Welcome to the December newsletter! Winter is here, but there is always plenty to be done on our plots: clearing and digging in preparation for the coming season; sowing broad beans and other crops that can be started at this time of year; and harvesting winter produce such as sprouts, kale and parsnips.
Faith, Hope and Charity are the names chosen by Marcel Kruip for the three solar pumping systems he has designed and installed. We are enormously grateful to him and to Peter Thonemann who has most skilfully engraved these names on slate slabs (see photo, with Marcel by Hope). When weather and Covid permit larger gatherings, we shall plan a christening ceremony to express our thanks to all involved in the project.
Wood available – as logs to take home for the fire, to anyone prepared to cut them up. The remains of the ash trees felled from the fence are stacked by the Temple of Mars (the shed near the entrance). This wood is available to plot- holders at a price of £5 per barrow-load. If you are interested please let me know before taking wood.
The remains of the horse chestnut in the far left (west) corner of Spragglesea Mead need more work. There is plenty of useable wood to cut up, but also the other remains of the tree to clear. Anyone willing to help with this task will be given wood free to take away.
Rubbish! Our thanks to those who helped clear bags of rubbish during the summer. There is more left near the entrance, including some items too large to bag up. If anyone has an estate car or other vehicle suitable for taking these to Redbridge we will be extremely grateful: please get in touch and I will help. Otherwise my plan to is to hire a man with a van to remove all the remaining rubbish.
AGM: 17 March 2021 at 7.30? Our constitution requires us to hold an Annual General Meeting in March. As we will have some important matters to decide we intend to have one in 2021, although at the moment it is quite unclear what form it will take. I envisage some combination of a face-to-face meeting for the number of people allowed (and willing to take part) at that time, an online link by Zoom, and email circulation of papers in advance, with the option for postal voting. I would be happy to have advice from anyone with recent experience of organising meetings of this kind.
Potato Fair Cancellation: See the information below from the Oxford and District Federation of Allotment Associations (ODFAA):
Sadly, due to the ongoing circumstances surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic, Pennard Plants have taken the decision that they will not be hosting any Potato Fairs in 2021. However, they are offering a Virtual Online Potato Period, which will be administered through the Pennard Plants online web site https://www.pennardplants.com and are offering a 15% blanket online discount off the price of most items that were available during the past years Potato Days, obviously depending on availability. Discounts will be valid from 1 November 2020 until the 31 March 2021, and carried out online with a discount code [oxford77k] that is entered in the ‘Shopping Cart’ page when ordering. (Postage & Packing and Gift Vouchers, plus a few odd things are not discounted). You can use the code as many times as needed during this period. A decent alternative, which some may know of, is Charlton Garden Centre in Wantage (if you prefer to collect) – their published 2021 list can be found here:
https://www.charltongardencompany.co.uk/default.aspx
Finally I would like to wish the Season’s Greetings to all plot-holders and their families. Have a merry (but safe!) Christmas and a New Year full of hope for easier times and successful cultivation in 2021.
Tony Cox
11 December 2020