Issue 4                     Autumn                    September 08

In this, the last issue of the newsletter for 2008, it is perhaps as well to note that it is the 100th anniversary of the Allotments Act 1908. This act gave power to any six registered parliamentary electors to demand land for cultivation from their local councils. Most allotments now have long waiting lists; it seems that with the increased interest in healthy living and the spiralling cost of food and fuel, many are looking to ‘self sufficiency’ as a means to save the planet, their health, and their bank accounts as our cartoon demonstrates. 

Forty years ago, 1968, was the year of riots and revolutions so the BBC Radio 4 has been reminding us. Czechoslovakia, as it was then, with its ‘velvet revolution’ was very much part of the year of change – Martina, this issues profile subject, has roots in that country and that year and real memories of the flickering candles beneath St Vaclav’s statue in ’89, when Alexander Dubcek and Vaclav Havel embraced as thousands watched from below the balony on which they stood.

At least thirty years ago, sometime in the 70’s the Dorset Road Allotment Shop was established. (Does anyone have an exact date?) – the present shop is celebrating its eighth anniversary this year, a lucky number according to the Chinese. Anniversaries and celebrations are ways of remembering and marking large and small events – what will history make of the year 2008? Will any of us or our activities be remembered in thirty, forty, one-hundred years time…will there be people to do the remembering locally or globally?

The Beck Lane end of the allotments was the original location of the site shop back in the 1970’s. A Mr McDonald and our own Tom Douglas and fellow horticultural enthusiasts opened for business in garages that have long gone and been replaced by a place for parking.

The present shop, which began trading in 2000, was bought from the proceeds of the earlier trading years. The shop has always relied heavily on the enthusiasm of volunteers to keep it going and stocked to meet the needs of allotment holders. Chris Rogers was one such volunteer who kept the shop going for eight years before handing the reins over to Peter and James almost a year ago.

Peter, the driving force behind the shop’s current success, has brought his own brand of drive and energy into play in developing, reviving and expanding its scope. He listens and responds to plot holder’s needs as well as introducing new ideas to try out.

Visit the shop and you will find time honoured materials for sale such as horse manure (in great demand), ‘pea sticks’ from Hazel cuttings, and bean poles cut from tree branches. You will also find, alongside the traditional and natural products, the modern and mechanical: strimmers and rotavators etc. for hire. The shop still sells packets of seeds well under the RRP and is competitive on many other items – deliveries in and around the site are free and usually come with a smile!

As well as hiring out various ‘machines’ for use on the site, Peter offers a course in their safe operation. He also has a side-line in adventurous activities such as treeclimbing! Needless to say (but I will) – all shop profits are fed back into the Dorset Road Allotment Association funds to be used for the benefit of all users of the site.JE