Page 50 - ALG Issue 4 2020

Eastern
Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, Essex, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire
REPRESENTATIVE
Mr Ray How
5 Dalys Road, Rochford, Essex SS4 1RA
07720 719224 ray.how@btopenworld.com
MENTOR
Vacant
Eastern Region
report
By the time we are reading this, we will have dark evenings and thinking of next year’s crops. We have
had a good summer weather-wise, but with COVID-19 our ability to enjoy has been somewhat curtailed. What
a blessing to have the allotment. Fresh air, exercise, wonderful crops and a suntan which was free. I have been very lucky with no health issues but have friends who have been suffering and our thoughts are with them.
We do not know what is going to happen in the future, but we must be positive in our thoughts and help those less fortunate.
We are working towards fully leaving the EU at the end
of the year and many articles have been written about cheap imports of inferior US food. No doubt there will
still be imports of cheap vegetables from Europe such as mushrooms and salad crops. I can remember near where I live in Essex many mushroom farms and nurseries growing tomatoes and lettuces. They were fresh and reasonably priced. Oh, those were the days. Perhaps with the revival in allotment use and ‘Grow Your Own’ we can stop these imports. British is Best.
Although we have missed out on our regular meetings and get-togethers, life must go on. We are all here to help each other however big or small the problem is. With the easing of some of the restrictions hopefully allotment sites and associations will start getting back to some form of normality. Please let us have your stories about what has been happening and how you have been doing.
I would like to thank all the staff at Head Office during this difficult time. It doesn’t matter what the problem is, they are always willing and able to help.
I have tried the ‘No Dig’ method on part of my plot and it is great; fewer weeds and good crops. I will try a bigger area next year.
I have also tried to be more organic and not use pesticides or chemicals. It is definitely the way forward. Please give itago.
Hopefully 2021 will mean that we can be in attendance at shows around the region, however big or small they may be.
Happy growing and here is to a GOOD and healthy winter. Please support our region and help it grow stronger.
Ray How, Regional Rep Eastern Region
50 Allotment and Leisure Gardener
Hunstanton Northfields Allotments Club
If it hadn’t been for our allotments, I don’t know how a lot of us would have coped with lockdown.
Our sprawling site on the north Norfolk coast gave us the opportunity for fresh air and exercise as the pandemic raged. While we had to social distance through the height of the coronavirus, we had the comfort of being among friends
– even if all the usual banter and leg- pulling had to be shouted over the fence and the Tea Horn was silenced.
We decided to keep our plots open because we could garden safely
if we took a few common sense precautions, like hand sanitiser before and after touching the gate and closing communal areas like the loo and tool shed where the Tea Horn lives. It’s made many of us realise how important allotments are on another level, beyond what we grow. Beyond even the fact
we cultivate friendships as well as fruit and vegetables on a site which has a wide age range and people from several nationalities who enjoy each other’s company as much as what they harvest.
Our gardens were the green shoots
of our wellbeing, as summer sailed
in regardless. We marvelled at the wildlife, as the red kites dipped and soared on the sea breeze and the bees buzzed in our blooms. We’ve shared produce, dishing out some of our
crop to neighbours in lockdown. And we’ve looked after plotholders who’ve had to isolate, by delivering shopping and plants so they can at least grow
a few tomatoes. Our allotments have never mattered as much to the diverse community who enjoy all they bring to our table.
Chris Bishop, Hunstanton Northfields Allotments Club, Norfolk
Welcome to our new members...
24 Individuals
Drayton Parslow Parish Council Ivinghoe Parish Council Kessingland Parish Council