Page 51 - ALG Issue 4 2018

West Midlands
Record allotment crowd
taken on enthralling march
Welcome to our new members...
Lansdowne Allotment Association 15 Individual Members
to Parliament
Sunflowers reaching for the heavens
and truly bulbous pumpkins made for
a bountiful entrance to this allotment patch on the fringes of town. An audience pitching up with foldable chairs, sun hats and buggies also made this an idyll of plenty, with a record crowd of more than 250 on a Tuesday evening.
What followed under blue sky and fluffy white clouds was outdoor theatre at its finest. Voices projected to the very last seat many rows back in
in a greater good was reminiscent of the hundreds that gather for the local Park run every Saturday in a sports field overlooking the allotment. Remarkably, Mikron did this for nothing more than a whip-round.
With a gazebo knocking out cake, spring rolls and tea in white china, it was the most sociable occasion in memory at the allotments. Song, dance and audience interaction helped Mikron’s multi-talented quartet – completed by James McLean,
Christopher Arkeston and Rosamund Hine
– keep the audience in their hands as they flitted between scenes and characters. Above all, it was fun. As Revolting Women unfolded, Sylvia’s dedication had taken the crowd in its wake,
all the way to Parliament.
A hundred years on, Mikron is telling the
suffrage story in unusual and improvised spaces across the country, aided by a vintage narrowboat and van, the travelling troupe’s primary modes of conveyance.
No elitism here, just their mantra of ‘theatre anywhere, for everyone’. Sylvia would surely have approved.
Josh Layton, St Mary’s Allotment Association
the car park-turned-
auditorium, the
canal-faring theatre
company told the
tale of women’s fight
for the vote with
gusto, humour and
boundless energy.
Historical accuracy
was here too, the
story of a less well-known Pankhurst, Sylvia, reignited with spark, charm and conviction in an utterly belting performance by Daisy Ann Fletcher in the lead role. In context,
this is some of the best theatre I have seen. The hopes, attitudes and misconceptions of 1918 were boomed forth in a merry, breathless whirl that enveloped all ages of the crowd, from those in buggies to those who pursue gardening as a way of life. In a way, the massing created by a core belief
With a gazebo knocking out
cake, spring rolls and tea in white china, it was the most sociable occasion in memory at the allotments
Gardeners’ World Live –
Crop Rotation for Beginners 2018
Taking the theme of ‘Crop Rotation for Beginners’ from page 20 of The Allotment and Leisure Gardener Magazine Issue 1 2018, the Officers of the West Midlands Region set about preparing for the Gardeners’ World Live Show 2018 way back at the beginning of the year.
The chief enemy this year, as for all gardeners, was the weather. Cold from December onwards through to mid-April saw the planned crops refusing to germinate.
Eventually, and with reluctance, they did
begin to appear and slowly, with tender
care, they grew into acceptable plants.
and talks had been arranged on topics ranging from winter cultivation to a personal gardening blog; facilities were laid on
by the Show organisers to enable this to happen. The Thursday duly arrived as did the members of the public. They came in their thousands and, it seemed, nearly all of them came to our stand.
By the end of the four days our feet ached, but we met many gardeners with varying shades of experience and had signed
On the Tuesday before the Show was
due to open on the Thursday, we gathered
in an empty hall at the National Exhibition
Centre. With some of the carpeting in
place and our stand covered in plastic in
anticipation of the arrival of the plants and compost, the raised beds appeared and we were soon on our hands and knees setting out the precious plants in accordance with the diagram in the Magazine.
By the end of the day all the plants were in place, a plastic greenhouse erected and stocked. All that remained was for the posters and other information to be put in situ.
In a development from the previous years, a series of speakers
They came in their thousands and, it seemed, nearly all of them came to our stand
up quite a number of new members, both individual and society members. This year we had been supported by many volunteers who gave their time and spread the word about the Allotment Society enthusiastically. Even so very few of us had time to visit the other stalls at the Show. In the last hour of the final day members of the public were allowed to help themselves to our plants.
Soon all that was left were the raised beds and the posters; everything else had gone, and walking ‘forests’ were proceeding towards the railway station and car park.
We would like to thank Kings Seeds for their generosity with seeds and Planters’ Garden Centre, Freasley, Tamworth for providing us with a greenhouse.
John Mc Nab
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