The Seven Kings and Goodmayes Allotment Society newsletter

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@SKGASThe Seven Kings and Goodmayes Allotment Society newsletter

Spring 2015

From the chairmanWelcome back, everyone. Spring is here and and it’s time to get those spuds in the ground.

The trading huts now have a full stock of seed potatoes, onion and shallot sets, plus lots of other seeds, not to mention all those expensive fertilisers and soil improvers you can get in small, cheap quantities all because you are a member of this great society.

Actually, that touches on the subject I want to raise with you all. It’s about give and take.

There is a (very) small number of people who work very hard to make sure you can enjoy the benefits of not only bulk discounts, but low rents and even access to a plot at all.

Yet, they are increasingly left to do all the heavy lifting around the sites to ensure it is a pleasant and safe place for you to come.

They don’t want thanks – they don’t even really want recognition – but what they really need, is HELP.

Consider what it takes to open a trading hut for a couple of hours once a week. It’s not just the time of those there to open up and sell you stuff. All the preparation work takes many long hours over a period of many months. And why? So you enjoy your time at the allotment.

There are many kind people who support the society’s festival at Goodmayes with offers of help and by dedicating time to preparing for a big day out for the whole community.

Now, I’ve heard people say they’re not bothered about helping the ‘Goodmayes festival’, but this is an event for everyone. The reason it is held at Goodmayes is because it is the most suitable venue we have to be able to achieve what we want for an open day.

So, please, think how you might contribute to the smooth running of the society – YOUR SOCIETY – by donating some time, produce, or both (see page 8 for a list of the kinds of jobs we need help with at the festival).

And apply this to your site as well. I can tell you, as a steward, I cannot be everywhere. There are some parts of Benton Road I may not see for a month or more at a time.

Just having eyes and ears about to let me know what is going on can prevent small problems becoming big, expensive ones.

Last year there was no festival due to a lack of support from our members. If that persists, not only will we have to abandon the festival in the future, but your plots will cost you more as the committee is forced to bring in more help.

Then, one day there won’t be a society at all and then good luck protecting your produce from the ravenous jaws of the developers’ bulldozers.

Come on, we’re not asking for much. Complete the form for the festival or contact your stewards to ask how you might help make things better not only for yourself, but all your society.

Pádraig Floyd Chair,

Seven Kings and Goodmayes Allotment Society

The Seven Kings and Goodmayes Allotment Society newsletter

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The Society’s 87th Annual General Meeting

Seven Kings and Goodmayes Allotment Society LtdRegistered under the Industrial and Provident Societies Act, 1893

Registered Office: 2 Airthrie Road, Goodmayes, Ilford, Essex, IG3 9QU Company no. IP10805R

NOTICE OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETINGThe 87th Annual General Meeting of the Society will be held at St. Margaret’s Church Hall,

Balfour Road, Ilford, IG1 4HZ, on Wednesday 15th April 2015 at 7.30pm.

Complementary refreshments will be available after the meeting and there will be a free raffle with one ticket issued to each attendee.

AGENDA1. Welcome Address2. Presentation of prizes (Lists of awards and prize winners overleaf)3. Minutes of the 86th AGM held on 8th April 2014.4. Matters arising5. Chairman’s report6. Treasurer’s report7. Secretary’s report8. Membership Secretary’s report9. Trading Secretary’s report10. Election of Committee for 2015-16 (Members are urged to consider joining the Committee to

help run the Society).

President Site stewards for Chair Benton Road Vice-chair Wards Road South Secretary Wards Road North Treasurer Goodmayes Trading Secretary Vicarage Lane South Membership Secretaries Vicarage Lane North Committee membersAt present we have no site steward at Wards Road North, and we need more help at Benton Road and Wards Road South. Please consider acting as a site steward, which could involve a small commitment reporting problems to the committee, or getting further involved in plot letting and maintaining communal areas.

11. President’s Address12. Motions for discussion (Motions must have a proposer and seconder and be submitted to

Padraig Floyd (Chair) c/0 2, Airthrie Road, Goodmayes, IG3 9QU by 18th March 2015).13. Any other business14. Raffle draw

Followed by refreshments

Members are cordially invited to attend the AGM to have their say in the running of the Society. If you won a cup or an award certificate in 2014 (see list on page 3) these will be presented at the meeting.

