Without volunteers like these and many more besides them, we would not be celebrating raising another Green Flag Community Award for another year.

We are honoured to be receive the award, the international quality mark for parks and green spaces, in the scheme’s Silver Jubilee year.

Green Flag Award Scheme Manager Paul Todd said: “I would like to congratulate everyone involved in making Ashbourne Road District Allotments worthy of a Green Flag Award. To meet the requirements demanded by the scheme is testament to the hard work of the volunteers who do so much to ensure that the site has high standards of horticulture, safety and environmental management and is a place that supports people to live healthy lives.”

Thank you to everyone who contributes to our wonderful haven in Derby.

On October 30th we’re hosting something for the local kids (& bigger kids!) please see poster below.

We’ll be contacting those who have said they’ll help but, if you want to be involved, respond to this post in the comments below.

Members of the Association will soon be receiving an email but as a heads up, we’re looking for plot holders to carve their own pumpkin, create a spooky scare crow or go really mad and decorate the front of their plots so we can create a spooky trail around the site.

In the meantime, if anyone has any surplus pumpkins or squashes please place them on plot 31! Any questions, please email events [at] araa.org.uk 

It is with great sadness that we share with you the news that our wonderful friend Viv Croke passed away last Friday, 30th July.

Viv wasn’t able to get down the plot much since the start of the pandemic but she loved allotment life with her husband Martin who she worked and shared a plot with for many years. Viv liked to get involved with the allotment community and was always happy to participate in events and competitions.

Those who knew Viv will always remember her kindness, sense of fun and great humour.

Viv’s funeral will take place on Friday 20th August at 10am at Markeaton Crematorium.

NGS Open Day.

On Saturday 24th July, we held the second of our NGS Open Days – and what a great day it was!

Everything, from the moment visitors first arrived at the entrance, the flower stall, refreshments and cakes, tool sales down to the produce sales all ran like clockwork which can only be put down to all the effort and hard work by everyone who gave their time to make it such a successful event. My sincere thanks to all concerned.

Whilst the main object of the exercise, working alongside the NGS organization, is to raise money for various charities it was the comments from many of our visitors that lifted the spirits. These ranged from ‘we’ve had a lovely day’, ‘this is how all allotments should be’ to ‘what a fantastic place you have here’ (well, we know that anyway). It was good to see so many people leaving with armfuls of flowers and vegetables that had been kindly donated by many of our plotholders. None of the produce was priced, we merely asked for donations and it is worth remembering that an awful lot of work was done in the preceding days by so many people in preparing for the day such as making jellies, collecting and arranging flowers and generally making the site look as neat and tidy as it did.

If the reaction of our visitors was anything to go by, I feel confident that the NGS may well encourage us to repeat the events next year.

Once again, many thanks to all our brilliant volunteers and all of you that were kind enough to not only open up your plots but to engage so enthusiastically with the visitors and make them feel welcome on what was such a memorable day.

Eric Lindley

Chairman

A huge thank you to all of the plot holders who opened their plots on Saturday for our National Garden Scheme Open Day. The feedback we have received has been incredible and so complimentary. You should all be very proud.

I also want to thank all the volunteers who have worked so hard to put both NGS events together and to those who regularly maintain the site and ensure it is kept to a high standard for all to enjoy.

I’ve always thought Ashbourne Road District Allotments was a little bit special and it appears others think so too.  

Well done everyone!
Julia

We’re looking to create a small Events Team!

If you’re up for some extremely rewarding work that highlights everything wonderful about our little Lottie then please email events [at] araa.org.uk to express your interest!

Radio presenters need not apply!!

As we shut the gate on Saturday, as the last of our visitors left, and took a well earned sit down and suitable refreshment we realised that not one of us had had the time to take any photos during the the Open Day

We have already been sent a few photos but we are desperate to post pictures on our website, social media pages and our notice boards around site. They will also be a great support for our Green Flag Community Award Management Plan which we will be submitting in early 2022.

If you were able to take some photos on Saturday and are willing to have them shared by us then please email them to photos [at] araa.org.uk

Thank you

Hi everyone
 
As I’m sure most of you will have realised, on Sat. 1st May the Ashbourne Road District Allotment Association had the privilege of being the first Derby Council allotment site to open its gates to the general public under the National Garden Scheme. The day was well attended by the public with around 150 people coming through the gate which will have raised over £700 for the NGS charities, a most commendable figure for just 5 hours of opening.
 
Among the public during these 5 hours we had the pleasure of entertaining 4 officials of the NGS organisation including Jean and Peter Gardener who were our initial contacts. As they were leaving they had nothing but praise for our open day using words such as ‘absolutely fantastic’ and ‘brilliant’. This was then followed up by a most complimentary email to Elaine Crick which was most gratifying. It was also notable that most people, as they were leaving, were telling us how enjoyable their visit had been.
 
Of course none of this would have been possible without all the hard work and organisation done by our marvellous team of volunteers, all of whom had a part to play in the success of the day and it is to these people that I would like to say a big thank you. The first group of people tasked with moving the project forward are, of course, the organising committee headed by Elaine, ably assisted by Sarah Martin- Smith, Andy Culshaw, Kath Haywood, Liz Stafford, Gill Black and Cathy Hastie. Extra support on the day itself was provided by Mark Smith, Kevin Clark, Nicola Allen and her daughter, Helen Lintott, Alison and Martin Kent and Benita. I also would like to single out Dave Hancox (who opened and ran the shop for the day), Aiden (who did a great job with the plant sales), Glenys Gresham (a fantastic performance selling cakes, tea and coffee) and last but not least Mark Slater who spent all day welcoming the visiting public and our own members (not the easiest of jobs) along with providing IT support. Providing all the delicious cakes for Glenys to sell were Barbara Dawson, Jackie Lindley, Sarah Trouse, Helen Lintott, Carole McBride and Liz Stafford.
 
For giving more of an in-depth view of what we are about I would also like to thank all the 20 plot holders who were generous (and brave) enough to open their plots to visitors. A regular comment made by the visitors as they left was that everyone they had spoken to on the plots were so friendly and informative, so a big thank you and well done to all the plotholders.
 
Another group of important people who spent the preceding weeks ensuring the site looked at its best was our regular Tuesday volunteer group of Kevin, Martin, Gerry, Barry, Chris and Paul, so another big thanks to these guys.
 
If I have missed anyone out who helped to make the day such a huge success then please accept my apologies but rest assured you been included in my thank you’s. It is very encouraging to me to see so many of our plotholders coming together on projects such as this and I’m sure that our next NGS open day on 24th July will be an even better event (with a bit of luck it should also be a bit warmer) so once again a huge thank you to all who gave their time and effort on our first NGS day. Perhaps the first of many?
 
Eric Lindley
 
Chairman ARDAA