[Fleecewife]

Not all of us on TAS have smallholdings - many of us have allotments.  To clear the site for the Olympic Stadium, the local allotments were cleared away, leaving their occupiers to either start again elsewhere or to give up.   Then the Olympic organisers promised that the food franchise for the games would be given to local companies and would feature British food - that didn't happen as instead it went to a giant, an american giant at that....M

Have a look at this website: ]http://www.olympicsart.com/farm-the-city-london.html]   where the artists are trying to let us know about these issues.  The painting in 'Farm the City', 'Oasis over London', has me in it - the one with the pigtails and wheelbarrow.  I love it 

[Mammyshaz]

  

[arl]

Not entireley true my friend has got the order for the cheese and he sources from all local producers and the size of it has scared the hell out of him
Arl

[Sylvia]

But to destroy people's allotments is unforgiveable

[arl]

Agreed on that score

[Lesley Silvester]

So do I.  People may have spent years getting their plots in really good condition.  why should they have to start again?

[Fleecewife]

Not entireley true my friend has got the order for the cheese and he sources from all local producers and the size of it has scared the hell out of him
Arl

That's great to know even a tiny portion of the food will be British, and that some of our producers will benefit.


It is a shame how little is thought of allotments in government, so they are the first areas to succumb to developments of many types.  The benefits of having allotments in any community is enormous and goes well beyond the obvious one of supplementing the diet.

[Mammyshaz]

some people around here have had theirs for 20+ years. Allotment holders put lots  of hard work and efforts into maintaining good soil condition and some plants like our brambly apple tree and greengage trees have been here for at least40 years. I would be broken- hearted to be forced to see this destroyed. There is no way I could achieve what I already have here in my lifetime restarting,
Perhaps the local press would be interested in the story?

[Greenerlife]

The more I hear about the Olympics, the less I like it.  i heard and put my name on the petition against the demolition of the allotments probably over a year ago? Are these the same ones?  Sadly, Seb Coe has way too much sway and it would now appear that people are not permitted to protest about anything to do with the olympics, which, whether you agree or not, our right to protest is core to being British.  I am not a stroppy leftist, but I am really really angry about this.

[Fowgill Farm]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/8399351.stm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/adrianwarner/2011/10/feeding_the_public_well_is_key.html

These are two links about Olympics using British food (only 20% will be maccydees & junk, see first article, 2nd one includes about GOS pork being on the menu. Yahoo so not all bad news just spin!

Mandy 

[Cavendish]

I would love to have an allotment but there do not seems to be enought to go around, I think there is a business opportunity here, farmers could turnover relatively smal parcels of land for alottments, I for one would pay a slightly higher rate per year for one then you would pay the council.

[Fleecewife]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/8399351.stm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/adrianwarner/2011/10/feeding_the_public_well_is_key.html

These are two links about Olympics using British food (only 20% will be maccydees & junk, see first article, 2nd one includes about GOS pork being on the menu. Yahoo so not all bad news just spin!

Mandy 

The first report is dated Dec 2009, the second Oct 2011.  The word I have heard is that the committee has gone back on these promises - but who will really know until the Games open?  I won't know even then as I don't have any tickets  , same reason I will never win the lottery.
But even if they stick to the 20% provided by the sponsors, is that 20% for bigM, 20% for C-C and 20% for the chocco lot, or 20% for them in total?  The wording is fuzzy.  The biggest question is, why do we need the main sponsors to be foreign at OUR Games 

Quite apart from all that, I really loved that painting by Peter Rodulfo of the allotment soaring above grey old London on its magic carpet. It reminded me of just what an oasis allotments can be, right there in the heart of the city.   I'm sure mine were what kept me sane before we were lucky enough to move to our smallholding.   The artists doing this exhibition are looking for places to take it around the country, to highlight the home production of food in this Olympic year, so if you know of anyone wanting to support their venture by hosting the collection plus talks for a short stay, there is a contact link on their website for further details.  My place is way too small with no suitable building 

[Fleecewife]

I would love to have an allotment but there do not seems to be enought to go around, I think there is a business opportunity here, farmers could turnover relatively smal parcels of land for alottments, I for one would pay a slightly higher rate per year for one then you would pay the council.

I think this is happening in some places and means a bit of diversification for the farmer concerned as well as some allotments for local people.  They have been trying to set something similar up in my local town, but once the initial excitement and enthusiasm had died down, the support had dwindled (it went hand in hand with a low carbon footprint initiative which also seems to have bitten the dust).   It all seems to hang on individual personalities - if someone, and the best known is of course Hugh F-W, can maintain their involvement and keep people's enthusiasm on the boil, then such schemes could succeed.

We did try sharing our veg plot here with some people from our local town, but it didn't work out - we were left with broken tools and weedy plots 

When we first got our allotments (which would be about 25 years ago now) we were told that there was a huge waiting list.  However, almost immediately we were asked to come along and look at one - which of course we took straight away. A couple of years later another across the track came up and we got that too.  At the less desirable end of the site there were quite a few one-time plots which had stood empty for years.  So it could be that there are some derelict allotments which others don't want to take on for which you could jump the queue.  It is worth going round the local allotment sites to see what there is and talk to some of the plotholders, before speaking with the council allotments man in person.

[Sylvia]

A lot of people take on an allotement with more dreams than graft and fall by the wayside after the first year so keep on asking.
As for the Olympic Games, If they were being held ten minutes away I would rather stay at home and clean my oven then watch them(and that's saying something )

[deepinthewoods]

im sure the allotment thing happened a while ago, its a bit similar to the issue around allotments being lost for heathrow expansion, thats case i think was won by the allotment holders, tho i might be wrong.

as far as the olympics go, i think its great, im not going to any events, i couldnt afford a ticket but it is proving inspirational for my daughter, she has cerebral palsy which affects her legs and muscle control but she is so determined and took part in a sports event for disabled kids through her school at which a paralympic talent scout spotted her and shes been invited to a national competition later on this year, im very proud of her. the olympic torch hits cornwall today i believe, and the torch parade through truro is on saturday and shes very excited about seeing it, and to be honest im looking forward to it as well, theres alot could be said about the expense of hosting the event and the disruption it will cause to london amongst other places, but it is good that areas of london have been renovated and the infrastructure improved and if other kids are inspired to have a go at athletics like my daughter has been, then that can only be a good thing. so come on uk lets see some golds!!