I thought members could be interested in this - Plotholders with a big apple or pear harvest that they’d like to juice up?
All they need to do is bring their apples and/or pears along this Saturday – pre-washed and with a container to take the juice home.

Saturday 10th December 11am – 3pm.

A traditional cider press with the opportunity to press your glut of apples and pears – for free This is event is at Cortis Avenue Wildlife Garden, the Worthing community garden in Broadwater, together with Transition Town Worthing

Saturday – Worthing’s new and first community orchard will be planted with Sussex apple varieties. Brighton Permaculture Trust who have grown the trees for the orchard will be on hand with a traditional cider press.

I’m organizing the event, if anyone would like anymore information.

Many thanks
Hille
West Tarring

Hille Cook
Cortis Avenue Wildlife Garden - Project Co-ordinator
‘A Community Garden for Worthing'
Tel: 07968 574 910
Also find us on:
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cortis-Avenue-Wildlife-Garden-Sanctuary/201038713258018

It's over 5 weeks now since the meeting at the Town Hall and no sign of further moves by the Council. Enough time has elapsed to look back and wonder what was going on that night.

On the evening of the meeting (March 1st) it was evident that a poor attendance was expected. About 40/50 chairs were set out and as time for the meeting to start approached, more and more chairs had to be found to accommodate all the attendees. In the end, Council Officers could not find sufficient chairs and so some folks had to stand. My guess is that about 100 turned up. My first conclusion was that the Council had seriously underestimated how much interest would be aroused among tenants; they seemingly assumed that the meeting would be a simple process of achieving their preferred way forward, whatever that is! (More on that later).

From the start it was not clear what the Council expected from the meeting. There was no Chairperson and no presentation of the Council's case - very odd!. The invitation to the meeting advised that there were 2 options:
1. For the Council to take management back in-house;
2. For the Allotments to be Self-Managed to a greater or lesser degree.
(In presenting only these options I assume that the Council no longer considers management by a "for profit" company to be an acceptable arrangement. On this subject at least, I entirely agree.)

Despite being told there was 2 options we were "sold" only one at the meeting...Self Management. The two Councillors in attendance seemed quite unable to tell us anything about the "In House" option. No figures, no plan, no presentation, nothing! . Instead we had a bloke from Southampton who headed up the meeting with a talk and discussion on Self Management. It was if it was his* meeting and the Councillors were only there in support. As the meeting wore on the Self Management bloke inevitably became bogged down with questions he was not equipped to answer. With a bit of forethought this would have been very predictable. However, as things became a bit sticky, the Councillors were forced to come forward (slightly embarrassed I thought), to deal with, or rather not to deal with, detailed questions about Self Management, particularly on the financial front. I tried to get the Councillors to talk about the In-House option but on this they were completely at sea, or so it seemed. They kept repeating "the future is up to you." My impression was that they were quite unprepared for any discussion other than that of Self Management.

My second conclusion was that the Council does not really want to offer a choice**, they want us to consider only one way forward - Self Management. It got to a point when the Self Management bloke was embarrassed because he could not answer questions. The Councillors were embarrassed because they too could not answer questions and the body of the meeting was too embarrassed to press their questions as it was obvious that there had been no proper preparation for the meeting; proceedings were beginning to verge on farce. At one point I did get an inkling as to what the real agenda was. The Self Management bloke referred to an allotment site which had refused the Self Management option and on rejecting this the tenants found themselves faced with an annual rent of £400! Aha! this smacked of carrot and stick! I wanted to ask the Self Management bloke exactly where this allotment site was, as frankly, I took this tale to be apocryphal nonsense. I didn't challenge him on this because I didn't want to add to his embarrassment and secondly I had made a number of interventions and was in danger of labelling myself as Mr Awkward Pain in the Arse (which by the way I am). I also wanted to ask him if he was being paid a fee for his input*, as his brief was clearly to sell (only) the Self Management option. **To me it seemed obvious that he was there to do a job for the Council.

