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served its own purpose - vegetable cultivation, soft fruit production, horticulture, wildlife protection and woodland. Her colleagues in these endeavours were the Windrush gentleman. Though they formed a tight community for themselves, their presence was deeply significant to the lady they called “Miss M”, a title acquired through her work as a regular presenter and DJ on Back a Yard, a pirate radio venture that demonstrated the growing diversity of Nottingham before Kemet FM regularised the abounding Caribbean culture on our radio waves.

Others have since played key roles in redeveloping the allotments, notably the group of plot holders that would form St Anns Allotment Campaign (now STAA Ltd) in 1993, helping to kindle its modern day renaissance. To the present day, the Renewal Trust and Hungerhill Developments Limited takes care of the site, helping bring investment and order. Tours, inductions, training plots for new gardeners, and opportunities for local schools and young people are offered from a well-equipped office and welcome centre. Research by both Nottingham universities contribute to scientific study of the site. Hungerhill today enjoys a newly-engaged and enthusiastic generation of gardeners, and volunteer assistance from locals and the various community-benefit organisations that reside here. Much has improved.

But none of this would be possible had the Windrush farmers allowed the gardens to become derelict, disused, forgotten, then bulldozed for housing. Sadly, 2022 saw Margeret’s plot holdership challenged, ultimately leading to her sorrowfully handing it over. Her health began to deteriorate soon after. Various groups, including those in today’s Caribbean gardening community, still organise to protect their sites, and issues of racial, social, and economic justice continue to swirl around this febrile common land. The battle for our green spaces, and their rich social history, goes on. We who remain need to recapture the Windrush spirit, both for the allotments and our wider relationship with nature and food sovereignty. We have begun to revalue and upgrade land to redress the balance of ecology and agriculture, providing space, air and habitats for wildlife - from flies, ants and bees to all the mammals who are being reintroduced to wetlands and woodlands countrywide.

The art of coexistence, readiness to learn, and to reciprocate knowledge is fundamental to a healthy society, and this exchange of survival techniques and wisdom is typified by the Windrush Generation, regardless of which side of the Atlantic we are originally from.