Page 62 - ALG Issue 3 2021
P. 62

                                                                 London
London
Dear Editor...
for a composting toilet and had yearly plant sales to help with funding. We invited parties of primary and infant school children to the site to identify plants. They planted potatoes and onions and returned later to help dig up a potato root. This was really exciting! By this time the Treasurer’s wife was editing a much sought-after quarterly newsletter. It was a joy to read.
In between all this activity, we had to call Defra in because of the Aminopyralid problem. That was a mind-blowing experience. My photos went round to the RHS and Defra.
Shortly after that, I organised Starter Plots because so many 5 pole plotholders couldn’t even dig with a spade! They would dig up a small bit of turf using a trowel and push a plant into it and wait for it to die. I think that successful story is for another day... If you can bear it!
In 2011, the trench was finished; 30 men dug with spades, 3-foot deep and 2-feet wide, the toilet was installed,
and the Mayor sat on her public throne to be photographed inside. After the speeches and the presentation of the £1000 cheque, the first Community BBQ was in full swing. The membership had risen to 110. We stepped down in 2012. The excellent Treasurer left earlier for health reasons.
We have now been back in those roles for two years and this is the 3rd. Still doing Starter Plots for the second year this time. They actually love
the sessions! And so do I! There is competition combined with working together. And a lot of laughter.
Hope I haven’t bored you.
Angela Dixon
      I love the fresh new look of your magazine this year. It has a forward- looking feel about the articles, gardening advice and the social value of a Community working and laughing together at a 2m distance. Something silly about it! I also love the idea of encouraging children to garden on the allotment.
I felt I had to write to you about our experiences in running an allotment from scratch, really. At least, it felt like it at the time! My husband and
I have two large plots (7 pole and 15 pole) on an independent site run by
the Trustees of the local churches in Ruislip, Northwood. We were voted in as Chairman and Secretary of Joel Street Allotments in 2008, having taken on
our plots in September 2001 just before the heavy rains which brought flooding, foot and mouth, and the decimation of all the herds of cows over the following months. It stopped raining at the end of April.
Everyone else took a step backwards when the retiring Chairman asked for officers to stand because the site was in a parlous state with only 27 members. Most plots had disappeared beneath the convolvulus and bramble, and most of the Committee stood down at the next AGM. I was approached by the Lord High Everything Else to be Secretary. He obviously did not know me at all!
I refused. But I loved the site and our plots. There was nobody else. I talked to my husband, found another friend and between us we tossed up for the three jobs. My husband was Secretary, Mike became Treasurer and I Chairman. We hadn’t a clue of what the jobs entailed but we all knew what needed doing, so we each wrote a list of priorities. They
were almost identical. The order was shuffled a bit.
In 2007 when we were checking the uphill gate to Joel Street, a chap appeared from the Water Board. This was when we were shadowing our posts. The Board was putting in a new sewage pipe along the main road and wanted to rent the two plots near the gate for their supplies. In return we would get a new gate installed and they would resurface a plot for use as a car park. The work took more than a year, but we now have two usable car parks and a sturdy new gate! It does need resurfacing.
Oh! And then the JSA working parties erected a fence from fencing I obtained from a nursing home up the hill that had just been built. I embarrassed
my other half by marching into the immaculate reception area in my ‘walking the dog in the wood’ boots and asking if they were getting rid of their fencing because we could do with some for the allotment site. I must have fallen on my (dirty) feet because the Chairman of the Board of Trustees at the Nursing Home happened to have a plot at another site. She agreed to let us know when we could collect them. So, we did. They are still functioning!
Pardon the interruption. The list:
1. Open up new plots and advertise vacancies.
2. Plumbing repairs.
3. Drainage; dig a very long central
trench through the centre of the site to drain the floodplain. 4.Working parties.
By 2009 we applied for lottery funding
We invited parties of primary and infant school children to the site to identify plants. They planted potatoes and onions and returned later to help dig up a potato root. This was really exciting!
     South East
Surrey, Kent, West Sussex and East Sussex
REPRESENTATIVE
Vacant
Contact natsoc@nsalg.org.uk if interested in the position
MENTOR
Paul Neary
South East
0845 313 8422 pneary.nas@gmail.com
MENTOR
Andrew Bird
Kent
0845 313 8462 abird.nas@gmail.com
Welcome to our new members...
Hillside House Allotment Gardening Association
Newick Allotment Society
Southborough Allotment Holder's Association
9 Individuals
Kennington Community Council
     62 Allotment and Leisure Gardener
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