Page 45 - ALG Issue 3 2021
P. 45

                                 Members have retained relationships (over the fence) and enjoyed a tranquil additional place to visit in difficult times for many. This was a time to give back – not that it was ‘owed’ but a time to share the sanctuary that plots had provided in the last year.
Communication from NGS was limited but always relevant. Restrictions through COVID meant that national NGS would make all bookings ‘essential’. This meant that anyone wanting to visit had to book online beforehand unless they were a member of the ARDAA. By providing this electronic system it made it all the easier to know how many visitors there would be on site at any one time and to be able to cater for the numbers accordingly! For the first time, visitors were going to pay to go through the gates but all for a good cause – the NGS. Additionally, a pack of ready-made dated posters, stickers, booklets, and road signs were delivered in good time together with other bits and pieces for the day.
Catering was easy to manage. Using disposable cups, hot and cold drinks were provided as required and the decision made that they would be free of charge. Additionally, many of the lovely plotholders created and donated homemade cakes for the event and on the morning of the open day, all popped onto site delivering their produce to
the welcoming arms of additional volunteers. Again, the cakes were free of charge though donation buckets were strategically placed about the site in
case anyone might feel the need to give to the cause!
On the day of the first event, visitors moved towards the entrance gate,
they were handed an NGS booklet together with a map and dossier of the allotments. As they veered through the entrance, visitors were confronted with the ‘The Cart Meal’. A white wooden cart was laden with freshly picked rhubarb that was repeatedly replenished throughout the day. Jars of homemade jellies and jams and bundles of lavender picked from the plots in 2020 were also donated and again, all free of charge, though another donation bucket was placed nearby.
Plants (grown from seeds) were of
a perfect size making them very popular for the visitors. The Growing Academy polytunnel was filled with tomato, cucumber and the usual fruit and vegetable plants, together with perennial flowers, herbs and old tools donated by friends of the site and plotholders. Numbers were ‘managed’ through the doors and folk were politely ushered from one end of the tunnel to the other (in a very orderly manner) but it enabled people to peruse and choose their route in comfort and tranquillity.
In addition, many plotholders opened gates to their plots and admiring visitors were able to ramble round each, asking questions whilst observing COVID guidance. Families with children ventured onto the ‘Centenary Plot’ created 4 years previously where they
Many plot– holders opened gates to their plots and admiring visitors were able to ramble round each, asking questions whilst observing COVID guidance
could have the ‘proper’ allotment experience. By digging for gold with trowels and riddling the soil for nuggets (sprayed stones) and pennies, the site was a place with nothing for children to buy, but instead, a place to absorb the real experience of allotmenteering.
And of the benefits? More people in the community had a day out on the site that they may never otherwise have had the pleasure of doing. The donation buckets are still being sorted and contents counted and an overwhelming feeling of happiness from truly working in partnership with an organisation who supports so many other charities which have not been able to function and, in some cases, support families in the community in this last 12 months.
The NGS is an organisation that seems to be packed with people who return calls, reply to emails and who are really helpful with advice from experiences. A pleasure to work with.
So, is your site thinking about opening their gates? Just do it! You will not regret it and if you want to show off your beautiful site assets, need to build up your numbers on your own volunteer list or waiting list – then this is the time to do it.
I suppose one thing I have forgotten to mention is that our first day did coincide with ‘World Naked Gardening Day’! Enough said!
         EDITOR’S NOTE:
If your site is inspired to open with the NGS in 2022, why not do it in National Allotments Week
8 to 14 August 2022?
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