Break-in at West Tarring

Sorry to say there was another break-in at the West Tarring site this week. Looks like a professional job as they cut through the lock on the South-east gate by the railway with what must have been some pretty heavy cutting gear. No vandalism took place but they made off with about £3,000 - £4,000 worth of equipment including items such as rotavators. So far 13 thefts have been reported officially (if you find you have suffered and don't jnow what to do see the Allotment Watch section on our Crime page - the initial crime number given to us by Sussex police was 166-06-12-11). Unfortunately no one can guarantee the thieves will not return so if you have got valuable machinery on site it might be worthwhile considering removing it while you're not using it. Anyone with a heavy machine and no transport can post a message asking for help.

(09/12/2011)

Peter's Marvellous Pumpkin

  

How's that for size? This 288lb pumpkin was grown by our very own Peter Foan on his plot on the West Tarring site. This was Peter's first shot at growing large pumpkins so, with experience, he's hoping for something even bigger next year - up to 500lb. That's a lot of pumpkin pie!

(03/11/2011)

Self-management vote results now in

The conclusion drawn from the vote is that no site will take up any form of self-management except West Tarring, which will run a pilot scheme from January 2012. Some sites have too few votes to support any radical decision and the rest either support option 1 (no self-management at all) or are so even as to make positive action too divisive. A few sites which showed interest may choose to opt in to a self-management system once the 2012 pilot shows results but this would only be done at the request of a majority of tenants on that site.

Look for an update at the AGM in November 2012. Meanwhile, the public meeting will be held immediately after the Association AGM (thus probably by 8.30pm) on Wednesday 9th November, in the Gordon Room Stoke Abbot Rd. All members are welcome, although plans will only directly affect West Tarring tenants.

For a full breakdown of how the voting went click here.

(06/10/2011)

Show Triumph at New Venue

On the 20th August, the Association held its 34th Annual Horticultural Show, known as "The Great Village Show", for the first time at Oak Grove College. There was a record number of entries and the hall looked simply stunning; a riot of colour, with so much glorious fruit, vegetables, flowers and cookery on display. The judge awarded the Best in Show award to Peter Webb's Top Tray which really was a superb display of vegetables. Other eye catchers were Bernie Broad's huge marrow that took two people to carry, Valerie Hitchon's fantastic novelty cake decorated to look like an allotment and Collin Stowe's giant leeks, but there were so many gems, I could go on and on. For an extra bit of interest Martin Ellmore staged a display of 18 different varieties of potato grown mainly by himself; amazing!

Outside, in the gardens, the scope was expanded to include stalls selling allotment produce, homemade cakes and lots more, like witches brooms and manure, and local groups such as beekeepers and Transition Town Worthing providing much interest. There were ducks and chickens wandering about and people sat around in the sunshine enjoying tea and cakes and soaking up the wonderful atmosphere. This really was "The Good Life". The College's award winning gardens were open for viewing and a walk round quiz to keep people on their toes. The event was very well attended and there was a real buzz about the place. The committee knew that this new venue was ideal for our show as long as it was well supported and so it was. We are delighted; it could not have been better. Everyone had a wonderful afternoon and when the accounts are finished I am sure that the Treasurer will be very happy.

As usual our willing team worked their magic on Friday evening setting up in double quick time, they worked their socks off all Saturday afternoon, and then more magic, cleared it all away. It is a pleasure and a privilege to work with such a great group of people. Many thanks must also go to everyone who generously donated cakes, produce, jams and items for the white elephant stall. This is so important to the funding of the day.

On the competitive side the exhibits were of a very high standard with a mix of experienced showmen, ordinary gardeners like me and novices all entering. It is interesting to note that 38 of the 40 adult entrants won a class prize of some sort. The trophy winners were rewarded for all their efforts as shown below.

Peter Webb came up trumps, winning most points for vegetables and flowers, best exhibit of vegetables and "Best in Show", Top Tray, Top Vase and Banksian Medal. Jack Powis won Best Fruit and Best Collection of Vegetables and hard working wife Celia took The Best Allotment award. Best Front Garden went to Jim Short for the fourth consecutive year, Heather Broad won Best Flower exhibit, President, Arthur Burt took the Rose Trophy and Brenda Cox won the Cookery award. In the novice section T. Payne won Most Points and Collection of Vegetables while H. Chamberlain won Best Exhibit.

As usual it was a delight to see the children's entries with Most Points being won by Orchard Chamberland and Best Exhibit by Georgia Antell for her wonderful collage. Ten year old Louis Edwards did well in the children's classes but also entered the "Men Only Lemon Cake" and won! Congratulations to you all. Well done.