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Alderman Clark Cup 2014 (best allotment) Score (0ut of 100)1st: Michael & Janina Zacharia (Benton Road) 892nd: Karnail Banwait (Benton Road) 852nd: Sandra Noronha (Benton Road) 85 Highly Commended: Swarn Doal (Benton Road) 84 Bernard and Joan Crowe (Vicarage Lane South) 81 Sue Catterick (Vicarage Lane South) 80 Oscar Marvel (Goodmayes) 80 John Mackin (Goodmayes) 80 Sheila Nisbet (Goodmayes) 80

Chatting Cup 2014 (new starter)1st: St Elmo Licorish 65

Alan Hooker Trophy 20141st: Swarn Doal (Benton Road)

Service Awards 2014Ladies: to be announcedMens: to be announced

Competition winners 2014

Roger Backhouse awarded Honorary Membership

On Saturday January 10th, members gathered in the hut at Vicarage Lane to wish Roger Backhouse farewell as he and Margaret prepared to move to York.

We owe Roger a huge debt of gratitude for all his work for the society over many years. He first took a plot in 1977 after a year on the waiting list. Subsequently Roger filled many of the society’s voluntary posts as Treasurer, Secretary, Vice-Chairman, and Site Steward. On top of this work, he found time to apply for funding and then oversee various projects including renewal of the water supply at many of our sites as well as many smaller jobs. He was also instrumental with others in

successfully resisting council plans to sell off the Goodmayes site for housing.

Society President Paul Dye presented Roger with a plaque and certificate awarding Honorary Life Membership of the allotment society (pictured). The event was featured with a photograph in the Ilford Recorder, to which Roger was a regular correspondent.

We will miss Roger’s contribution to and knowledge of the society, which he was always happy to share, and wish him and Margaret all the best for the future. Our loss will no doubt be another horticultural society’s gain!

The Seven Kings and Goodmayes Allotment Society newsletter

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Society businessViewing the newsletter onlineThis newsletter, along with the previous eight editions, is available to view on-screen in colour at www.issuu.com/skgas

We would like as many members as possible to view future newsletters online to save printing and postage costs. If we do not have your email, or if you have recently changed your email address, please send your details to e.s.oliver@hotmail.co.uk

Wards Road north site steward neededThe Wards Road north site has been without a steward for some time. If anyone who has a plot there would like to volunteer for the job please get in touch with Pádraig Floyd (psafloyd@yahoo.com) or Ed Oliver (e.s.oliver@hotmail.co.uk). It needn’t be an onerous task, which can range from keeping an eye on things and reporting problems to the committee, to mowing and strimming communal areas or even getting hands-on with site development projects if you have time and inclination to be further involved.

Japanese KnotweedAny surviving remnants of this pervasive weed will be dealt with if it reappears this spring.

ThanksMany thanks to Peter Trimby and the crew at Vicarage Lane South for organising the ‘goodbye’ event for Roger Backhouse (see full report on p.3).

The Society is also grateful to Sue Cunningham for her successful grant application to the Olympic Legacy Fund. This award will be used at the Goodmayes site to provide a number of raised bed plots for older members so they can carry on gardening when a larger plot is no longer manageable. Mike Fitzmaurice

kindly assisted with writing the grant application. The construction and use of the raised beds will be featured in a future newsletter.

Thank-you to Stefan Woodward and Josephine and Lars Petterson for treating an outcrop of Japanese knotweed at Wards Road North, and incinerating the dead stalks. Josephine also arranged a delivery of manure, which will benefit all the plot holders on the site.

Thanks are due to our Membership Secretaries Peter Southern and Marian Hogg for undertaking the task of sending rent notices and receiving payments for 2014–15. This is a vital role without which the society could not function. Several other members have helped by receiving money at the society registered office, in the huts and by paying in cheques.

MonoculturePlease remember that if you grow only one type of crop repeatedly on the same plot, it is your responsibility to keep the soil in good heart and condition (Byelaw 6). This will not only benefit future plot holders but can prevent the build-up of diseases that can occur in soil when crop rotation is not practiced.

If you grow the same crop in the same place year after year you will get a build-up of pests and diseases specific to that crop. Different crops take different levels of nutrients from the soil and inevitably these become unbalanced, exhausting one nutrient but leaving a lot of another. This is often referred to as a ‘sick soil’. Even the addition of fertilizers is unlikely to help since it is likely the trace elements and micro-nutrients are depleted in the same way.

Some gardeners persist in growing their runner beans or onions in the same place each year but it has been proven this is not a good idea - not every old fashioned method is good!

