Chorley BC and new sites. You may have read in the paper that the proposal for the site at Adlington has been deferred. This is due to the strength of opposition from local residents, ward councilors and Lindsey Hoyle, MP. The residents listed fears on traffic generation, potential anti-social behaviour (plotholders high on REALLY strong tea??) and destruction of wildlife. The Council and ChAS had very good evidence that these were all groundless, but in the end it appears that localized self-interest has won the day. At best, this will cause a delay in providing allotments in Adlington, and at worst it will mean residents there will have no local provision, because the only real alternative site locally is likely to be much more difficult to develop. We all know that someone will always object to any changes in local areas, and it seems in this case those who have shouted loudest have won the day.
We will continue to seek to work with the Council to improve their dire track record on providing allotments. They still have one of the longest waiting lists in the country, and this is simply not good enough for a Council that claims to be ‘excellent and aiming higher’. They have an Open Space review that has just started and we have asked to be consulted on that so we can make sure the provision of allotments goes further up their list of priorities. PLEASE lobby your local councilors to make sure they see more plots as a priority!
What do YOU want from ChAS?We are intending to run a survey in the Spring asking members and people on the CBC waiting list what they want for ChAS as a society. In particular, we’d like to do more things for those on private sites – we appreciate that a lot of our time is taken up with things more related of CBC, so we’d like to ensure you get a fair share of our efforts. It’s YOUR society and so we want as many people involved as possible and are willing to take on all suggestions for activities. We’d especially like some more support in people coming forward as Committee members or to run specific events – if you are interested, please contact Bill Taylor on 01257 262130.
Sarah tells us how it’s done Sarah Turner from Lancashire Wildlife Trust has again run 2 very useful sessions for us on Planning Your Plot and Crop Rotation. The second one in particular was very useful at de-mystifying what can be a confusing process. Thanks, Sarah! If you have any subjects you’d like further sessions on any particular topic, please let us know.
Sarah Turner helps de-mystifies crop rotation
Chorley BC Plotholders Meeting. CBC held a meeting on 17 November for all CBC plotholders, to discuss the future management of plots. It was well attended, with about 40 people coming along. Andy Brown and his team are taking over the management of allotments and seemed very open to suggestions about priorities for the future. It is likely that we will be discussing a new tenancy agreement that makes things clearer, and a more consistent approach to the management of the plots. ChAS supports clear management guidelines for plotholders –especially in relation to plot condition. Most people are perfectly fine in maintaining plots reasonably weed free and productive, but when someone is not using a plot properly it can be a nuisance to neighbours and is wasting a plot that others could be getting benefit from. We will continue to support action taken by CBC in such cases. Hopefully as the new regime takes hold we will get a more regular dialogue with officers and more involvement in site inspections, maintenance priorities etc to everybody’s benefit.
Lindsey Blackstock (nee Rawlston) is going on maternity leave with a baby due in January. We wish her all the best over the next few months, and look forward to working with her again on her return.We’d also like to record our thanks to Cathy Hand for her sterling efforts with allotments over the last few years, now she has handed over the baton to Andy’s team.
Autumn Fruit Pudding recipe If, like me, you have a freezer full of the great fruit we harvested this autumn, and have run out of jam jars, I saw the Hairy Bikers make a variation on a the familiar bread-lined summer fruit pudding recently. It looked easy and delicious. All you do is substitute lightly stewed autumn fruits (plums or damsons, red and black currants, apple and pear, plus a bit of sugar), for the summer fruits and proceed as normal for a summer pudding, The full recipe is on the BBC food website, and the hint on lining the lightly oiled basin with clingfilm to help removal of the pudding is really useful.
Help with the Newsletter Elaine Bury, who has done such a good job for us over the past few years has had to step down as newsletter editor. Many thanks to Elaine for making the newsletter look so good over her tenure. As you will see from this version, we could really do with some help from anyone who knows their way around MS Publisher or another programme that would help restore the ‘look’ of the newsletter. If you (or one of your children!) would be willing to help with this or any other aspect of the Society’s work, please contact Bill Taylor on 01257 262130.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from ChAS We hope you and yours have a great Christmas and peaceful and prosperous New Year, and we look forward to a slightly less erratic growing season in 2012 than we coped with in 2011. Happy allotmenteering!