Towards the end of the meeting the Councillors got themselves off the hook by calling for a "Steering Committee" to be set up to look at options (the original purpose of the meeting) . I was proposed and accepted as a member of this Committee along with the Councillors and several members of the current Allotment Association Committee. As yet we have not had a meeting. This is where I need to put my cards on the table. The Allotment Committee say they have not taken a position on the way forward for the future of Allotment Management. This is broadly my own view but I need to make it clear that I am highly suspicious of the Council's motives. For me, Self Management should only be considered after a great deal of information is made available...and even then it will take a lot to persuade me as I have had experience of Self Management and, to put it bluntly, it has numerous downsides and it is not easy.

At the end of the day we have to decide what is best for tenants and the future welfare of allotments in Worthing. Then there is politics! Central & Local Government are scrambling to cut or get rid of services wherever they can. In Worthing the Theatres are the number one hot potato at the moment. I suspect that the attempt to get rid of allotment management is part and parcel of the same strategy. In other words, the Council are proposing Self Management, not for the good of plotholders, but for their own benefit. Many years ago, Margaret Thatcher had a Cabinet Minister called Nicholas Ridley whose dream was for Local Governments to become little more than commissioning bodies which did not employ any direct staff but acted as an agency handing out contracts to private companies to run local services. My feeling is that we are seeing this idea being resurrected and I am very opposed!

As far as Allotments are concerned, the Council has a legal responsibility to provide them and ensure they are properly run. At the present time, in the absence of any information about finances, I would prefer for the Council to simply employ their own staff to run the Allotments. I reckon they would need one person to work full time as a monitor of standards and behaviour plus a part time office person to deal with membership and any other paperwork, letters, etc. My guess is that this would cost about £40,000 a year. On top of this would be various costs for water rates, security matters, etc. Of course one employee could not keep an eye on all aspects of the various sites so I suggest that the current arrangement whereby the Association takes a hand in this area would continue. There is no doubt that plotholders know best about what is going on.

I have mentioned above that I have had experience of self management. I accept that if circumstances are right (eg money!) and suitable, trustworthy people are prepared to offer their time and effort, it probably works well. I am sure that at the present time there are members of the Association who are perfectly capable of running a good operation. I will not go into all the Pros and Cons here, but I will mention just one issue... Fairness & transparency. I need to be very sensitive on this as I am not suggesting there is currently a problem in this area, but things move on and personnel changes. Basically someone will always have to make the decision on who is allocated a plot when it becomes vacant. Obviously,this should be whoever is at the top of the waiting list. ***The best way to ensure this happens is for someone unconnected with day to day allotment life to send out an invitation to that person. This would be a task for the part-time office worker. Without an arrangement of this kind, the only viable way to ensure transparency, would be for the waiting list to be publicly accessible with candidates numbered according to how long they have been waiting.

Then there is the issue of multiple tenancies. I was astonished to learn that one person has 19 plots, another 10 plots, two have 7, two have 6 and one has 5. That's 60 plots between 7 people! How big are these peoples' families? It seems there is a total of 1002 plots in the town but only 688 tenants. I don't know how many plots are vacant but these figures suggest that up to 300 plots are rented by folks with more than one plot. I can understand how this might have come about when allotments were out of fashion and plots went begging. This is no longer the case and it seems to me that one plot is sufficient for most family needs. There might be a case for the odd two plot tenant, but beyond that I am unconvinced that this situation is fair, it seems to me that anyone with multiple plots should be given notice to vacate at the end of the season or once all the current produce has been harvested. I accept that this is not directly related to self management but for me, it is an issue which needs to be sorted by whoever takes over from Continental. It would be useful for the Steering Committee to have as much input as possible on future management. I urge all members to use this site to air their views.

Bill Geddes.

Hi!
Excellent evening, Good food, nice wine, enjoyed by our group, Many thanks to the organisers.

Regards
Terry

To all concerned
My wife and I attended our first allotment dinner and would like to say how excellent it was. The venue perfect for the occasion, the service professional, efficient and friendly; food presented and tasted delicious accompanied with wine of course!
The organization of the whole evening was well executed. Well done to those involved with planning and arranging.
We didn`t know anyone prior to the evening but have to say we enjoyed the company and conversation ( even though we did discuss shovelling manure!) on our table very much . The "quiz " made an entertaining finale to a most enjoyable evening. A thought or suggestion? Maybe a summer evening there, with escort around the vineyard in such wonderful surroundings for those interested?
Would have offered help for the summer show but have wedding to attend that date. However, will contribute with cakes at least.
Once again thank you.

