Update from our Recent Meeting with the Council

If you have an allotment by now you will have received your invoice for next year - £30.45. You will also have received:

The council says the tenancy agreements will be posted out with copies of the rules as soon as possible (in all probability early in the New Year, we think). Chris Bradley (Worthing Borough Council) confirmed that there were three ways of tenants returning agreement forms, via post or hand to Continental Landscapes offices, or to return them to Andy Collins on the designated site days. These "site dates" appear in the material you were sent but as we understand it the rules and agreements are not actually ready yet (22/12/09).

One weekend only, in the spring there may be rubbish skips on the three large sites.

Pallets - concerns were aired that pallets were being used as fences and not for their intended use. These have been provided free of charge to you for the making of compost bins, etc. not fences.

Path at West Tarring - Chris Bradley is going to look in to whether there is any budget left to make permanent a dodgy path, near to the Canterbury Road entrance (I hope this is right).

(22/12/09)

Well supported AGM

Yet again a very decent turnout for our AGM even though it was hardly the sort of night you might want to go out. And the evening was very upbeat with favourable reports from the treasurer, the chairman and the secretary. (To view a copy of the secretary's report click here) There was also encouraging participation from the floor but details of the meeting and all discussion will appear later in the official minutes. However, we must mention here the two presentations made at the AGM by our president, Arthur Burt. Both were firsts of a kind. The President's Cup for services to the Association over the past year went to Peter Everett, who thus became the first person ever to receive the trophy more than once. Peter has done sterling work managing our stores for more years than he cares to remember yet still mainains his acumen and enthusiasm.

The second first, if that makes sense, was achieved by Paula Jowett who became the first lady ever to receive the trophy for the Best Kept Allotment. Below is a picture of her receiving her trophy from president, Arthur Burt, along with a photo of her winning allotment.

           

                                                                                                                                                                           (26/10/09)

 

Trip to Southern Water

10 members visited Southern Water's Wastewater Treatment Works at Ford aerodrome today (Thursday). I don't know what we expected but I think everyone found the visit interesting and instructive. On arrival we were met by liaison officer, Annette Dewey, and her team and welcomed with tea and coffee and cakes and biscuits - a good start. A Powerpoint type presentation was followed by a very lively discussion and a couple of customer problems were put on the schedule to be looked at forthwith. Impressive. The site manager then took us on a tour, inside and out, and explained the various processes involved in the treatment. A couple of enclosed areas were rather malodorous but the entire site was very clean and looked as though it could have been built yesterday. It was fascinating to learn what happens to all that stuff we flush away; we just imagine it disappears but an awful lot happens to it before the cleaned liquid remains are flushed into the sea and the solid remains are heat-treated and dried out into 2mm - 4mm pellets which are then sold to farmers for their land. Unfortunately they were not allowed to give away samples or sell it to us for our allotments. Even the methane produced during the treatment process is put to good use as the onsite gas, thus avoiding huge gas bills. All questions were answered readily at any point and the staff were obviously very proud of what they were doing. Before we left, a couple of hours after our arrival, we were treated to another round of refreshments, so a good ending as well.

(21/10/09)

No Pumpkin Parade

Unfortunately we have had to abandon Pumpkin Parade this November as we no longer have anywhere to hold it.
                                                                                                                                                                                                (12/10/09)

Peter does it again!

             

Peter was at it again this weekend at Lancing's show with three winning entries in the Chrysanthemum section (silver medal) and winning the Top Tray competition. Is the man unstoppable??

(08/10/09)

The Show

THE GREAT VILLAGE SHOW 2009

Saturday 5th September was the day of the show, again at the Offington Park Methodist Church Halls working side by side with our friends in the Worthing Horticultural Society. The team of willing helpers did the setting-up like magic on Friday evening and come the morning the sun shone and we were all set for a great day, and that is what we got. New entrants as well as regulars filled the tables with their efforts and kept the judges busy all morning.

The halls looked wonderful, a blaze of colour, glorious produce and flowers everywhere and home cooked goodies to die for. The few new items in this year's schedule proved a big success with the whole of the end table full of trugs of vegetables and baskets of fruit that had a real "wow" factor. People were clearly amazed that we "plotters" can produce so much lovely grub and when you put it all together, "wow". The flower arrangement in a teapot, judged by the public, was another new hit and the public really enjoyed getting involved. Over 160 votes were cast for both the teapots and the photographs of "Sunny Worthing". The children's marigold competition was set up outside in the sunshine where they made a lovely show and the winners of the two age groups were Jack Roberts and Orchard Chamberland. She also took the trophies for the other children's classes. Sadly she was the only entrant but her success was fully deserved.

The raffle was well supported with some really excellent donated prizes and very happy lucky winners. The cake stall was superbly stocked with a vast array of lovely things so many thanks to so many members for their hard work and generosity. Over on the white elephant stall were bargains to be had all afternoon. One lady, much to her surprise, went home with a small vacuum cleaner and a little lad bought some pretty jewellery for his mum's birthday. I bet she will shed a tear or two.