Last year I pointed out that the ladies outnumbered the men two to one. Well this year the balance has been restored to near parity. Hooray! Finally, the "Guess the weight of the cake competition", provided by Jacqui Edwards, was won by John Nutt who was celebrating his birthday by working hard all afternoon.

Class Winners

Fruit

Class No	Winner	Class No	Winner
1.	C. Mulholland	5.	R. Bingham
2.	J. Shambrook	6.	P. Webb
3.	J. Powis	7.	H. Broad
4.	P. Green

 

Vegetables

Class No	Winner	Class No	Winner	Class No	Winner
10.	C. Stowe	20.	B. Broad	30.	P. Webb
11.	P.Webb	21.	B. Broad	31.	P. Webb
12.	P. Webb	22.	P. Webb	32.	P.Webb
13.	C. Stowe	23.	J. Powis	33.	W. Geddes
14.	P. Webb	24.	B. Broad	34.	C. Mulholland
15.	A. Burt	25.	C. Stowe	35.	P. Webb
16.	J. Shambrook	26.	M. Ellmore	36.	P. Webb
17.	C. Stowe	27.	J. Shambrook	37.	J. Powis
18.	C. Mulholland	28.	R. Bingham	38.	W. Woodcraft
19.	C. Mulholland	29.	A. Burt	39.	B. Broad

 

Flowers

Class No	Winner	Class No	Winner	Class No	Winner
40.	W. Woodcraft	49.	P. Webb	58.	P. Webb
41.	P. Green	50.	-	59.	J. Shambrook
42.	B. Broad	51.	P. Webb	60.	J. Shambrook
43.	B. Broad	52.	P. Webb	61.	A. Burt
44.	A. Burt	53.	P. Webb	62.	H. Broad
45.	A. Burt	54.	J. Slater	63.	P. Green
46.	P. Mulholand	55.	B. Broad	64.	H. Broad
47.	-	56.	H. Broad
48.	P. Webb	57.	A. Burt

Floral Arrangements

Class No	Winner	Class No	Winner
70.	M. Hollingdale	72.	B. Cox
71.	P. Mulholland	73.	M. Hollingdale

Photographic

Class No	Winner
75.	A. Nutt

Cookery

Class No	Winner	Class No	Winner
80.	P. Everett	85.	L. Edwards
81.	C. Powis	86.	B. Cox
82.	E. Willo	87.	C. Powis
83.	K. Mayger	88.	B. Cox
84.	J. Prior	89.	V.Hitchon

Novices

Class No	Winner	Class No	Winner
90.	S. Young	95.	S. Russel
91.	V. Hitchon	96.	W. Geddes
92.	-	97.	H. Chamberlain
93.	W.Geddes	98.	T. Payne
94.	T. Payne	99.	T. Payne

Collections

Class No	Winner	Class No	Winner
100.	J. Powis	103.	P.Webb
101.	P.Webb	104.	P.Webb
102.	P.Webb

Children's classes

Class No	Winner	Class No	Winner
110.	Georgia Antell, Orchard Chamberland	113.	Georgia Antell, Cameron Chamberlain
111.	Louis Edwards, Orchard Chamberland	114.	Georgia Antell, Orchard Chamberland
112.	Louis Edwards, Orchard Chamberland

PICTURES OF THE 2011 SHOW

Every exhibit and every stall was photographed during the afternoon but space constraints prevent us from showing all of them here. In addition all these photos have been reduced in size and quality for quicker display on the site. If there's a photo you fancy -even if you can't see it here - let us know as we have all the originals which are much bigger and better.

The atmosphere		Fruit		Vegetables
Trugs		Flowers		Baking
Children's sections		Novices' Section		Other sections
Stalls		People		Presentations

(20/08/2011)

Break-ins at West Tarring

Over Saturday Night and Sunday Morning 6th/7th August approximately five sheds were broken into at West Worthing Allotments, Tarring. Please could I ask that owners place good quality locks on to the sheds. Also the NHW website or DIY stores have shed alarms for sale as little as £5; these alarms may deter perpetrators from breaking into the sheds.

Many Thanks
Julie Green 07920247493
Sussex Police - Serving Sussex

(August 2011)

 

Link with Oak Grove

You may be unaware of our relationship with Oak Grove College. Their students are keen prize-winning gardeners, with their own in-house grounds and polytunnels. They also have an allotment site at West Tarring and tending it is part of the curriculum. They contribute to our community by helping members who are ill, maintaining a plot for someone who had a hip-replacement until he was able to return to active duty. Their art projects include a metal oak tree called 'The Oak Grove Tree', to be erected on the traffic island at the junction on the Littlehampton Road outside the college. It was funded by Worthing Arts Council and made by students working with artist blacksmith Tom Harrison, with a contribution from the Association. See their grounds when you come to the show and look out for the tree.

(17/07/2011)

 

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