NEWSLETTERS
BLANDFORD ALLOTMENT SOCIETY NEWSLETTER NOVEMBER 2009
Fellow Allotment Holders,
We have reached the end of the year when the main occupation on our sites is the clearing of weeds, planting winter onions and garlic and laying down the manure to put the site to rest until springtime. One other thing I would ask all of you to do is clean up the edges of the grass paths between the plots by cutting the grass, removing any vegetation which has overgrown onto the paths and to remove any stones which could damage the mower when it passes along the paths. Please make an effort to carry out these tasks before abandoning the site for the winter.
There will be a work party morning from 1000 on Sunday the 22nd November and I would ask as many of you who are not doing anything else to come along and lend a hand. We are going to collect up any rubbish which is lying around, clip down the overhanging Blackberry thorns which are cluttering up the Rabbit Wiring and to cut the tall vegetation on the surrounds of the site. So anyone who has a strimmer, some secatures and gloves or just a willing pair of hands would be welcome to spend a couple of hours on Lamperds Field. We will serve Tea, Coffee and Cake at the end of the session. So come along and get to know some of the other Allotment Holders you may never see otherwise and enjoy a social working session with us.
The restocking of the Trading Store is proceeding at a fast rate, with new stock arriving each week. We have so many new items that Bill Cowlin, his wife Bridget and I spent many hours last Saturday installing additional shelving to display it all. We hope to open for regular service on the 3rd Saturday of January. In addition to this work you will see that a rain cover has been installed on the gate to protect the lock from the weather and Astr Turf has been installed on part of the gate to protect against the ingress of rabbits. The remainder will be installed shortly.
New tenants are taking over plots that have been left vacant as tenants have left this September, so if you see a new face next door to you, please make a point of introducing yourself and making the new tenant feel welcome to the society.
We have received the first grant award of £1500 to our equipment project, which came from the NDDC organisation CPEND. I will be attending a meeting with the Housing association this week to make a presentation supporting a grant application to them. I will keep you informed about progress. In the meantime the Town Council have kindly handed over the keys to the container in their yard for us to use it as a store. I thank them for their generosity.
The Seed scheme has been popular again this year with about £1000 of orders being placed. My thanks to Saffron for her hard work and it should not be many weeks before you get a call from her to collect your parcels. I wish you all a pleasant winter break and a Happy Christmas to those of you I do not see before then. See you all in 2010.
Dick