Regards
Frank

We thoroughly enjoyed the dinner last Friday and the food was excellent despite the long wait!1 Thank you and the committee for arranging such a successful evening... it must have been hard work. It was the first of such evenings for us and hopefully not the last.
Thank you again,

Best wishes,
Joan and Patricia .

In the last edition of the "Plotholder" it was stated that WBC is considering increasing the annual plot charge to £50 pa '...to break even on costs...". What costs? Certainly not maintenance costs. At the Tarring site for example:

1. The toilets are disgusting;
2. Whilst the water supply functions satisfactorily, there seems to have been no preventative maintenance carried out on the valve systems as many of the locks on the containing cabinets are rusted up.
3. One leaf of the entrance gate has dropped so that it is almost impossible to open it.

There was also mention of how the £50 was to be applied in case of those who had more than one plot. If the waiting list is as long as I understood it to be a little while ago, why have these people still more than one plot?

Regards,
Mike

I really like 'Hapil' strawberries. They are long lived and give plenty of fruit. I also have 'Gariguette' which is less prolific but just as tasty and the fruit hang above the ground really well.
Mind you, the ones I 'inherited' on my plot are the best but I have no idea what variety they are!!
Hope that helps

Kathy

Hi!
We are looking for someone who can work part-time with children growing fruit and vegetables in our day nursery garden, all year round. Do you know of anyone or where best to advertise for such a position?

Kind regards
Martin Pace

Reflections Nurseries
Westerfields House
54 Richmond Road
Worthing West Sussex
BN11 1PS WINNER - UK NURSERY OF THE YEAR 2009/10 01903 208208 www.ReflectionsNurseries.co.uk

Hello there!

I always look forward to reading my Plotholder but this time I thought I would add something myself. As we all know December/January was most horriblus weather, especially if you happen to be a bird living outside 24/7. So I made sure and fed the birds (on my plot) during this time. (I did not go on site without phoning my daughter first, and keeping in contact with her whilst I was there. Don't want any mishaps!!) I was well rewarded. I didn't imagine I would see so much variety on our allotments. I have to say I am into birds and it was a real wow for me. The following birds appeared, some waiting on posts, some in the hedges, but there they waited every day. The list was as follows:

Thrush, at least 2 pairs, and Blackbirds (again the same,) the usual sparrows, a Jenny Wren, robins, Great Tits etc. Then to my surprise - Redwings; I saw several over a few days waiting on posts for me to feed them. Then last Sunday I couldn't believe my eyes; I saw a Buzzard, right by the car park on site. I saw it twice and can only identify it as a Buzzard; that's all I could find in my books and on-line.

To top the bill, one day this week (1st week of Feb 2010) I'm just leaving the allotments, when I heard the most lovely birdsong, and realizing that I do miss a lot of species, and trying to be more alert, I looked around - there was this unassumming bird, sort of greyish, singing away in the bushes. When I got home I looked in my books, etc. trying to find this bird. Well, I felt a foolish, because I couldn't find it to start with; I thought it was a Warbler, but no IT WAS A NIGHTINGALE. What a lovely treat for me! I had never seen one before, and I haven't seen it since, but I can hear it. What a lovely bonus during such rotten weather!

Happy gardening everyone, & Birdwatching for me!! Carol, West Tarring site.

My mini plot is at West Tarring and I always try to be observant when I am over there to make sure things are as they should be. I know the gates have to be left open between 10am and noon on Saturday and Sundays, because the shop is open, but many times the gates have been left open on other occasions. Many evenings around 6.30-7 pm I have found them open on my arrival during the Summer but last Sunday they were open at 3pm when I arrived, so I locked them behind me, then when I left at 6.30 pm they were hooked back again. Another plotholder, a postman, tells me that they are often open and hooked back when he comes early in the morning. It is a wonder then that more vandalism and theft does not occur when people are too damn lazy to shut the gates after them. I think that you should know about this and steps need to be taken against those responsible.

Regards
David

It's back.

See:

http://www.dowagro.com/uk/aminopyralidsuspension.ht

Thanks if you signed the petition, we got nearly 2500 signatures.

