Old Park Farm Garden Holders Association

It is with great sadness that I have to tell you that one of our gardeners, Peter Grove, passed away shortly before Christmas. I am sure you will know him as the partner of Kay. Both of them have been part of the community of gardeners on Old Park Farm for many years. Peter was a committee member for a long while and made a significant contribution to the association in many other ways including being a regular at working parties and helping to keep the communal areas in order long before workdays were thought of. He maintained his allotment to a very high standard. His contributions year after year to the annual show helped it become the success it is today. I, and many others, enjoyed hearing about his career as a cow farmer, the running he did when he was younger and the dancing he and Kay loved to do. I am sure that many of you have other fond memories of Peter too. He was a kind, generous and much-loved member of our community and will be missed by many. Our best wishes and condolences go out to Kay, his family, and friends at this very difficult time.

We will publicise the date of the funeral when we receive it. The association will send a donation or tribute on behalf of us all.

Dave Kirkham

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Working Party This Saturday

We are going to have our next Community Working Party this Saturday (10am, 7th December, so long as the weather is not horrible). Everyone is welcome; old tenants, new tenants, young and less young. Please try to come along, it makes such a difference to the site and contributes to the allotment community. Thanks to everyone who helped last time, we had a good turnout and managed to get a lot done. It would be great to see some additional people helping out this time and we can build the social side of our site at the same time.

No special skills are required. There will be some lighter jobs as well as some heavier ones – everyone will be able to join in. Bring some simple tools if you think you might want to use them. Tea, coffee and biscuits will be available. Winnie has even volunteered to make some food for the workers, which is very good of her. If you are short of time, or unsure how you can help, then just come and say hello, have a cup of tea for 10 minutes and see how you might join in next time.

The initial task is to create boundaries between the plots near the main gates. We will use pallets to do this. Additional work may include pulling up carpet, cutting hedges, clearing rubbish, removing brambles, putting in a new gate – there is no shortage of things to do. The plots will be easier to let when we can see the boundaries. The council have said that they will send me the latest waiting list this week so I want to be ready to show these plots to potential new tenants.

Council Inspection Early January

The Council Allotment Officer has been in touch. She wants to inspect the site on the 9th January 2020. Jackie left us with a good relationship with the Council and we will benefit if we can maintain this. In the past the inspection has highlighted some problems with uncut hedges and barbed wire on the site. Any observations from the council inspection will become actions for us to complete in the New Year. It will be better for us as a site if the list of actions is small, as we will have to address anything that the Council identifies. Most plots are in really good shape and I would like to thank those tenants for that.

Please try to cut your hedges before the 9th January if you can and check to see if there is any barbed wire you can remove. Be careful with the barbed wire. Note: you can put barbed wire in the metal collection area in the central car park. Let me know if you need any help and we will see what we can do.

If I do not see you before, have a lovely Christmas
Dave

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A New Secretary
Hello from your new Secretary !!! On 1st November I took over the responsibilities of Secretary for the Old Park Farm Allotment Association. I’m Dave. I garden plots 32 and 55 with my wife Becky, son Stevie and dog Daisy. Plot 32 is two down from the Association polytunnel in the centre of the site. Hopefully you can find me if you need to talk to me, otherwise email me at oldparkfarmcic@gmail.com or contact me on 07884 283 907. I look forward to hearing from you.

I want to thank Jackie for her commitment to the Association as Secretary over more than 10 years. I am only starting to appreciate the work that she has done for us all. Most of this work was invisible to me, but allowed me to garden as I wanted. We will miss her knowledge and skill as Secretary and I will also miss her as a lovely allotment neighbour. I wish Jackie and Steve success, fun and relaxation in all their new projects and goals.

The reason why I volunteered to be secretary is because I was concerned that our allotment site would become directly managed by the council if we could not find a new secretary. I think that we will be better off managing the site ourselves and that is why I decided to step forward.

New Allotment Tenants
A couple of months ago, when I started working with Jackie to find new tenants, the number of vacant plots felt a bit daunting. I thought it might take us a little time to find people to take them on. However, in a relatively short time we have let a number of plots. I am delighted to welcome all our new plot holders. They have much work to do so please say hello to them, encourage them and offer help.

We still have 5 plots without tenants. If you know anyone who would like an allotment, please ask them to submit the application form on the website or get in touch with me.

Community Working Party
We had a successful Community Working Party on Saturday 7th November. Around 14 people contributed a couple of hours of their time which was excellent. The group’s hard work on the new path to the annexe means that it is now open. Furthermore work was done clearing glass, brambles and bricks from Harry’s plots (the ones near the main gate). It was also a chance to chat and get to know each other better. Thanks to everyone who was there, your support is really appreciated. I plan the next Community Working Party for 10am Saturday 7th December. Please come along. It would be great if we could get more of us together than last time. Everyone is welcome whether you can do a little or a lot. Possible jobs include making boundaries around the plots, trimming hedges, clearing carpets and rubbish etc. The aim is to get the plots to the stage where we can let them to new tenants. We will meet at 10am near the main gate and there will be tea, coffee, biscuits and maybe bacon and sausages !!!!! I hope to see you there.

Enjoy your allotments

Dave

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As members of Old Park Farm Allotments you are again entitled to 50% discount on all packet seeds and 15% off every other item. Offer lasts until September next year.

You can order online and your order will be delivered to your home address. www.dobies.co.uk

We have a few catalogues and order forms for those that don’t want to order online. They will be in the association’s hut.

This is the new code: GD 11 90 F

Please do not give it to non members of our association.

This notification will also go on the main notice board.

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I am happy to be able to say that after all our appeals we have had some people come forward to join your committee. There will be no need to have an EGM now. However, if anyone else is thinking of stepping forward then please do. The people who have come on board have done so to stop the association from being run by the council and to keep the rents affordable for all. I am really pleased to say that David Kirkham will take over as secretary from me on the 1st of November. David’s garden is on the main drive 2 up from the association polytunnel next to Charles. I hope you will all give him a lot of support.

David will be helping on Saturday morning at the workday. If you are around even though you can’t help in the work come and introduce yourself. To committee members that have yet to meet him, this would be an ideal opportunity to have a chat before the next meeting on Saturday 2nd November, please note the change of day.

Regards

Jackie

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