Autumn Newsletter 2017

Welcome to the third Woodseats Allotment Society

newsletter. We intend to issue 4 newsletters this year to

all tenants on the Woodseats site and surrounding council sites without a society. This is part of an initia-tive to increase the number of society members. You might have noticed that we have designed a fresh new

graphic style to our documentation and posters since the May edition of the newsletter.

You will also see some articles in light yellow boxes

throughout the newsletter. We hope these inclusions from a mystery contributor will bring the smile to

your face that’s intended!

AGM – Sunday 11st June

Josie Wright retired at this year’s AGM after a decade of dedicated service. Forid Meah, pictured with Josie, became our president. John Howe remains as secretary and Sue Lee as treasurer, mi-nute secretary, mem-bership secretary, and shop-stock con-troller.

At the AGM, mem-bers approved a change to our consti-tution to expand the

aims of the society to include the local community. (A copy of the constitution can be found on our website).

Members also approved an increase in membership fees. The current fees (£4) have been held since 2012. In 2018 membership fees will rise to £6. A recent sur-vey found that 98% of members agreed that member-ship is value for money. The current package of mem-bership benefits is under review.

Seed orders for next year

Kings seed catalogues will be available from the socie-ty shop towards the end of August (look out for email and Facebook messages). This extensive vegetable, flower, soft fruit and tree catalogue offers seeds to al-lotment society members at prices unattainable any-where else. Each packet comes with a no-quibble guar-antee from Kings Seeds.

Order forms MUST be back by Sunday 24th Septem-ber. Payment by cheque to Woodseats Allotment Socie-ty or cash with order form. Remember to add £1 for postage and individual order packing. Seed delivery will be around the middle of December. We do not rec-ommend the purchase of seed potatoes or onion sets from this catalogue as our bulk supply of seed potatoes and onion sets in February are substantially cheaper than this source.

Woodseats Festival - Sunday 16th July

The Society had a presence at this year’s Woodseats Festival for the first time. Our stand looked very professional and attracted consider-able interest. Tak-ings from plant sales exceeded £100. Overall it

felt like a very successful event. Thank you to all those who donated plants and/or helped on the day.

Traveller’s Rest

Tenants with plots at the bottom of the site who exit via the Camping Lane gate will be very happy to learn that

a bench has been donated. Once restored and weather-proofed, it will be placed at the top of the hill on the grassy patch outside plot 41 for people to use on their way home after a hard day’s work.

What a Butt!

What a privilege it is to walk around a thriving allot-ment site and observe such a dazzling diverse array of well presented butts. Some old and weathered (yet still attractive!), some shiny and recently displayed. All ag-es, colours and sizes are represented on these plots. So enamoured were we with everyone’s butts that we de-cided to feature one butt per newsletter so that every-one can get a good eyeful and share in the joy of butt spotting. We’ve added a few facts too for any budding butt-anists out there!

So, Reader... have you got a nice butt? Does it put oth-ers in the shade? Would you like to see it pictured in the next newsletter for all to see? If so, write in via the Contacts page on the Woodseats Allotment Society website. Include a photo and important butt facts such as size, efficiency etc and what makes your butt stand out from all the rest.

This issue’s featured butt belongs to a Mrs Elsie Sprockett from Bradway, whose butt is a sight to behold! A broad well-rounded vessel, Mrs Sprockett’s butt, the Keister 400, has served as an efficient collection/containing unit for over 12 years. That’s a whop-ping 2 years beyond the guarantee! The Keister 400 features a dual con-trol tap system and can be employed in a free-standing position or inte-grated with established guttering/drainage via a hose or pipe. Mrs Sprockett says: “I love my butt! My husband put it on a pedestal for easy access many years ago and now I don’t know what I’d do without it. For as long as I’ve had it, passers-by have stopped to admire my butt and make nice comments, usually about its formidable ca-pacity.”

Open Day – Sunday 20th August

Volunteers needed for Open Day activities:

Open Allotments - can you open yours am, pm or all day?

Baking - contributions to sell in the café please. The cake stall is

always popular thanks to your wonderful baking skills. Let’s not

disappoint!

Meet and greet at Camping Lane entrance (pick a time slot)

Meet and greet at Abbey Lane entrance

(pick a time slot)

Café (pick a time slot)

Sale of produce (pick a time slot)

Children’s activities (pick a time slot)

There is a big sheet with spaces for people to sign up for the time or times they are available to volunteer and what they’d like to do. Also for baking - what they’d like to bring.

The sheet to be in the shop on Sunday mornings and in the Society Hub for the rest of the time so people can add to it.

