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Issue Number 12 |
Autumn 2002 |
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HALF A MILLION GOOD REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL ... A new nation-wide "Allotments Regeneration Initiative" is to be launched this autumn as a partnership between the National Society of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners, the Federation of City Farms and Community Gardens (which will provide day-to-day management), the QED Allotments Group and the local authority sector, to follow up last year's good practice guide for allotment management, Growing in the Community, with practical support for local authorities and allotment associations which are demonstrating strategic and innovative approaches in bringing derelict plots back to life. The Initiative will feature five major pilot project awards to local authorities which can demonstrate the need for investment through well argued and inclusive allotment strategies, smaller grants for other authorities and local groups which aspire to regenerate vacant plots, and active professional support from allotment regeneration workers who will assist in the formulation of plans and their implementation. The Initiative will be underwritten by up to £500,000 in matched funding provided by a leading charitable trust, the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, and is the largest single initiative of its kind ever to be attempted in Britain. GROW YOUR OWN IN THE EASTERN QUARRY The QED Allotments Group has welcomed the provision within the new Supplementary Planning Guidance for Dartford's Eastern Quarry for a substantial number of new allotment gardens within the quarry to meet the needs of this major development project's residents. The Group has also offered advice on how the new plots should be organised and managed. GORE ROAD SWEEPS THE PRIZES Congratulations to plotholders at Gore Road, who won all three awards in this year's Dartford Festival Allotments Competition, organised by the QED Allotments Group. The prestigious Borough Shield goes to Gerry Defeo, the Fred Brown Trophy for best newcomer to Terry Le Mar, and the Villages Cup to Ernie Banks. The competition was judged by Richard Dolby from the Bexley Allotments Federation, and the prize-giving ceremony will be held at the Civic Centre later this autumn. Watch out for the entry form for the 2003 Competition in the next issue of this Newsletter. A VISITOR FROM DIJON ... Allotment holders at Dartford Road and Gore Road enjoyed a visit in August by Mr Hervé Bonnavaud, Secrétaire Général of the Fédération Nationale des Jardins Familiaux, who was in Britain for the 33rd Congress of the Office International du Coin de Terre et des Jardins Familiaux in York. Mr Bonnavaud was particularly impressed by innovative work at Dartford Road in building raised structures for vegetable growing suitable for use by people with back injuries. QED also arranged visits to allotments, community gardens and city farms in Bristol, Sheffield and Birmingham for Mr Bonnavaud and for Professor Shinji Aoki of Toyo University (Japan), a past visitor to allotments in Dartford, who also attended the Congress.
QED ALLOTMENTS: SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT Active participants in the QED Allotments Group over the past year have included the allotment associations at Bean, Dartford Road, Gore Road, Tredegar and the West Dartford Allotment and Garden Society, plus individual allotment gardeners from other sites. Achievements since the previous Annual Report (published in Newsletter Issue 10) include the following: € Talks have been given by members of the QED Allotments Group to Lambeth Allotment Archive Project, Sevenoaks Local Agenda 21, Horsham Shelly Allotments Society, the Annual General Meeting of the Yorkshire Allotments and Gardens Federation in Sheffield, an allotments seminar held by the Institute of Leisure and Amenity Management (ILAM) in Swindon, and the Annual General Meeting of the Parliamentary All Party Gardening and Horticulture Group. € Continuing support has been provided to Tredegar Allotments to further their regeneration, in collaboration with the QED Biodiversity Group. The wildlife pond has been completed and landscaped, with assistance from the North West Kent Countryside Project, and the work of the Kent Beekeepers Association on site has been promoted through the use of a new observation hive and display materials sponsored by QED. € The QED Virtual Potting Shed internet project has been updated, and a new page added for the Stockport Metropolitan Allotment Gardeners Association. € Since the publication of the Fifth Annual Report further articles and news items have appeared on the QED Allotments Group's activities in the Dartford Messenger, Kentish Times and News Shopper and on the BBC Radio 4 programme Home Planet.. QED is cited as a source of reference in the DTLR publication Allotments: A Plot Holders' Guide, and news items on the Guide supplied by QED have appeared in Amateur Gardening, Gardening News, The Kitchen Garden and Gardening Which? QED's design for an integrated community horticulture project at Darenth Country Park has been cited as an exemplar of good practice by the Japan Horticultural Wellbeing Association in its recent book Engei Fukushi no Susume. A regular column has been supplied to the London Food Links Project's newsletter Jellied Eel, and occasional articles to the NSALG's Allotment and Leisure Gardener and FCF&CG newsletters. € Advice on the role of allotments in sustainable development strategies and related issues has been given to local authorities including Aylesbury Vale, Derby, Dorchester, Ealing, Gravesham, Kennet, Sandwell, South Bedfordshire, Southend, Stockport and Watford, to a horticultural therapy group (Ecoability) in Ross on Wye, East Riding CVS, f3, Waste Watch (London) and the Asian Community Development Corporation (Boston USA), to allotment groups and associations in Bexley, Camborne, Cheadle, Crayford, Crockenhill, Devizes, Ealing, Ellesmere Port, Hammersmith, Horsham, Lambeth, Leeds, Leytonstone, Okehampton, Plymouth, Ross-shire, Rotherham, South Gloucestershire, Stockport, Thurrock, Wear Valley, Winchester and Worksop, to the Local Government Association, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and the Parliamentary Select Committee on the Environment, to researchers at Boston University (USA), Hiroshima International University (Japan), Rutgers University (USA) and students writing dissertations on allotment issues at Birkbeck College, Hull University, Wolverhampton University, and to Horticulture Week. magazine. € Financial support from QED has enabled members of the group to attended conferences and seminars including "The Alternative Food Economy: Myths, Realities and Potential" hosted by the Royal Geographical Society, "Managing Allotments: Law and Administration" organised by ILAM in Reading, the Annual General Meeting of the Federation of City Farms and Community Gardens, and the 33rd Congress of the Office International du Coin de Terre et des Jardins Familiaux in York August 22-25, where assistance was provided to the Moderator of the workshop on "Town Planning". Coach trips were arranged to HDRA's "Potato Day" event at Ryton Organic Gardens, Coventry and to the organic kitchen gardens at Audley End in Saffron Walden, in partnership with the QED Biodiversity Group. Other events attended included the "Space for Life" conference organised by the Bankside Open Spaces Trust, the London Parks and Green Spaces Forum, the launch of the Urban Green Space Task Force's report "Green Spaces, Better Places" at the Ecology Centre in Mile End, and the inauguration of the Gardening Research and Information Network (GRAIN) at Loughborough University. The QED Allotment Group's Chair, Richard Stone, was introduced to HRH The Prince of Wales at an event at Surrey Docks City Farm in London.
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