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A wide range of high-quality seeds is available, supplied by Tuckers - all reduced by 10% from the packet price. Thanks to the efforts of a number of members, seed potatoes, onion sets and shallots have been bagged up and area avaialable on a ‘first-come, first-served’ basis. All seed potatoes have been kept at the same price as last year – £3 for a 3kg net. Golden Gourmet shallots (£1.50 for 5oog), Sturon onion sets (£1.10) and Red Baron onions (£1.30) are at a lower price than last year!

At Vicarage Lane 22 sacks, each 25kg, were delivered providing about 180 net bags, while at Goodmayes 16 sacks were bagged into about 130 nets. Popular varieties at both sites are Charlotte and Pentland Javelin (early) together with Cara and Desiree (main crop). In addition a further seven varieties are available: Rocket, King Edward, Maris Piper and Romano (at Vicarage Lane) and Kestrel and Marfona at Goodmayes.

Remember your membership entitles you to make purchases at both sites, so if you

want anything which you can’t find in your ‘local’ hut, ask – it may be possible that it is in stock at the other one and may be transferred for you.

A range of 8ft and 4ft canes, fertilisers, seed composts and multipurpose composts have been supplied by Horticultural Supplies in Ipswich. You will find the prices hard to beat. Also for sale are sundry gardening hardwares which Peter Trimby and I get from Decco wholesalers.

You will find your trading hut open every Sunday from 9.30am to 12 noon at Goodmayes and Vicarage Lane with volunteer members ready to serve you with a smile. In addition, they are able to hire out machinery and (new members note) give helful advice.

Wherever you have a plot, do make use of your trading hut - sales are an important source of the Society’s income and help keep plot rents low.

Paul Dye (Trading Secretary)

Trading Hut newsNow is the time to pay a visit to your trading hut. You will find it

well-stocked for your gardening needs this year.

Society business (continued)Rotating crops will reduce losses to pest and disease. Combine this with bettter use of nutrients and you will find increased yields from the same area of land.

The simplest rule of crop rotation is not to grow the same thing in the same place two years running. In fact, the larger the gap between a crop occupying the same piece of ground the better. Some pests may be present at high levels initially but a gap of three or four years will see their numbers fall to acceptable levels without a host to sustain them.

The first principle of any crop rotation is to have the largest possible gap between

potatoes occupying the same piece of ground. The same applies for brassicas, the cabbage family.

Keep lime away from potatoes because it increases the chances of them getting scab. Conversely, brassicas like a limey soil

Root crops such as carrots and parsnips do not want soil that has been manured the previous autumn. It will cause them to fork and split.

Where possible, keep plants of the same family together as their requirements will be similar.

The Seven Kings and Goodmayes Allotment Society newsletter

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Seasonal eating from the plot: Muffins 2 ways

As this newsletter arrives with you, we are slipping from winter into spring with the vernal equinox on the horizon. The plot still has some veggies to

offer and there are welcome signs of the new season. So, for using the leeks that have over wintered, a savoury muffin and for new season promise of

rhubarb poking through the soil, a sweet muffin.

Leek & Cheese Muffins – makes 10

• 1 leek washed, dried and sliced finely• 225g self-raising flour• 100g of half fat cheddar cheese• freshly ground black pepper• 175ml semi-skimmed milk• 1 medium egg• 50ml olive oil• 10 cherry tomatoes (optional, but nice!

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas mark 6 (If you have a fan oven, check the manufacturer’s guide as a lower heat may be needed).

In a large mixing bowl, tip in the flour, leek, black pepper and cheese, mixing together well.

In a separate bowl, mix the milk, egg and olive oil together. Mix this into the bowl of dry ingredients.

Either pop 10 muffin cases into a muffin tin or just lightly grease a muffin tin and half fill the cases or tin with the mixture. If you are using the cherry tomatoes, prick each one to stop them bursting in the oven, then press one gently into each muffin, distribute the remaining muffin mix over each muffin hiding the tomato.

Put in the oven for approximately 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown, or test with a skewer, it should come out clean.

Rhubarb Muffins – makes 12

• 350g rhubarb, stringy bits removed and finely diced• 300g plain flour• ½ Teaspoon of baking powder• 250g of caster sugar (white or golden)• 2 medium eggs, beaten • 200ml of semi-skimmed milk• 100g melted butter (I used Lurpak Lighter, but standard butter is fine)• grated zest of 1 medium orange• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon• demerara or brown sugar to finish

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas mark 6 (see previous recipe for temperature advice). Pop 12 muffin cases into a muffin tin.