John Shobbrook Chair, Black Horse Allotments Association, Wednesbury

I recently purchased a new bird table especially for the smaller varieties. Its enclosed table and feeders seemed ideal but there is one drawback - no small birds. Plenty of pigeons and doves who have their own bird table and of course the dreaded herring gull. Where have all the small birds gone? I know they are in decline, but this is disastrous. Something needs to be done.

Dennis

I just wanted to reassure Dennis that he will get some birds visiting his new bird table; he just has to be patient. I had a similar experience after I received a very posh bird feeding station for my birthday in Feb. I quickly filled it with all sorts of nice things but absolutely nothing happened. Then about a month ago the birds suddenly seemed to 'find' it. I now have masses of sparrows, a black cap, starlings and black birds all feeding. Of course, I have the collared doves, pigeons and gulls too but they all seem to get on! Mind you I will have a word in their ear as I know Dennis doesn't live far from me and I don't want them to defect!

Kathy

We think it's some sort of pond plant but it can spread outside the pond. Very difficult to get rid of as the roots are very tough. Make sure you get rid of all the seedheads or it will spread even worse. You can dig it out over time.

West Tarring

It looks like some sort of wild wheat to me. I'd try a strong weedkiller. Might need a few applications.

Ian

We think it's an ornamental grass. Very tough and difficult to get rid of. You can dig the roots out but it's hard work and you need a really strong fork or it will break. You may have to resort to a saw.

Celia

I think this could be Carex pendula. It is a grass or sedge and is not classed as a weed but it spreads like mad, as you well know. Some ideas about getting rid of it are, firstly don't let the seed heads form - nip them off as soon as you see them - this will stop it spreading. Secondly, keep digging it out. I find the little 'L' shaped tool for getting weeds out of the patio really good for getting into cracks. A chemical solution would be Glyphosate which can be painted onto the leaves and goes down into the roots and kills the plant. If it's not C. pendula then ignore this!!!

Hope that helps Kathy

Hi
I admit to being a non-member, but need your soonest help if you would: I'm making my second lot of seville marmalade (first lot was really yummy), but can't persuade it to set fully, and am hoping you can give me some urgent advice on where I can purchase a little pectin, please. I'm in Goring.
Many thanks.
Mike

Just thought, as we are being encouraged to make compost bins from pallets, that I would share an idea that has worked for us. When making your bin join the 'front' pallet to one of the side pallets with a couple of tree ties. This creates a 'hinge' so that you can open up the front and makes for easier access for turning/emptying.
                                                                                  HELP
Also, I bought my garlic from the association this autumn and sadly it has not sprouted. I planted it straight into the ground as I usually do but earlier than usual, in about October. Any ideas why it has not taken - I wonder if it has rotted due to wet ground but would welcome any comments?

Many thanks               
Kathy

Dear Sirs
West Tarring has a problem with waste. Bins get filled until overflowing and then they cannot be emptied. However, much fun it is to explore the bins looking for something to re-use, it is a hazard and unsightly. As a Bin Filler, I felt I needed to try and do some thing.
I took on my plot last year in November and through November to March I was continually pulling off waste from my site, be it green waste (Bindweed roots) or leftover things from the last plot holders (broken glass panels, sheets of lead, plastic bottle). I stopped when the bins started to become overfull. I will start again soon (if the bins are empty), as I still have a shed that I cannot get into due to the debris on the floor, big pile of wood, shed and remains of green house and I will start to get ride of that waste.
Allotment holders seem to have a culture of re-using and hording. What is someone’s prized plank, is another’s broken plank. Therefore can we introduce some method of Waste Management to the Site? Suggest the following:

• Clear identification on what can and cannot go into the bins.
• Bins for Recycling Plastic & Glass
• A skip day every other month. Skip delivered to site for allotment holders to get ride of waste. (This idea may get abused.)
• Advice on composting nasty stuff. e.g. Bindweed.
• Locally there seems to be home owners who are part of the composting scheme. Issue these bags to people for green waste and organise regular pick up.
• Right to burn wood in approved containers.
• Sites to be cleared/checked before new ownership for removal of waste. This would help reduce the need for a monthly skip. Also with such a high demand for allotments, an increased fee could be considered to cover the cost of waste.

I understand some of these ideas will cost but lack of waste management could potently lose the bins altogether. Briony