Posts filed under ‘News’
An Escape from the Office
STAA staff, trustees and volunteers have been on two learning events in recent days.
On Tuesday 30th September a group of nine staff and trustees visited Hill Holt Wood in Lincolnshire. This was made possible thanks to a grant from Locality through their Knowledge and Skills Exchange. Hill Holt Wood is a social enterprise with its base in an ancient Lincolnshire woodland. Although somewhat different to a large allotment site in St Anns, there are many similarities between the two organisations and our respective sites which we were able to explore. We received a warm welcome and introductory presentation from Nigel and his team. We then broke for lunch, followed by an afternoon tour of the woods and training areas before catching the bus back to Nottingham. We left with plenty to ponder about how we can make better use of the allotment visitor centre and generating potential future income streams.
Afternoon tour of the wood.
Allotment gardeners walking around the kitchen garden at Hill Holt Wood.
On Wednesday 1st October, Michael took a small group of our heritage display garden volunteers to have a look round the walled garden at Clumber Park. The idea was to take inspiration from the ornamental borders, vegetable beds and orchards and see what ideas we could bring back to Oliver’s Plot. The sun shone as if it were midsummer and the gardens still looked great for so late in the year. The long herbaceous borders were in full bloom and buzzing with insects. We were particularly impressed by the national collections of local apple varieties and rhubarb. There may be some tweaks to Oliver’s Plot as a result of the visit – come back and visit STAA in 2015 to see if you can spot them!
A step over apple tree
Victorian lantern cloches, seakale together with forcing pots, and trained peach trees.
Come and celebrate the harvest with us this Saturday, 11am – 4pm!
Entrance on Ransom Road.
Tours
Heritage tours: 11:30am, noon and 2pm
Wildlife tour: 1:30pm
Workshops
Drumming workshop: 11:30am – 1:30pm
Willow weaving: Noon – 1pm and 3pm – 4pm
Morris dancing: 1pm, followed by a performance for the Lord Mayor at 2pm
Throughout the day: Children’s archaeological dig and peg work at the STAA table
And there’s more!
The burial of our time capsule overseen by the Lord Mayor at approximately 2pm
Apple pressing at the Community Orchard
Produce competitions – Only 20p to enter
Food from Beccy’s Global Kitchen
Tomato tasting
Frank Shelton the ‘Owl Man’ with Kim the Barn Owl
Produce displays
Homemade cakes and refreshments
Stalls and community information
Summer Newsletter 2014
Our summer edition of the newsletter for plot holders at St Anns Allotments is now available! Please click on the picture below to read the full copy.
St Anns Allotments
Join us for a series of activities based on finding more about the wildlife of St Anns Allotments. This will include a ‘Bioblitz’ to count as many species as possible in the weekend.
Lots of our partner organisations will be on site for lots of wildlife activities:
- Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust will be at the Community Orchard Activity day with family friendly wildlife activities and have a nature table at the Visitors centre
- Pete from Nottinghamshire Beekeepers will be identifying bumblebees
- RSPB local group will be leading a bird walk around site.
- Simon from Butterfly Conservation will be starting the ‘Big Butterfly Count’ looking for our fluttery friends
- Urban Nature will be pond dipping
- STAA Gardeners Club are invited to a talk about wildlife supporting your plot
- Volunteers and experts will be doing a botanical survey of the wildlife areas and hedges across site.
- And more activities to be confirmed!
A full programme will be available shortly.
GARDENERS – SEND US YOUR SIGHTINGS! We would love to hear what you have found, seen and heard on your plot. If you have found something that you would like help with identifying, bring a picture to the visitors centre between 12noon and 3pm either day for us to help identify as best we can!
We are particularly interested in:-
- HEDGEHOGS
- ORCHID
- MIDLAND HAWTHORN (a version of Hawthorn most easily identified from Common Hawthorn by having 2 (or more) pips in the Haws, and 2 or 3 styles in the flower.
- AMPHIBIANS (Frogs, Toads and Newts)
- OWLS AND BIRDS OF PREY
- DRAGONFLIES AND DAMSELFLIES – we challenge you to get photos and send them to us!
Send sightings, photos, and anecdotes to Lucy at STAA using the form below or call 0115 958 9255. Please include the location (plot number) and some contact details.
Spring Blossom Day at St Anns Allotments!
Come and celebrate the spring with us at our Blossom Day event!
There’ll be fun for all the family with stalls, a drumming workshop, a glass painting workshop, tours of the site, self-guided walks and poppy planting for World War One remembrance. You’ll also be able to wander around open gardens including the Ecoworks Community Garden, the Heritage Display Garden as well some allotments! Refreshments will be available.
Rankin is coming to St Anns Allotments!
It’s all happening on
Friday 16th May 2014!
Rankin will be photographing plot holders and volunteers during the day – if you have a plot at St Anns Allotments and would like to have your picture taken, contact the STAA office. The deadline is Monday 28th April. All names will go in a hat.
Click here to get a free ticket for the event. But hurry, tickets are limited!
Gardeners’ Newsletter Spring 2014
The Spring newsletter is now ready! Please click on the front page below to read it.
Spring has Sprung!
Spring has sprung, and we have a lot planned for the next couple of months. The allotments are going to be busy, busy, busy…
The Easter holidays are here and there are lots of fun outdoor activities planned at the Community Orchard – see below for details. If you want to keep up-to-date with what’s on at the St Anns Community Orchard, we now have a Facebook page!
Interested in a free willow workshop on Sunday? See details below! Please call to book asap as we won’t be open on Friday and Saturday.
Last month we had our first heritage walk of the season. If you would like to have a guided walk around the site, they take place on the last Wednesday of the month at 1:30 pm until September. Booking is essential and we ask for a suggested donation of £2.
If you would like to get more involved at St Anns Allotments on a regular basis, we’re looking for Urban Nature volunteers! Every Friday 10-2, and one Saturday a month. Contact lucy.kennedy@staa-allotments.org.uk to join in.
We have a new membership scheme for St Anns Allotment gardeners! Membership costs £3 and for an additional £2.25 you’ll be able to join the National Allotment Society, something that would normally cost £23 as an individual member.
What can you expect for your membership? As well as reduced charges to courses and events organised by STAA, we’ll be introducing a number of discount schemes with local organisations starting off with a 10% discount at Brookfields Garden Centre. We’ll also be offering the benefits of collective purchasing on bulk items including seeds, compost and other products. Let us know what your needs are. We’re also exploring the introduction of a tool hire scheme and you can expect an announcement on this during the next few months. Membership of the National Allotment Society will enable you to access the full range of their discounts and special offers. We are planning to hold a welcome event to give new members a chance to collect their cards and ask questions. There will be more details in the next newsletter.
May will be the busiest month at the allotments as we have our Spring Blossom Day on Saturday 10th May and famous photographer Rankin will be coming the week after! We’ll let you know as soon as we have all the details, so watch this space…
Pruning & Grafting Workshops for STAA Allotment Holders
Are you an allotment holder at St Anns Allotments? Would you like to learn how to prune your apple trees and graft yourself a new tree?
Come along to one of our free workshops!
After some basic theory you’ll get the chance to practise your pruning and grafting, supervised by Alice, our fruit-tree expert. Basic tools will be provided but please feel free to bring your own secateurs and gloves. There’ll be some indoor and outdoor activity so dress appropriately and remember your waterproofs! Bring along some grafting material or choose from a selection of heritage trees grown on the site. Booking is essential. For more details, please see the poster below…
St Anns Allotments 