As if this was not enough in the hall next door was the Horticultural Society's show with all that had to offer, particularly the flowers which were just stunning, and the chance to sit down with a cup of tea and a slice of homemade cake.

And then it was time for the prize giving. We had to explain that the Best Allotment winner is still a secret until the Worthing in Bloom presentation later in September, so our cup will be presented at the AGM in November.

The best front garden was won by Jim Short for the second year running. Then the trophy winners for the show classes were announced and it was clear that we had an outstanding showman in Peter Webb who won Best Exhibit of Fruit, Most Points For Vegetables, Best Exhibit of vegetables, Most Points for Flowers, Best Collection of Vegetables, Top Tray and Best in Show for his beautiful trug of vegetables. Congratulations Peter and thanks for a superb contribution to the show. Bernie Broad won Best Exhibit of flowers for his asters, Arthur Burt took the trophy for the rose classes and the Banksian Medal, Margo Hollingdale won the Floral Art cup and the Novice Collection of Vegetables award went to W. Scrace. The Cookery cup was won by Celia Powis and the public voted Anita Nutt's photograph the best. Your humble Show Secretary beat off all opposition to win the Men Only Cheese Straws. They were delicious and are all gone now!

Class Winners.

Fruit 1. J Shambrook, 2. J. Shambrook, 3. J Powis, 4. P Webb, 5. R Bingham, 6. J Powis, 7. C Brown.
Vegetables 10. P Webb, 11. P Webb, 12. P Webb, 13. R Bingham, 14. P Webb, 15. P Webb, 16. P Webb, 17. A Burt,
18. P Webb, 19. P Webb, 20. P Webb, 21. P Webb, 22. P Webb, 23. E Cornfield, 24. P Webb, 25. P Webb, 26. R Bingham,
27. P Webb, 28. J Shambrook, 29. R Bingham, 30. P Webb, 27. P Webb, 28. J Shambrook, 29. R Bingham, 30. P Webb,
31. P Webb, 32. P Webb, 33. P Webb, 34. P Webb, 35. P Webb, 36. D Richardson, 37. P Webb.
Flowers 40. C Powis, 41. A Nutt, 42. B Broad, 43. B Broad, 44. A Burt, 45. A Burt, 46. A Burt, 48. P Webb, 49. P Webb,
50. P Webb, 51. A Burt, 52. P Webb, 53. P Webb, 54. J Slater, 55. B Cox, 57. P Webb, 58. J Shambrook, 59. J Shambrook,
60. J Shambrook, 61. J Slater, 62. A Burt, 63. J Shambrook, 64. J Shambrook.
Floral Arrangements 70. M Hollingdale, 71. P Webb, 72. B Cox
Photograph 75. A Nutt.
Cookery 80. S Scrace, 82. C Buckland, 83. J Robins, 84. L Spencer, 85. J Powis, 86. D Richardson, 87. C Powis,
88. C Powis.
Collections 100. P Webb, 101. W Scrace, 104. J Shambrook, 105. P Webb, 106. P Webb.
Children 110. O Chamberland & J Roberts, 111. O Chamberland, 112. O Chamberland, 113. O Chamberland.

Congratulations to you all and many thanks to everyone who took part and everyone who helped. Finally to all of you who missed this event, you missed a real treat. But there is always next year!

Jack Powis, Show Secretary.
(08/09/09)

Southern Water Trip

Free Outing to Southern Water

We have received an invitation to a Southern Water Customer Forum. Southern Water sees this as an ideal and unique opportunity to meet their customers in person. We also get the opportunity to see exactly what they do. The visit has to be in normal working hours; it includes a presentation about the services Southern Water provide and a tour of the works by the site manager who will explain the wastewater treatment process.

A typical agenda for the day would be as follows:

As a tour of the site is included, appropriate clothing and footwear would be advisable. A hard hat and a high visibility jacket, which is a Health & Safety requirement, would be provided. The visit normally lasts for about 2 hours.

A forum for our association has been booked for 22nd October at 10.00am. This will be at the Ford Wastewater Treatment Works. Spaces are strictly limited so if you are interested please contact John Nutt on 243114 or via this site as soon as possible, certainly before 1st October.

(07/09/09)

LOCAL SHOWS

Two well known local characters were among the prizes again at Southwick and Fishersgate's recent show. Jack Rudland won with his 25kg marrow and Peter Webb won Best in Show. Here they are:

                                                               

It has also been Portslade's horticultural show where they had a splendid display of trugs filled with garden produce. We are introducing this event at our show this Saturday. (Try not to look who won!)

       

Can you stop him at our show this weekend?

(02/09/09)

ALLOTMENT SHORTAGE

The scale of the shortage of allotments in Worthing has come to the Association's attention this week. The waiting list has now reached 750!!!! Understandably the council is somewhat concerned but cannot see any easy way of improving the situation. In fact we are looking for ideas to put to them. Suggestions so far include buying more land or approaching local landowners to see if they would be willing to let out some of their land to would-be allotmenteers. (The National Trust already lets out some of its land for allotments) The trouble with the first suggestion is that the council does not really have the money to buy land; the second suggestion would take control out of the council's hands and we don't know what back-up services the private landlords would offer (site security, water supply, etc.) Do you have any brilliant ideas as to how we could reduce this waiting list? Please click here to send us your ideas.

