Page 58 - ALG Issue 3 2022

South West
Cornwall, Devon, Somerset and Dorset
REPRESENTATIVE
Vacant
Contact natsoc@nsalg.org.uk if interested in volunteering with the Region
Wales
All counties of Wales
REPRESENTATIVE
Judith Hill 07724993310 or 02920 758080 jfhill.nas@gmail.com
MENTOR
Allan Cavill
South West 07748178964 allan.cavill2@gmail.com
MENTOR
Peter Ryan
Wales
0845 564 1881 pryan.nas@gmail.com
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Welcome to our new members...
Milton Abbot Allotment Association St Newlyn East Allotment Association
4 Individuals
Milborne Port Parish Council
Eastside Allotments
Calls to 0845 numbers cost 3p (ex VAT) per minute plus your telephone company’s access charge
The priority was apparent to anyone and everyone: we needed to do something about the paths at Eastside Allotments (Swansea). Or rather the lack of them. The slopes up through the plots were muddy ravines and a serious accident waiting to happen.
In February 2019 the local councillor at the time, Clive Lloyd, put secretary Mike in touch with the Swansea Councils Grant officer and with his guidance Mike applied for a Church in Wales Community Grant of five thousand pounds. In the March, two thousand pounds was paid into the allotment bank account on condition that it was spent on building paths.
The money was used to buy in total
20 1-tonne bags of chippings, 150m
of 100mm x 20mm timber, 50m of 40mm x 15mm timber, 40 paving slabs and four rolls of weed membrane. We also got scaffolding poles and fittings donated from several local scaffolding companies to make handrails.
And then the work began. We had to clear and level two paths, lay down the membrane, build the frames and steps and then fill everything in with chippings. Up stepped our ‘Head
of Maintenance’, Clive, who did an immense amount of work levelling and building, assisted by Mike and a crew of Simon, Jamie and Adam to do some of the heavy lifting, including hauling the chippings around the site.
The work, done on and off and interrupted by Covid, took about two years to complete but has made a
massive difference. The site is no longer a death trap.
We were looking for grants to make other improvements to the site
when Mike received an email from Social Farms and Gardens telling us about funds available from the Welsh government, led of course by keen allotmenteer Mark Drakeford. The money could be used to meet any needs, but the emphasis was on trying to make plots available to allow more people to enjoy the benefits of an allotment.
The terms of the grant fitted perfectly one of our big challenges. For some sixty years, an area of 120m x 75m in
the top corner of the allotment had
lain unused, a mass of weeds which attracted fly-tippers. It had always been accepted that this area was a part of our site but it had never been cultivated. Now, with the local council handing
us responsibility for everything, it was uptoustofindawaytouseit.Agrant would allow us to do so.
Our communal shed was decades
old and while it understandably had sentimental value to some of the older members, it was rotten and needed
to be replaced, which we could not afford to do. Members who usually
used the Kinley Street gate had long complained about the steps up to it from the pavement: they were in very poor condition, did not have handrails and finished on the pavement with no barrier before the main road. And in a couple of areas, we needed to fill in gaps in the Heras fencing around the site.
The work, done on and off and interrupted by Covid, took about two years to complete
We put in a substantial claim, but we noted that the work would create seven plots and also that our allotment is in an area officially considered an economically deprived area.
On 1st September 2021, Gemma Bevan, who administered the grants for Swansea Council, called Mike to let him know our application had been successful. It was now up to us to get the work done.
This was meat and drink to Mike who does this kind of tendering out as part
of his day job. For each element he got in touch with local companies and obtained three quotations for the work involved.
Welcome to our new members...
Allotment and Community Orchard Group Gwernifor Allotment Society
Llangefni Allotment Society
3 Individuals
Vale Of Glamorgan Council
58 Allotment and Leisure Gardener