Ward End Gardeners Association holds its Annual General Meeting every November and this year it’s on Saturday 9th November, at 11.30 am. We meet in the pavilion at Northleigh Road, a purpose-built pavilion which was erected in the 1970s as part of the Thorpe plan for Allotment Gardens in Birmingham. Only a few of the 100 plus sites got one at that time, and the plan to build them on most sites never materialised – for the usual reason of lack of money to invest.
Nothing much changes and we’re still struggling to find resources to maintain and improve our 5 sites, just as other sites are experiencing similar problems.
This year we’ve been able to make improvements to our character-full pavilion by installing kitchen facilities, with the help of grants from Severn Trent Water Authority Trust Fund and the Hodge Hill Neighbourhood Network Scheme, but the job isn’t finished yet because wooden buildings over 50 years old need constant maintenance. But we are now able to host a youth project which is providing a range of activities every week for youngsters, and we can also organise sessions to make use of our harvested fruit, vegetables and herbs.
We’ll also be reporting on other ways that our Association is trying to make allotment plots more accessible and usable by all types of people – from families with young children to people with mobility problems. Having raised beds are one way to make gardening easier to manage, and that can benefit people who are short of time too. There’s more women plotholders than ever before and the tradition of all-male sites is fast disappearing. But we’re having to think of how to adapt when resources are limited – and that includes the time of the people who are trying to run the sites.
As at any AGM, the Committee will be elected for the coming year and it looks like everyone on our current Committee will be standing again, including the Officers – Chair, Secretary and Treasurer. But we badly need ‘fresh blood’ including people with not just time but some relevant experience and skills. It’s not an easy job looking after allotment sites and dealing with all the day to day issues and problems: it’s all voluntary and expectations are high about what can be done about anything that concerns people.
Iftikhar Ahmed, Chair, Northleigh Road 
Hester Blewitt, Secretary, Northleigh Road 
David Read, Treasurer, Northleigh Rd 
Maxine Cole, Fairholme Road 
Tahra Bibi, Lime Tree Road 
Charles Bloom, Lime Tree Road, Stores manager 
Chris Hodson, St Margarets Road 
Steve Smith, St Margarets Road 
Karen Watts, Northleigh Road 
Asmat Abbas, Northleigh Rd 
Mareen Akhtar (midpicture) 
Shane Delaney, Blackpit Lane
Hopefully, we will get a good turnout with people at least interested to hear reports about what has been happening over the past year. And it’s an opportunity to ask questions and come up with ideas for 2025, even if people don’t have the time to get involved by joining the Committee.
The AGM will be followed by refreshments including dishes prepared by a number of plotholders using ingredients grown on their plots. This is where people from the 5 sites can do some mingling and comparing notes (like who’s grown the most pumpkins this year). And we’ll be having a raffle too – a chance to win something that can add to your allotment experience.
