Allotment plots in Baldock
In the last newsletter, we reported that Councilor Muir provided a grant to have a dropped kerb and tarmac verge crossing at Clothall Road. We are delighted to inform you that the Herts County Council has completed the work.
As you can see from the photos, the result is neat and will allow deliveries of
heavy goods by agricultural vehicles without damage to the roadside verge.
Over 15 million people in the UK live in poverty.
According to the Legatum Institute, before the pandemic, 14.4 million people in the UK were living in poverty. This number increased by another 690,000 by Winter 2020 due to the impact of Covid. Living in poverty means families struggle to feed their families and rely on donations / food banks to feed their families. Closer to home, 1 in 4 children in Letchworth live in poverty (Source Best Before Cafe). Families who live in poverty, constantly live with the anxiety of wondering where the next meal will come from.
Clothall Road Allotment Holders Donation Box
Back in early 2020, a few members of the Clothall Allotment Site decided to set up a donation box where allotment holders can put their excess fruit and veg in on a Monday or Thursday evening throughout the Summer and Autumn. One allotment holder even supplies homemade chutneys and jams (complying with Natasha’s law by fully labelling the ingredients). The produce is then taken to the Food Bank in Letchworth the following morning – any food not taken by customers of the food bank then goes to the Best Before Café; which continues the fight against poverty.
There is no pressure for anyone to donate anything, but donations are very gratefully received. There are even some allotment holders have grown extra produce with a view to donating to the food bank. So far in the 2021 season alone, we estimate that Clothall Road allotment holders have generously donated in excess of £600 of produce, a significant increase on 2020.
Feedback from the food back, and Suzy who runs the Best Before Café is constant and full of superlatives – they always say how beautiful, fresh and tasty the produce is; and how much of a difference it makes to those who struggle to feed their families. They are always so very grateful.
How Can You Help?
Please donate any excess fruit or veg that you have.
If you have any spare space on your allotment where you can grow extra fruit or veg, or have any excess seeds / onion sets etc, please grow them with a view to donating to the food bank.
What and how to Donate
Please place all produce in the black box located by the water tank near the main gate on a Monday or Thursday evening.
Please donate produce that you would be prepared to eat yourselves.
It is very helpful if produce is bagged up/ placed in re-cycled punnets in small amounts, so that it is easy for food bank customers to carry home.
If the produce is muddy, please remove any dirt or give them a quick wash.
On behalf of the Food Bank and the Best Before Café – a very big and heartfelt THANK YOU to those who have donated, you have made such a difference!
If you have any questions, please speak to Andy CR17B/ CR16A
Yes, it’s that time of year again! We missed it last year due to COVID-19 restrictions. The annual judging for the Best Kept Allotment Competition will be taking place towards the end of June. The first-round judging for all plots on both sites will be during the week commencing 21st June and for finalists during the week commencing 12th July. Also resuming this year will be non-cultivation inspections, as part of our formal process, which will take place at the same time.
A small panel of committee members from each site will judge all the plots and select the best 10 plots from each site. These selected plots will then be put forward for final judging by an independent judge on 12 July who will determine the best plot on each site. Each site winner will receive a prize of a £25 voucher to be spent at the members’ shop. Of these two, the plot gaining the most points will be declared the overall winner and the tenant awarded the Basil Bryant Cup. In addition, a separate independently judged competition will select the Best Newcomer for a new tenant in their first year of cultivation. The winner will receive the Frank Conway cup.
Have a look at the 2019 winners for inspiration:
Best Overall Winner (2019)
Best Newcomer (2019)
At this time of year, we would usually announce the results of the Best Kept Allotment Competition but because of COVID-19 it hasn’t been possible to judge the plots. It is a shame that the competition didn’t go ahead this year because, as you may have seen around both sites, plots are looking at their best!
We’ve had a few new tenants since May last year and they have made an excellent amount of progress. It just goes to show what can be achieved in a small amount of time. One member said “we live in a small flat and no outdoor space of our own therefore it was refreshing to go to the allotment during lockdown.”
Another tenant said “there is no such thing as too much manure and Ace of Herts” and you can see their plot below:
We may need to visit the allotment for our physical health and well being. However, it is important to adhere to the following guidelines to keep everyone safe: Continue reading “Further advice on COVID-19”
Thank you to everyone that came along to our Open Day on Saturday. Despite the initial downpour just before we were about to open, we had a successful day with two new tenancies agreed at Clothall Road and several visitors wanting to look around both sites.
We’ve had a few enquiries about getting an allotment over the last week and we are pleased to announce that we are now fully tenanted at our North Road site and have a waiting list in operation on that site.
If you’ve been thinking about getting an allotment, we still have 1 full plot and 2 half plots at Clothall Road (14/05/19).
Now that our sites are almost full we have imposed a notional boundary of approx. a 5 mile radius around Baldock for accepting new allotment tenants so that we can give priority to Baldock residents.
Click here for more information about getting an allotment.
BALGA are delighted to announce we’ve managed to secure grant funding to replace the allotment signs at both sites.
You can read more here. [Link removed at NHDC January 2021]
The grant money will be used to purchase new noticeboards which are used for BALGA members and members of the public alike, as well as updating the old NHDC noticeboards to reflect the fact that the sites are self-managed.
BALGA would like to thank both the Baldock and District Committee of NHDC and Cllr Michael Muir for their continued support.
We were finally able to hold the spring working party at Clothall Road on Good Friday, having previously had to postpone the work from St Patrick’s Day, when it snowed all day!
It was good to see such a good turnout of BALGA members and the saying ‘Many hands make light work’ ran true as we had cleared rubbish off the various plots that we were working on within an hour.
Clearing rubbish from vacant plotsWe recently had a delivery of wood chip delivered to both sites and this was also used to repair some of the paths
We can now arrange for these vacant plots to be let to people on the waiting list and the site will be fully let again.
A big thank you to all the members who came alone and helped.
The short-listed plots were judged by an independent judge a couple of weeks ago. The judge commented how high the standard was this year, so well done to all those short-listed.
The plot gaining the most points at the North Road is tenanted by Gordon Petitt. Gordon has had his full plot for 14 years and I loved the structure and order of his plot.
The plot gaining the most points on the Clothall Road site was Chris Vincent who has only had his half plot for four years. I was amazed at how much he had managed to cram in on his plot with numerous varieties of various crops, including onions grown from seed.
Both Gordon and Chris will receive a voucher for £25 to be spent in the members’ shop.
Of these two plots, Chris’s plot scored the most points and he will be awarded the Basil Bryant Cup at the AGM in January 2018.
Each year a separate competition is run to judge the Best Newcomer, with tenants taking on their plots after 1 May 2016 being eligible for the award this year. Paula Lancaster scored the most points for her half plot which she took on in February earlier this year. I was amazed to see not only was her plot fully cultivated, but it was full of crops too.
An excellent job Paula! Paula will be awarded the Frank Conway Cup at the AGM next year.
Congratulations to all our winners!