Worthing and District Allotments and Gardens Association

Secretary's Notes
It's here at last - my last "Plotholder" and we have still not had a volunteer come forward to take over. It really is quite easy; mostly just chasing up other people to write their bit. If you could help us out then please give us a ring, pop along to any of the Stores or call in at one of our meetings. Meetings are on the first Tuesday of every month at East Worthing Community Centre. Please help.

With all the old plots now being let I know we have a lot of new members. I am sure many of you got to the Show last month and had a great time there. You probably do not know about the social highlight of the year - our ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING. Details in the box below. Everyone is welcome to attend this important meeting, so do come along and have your say in the Association's activities. Refreshments and chat after the formal meeting!

This year we are proposing to update our Rules at the AGM. These proposals are included in this "Plotholder", so bring them along when you come to give your approval. Or you may just want to come to have a moan about the Borough Council, which, at the moment, are going to withdraw the bin service at all Sites from next April, as well as increasing our rent by 17%!!! Come to the AGM and say what you think about that!

Not only is this my last "Plotholder" but I am also standing down as Secretary, so it will be an ideal opportunity for you to meet our new Secretary, Peter Webb. I am sure that he will do a fine job, so Good Luck, Peter!

It is that time of year again when subscriptions are due. However, the most unbelievable, amazing, credit-crunch-busting thing is.... it is still ONLY £3.00. Unbelievable value!
TO REJOIN: take your money and Membership Card to any of our Stores, OR renew at the AGM, OR post (with a stamped/addressed envelope) to the Membership Secretary.

We hope to set up a scheme soon which will help out anyone who, through no fault of their own, gets behind with the work on their plot and needs some help to bring it up to scratch. So if you, or someone you know, need help - maybe because they are ill or have had an accident - then contact your Overseer. Help may be at hand.

Terry Edwards, Hon. Secretary

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AN APPEAL FROM YOUR COMMITTEE
The Committee is appealing for someone to take on the role of Publicity Officer. A Member with the skills and facilities to produce posters to advertise our events. This is a role which could expand to include reports and articles for the local press to raise the profile of our Association.

.....ALSO

We need someone to take on the role of "Plotholder" Editor. This Newsletter is issued five times a year and the job would entail being the recipient of Members' contributions, producing their own material if possible and co-ordinating with a small sub-committee to finalise the content and with our publishing lady for the typing and copying.

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THE WHITE ELEPHANTS' TAIL
We received many contributions for the White Elephant Stall at the Annual Show, raising much needed funds to defray the Show costs. There were two particularly valuable items which did not sell on the day. We hope to sell them on E-bay or by other means, but if any of you out there would like a real bargain we are offering:-

• Brand new Chantry acoustic guitar ... very well made, lovely tone and easy playing action. It comes complete with soft case, stand and four tutorial books with CDs. The accessories alone would retail at £60. We are asking £50 for the lot!
• A boxed set of Royal Albert Plates depicting the Queen Mother's Favourite Flowers. This was issued as a limited firing collectors' set and we have all nine in perfect condition in their original boxes. The art work was commissioned specifically for this issue and they are very pretty. £30 for the complete set - a crazy price of £3.33 each.

If you are interested in buying either of these items please ring Celia or Jack Powis on 243216

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TERRY & JACQUI EDWARDS
So, Terry is stepping down as Honorary Secretary and giving up his position as editor of the Plotholder. What can you say about Terry? A down-to-earth gardener and true enthusiast of the allotments movement, he has been a boon to the Association Committee for years. As well as "secretarying" and editing he has worked hard at forging working links with the Borough Council and other organisations such as the Worthing Horticultural Society. Terry strove to expand the scope of our Show and was particularly keen to get children involved. This enthusiasm also resulted in the instigation of Pumpkin Parade in November. And who invented "Pub Night"? Needless to say it is still going strong.

We must not forget Terry's wife, Jacqui, who for years was Joint Honorary Secretary with Terry, responsible for recording and updating membership details and taking the minutes at all Committee meetings until she felt she was unable to continue in the post earlier this year. Jacqui also supported the Show in practical fashion by introducing a cake stall which she ran for 3 years. That involved an awful lot of baking besides organising contributions from other members. This has helped to transform the Show from the loss-making enterprise it once was.

We are grateful to both of them for their years of service and dedication. Please accept the many thanks of all members of the Committee and our best wishes for the future.

ASSOCIATION COMMITTEE

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DIAMOND JUBILEE SHOW         
As the Association was founded in 1948 this was our Diamond Jubilee Show; for the fourth time the venue was shared with our friends in the Worthing Horticultural Society. We had planned to extend our show area this year by the erection of a large tent in the back yard, but when the gale blew up and the tent started waltzing around it had to come down again!

Despite the appalling weather which threatened to turn allotments into mud baths and flatten any flower standing, there was a very good turn-out of entrants, including a number of newcomers. Considering the conditions the standard of exhibits was amazing although the number of soft fruit and flower entries was down and the children's Snake, Swan and Doll gourds just did not grow due to the lack of sun. This resulted in a disappointing drop in children's entries overall.

As usual the raffle, the White Elephant and the Cake stalls did very good business, in fact better than ever and we must thank everyone who supported these - particularly all the cooks who were very generous with their cake contributions. The public enjoyed themselves judging by the photographic competition on the theme of "Summer Time". This was won by Ken Willo for his very appropriate picture of our early summer barbecue with a very colourful array of umbrellas!

