to the future with great plans and schemes. The new computerised system at Head Office was being installed and trial runs had begun. The new London area of the National was getting off the ground, we had had some successes fighting allotment closures, and many more sites were being created across the country. We were preparing to celebrate our 90th Birthday, open days and parties were being planned on most allotment sites, bunting was being bought, bun baking was planned, and brass bands were booked.
Then along came the Wuhan Virus, and lockdown! A disaster!
But every story needs a hero, and along came Michael Gove, “an unlikely fairy godmother”, talking sense: “Yes you can go to the (ball) allotment, it will be good exercise.”
Head Office sent out lots of information about how to open sites up, how
to practise social distancing, avoid physical contact, sanitise communal entrances and locks. The message was: keep yourselves safe. So how do the allotments look? Generally, they look same as always but with some remarkable exceptions.
“Your allotment looks better than it has ever done!” – “Well, I was furloughed!”
“I see Pat hasn’t been on her plot – well she lives so far away and doesn’t want to risk coming on the bus. She rang me up and said she wants to keep it on, but she might need some help.”
Some allotment holders have had
to leave their allotments untended
for some time; generally, the advice
is COVID causes weeds. Many local authorities have suspended inspections during the pandemic – which is a good thing – but there will be consequences, with some allotment holders seeing the rampant growth as too much to tackle and giving up, and others seeing verdant nature as a potential ally! The lockdown came and then never went; many people did not think it would
last this long. The management team had booked a working weekend for all staff and volunteers, which had to be cancelled, but the general meetings
But every story needs a hero, and along came Michael Gove, “an unlikely fairy god- mother”, talking sense: “Yes you can go to the (ball) allotment, it will be good exercise.
continued online – Zooming around the country works well. Little did we think that the 2020 AGM scheduled for Leeds would be cancelled? It will now take place via Zoom, the conference website; that will be another changing time.
We are now in August (a wet August), the season of “mists and mellow fruitfulness”, and wet wellies.
There have been lots of articles in
the press and on TV about the food supply. With the wet August the harvests on the farms and allotments are being affected. One of the latest white papers from the government
is concerned about the long-term food supply, and what can be done to maintain production. Well, as I see it the answer is simple: ALLOTMENTS – ALLOTMENTS – ALLOTMENTS.
But on a more serious note, where do we, the National Allotment Society,
go from here? We are a volunteer organisation; the volunteers are our strength, and we are in changing times. The management committee are working on plans to try to keep the society moving forward and growing. Any ideas that the membership can contribute are welcome; contact your local representatives with any ideas you have, be they local, regional or national. What can we, as a group, do better? How can you, your group, make allotments more relevant, attractive and necessary to your local area? Allotments are not exclusive; they are for everybody.
John Irwin
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Allotment and Leisure Gardener 5