Chapel Street allotments

by Steve Dalton

A FAMILIAR morning sight to me over many years was Charles Warne slowly walking his white pony down from its stable at the back of the Comrades Club to the field on Ladock Road opposite the school and back again in the afternoon. Sadly, Charles passed away earlier this year and the pony has now been stabled elsewhere in the village.

‘Charlie's Field’, as it is commonly known, is part of the Tredenham Charity Fields estate, which also includes the allotments on Ladock Road which border the field, and Truck Hill. In view of the long allotment waiting list, the Trustees of the charity decided in October to convert the field to allotments. After clearing the boundaries, the field was divided into fifteen plots, which complement the fifty plots on the site adjacent to Charlie's field.

This is the first time many of the new tenants have started gardening on this scale, and there are quite a few with young families. Also, two of the allotments have been taken by Probus School as part of their educational programme. This is really encouraging and it will be great to see the field transformed from its present state into working allotments over the coming months.

The current waiting list is almost down to zero, but if you want to register your interest when any of the allotments become free, please contact the charity's secretary Amanda Kendall on 01726 883614 or email her at probuspc@ gmail.com.

Images: Some of the new allotment holders eagerly preparing the ground for what they hope will be a rich harvest next year. It’s exciting to think that by next summer this will be a mass of vegetables, flowers and no doubt the odd hen too. It’s not all child labour of course, veteran allotment holder Hilary Pardo (below) shows that a bit of elbow grease is needed to turn over the soil.