Autumn planting Seeds

From the 10th September the Society hut will be selling a range of overwintering varieties of onions (Radar 80p

for 250g), shallots (Golden Gourmet 80p for 250g), garlic (Thermidrome £1.15 for 2 bulbs) and broad bean seeds (Aquadulce 60p for 100g). This year, for the first time, we will also stock green manure. Sown in the au-

tumn, green manure (Forage Pea 90p for 200g) is dug under in the spring. It helps keep down the weeds and very importantly, helps to enrich the soil ready for the

new growing season.

Shop Facelift

Thanks to Colin Wright and Liz Smith for their hard work on Sunday 9th July giving the shop a new coat of

paint. Our thanks also to B&Q, Queens Road for their generous donation of the Bottle Nose Dolphin (grey) masonry paint.

Time slots are 10:30 to 12:00 12:00 to 1:30 1:30 to 2:30 2:30 to 4:00

Com-Post Bag

– your Letters...

Dear Sir/Madam

I am quite new to all this ‘grow-your-own’ business and last year was very pleased when I got an allotment in Woodseats and managed to grow myself a fine crop of Albanian Skunk. What an achievement! All my allot-ment neighbours were having problems with slugs and aphids and suchlike, yet my plants were thriving. Call it beginner’s luck if you will. But then, imagine my con-sternation when the police called round and arrested me! Apparently, it’s illegal to grow psychoactive substances on council property. Well, it doesn’t say that in the ‘Guide to your Allotment’ information pamphlet! I just wanted to alert other allotmenteers, or ‘plotters’ that you might come ‘a cropper’(pun intended! Lol) if you try to grow a crop. Also, if anyone fancied writing to me whilst I serve my sentence, I’d much appreciate it.

D. Jones, HMP Wakefield

Complaints and Corrections

In Issue 2 we erroneously reported that Mr Thorntwistle’s superb trellis had been fashioned out of council tree prunings donated to the site. Mr Thorntwistle has kindly informed us that he actually made his trellis out of old wicker coffins bought from a tattooed man in the Red Lion. “They’re remarkably sturdy!” he commented. Apologies to all concerned.

Membership Survey

During June, Society members were invited to take part in a survey via email, Facebook and word of mouth.

From a membership of 92 there were 42 electronic and two paper returns (almost 50% of the membership). The

full report can be viewed on the web site.

The Key messages from the survey were:

* 98% of respondents believe the Society provides good value for money.

* There are some Members who do not know about

all the benefits of membership.

* Most Members have a good membership experi ence.

* While there is a strong demand for electronic forms of communication, some Members do not

use electronic communications.

* Most respondents would prefer not to get involved in organising activities.

The main outcome of the survey was the decision to de-

velop an extended membership package for 2018/19.

Existing benefits include discounted shop supplies, equipment loan, King’s discounted seed catalogue, Soci-ety Hub, refreshment facilities, toilet and newsletter.

New services under consideration include membership booklet, updated website, mentor for new members, members open day BBQ, an annual “master grower”

award, masterclasses/workshops. plant & seed exchange service and a holiday-buddy watering service.

Shop Opening times 6th August to the 26th

November

Now the busy summer period is over, the shop has gone back to opening on Sunday mornings 10:30 -11:45 only.

Thank you to all those members who gave up a cou-ple of hours on a Sunday morning to take a turn in the shop. If there is anyone else who wouldn’t mind do-ing a stint in the shop every so often please tell Sue (sue_lee@blueyonder.co.uk) or John Howe (0114 2745851) and we will add you to the rota. The more volunteers who help means the less often we all need to take a turn!

Thank you Josie Wright and David Newland for opening on Wednesday afternoons each week from mid-May to mid-July. It was a big commitment on their behalf, and very much appreciated.

If you can’t get to the shop on a Sunday morning for any reason, we are very happy to take orders via email or phone, and make individual arrangements for collection. Contact Richard Lee in the first instance (richard_j_lee@blueyonder.co.uk). There is a full list of items for sale on the website. Alternatively, you could just ring Richard on 07948518640 and ask if we stock what you need. We can also sometimes arrange to obtain items not normally stocked.

We order a wide range of certified Scottish seed pota-toes from our regular supplier who usually delivers in time for when the shop re-opens on the first Sunday in February. These will be very competitively priced, most being around 80p/kg. In the past, we have stocked Pentland Javelin (first early), Charlotte & Wilja (second early), Sarpo Mira, Desiree & Maris Piper (main crop). If sufficient people request another variety we will order that in for you. However, if you want to try out a specialist variety let us know before the end of October and we can order them at a very competitive price for you,. These generally come in 2kg bags.