The trophies were well spread out amongst the members although two entrants were outstanding. Peter Webb won Best Kept Allotment, Most Points for Vegetables, Best Exhibit for Vegetables, Best Exhibit for Flowers, Best Collection of Vegetables and Top Tray. Janice Shambrook won Best Exhibit of Fruit, Most Points for Flowers, the RHS Banksian Medal and the Best Exhibit in Show for a beautiful set of plums. Jim Short won Best Front Garden, Arthur Burt won the Rose Trophy, Brenda Cox took the Floral Art Cup, Christine Brown took the Novice Collection of Vegetables, James Ellis won the Cookery Cup despite strong competition from the ladies, while Jack Powis won the Wine Cup against no competition at all. There were some lovely entries in the Children's section with Orchard Chamberland winning the Snake, Swan or Doll competition and the most points in the Children's classes, while Ben Edwards won Best Exhibit for his "Growing Picture" depicting our Diamond Jubilee.

Congratulations to them all. Everyone agreed that if you can put on a show like this in the worst summer on record you must have a pretty good team and we do! Many, many thanks to all who helped to make this another success. This really is a people event. Lots of hard working, happy people with a common interest enjoying one another's company. Now, let's look forward to the next one. The date is already set - Saturday, 5th September 2009 - so put it on your calendar and keep it clear. This is definitely one not to miss.

Jack Powis, Show Secretary

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TRADING NEWS

It's the time of year to once again look to ordering your seed potatoes. The Order Form is on the back cover of your "Plotholder" and the varieties are slightly changed from last year. I have dropped Wilja as the take-up was very small and replaced it with Marfona, which was not available on our seed list last year but is on the latest one. Prices have also changed and you will be pleased, I'm sure, to find that they are cheaper than last year. Costs are down from 60p to 50p per lb, except for Charlotte which is now 60p, down from 90p. We have achieved extra discounts by ordering by the end of August, which involved a bit of guess work on my part, plus having a differing delivery arrangement, stock coming direct from growers this year.

Please get your order in as soon as possible to be sure that you will receive the varieties you want; late comers may have to settle for substitutes. Do not forget to indicate which store you want to collect your order from.

I have also been asked for a small change to the onion sets with the inclusion of a red type. I am not sure what varieties will be available as there have been crop failures in some types. Onion sets and Shallots will be available from about 10th January 2009 and seed potatoes at end of January. All the new season's seed will be on the racks by November so you will be able to come with your little list and make your purchases. For those of you who have ordered garlic, your orders will be in the Stores now.

Winter store opening this year from November to end of January will be

• Chesswood: Saturdays only
• Tarring: Sundays only.
• Humber trading will remain the same Saturdays and Sundays

Peter Everett, Trading Secretary

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A TRIP TO AFGHANISTAN - part one
Last April I was invited to visit a doctor friend and his wife and four children who are working to improve the child mortality in a very isolated area of Afghanistan. Fortunately it is a very safe area far away from the fighting. It is know as the Wakham corridor and is a 150 mile long valley down which the River Oxus flows from it origins in the high Pamir Alps of Tajikistan and far western China and the Hindu Kush peaks which are the northern border of Pakistan. Over the centuries glaciers have carved out a typical U- shaped valley filled with stones, rocks and boulders of all sizes. These are flooded every July and August with the melting snows - not an easy place to eke out a living, nor in which to be a Doctor used to Western medicine and Western living. Fortunately my friends love camping. So outside pit latrines and no running water are not a problem to them. Last September they were visited by Alistair Leathead of the BBC and some of you may have heard or seen them on BBC News 24 or "From Our Own Correspondent" .

Due to the dangerous conditions north of Kabul, my friend advised me to travel via Istanbul to Dushanbe the capital of Tajikistan. Tajikistan is the poorest of the ex-Soviet Central Asian republics as it has not reserves of oil or gas. It does, however, do a great line in impressive mountains and likes to call itself the Switzerland of Central Asia. From Dushanbe I was very fortunate to get a short internal flight; then it was a drive to the border. At the border it was obvious that my medical friend had been doing some good work because we were quickly allowed through and even given a police wagon to bump us up to a guest house. Already the altitude was 8,000 feet and I began to feel the thinner air but that did not stop me sleeping like a log.

The next day my friend's driver picked me and the two other guests up in a 4-wheel drive Toyota mini-bus which already looked totally overloaded. It took 9 hours to drive 100 miles up the valley with only one puncture. Gradually we climbed another 2,000 feet. The terrain looked very dry and vegetation very sparse. At that altitude late April is equivalent to early March in England and Spring had not started. By the time we left in late April the trees were tinged with green and the wheat was beginning to sprout in the fields. Not all the valley is cultivated; some stretches are just desert. Although there appears to be nothing to eat there were herds of a range of domestic animals that we came across grazing. Most exciting were the Bactrian Camels (two humps, not one!) and, as we got higher, the yaks. There were also donkeys, horses, sheep and goats. Up in the mountains are herds of ibex which stay away from humans who like to shoot them. There are also snow leopards which prey on the ibex and occasionally try for sheep or goats. So they get shot too. At this height I discovered that trees are scarce - it is one the "tree line" - but locals treasure their trees for building and for fuel. The most common seemed to be the willow poplar which grows tall and straight. Because of the shortage of rain and the "eat everything" animals, the trees are grown in little copses surrounded by stone walls and fed by irrigation ditches. Almond trees grow well; they have a beautiful pink blossom very early which can survive the frost. Hence they do well at this altitude.

to be continued in our next "PLOTHOLDER"

THAT'S ALL FOLKS!       SEE YOU IN EDITION 6 (bonus Christmas issue!)