Page 45 - ALG Issue 4 2019

North West
Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Merseyside and Cheshire
Welcome to our new members...
Euxton Parish Council
Wilmslow Town Council
Ryder Brow Community Allotment Society Lancaster City Council
Greystones Allotment
Milton Allotment Society
Free Lane Community Allotment Society
5 Individual Members
REPRESENTATIVE
Mr John Irwin
16 Parkdale Ave, Audenshaw, Manchester M34 5LW
0161 3207779 nw.nsalg@yahoo.co.uk
MENTOR
Vacant
Contact diane@nsalg.org.uk
if interested in volunteering with the Region
The North West
Report
The show season is just about over. The records of who has the winner’s cup for Best in Show has been written down, the Bakery Trophy has been polished and given out. Various mayors and local dignitaries have visited allotment sites.
The late Chrysanthemum and Dahlia shows are being prepared. The growing season is coming to an end. It is the season of ‘mists and mellow fruitfulness’.
Time to put your feet up and browse those horticultural catalogues, and I don’t think they come any better than Kings’.
My tomatoes this year were not so good – blight in late September. It’s time to clear and sterilise the greenhouse. But the apples; I had dozens from the Lord Derby in the garden, with many being boxed up and given to neighbours on the street; then the big apple tree on the allotment keeled over and now is propped up and fastened to a concrete post. The apples on the bee plot are big, fat, juicy and red, and better than last year.
Lots of sites had summer shows in National Allotments Week and thereabouts, many
with fire engines, local brass bands, and performances from other musical and theatre groups, showing just what an asset to the community allotments are. Did you visit a local allotment open day that was not your own?
You should, just to show solidarity and friendship, and you might just see a way of doing something that is better than the way you do it.
Meanwhile, here in the North West we keep getting requests from parish councils to help them set up brand new allotment sites. If this pattern is being repeated
all over the country, then the future of allotments could be rosy.
John G Irwin
Skelmersdale
Green Fayre
The West Lancashire Allotment Federation once again attended the fantastic and free Green
Fayre in Skelmersdale in July.
We had a range of information about allotments, got children planting seeds in pots made from newspaper, and gave out various recipes. People were impressed with the knitted vegetables we
had on display but were even
more delighted to see some fantastic produce picked from local allotments. Hopefully we inspired a few young gardeners. It was a great day and event.
Johndaniel Jaques, WLAF Secretary
Allotment and Leisure Gardener 45