Page 53 - ALG Issue 4 2021

A Record-Breaking Year for The Wellesbourne Allotments 2021 NGS Open Day
1ST AUGUST 2021
Following a Covid-enforced postponement last year, Wellesbourne Allotments once again successfully opened their gates under the auspices of the National Garden Scheme, to bring their total donations to the Scheme’s nursing and health care charities to nearly £7,400.
The NGS Open Days have raised more than £60million for Macmillan Nurses, Hospice UK, MIND, Marie Curie, Carers Trust, The QNI and Parkinson’s UK. £2.88 million was donated in 2020 alone.
Although opening 3600 gardens this year, and as one of only a handful of allotments in the UK to take part in the scheme, the NGS chose to promote Wellesbourne Allotments as a featured garden on their Facebook page and website, with the event video attracting 1,800 views in just two days.
Requiring a monumental effort by an army of volunteers, the generosity
of local businesses and voluntary organisations, Wellesbourne’s large, lush, and lovely village allotments attracted 372 visitors (some from as
far as Derbyshire) and raised a record £3,800.
Treasurer of the Allotment Association and event manager Ken Manning said: “This is our 5th NGS Open Day and whilst it’s a challenging and exhausting experience, the pleasure visitors gain and the charitable donations we are able to make from the event is reward enough for us all.”
Upholding the event’s reputation for its exceptionally high-quality tea and cakes, plotholder Marion Allerton and her team once again delivered the famous ‘Open Day Tea Tent’. The ever-popular ‘People’s Vote’ for 2021 Best Scarecrow attracted a host of competition entries from the Allotmenteers and was won appropriately by ‘COVID Nurse Sally’ on Plot 51a. This year’s live music, provided by Stratford Upon Avon’s Amicantus choir, was exceptionally well received and the plant and produce stall proved so popular it sold the majority of its stock within a first few hours of opening.
Ken added: “We are incredibly lucky to be able to draw on the wealth of skills of our members to deliver an exceptionally fun packed day, which
...the pleasure visitors gain and the charitable donations we are able to make from the event is reward enough for us all.
this year included many new activities and required plotholders, Paul Harper and John Wilson, to form dedicated Risk Assessment Teams to ensure we created a Covid Secure environment where everyone felt safe.”
For the first time, live streaming of the event highlights was made possible utilising the online video skills of David Clarke (Plot 8), combined with the presentation talents of Wendy Necar (Plot 35). Andrew Palin from Plot 17b hosted, what is hoped will be the first of many, Gardening Question Time with Special Guest Prof. Stefan Buczacki,
a well-known horticultural expert and author of numerous gardening books.
Organising the Children’s Workshops (another Open Day first), Gary Moulton of Plot 7b said: “We are extremely grateful for the invaluable support we received from the School Gardening Club and the Wellesbourne Beavers
Allotment and Leisure Gardener 53