On Wednesday afternoon I attended a Trustees Meeting of the Braithwaite Trust. As many of you know the Trust looks after the allotments in Great Waldingfield and I am happy to report that on the whole Trust’s position, both financial and operational, remains good.
At the beginning of the meeting we were addressed by Siobhan Hemmett, our Police Community Support Officer and a colleague who is involved with the organisation of neighbourhood watch schemes and the like. They suggested that the Board consider setting up an ‘Allotment Watch’ scheme with their help. Apparently thefts from allotments have become more common recently and raising awareness may prevent further crimes.
In the summer, some of the Trustees and young members of their families worked hard to fill a skip with rubbish that was dumped on the drove road off Ten Tree Road that is owned by the Trust. In addition to waste that could be disposed of by skip, they were faced with a large number of propane gas cylinders which are less easy to dispose of safely and legally. David Floyd has spent a good deal of time and effort reuniting cylinders with their original owners at various gas companies, but is still somewhat perplexed by what to do with a cylinder of german extraction!
Horses have now taken over from the six alpacas in Mill Field, and although I am sorry to see these very attractive animals go, allotment owners have been very pleased to be able to take advantage of the horses’ ‘by products’ .
Demand for allotments remains good, but not unmanageable. In the past it has been difficult to find takers for all the plots available but this is no longer the case. It will be interesting to see whether the new fashion for ‘grow your own’ is just a passing fad or whether there has really been a change in people’s behaviour.
Finally we are all looking forward to introducing the new vicar to the joys of membership of the Board of Trustees. I am sure that she will keep us all on the straight and narrow!
