Plot 46 Thanks Sponsors

Plot 46 would like to thank sponsors and volunteers for the help in arranging the Halloween evening on Friday 26th October for children under 12 years of age.

Thanks to Jaison Martin of Martins Skip Hire, Roy Hanley of A1 Haulage, Elvington Plant Hire and Mitchell's Landscapes of York and Malton for all their help over the past few years.

Any donations for the Tombola or anyone wanting to help on Friday 26th October should contact Barry Bothamley on 01904 425640.

Coming soon the Christmas Fair on 8 December at Heworth Church Hall.

Halloween Will Soon Be Upon Us

Autumn has arrived with odd foggy mornings and the trees turning colour and dropping their leaves. It being October it is also the Hallowen month and will be celebrated on Glen Allotments with a Halloween evening on Friday 26 October. A similar format to last year will see the gates open at 6 p.m. for various attractions like Raffles, Tombola and refreshments. From requests from last year's event the refreshments will include the usual Tea and Coffee with Hot Dogs, Spicy Spare Ribs, Bacon Banjos and Jacket Potatoes. Events for the children include the Ghost Walk at 6:45 p.m. for which there will be a modest charge of 20p per child. At 7:45 p.m. is the Carved Pumpkin Competition. So get busy selecting your pumpkin and carving it to produce something interesting that is going to catch the judges eye. Please note that, this event is aimed at children under the age of twelve and is not suitable for older children.

Sadly, Ann and I are going to be away in the Far East and will miss this event but we'll be back for the Christmas Fair that will be held in the Heworth Church Hall on Melrosegate. More on that later.

Trimming and cleaning the Hedgrow

Last week a bit of time was spent on trimming the hedges and raking out all the rubbish in hedgrows. The new boy's toys came in very useful hauling the trimmings and rubbish away for a bonfire. A very kind sponsor who wishes to remain anonymous kindly provided the mini tractor and trailer for use on plot 46 for special needs children and by the gardening club.

Clean Up of Compost Bins And Levelling of Car Park

Some effort is going into getting the allotment site ready for the table top sale which will be upon us a week on Saturday (21st July). Our latest efforts this morning went into cleaning up the bulk compost bin that had been used as a dumping ground for rubble and soil and levelling the bumps and hollows in the car park that have appeared through compaction of the surface. Three of the sponsors of the table top sale get a hearty thank you for the invaluable help they have given us in our efforts this morning. Jason Martin of Martin's Skip Hire kindly provided an empty skip for us to fill with the material from the compost bin. Ken Garland and staff at Elvington Plant Hire provided a mini digger with bucket scoop that was used to clean out the bin, load the skip and scrape off and level the surface of the car park. Mac Mitchell of Mitchell's Landscapes gave up a morning from his business to drive the mini digger.

Emptying the bin and filling the skip

Levelling the car park

Car Park Levelled, Pallets Stacked to Make Tables Skip Waiting for Collection

Preparing Plants For Table Top Sale

The past few days have been spent potting up seedlings, cuttings and divisions ready for the table top sale in a couple of weeks time. Above is the section of greenhouse with three types of mint plants; Apple mint ( Mentha suaveolens;), Old English Mint (Mentha piperita) and Garden Mint (Mentha sachalinensis).
Below in the other half of the greenhouse are the Gallardia goblin plants, hollyhocks, dwarf dahlias, Cayenne peppers, Verbascum, to name but a few.

Outside the greenhouse are all the Lily and Iris plants in larger pots.

Table Top Sale for Plot 46 21 July

A table top sale in aid of Plot 46 for children with special needs is planned for 21 July from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. several sponsors for the event have made donations whilst more are sought. I'll give a hon. mention to all the donors later. You the readers can also make a donation in the form of any unwanted bris a brac, books, tools, plants or clothing, even furniture. Contact Mac Mitchell on his Mobile 07970 851417 if you have anything to be picked up or you want to make a donation of any other sort e.g. items for raffle prizes.

Association disbanded, Gardening club started

A while since I posted anything, but that does not mean that nothing has been going on. The association fell apart with grumbles from some members that they felt too much time was being spent on plot 46 and not enough on the rest of the site. There were also other grumblings of a nastier scurilous nature that I'll not repeat here. So, with the demise of the Glen Allotment Association a group got together to form a gardening that would continue to look after plot 46 and raise funds for it whilst arranging for bulk materials like compost, top soil and wood shreddings on a similar basis to the materials provided under the association.

December Activities

Much of the hard work of the year is behind us and crops safely gathered in. However, that does not mean that everything has ground to a standstill and several activities took place during the month.

On December 10th we ran a Christmas Fair (or Fayre if you prefer the more pretentious spelling) at the Heworth Church Hall. In addition to the usual Bric-a-Brac, Books,Cakes, refreshment and Tombola and Raffle stalls there was also a stall selling Christmas ornaments and Christmas table decorations and bunches of holly. The ornaments were made by Mac Mitchell using conifer logs, decorated with spray on snow and model Robins which proved very popular. The table decorations did not prove as popular on the day, perhaps a touch too early on the 10th? A week later at Murton however, Barry took what was left over and Ann Harper managed to sell a lot more holly and table decorations,raising more money in aid of  the association and plot 46. In addition to committee members manning the stalls were also some ordinary members of the Association who helped out, a special thanks to Diane Bothamley who despite not being a member of the committee always helps out on such occasions.

December 20th saw a bit more cleaning and tidying up around the site. Mac Mitchell brought in a digger for the cleaning up and put in a base for a new Association shed. You might have noticed that the sheds area is now fenced off. Mac Barry and Phil have cleaned up the sheds and removed rubbish and some rodents from the site.

Mitchell landscapes kindly provided free bark mulch brought in several trailer loads to replenish the path running down from the reduced mobility plots beside plot 46 which should raise that path above the winter water level.

A meeting has been arranged for the evening of 20th January at the Conservative Club with Judith Ward in attendance to discuss some points that have been raised by Bill Callaghan. All plot holders are welcome to attend this meeting to air their views on these or any other matter connected with Glen Allotments.

A lot has been achieved in the last two years turning the site from an eyesore into what we have today. But, (there is always a "but") there is always more that can be achieved and this does depend on input and suggestions from plot holders in the Association.