10 to 16 August 2020
This year the National Allotment Society is celebrating National Allotments Week by sharing the allotment stories of plot-holders, across the UK, who enjoy growing food for health and well-being. The stories are being entered into a competition, winners to be announced on 10th August – the start of National Allotments Week.
Ward End Gardeners Association in Birmingham, have sent in an entry for the competition in the category “Our site’s projects and plans for the future”.
What is National Allotments Week?
It started in 2002 as a way of raising awareness of allotments and the role they play in helping people to live healthier lifestyles, grow their own food, develop friendships and bolster communities. The campaign week is still thriving 18 years later and interest in growing your own fruit and vegetables has never been stronger since the WW2 Grow for Victory campaign. This year interest has been stimulated further by the pandemic lockdown restrictions: there are more and more people gardening at home and increased demand for allotment plots, enabling people to be outdoors safely.
Normally during this week in August, many associations run events and open days but this year they can’t organise anything which could attract over 30 people, and if facilities on site are limited, that’s another reason for not inviting the public in.
Ward End Gardeners Association in the heart of Birmingham has organised its Annual Show in August for many years, and we can’t run that either this year. But we can have limited gatherings on site for our members and that’s what we’re hoping to do on Saturday 15th August: on each site, members and their families are invited to come along and join in some of the jobs which need doing to make your allotment experience a better one. Over the next few days, the Committee is hoping that a few more plotholders will come forward to help organise either the work or the food and drink for their site. For example, Chiko at Northleigh Road is going to prepare a dish using the maize she grows so expertly on her plots.
NATIONAL ALLOTMENT SOCIETY– what does it do?
The NAS aims to protect, promote and preserve allotments. For more information about it and National Allotments Week, go to https://www.nsalg.org.uk/news/national-allotments-week-2020-10-to-16-august/