(05/08/09)

'Forty-year wait' for allotments

People in a north London borough must wait up to 40 years for an allotment as demand grows, a survey has indicated.
More than 80,000 people are waiting for a plot with a typical delay of three years, a poll of 301 UK councils found. The longest wait was in Camden at 40 years, followed by 30 years at Blyth Valley in Northumberland and 25 years in Islington, north London. The National Society of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners (NSALG) said interest in allotments was "encouraging".

Many benefits
The survey by home insurance firm LV also found that 56% of allotment users took up a plot to save money. Just over a third of respondents said they had an allotment to control the amount of pesticides used on their food. NSALG secretary Geoff Stokes said: "It's encouraging that so many people are interested in getting out and getting in to some green space. "Allotment gardening is a fantastic hobby and has so many benefits - it's cheap, it's good for you, and it can save you hundreds of pounds a year on food."

 

Theft on allotment sites

Our allotment sites are suffering from an outbreak of thieving. Mainly this involves the theft of produce, particularly soft fruit, especially blackberries and strawberries. We're not talking about someone pinchng one or two as they walk past - which in itself is bad enough - but family groups coming armed with punnets and stripping sections. One person at West Tarring lost all their strawberries and others have lost different crops and even a pot of jam someone put down for too long disappeared. When confronted, one large chap with 2 youngsters had no excuse and a grandad and child said, well they only wanted a few. This is theft! But how are they getting in? Some are probably former tenants who never gave in their keys and we know some are relatives of present plotholders but others are simply walking in when the gates are left open. Please remember: KEEP THE GATES LOCKED.

And now we come to the worst bit: some of those seen taking produce from plots are actually plotholders themselves raiding other plots. If anyone is caught doing this they will lose their plot (as per your rules) and if we have the evidence to prosecute well, why not? This is anti-social and illegal. If you observe any of these practises we have to advise caution in confronting offenders (do not touch them!) but please let us know. Just send us an email (worthingallotments@hotmail.co.uk) and we'll see what we can do with the help of the police and the Allotment Watch scheme but Allotment Watch only works if we all keep are eyes open and report anything dodgy.

(05/08/09)

RETURN OF POISON MANURE?

I'm sure you must be aware of the problems experienced by allotment holders last year due to the use of manure contaminated by a persitent herbicide called aminopyralid. Information has been collated about this problem from the links on internet page http://www.glallotments.btik.com/p_Contaminated_Manure.ikml

Just to update on the latest re aminopyralid contamination in case you would like to provide updates on your website or to allotment holders in your area. The latest infomation re manure contamination is posted on my website at http://www.glallotments.btik.com/p_herbicide_latest.ikml

I have also sent out an email for circulation by everyone I know that has been affected which is at http://www.glallotments.btik.com/attachments/contaminated_manure_alert.pdf which you may find useful to circulate to allotment holders in your area. It is particularly important that gardeners be aware of the need for caution when obtaining manure in light of the fact that the government are now considering reinstating the licence that was temporarily suspended last year. As this is a concern to many gardeners you may wish to publicise an epetition that has been started at http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/aminopyralidban/

I am posting updates as I get them on my blog http://glallotments.blogspot.com/ just on case you want to keep a watching brief.

Regards Susan Garrett                                                                                                                                                       (03/08/09)

 

THEFTS ON SITE

There have been reports of theft of produce particularly at West Tarring. We now work closely with the police, even more so since the instigation of Allotment Watch, but we ourselves are the only people likely to recognise a "stranger" on a plot . i.e. someone who is not usually there. It's a good idea too to tell your neighbours if you're going away and someone else is coming to look after your crops or they may find themselves being challenged. Remember it is in our interest that all crime is reported or we will drop down the priority list of police patrols.

(20/07/09)

WORTHING HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY SUMMER SHOW

WHS had their summer show on Saturday, 27th June on Broadwater Green. The weather was fine, the sky blue and the visitors numerous. The numbers of entries in some classes showed a big jump especially in the interschools challenge. Arthur Burt won several prizes in the sweet pea section again including the Silver Cup for the best exhibit of sweet peas, the Molly Cuer Cup for most prize money in the sweet pea classes and the National Sweet Pea Society' medal. He didn't just win in the sweet peas either. Other winners on the day included Dolphins Nursery, Broadwater CE First and Middle Schools (all interschool challenge), Jan Adams, James Bamber, Maureen Jackson, Jenny Leach, Jack Rudland, Janice Shambrook, Christine Shane, Jane Stevens and Peter Webb. But let the pictures tell the story.

        WALKING ROUND            

                                                                                                                                                          Schools' Potato Competition

PERSONALITIES

             

                  Mayor and Mayoress                                Guardian of the Trophies                                 Chairman Jenny

                           

         The tea ladies                                Arthur with sweet peas              Mayor at the stand of the W&D Allotments &Gardens                                                                                                                   Association (scarecrow in background)

RED CARDERS ALL

               

              

               FRUIT AND VEG                        

               

(03/07/09)

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