Thread by @RoystonAGA

AGM has begun. Neil our chairman welcomes everyone.

It’s been a great year and we had a fab outing to @kewgardens.

Any ideas for our 2020 outing are very welcome.

We held a BBQ for our plot holder members for the first time - a really successful venture, especially the bouncy castle for our smallest allotmenteers.

We’ve built concrete compost bins - thanks to Adrian and Larry for their most excellent construction skills.

We’re also planning a cookbook of recipes from our plotholders. Available in all good bookshops* soon...

* our clubhouse and online too!

Accounts are being signed off. We’ve invested funds in our proper compost bins, new turf, and some gazebos for our events.

We have some funds for projects to help us improve the site, so please speak up if you have ideas.

Neil is declared as chairman for another year. 👏👏👏

@vickicomms has been named as secretary as a job share with the lovely Helen.

Keith has been named as treasurer.

Vicki and Helen are already celebrating their new partnership

A big RAGA welcome to our guest speaker @PWhaites, former Head Gardener at Wimpole Hall.

Philip was introduced to gardening from an early age...

After an apprenticeship as a mechanic, Philip was still keen to persuade a career as a gardener. He took on all sorts of roles from grave digging to tree surgery. He got a role in the NT, and moved to @WimpoleEstateNT as an assistant gardener.

Philip tells us the heavy clay on site is a real challenge. We also have chalk to content with. Something our plot holders can sympathise with...

Estates like Wimpole don’t have a “back”.... They have two fronts, south and north. There’s 7 miles of hedges!

There’s 1,000 trees on the avenue, which is 2.5 miles. Aircraft pilots use this as a point of reference. The USA used the trees to hide their bombers in WW2.

There’s 300,000- 400,000 visitors a year to the site - there’s an informal path that includes 150 stumps for the stumpery, and a bug hotel... thought it’s clearly not as good as the one we’ve just built at the allotments... 💅🏼

This is a Korean fir conifer. They don’t flower every year, but when they do they’re stunning! 😍

The glass house is fab for growing on bedding plants. Once they’re out over 80 varieties of tomatoes go in, including Indigo Rose and Yellow Pear.

Lots of rhubarb, mushrooms, beetroot and chard goes to the restaurant for hungry NT visitors. 🤤

The apple trees in orchards produce four tonnes of apples, creating 20,000 bottles of juice!

Wimpole has a national collection of walnut trees - 50 varieties! Though the battle against the squirrels is a constant one...

The Sequoia trees are some of the tallest living things in East Anglia - but they are v prone to lightning strikes 🌩

Some amazing work to restore and renew the cottage garden, supported by @CottageGardenSo. 💕

Can’t have a talk about Wimpole without mentioning Ginger 😿

When @PWhaites retired from Wimpole, he was surprised by his granddaughter and family who came over from America for his farewell party.

He now has more time for his own garden, and is on the lookout for an #allotment. 🤞🙌

A HUGE thank you to @PWhaites for sharing his expertise and stories with us tonight. Fabulous photos and a wonderful insight into the role of Head Gardener and the secrets of Wimpole.

Time for our annual awards! Best kept allotment goes to...

Mick

Best newcomers... aren’t here, but we’re all so thrilled for Nadia and Alan and all the hard work they’ve put in this year. Their plot looks amazing and so productive.

Pru picked up the award for best produce tray on our Open Day.

Jemimah’s mum, Helen, collects her daughter’s prize for the most inventive container at our Open Day. Apparently she doesn’t like marrows so she scooped it out, filled it with compost and planted herbs. #Allotment

Vicki was awarded the Chairman’s award for non-committee member who has contributed most over the year, including setting up and curating our Facebook page for plot holders.

And that’s it. Thank you so much to everyone who came to our AGM, especially our speaker @PWhaites, and to those of you who have been following our tweets this evening.

Keep us in your timeline for all things #allotment in #Royston 👍

Hey @threadreaderapp - please unroll this majestic thread for us 🙏