Page 40 - ALG Issue 1 2022

North West
Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Merseyside and Cheshire
Scarecrow Alley, Chorlton Arts Festival, September 2021
Ivygreen Allotments Society created ‘Scarecrow Alley’ as a way of joining with neighbours to take part in the Chorlton Arts Festival. Neighbour, Sarah Cobbe, who was a plotholder with us for many years, offered to take the lead and coordinate efforts. We hoped that, given the tough times many of us have had with Covid, we could create some fun and that children especially might enjoy taking part.
On Saturday 10th September, with Scarecrow Alley alongside our allotments, various scarecrows started assembling, joining others already arrived. There was also a table set up for the weekend displaying allotment publicity from the National Allotment Society, plus plants and cucumbers generously donated by John Irwin, Chair of our North West Counties Allotment Society. John kindly agreed to help fund this event via NAS to get us underway – around £60 for publicity. Enjoying seeing the scarecrows, he said that it was a good way to both publicise our site and connect more with our neighbours – which was indeed how it seemed.
I lost count of the scarecrows (easily 40+) because they just kept appearing in the alley and streets. Various photos can be found on Facebook sites and Instagram. Amongst them we had a Doctor Blackberry, Boris Johnson,
a mermaid, Cleopatra, bin men, Strawnaldo, a pumpkin gatherer, a father’s self-portrait – which a child assured me was accurate – and Frank Strawbottom. It seemed a success, so we decided to let the scarecrows extend their run and hang out together for another week.
Sarah Cobbe has been a star in making this work, and if she was willing and plotholders and neighbours again wanted to be part of this fluid mix, this could become a notable fun event.
Maggie Mackay
Lorne St
Open Day
Lorne St had a best allotments day with three categories:
1. Bestallotmentoverall
2. Mostrecycledmaterialusedonthe allotment, taking in any recycled material that was used in any way on the allotment
3. Differenttypesofmaterial including flowers, colours etc., different types of vegetables and the general layout.
Don Booth, Salford Federation
APOLOGY FROM REVIDGE ALLOTMENT ASSOCIATION, BLACKBURN, LANCASHIRE
The article referring to Revidge Allotment Association published in Issue 1 2021 stated incorrectly that the Association had been awarded a grant by the National Allotment Society to purchase a compostable toilet. The grant was actually awarded by the National Allotment Gardens Trust. We sincerely apologise to the Trust for this error.
Many thanks and kind regards, Kath Knowles
40 Allotment and Leisure Gardener
The two judges: Steve Dennison, Allotment Officer, and Don Booth, Salford Federation