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Visit to Dartford by a
Delegation from the Mie Women's Centre,
Japan
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A delegation of ten members of the
Mie Prefecture Women's
Centre (Tsu City, Japan) visited Dartford on Tuesday
September 28, 1999 to learn about the work of the QED
(Quality Environment for Dartford) Allotments Group in
promoting the contribution of allotment gardening to
Dartford's Local Agenda 21 initiative. The delegation was
led by Mr Masakazu Aiba, Chief of Study and Consultation at
the Centre, and Professor Ren Azuma, Professor of Geography
at Mie University and Japan's foremost authority on
allotment gardens in Europe. The visit commenced at Dartford
Civic Centre, where after a formal greeting and distribution
of explanatory materials and souveniers by QED's Secretary,
Mr Alan Cremer, a lecture was given on the national and
local issues affecting the future of allotment gardening,
and how allotments fit in to QED, by Dr Richard Wiltshire,
Research Officer for the QED Allotments
Group and Senior Lecturer in Geography at the University
of London's School of
Oriental and African Studies.
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Members of the Delegation pose with their hosts
outside the West Dartford Allotment and Garden
Society's trading hut in Devonshire Avenue,
Dartford. Mr Aiba is at top left, with Mr Cremer,
Mrs Poulton and Professor Azuma to the right of
him. The weather was beautiful - a clear blue
autumn sky and a fresh breeze from the south-west.
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The delegation was then given a conducted tour of
Dartford Road Allotments, hosted by Mrs Jan Bourne
(Dartford Road Allotments
Association) and Mrs Eileen Poulton
(West Dartford Allotment and Garden
Society), to see projects on recycling, composting,
horticultural therapy for people with health problems and
disabilities, and other environmental improvements
undertaken on the Dartford Road site by the allotments
association. After their visit to Dartford Road the
delegation and their hosts enjoyed lunch at the Plough Inn
in Eynsford.
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