In a large mixing bowl tip in the flour, baking powder, caster sugar and cinnamon. Mix in the finely diced rhubarb and orange zest.

In a large jug or bowl, beat the eggs, milk and melted butter together, pour this into the bowl of dry ingredients and distribute between the muffin cases. Sprinkle a little brown or demerara sugar over the muffins.

Put in the oven for approximately 25 to 30 minutes, until golden brown, or as in previous recipe use the Skewer test.

Marian Hogg

The Seven Kings and Goodmayes Allotment Society newsletter

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New allotment book by Lesley Acton

Save Farm Terrace Allotments, Watford

There are currently over 300,000 allotment plots in the UK, with roughly 100,000 people on waiting lists. Allotments are popular, and under threat. This accessible social history book looks at how changing economic, political and cultural conditions have affected the demand for plots. A thorough study debunks the myth that the provision of allotments was solely a benign activity for the poor, but a highly politicised history which reflects national and local policies on land use with a constant struggle to hold onto these city fields and country gardens.

Our allotment society, along with Ilford and Redbridge, is frequently mentioned in the book because it was part of Lesley’s original (PhD) research.

For example: Local authority allotments first appeared in Ilford around 1898. By 1911, there were 157 plot holders occupying 24.5 acres of land, paying 6d. per rod per annum. Two years later, Ilford had 38.1 acres of allotments and 247 plot holders. Given the number of owner-occupiers in the Ilford area at that time, the average allotmenteer almost certainly owned his own house, probably financed through a mortgage obtained from Ilford Council and/or the property developer, Cameron Corbett. The most typical type of house inhabited by the plot holder was a terraced house with a double-bay window, two reception rooms and three bedrooms. In 1908, this type of house, in Ilford, cost

about £300 freehold or £220 leasehold. As all these houses had gardens, even the cottages had fifty-foot back gardens, it seems the desire for an allotment was driven by reasons other than a need for an open space (of which Ilford had plenty). While there is no doubt that many in Ilford did not need to grow-their-own, a few did, but by-and-large, the desire to have an allotment in Ilford was driven by want rather than need.

The book is available from Amazon or Five Leaves Publications.

Members may be aware from national tv and newspaper coverage of the fight to save Farm Terrace Allotments in Watford. Courts have twice found in the campaigners favour, yet Watford Council continues to spend its council tax-payers money trying to force them to move to a replacement site two miles away. You can donate to help with legal costs. If Farm Terrace can be saved, it may help to protect other sites in future. See more on the Farm Terrace Facebook page.

The Seven Kings and Goodmayes Allotment Society newsletter

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Allotment Society FestivalSunday 6th September 2015

A working party has been set up to plan the Festival which we hope to hold this year after a one-year gap. Once again it will be held on the Goodmayes Lane site, which has space for marquees, tents and stalls but it must be stressed that it is a SOCIETY event. For that reason we are seeking help from members from all sites – Benton Road, Wards Road and Vicarage Lane, before the event and on the day.

Please complete the form below and return it to either trading hut or send/hand it to me, Paul Dye, 2 Airthrie Road, Goodmayes IG3 9QU. Thank you. Tick box(es) where you/your wife, husband or partner are willing to help.

1 Before the event - site preparation

Grass mowing / strimming paths

Clearing woodchip

2 Advance promotion Newsletter, website and email plaus stallholders/supporters websites, Ilford Recorder, Advertiser will be used but you can help in the delivery of some 10,000 flyers through the borough. We need forty volunteers to cover the Seven Kings/Goodmayes area.

Delivery of flyers

3 Donation of produce In past Festivals, several hundred opunds have been raised by members donating vegetables, home-made chutneys & jams, honey)/

Vegetables

Jams etc

It will be helpful at this stage if you could indicate if you propose to enter the vegetable competition, produce auctioned afterwards

Competition entry planned

4 Manning stall, tents and gate on the day With the event taking place over 4 hours – 1pm to 5pm – we need a good number of helpers particularly on the catering marquee, but also covering the produce stall, trading hut, society stall and gate

Catering marquee

Produce stall

Trading hut/SKGAS stall

Gate

5 Setting up and closing down Help is required in setting up marquees etc on the Saturday 5th September and again in packing up on Sunday after the Festival closes

Available Saturday 5th

After 5pm Sunday

Name: email

Tel (home) (mobile)