Keyworth Charity Allotments
2023 Summer Newsletter
Summer greetings to all our plotholders, old and new! As we pass the summer solstice it is good to see the plots so full of fruit, vegetables and flowers. Recent warm weather and rain in March/April seems to have produced an abundance of berry fruits, with beans, early potatoes, and sweet corn, among others, coming along well.
The trustees have been busy dealing with the Charity Commission, carrying out plot inspections and dealing with any issues on the site. In this Newsletter we feature a number of articles to keep you up to date with recent events.
Graham’s Bothy Plaque
As many of you will know, we renamed the green storage shed – Graham’s Bothy in the New Year. This was in honour of Graham Raymond our former Chair who sadly passed away in September 2022. Graham was a keen mountain climber, who often took refuge in mountain bothy huts. One of his first tasks as Chair was to tidy up the Bothy and install new storage facilities.
A group of plot holders and members of Graham’s family gathered in early January in ice cold conditions to remember Graham and his contributions to the KCA. We toasted Graham’s life with some wine and unveiled a brass commemorative plaque.
As a reminder to newcomers, there is also a memorial bench dedicated to Tony Axford, our former, longtime manager who died in 2020. The bench is adjacent to Graham’s Bothy and is for all to use.
Contacts with Local Schools
In March, we presented a slide show and talk to all the pupils at Willow Brook School as part of their ‘Connections Project’ aimed at highlighting the links between the children and organisations in Keyworth. The presentation covered the history of the site since the Enclosure Act of 1758; the geology & fossils, soil and recent archaeological finds; growing vegetables and fruit, and of course, manure! The children asked many challenging questions including ‘the most difficult vegetable to grow’ – we concluded that for some of us it was carrots. After the talk we visited some of the classrooms where the main attractions were the manure worms, and a selection of clay tobacco pipes and fossils found on the site. The children produced some excellent project work based on the allotments.
We also hosted a visit in May from Crossdale School, Year 5. Thirty children aged 9 and 10 had a fun time learning about the allotments, digging out weeds, planting peas and watering seedlings, as well as trying to identify various plants.
We hope we inspired some future gardeners.
The Plots
Deposits: After much deliberation the Trustees have decided the new plotholders will be required to pay a deposit of £50 (for all plot sizes) from July 2023, which will be held in a Reserve Account for the period of their tenancy to ensure that money is available for any future potential remedial work on the plot. Repayment of the deposit will be at the sole discretion of the Trustees and will only be repaid if the plot is released in good condition.
The deposit is in line with other allotment associations in England and is aimed at discouraging plotholders from walking away from an overgrown plot when relinquishing their tenancy. As you will know it takes a lot of work to get an overgrown plot back to a condition suitable for renting. Any monies not returned will be used to purchase weed suppressant membrane to prevent regrowth and/or to pay for the services of a gardener to tidy up the plot.
Please note that this initial deposit is not retrospective; current plotholders (to 1st July 2023) are covered by the existing Rule 14.6 which may require £50 to be paid as a deposit should two Enforcement Notices to tidy up their plot be issued in any 12-month period.
Keyworth Abundance
Many plotholders donate surplus fruit and vegetables to the Keyworth Abundance box at plot 63 for distribution to Keyworth residents at the Exchanging Rooms. The trustees agreed to allow Keyworth Abundance to restore and plant up a poor-quality plot (no.4) in the corner with Selby Lane to provide additional produce for Keyworth residents. The plot was hard to rent out because the large ash tree, removed in 2021 due to ash dieback, took a lot of moisture and nutrients from the area. Happily, the area is gradually improving with a little TLC.
Waiting List
We currently have a small waiting list and hope to let out several plots when they have been renovated (see Deposits above). We will also be advertising KCA plots in the Keyworth News.
The trustees have decided not to offer any new half plots at present. Many of these were taken on during Covid restrictions and some have not been well cared for. However, we do have some existing half plots that may become available soon. If you know of any keen gardeners who would like to take on an allotment, please get in touch by e-mail.
Tobacco Clay Pipes
Some of you may remember the article ‘The Answer Lies in the Soil’ circulated a few years ago, which covered topics as diverse as the geology, soil and archaeological findings of the site. Plotholders are still turning up fragments of Victorian clay tobacco pipes to add to the collection which now number over 150. The most interesting are the rare finds of parts of the delicate bowls and the stems of the better-quality pipes that have the makers’ mark stamped into the clay near the bowl end. By tracing the maker to the period of manufacture via the Nottingham trades gazette we can identify the approximate time when the ‘night soil’ was spread on the plots – generally about 1850-60, prior to mains sewerage in the area. Eventually, the Keyworth and District History and Conservation Group may take over the pipe archive.
If you find any clay pipe fragments and do not wish to keep them, please pass them on to John on Plot 77, or drop them into the small plastic container on top of the metal storage box behind the grey toilet.
In addition, if you find any Jurassic fossils such as ‘Devil’s Toenail’ bivalve shells deposited together with the clay subsoil during the ice-age please add them to the container if you don’t want to keep them. This helps to build up a picture of the movement of the icesheet over the bedrock in the UK about 420,000 years ago.
Defibrillator
We were very pleased to get substantial support from plotholders for the suggestion of buying a defibrillator for the allotments - almost 50% of plotholders replied to say they would be prepared to use a machine with only a couple of people saying they were unwilling to be involved. We are arranging for charities who supply the machines to visit us to look at their equipment, see what training they provide and to understand what maintenance and storage is required on the machines. Watch this space!
Trustees
The trustees jointly manage the site and deal with external affairs. We welcome Paul as a new trustee. Paul currently updates our digital map of the plots and co-presented the recent talk to Willow Brook School. We also welcome Carol who has also been a plot holder for many years.
These appointments bring us up to five trustees with John covering the important roles of Secretary and Treasurer, Tim who looks after plot lettings (and the toilet!) and John (Chair) who covers the machinery.
We hope you enjoy your plots over the summer and autumn months and have a productive year. Congratulations to our plot holder who won first prize in the raspberries category at the Keyworth Show
KCA Trustees
July 2023