Page 6 - ALG Issue 4 2022

President’s
scribblings
I ended my last scribblings with a mention that I attended the Malvern Spring Flower Show for its duration. It was a lovely show with a very good team of volunteers and presented a good image of the NAS. Well done to all involved.
Busy, busy! Since that time, I have attended numerous meetings in house and with many other organisations e.g., Chartered Institute of Horticulture and RHS to mention just a couple; both live and on Zoom. A wide range of topics were discussed from education, growing, and cooking through to NAS new developments. There were four radio interviews (one in Stockholm, Sweden) and three TV appearances (one with Angela Rippon, who never seems to age).
I gave three illustrated talks about growing, all with a backup leaflet stand and banners.
AGM: This was held in Marks Tey, Essex, a little bit out on a limb but reasonably well attended considering the location; details are in a previous magazine. I must add that the visit to Kings Seeds was eye-opening and amazing and the field full of sweet-scented sweet peas was spectacular.
Allotment Officers Forum: I attended the Yorkshire Forum and very beneficial it was too with many interesting items discussed, new connections made and a follow up of new memberships. These forums are so beneficial.
Shows: I spent five days assisting with the manning of the stand at the Tatton Show and spoke to many people, which is always a pleasure. There were some amazing school gardens adjacent to the NAS stand. There is more about this
on the North West Region page. If you can get involved in shows it is good fun and very good for the promotion of our organisation.
NAW was a huge success. So much media attention and so positive; it
was a very busy week. Many thanks
go to Lauren Lawless, our new PR and Marketing Co-ordinator (pg 6), for the sterling promotion work she did. I hope many of you opened up your sites to the public. My own site did; it is always good to involve the local community; we even had our new Leeds City Council Allotment Officer visit which was extremely nice. Nothing better than
tea and cakes and a good natter at the allotments. Try it on your site.
Regional Meetings in Yorkshire; our region is so large that we have decided to move our meetings around the region in an attempt to make them more accessible to our members. Mike Farrell, our Regional Representative, has made our meetings a hybrid by operating
a Zoom of the meeting making it accessible to even more members. We also decided to visit local allotment sites near to the location of the meeting to add further interest to delegates. There is nothing I like better than looking around a different allotment site; you can always learn and see something new. Our last location was North Allerton, a small market town in North Yorkshire (story on the Yorkshire Region page).
Nothing better than tea and cakes and a good natter at the allotments
International Allotment Federation:
I attended the recent Study Session
in Stockholm, Sweden. It was
well attended by eleven countries’ Federations; unfortunately, Japan could not attend due to the present world situations.
These sessions are always extremely informative with many new allotment initiatives discussed and put forward.
This year the UK had been invited to
do a presentation on ‘connections with other organisations and new initiatives. Our presentation was very well received by all with lots of questions regarding the NAS new initiatives which delegates were very impressed with, and it opened out into some very in-depth and lengthy discussions.
The delegation also visited some nearby allotment sites, very different
in style, the first being like a traditional allotment site with no structures and the last being more like cottage gardens with chalets. I was accosted by a radio reporter who was interested to see so many nations visiting the allotments. I was interviewed and it was broadcast on Stockholm Radio and the Internet. International recognition for the NAS.
Finally: Just prior to writing this I had a double media appointment with Radio Leeds and BBC TV Look North news. Topic: you’ve guessed it, hosepipe ban.
Here’s hoping for more rain. Happy allotment gardening. Phil Gomersall
6 Allotment and Leisure Gardener