You can pre-book your seed potatoes or order special-ist varieties via a list in the Society hut from the 3rd September.

We will sell onion set, shallots and garlic bulbs in the spring. Again pre-order in the shop from the 3rd Sep-tember.

Stop Press - Cyprus Trees to be trimmed!

We have just been notified that, after a number of years of lobbying by the Society, the Cyprus trees on the ceme-tery boundary alongside the Community orchard and pic-nic area at the Abbey Lane entrance are to be reduced in height by 50%. It is expected that this work will be under-taken over the winter months. Look out for an update in the Winter newsletter (early No-vember).

Death Bed

We’ve all found some weird and wonderful things while digging up our potatoes... from Victorian clay pipes to perished prophylactics... it’s always exciting to dig up something unexpected. Valerie from Tintwistle became particularly inflamed when she came across a huge bone. Most of us have found them – bird carcasses buried by foxes maybe or the remnants of a Sunday roast, com-posted long ago. But Val’s discovery was bigger than your average leg of lamb! It was a long bone, roughly the length of an average human adult thigh, and it had marks hacked into it too. Strangely enough, next to the bone lay an old machete and a highly decomposed shoe which also contained a collection of much smaller bones in what may have been a blood-stained nylon stocking. Val contacted us with news of her find straightaway. “I could not believe it!” she exclaimed. “I had a close look at that machete and it was made in Sheffield and dated from 1969. There wasn’t a single rusty blemish on it! It just goes to show that despite foreign imports, Sheffield Stainless Steel is still the best in the world!” Hear hear, Val!

Currant Bush Crush

Pitsmoor perennial seeks lilac blossom! To the won-derful mature lady wearing a lilac coloured top who stopped to talk to me as I was tending to my periwin-kle... For those few brief minutes that we spoke, you brought a real ray of sunshine into my day. I know it’s a long shot, but if you enjoyed our chat as much as I did, perhaps you’d like to stop by again at around the same time. My flask will be full and ready! Silver-haired gent on corner plot

Have you got a Currant-Bush-Crush? Seen a fellow allotmenteer who has planted a seed in your heart, and want to help it grow? Simply send an anonymous message to the flower of your fancy via the Contact Us page of the website. And let nature do the rest!

HELLO FROM 181ST SHEFFIELD (ST CHAD’S) SCOUT GROUP

We are your old neighbours, meeting at Church House on Abbey Lane for many years, who have now become your new neigh-bours on the Society Hub, where we have been allowed to take over management of one of the terraces.

As Scout leaders we were looking at 2 problems we have. As part of the Scout syllabus Scouts are required to become involved in activities in their local community, and traditionally Scouts closes for the Summer school holidays. We were looking for a communi-ty activity that would allow us to provide something for the young people to do over the Summer, and the allotment is ideal for both.

For those who have no knowledge of Scouts, we have three age groups, Beavers (6 - 8 years old), Cubs (8 - 10 years old) and Scouts (10 - 14 years old). We have invited all three groups to attend with parents and family on Wednesday evenings between 6.00 and 8.00. The Scouts and some adults will garden, while the younger element, with the rest of the adults, will take part in ac-tivities in the Community orchard better suited to their age.

As always, Scouts have a number of badges they can work to-wards, and one of these is the Smallholders Badge. As well as having somewhere to go on Wednesday evening, those who meet the requirements of this badge (and we have arranged the allotment to suit the badge) will be awarded with it in Septem-ber.

We hope that managing the terrace space on the Society Hub will be a long-term project for the Scouts, and the leadership team at St Chad’s would like to thank the Allotment Society for making the bed available, and for your generous support (both in terms of time, and provision of plants) in getting this project moving.

Nigel Ross

One of the leadership team at 181st Sheffield (St Chad’s) Scout Group - and new Allotmenteer!

Society Hub (plots 64 & 65)

Have you used our Society Hub yet? This amazing re-source is available to all Society members. Take a break from your chores and eat your pack-up on the picnic bench under

the vine. Make yourself a cuppa in the kitchen, use the toilet (only a camping toilet so far but we have plans for something more permanent).

The loan equipment (rotovator, hedge trimmer, strim-mer, wood chipper etc.) is now stored in one of the se-cure lock-ups at the hub.

A small group of volunteers has worked over the sum-mer to maintain the site, manage the terraces and erect greenhouses ready for members to use next spring. More volunteers will always be made very welcome. Come and get stuck in!