Sunday 17 August 2008

SRAGS Open Day 10th August 2008

Allotment Open Day supports Mayor’s Charity and - A ‘Gunners’ Supporter gets his Reward


The Stanley Road Allotment & Garden Society celebrated the start of National Allotment Week in style by inviting the Mayor and Mayoress of Sutton to attend the Society’s first ever Open Day on 10th August. A crowd of well over 100 people attended.


As the Chairman, Mavis Peart said, “We are celebrating for two reasons; first, because nationally there has been a huge increase in interest in home grown produce and allotment cultivation and secondly, over the last year there has been a regeneration of our own site with many enthusiastic newcomers of all ages and nationalities, so that now all 204 allotment plots are taken.”


The Mayor, Cllr Brendan Hudson then paid tribute to one particular ‘allotmenteer’, Derek Cozens. As the Mayor said, “He has been responsible for clearing all the overgrown plots, many with brambles 6 feet high, so that when new people came along they were not put off from taking a plot on. The Mayor, on behalf of the Society, then presented Derek with a framed Arsenal shirt, autographed by all of the team, in recognition of all his hard work, help and encouragement. After Derek thanked the Society for his wonderful present, he was cheered by everyone present.

The Mayor and Mayoress enjoyed walking round the allotments and were impressed by the enthusiasm of everyone they met. As they left they were pleased to accept a box of freshly picked vegetables.
The Society also raised over £200 for the Mayor’s Charity from visitors as they too went home with bags of vegetables. It was a truly happy and successful event.

7 comments:

jeanie oliver said...

Ali and all,
I love the blog-I feel that I am there with you in spirit through Ali's blog and this will be even greater.
What a wonderful way to learn and communicate about gardening in your part of the world.
keep up the good work,
Jeanie Oliver
Salem, Arkansas, USA

Barbee' said...

Ali, this is an excellent beginning for the new blog. I know your members and friends are going to enjoy it very much. I commend you for pulling it all together, setting it up, and getting it going! How friendly to be able to pop in now and then and see what is happening there. Keep up the good work. Cheers!

Mandy said...

It looks wonderful Ali, well done.

Can't wait to learn more about what you and your fellow allotmenteers are up to during the course of the year.

The ideas will be put to good use on my own plot.

Happy Hoeing!

Mandy

Unknown said...

Hi Ali,
What a wonderful idea! With the kind of hard work you've been putting in and the harvest you've been reaping...I can well imagine how the whole allotment is going to look! And now the blog too! It's going to be blotanical on a smaller scale.
You and the others sound so full of IT that I'm thinking of visiting SRAGS often so that the the enthusiasm will rub off on me!
All the best! Can't wait for the next post!

Anonymous said...

Ali,
This a great step forward for the SRAGS. I would just like to thank the committee and all those who put in the hours behind the scenes, well done and congratulations. I would also like to take this opportunity to personally thank Derek for keeping my plot alive and kicking, thank you.

Jan - Plot 132

Unknown said...

Jeanie(USA)Barbee(USA)Mandy(UK)Kanak(India) & Jan (plot 132)

Thank you all so much for your comments and kind words & support. It has been fun and hard work setting up this blog, but I think that it will be worth it's weight in gold in the months to come. With your continued visits & suggestions, this site will only get better and better.

Come back soon! Ali

Anonymous said...

The new blog looks great. I hope you achieve your goals!