Syston Allotment Open Day
Syston Allotment Society held an Open Day on 12th August; the temperature was less extreme than it had been for the 2022 Open Day and this was appreciated! There was a steady flow of visitors who came to wander round the plots; several of them were on a waiting list for their own plot and wanted to find out what the allotments are like and talk to current plot holders. The tombola was a great favourite, and plot holders had donated fruit and veg and eggs for people to buy. The tea stall was laden with cakes that had also been donated and these were sampled enthusiastically. Many thanks to everyone who gave produce, tombola items, or cakes etc for the tea stall – it was much appreciate
The competitions (Best box of Syston Allotment produce from your plot, Best item made from produce, and a Children’s art competition on the theme of Syston Allotments) were judged by Richard Thorpe of ‘Tales from the Plot’ fame, and his wife Jane. They said they had a very difficult job because the standards were so high and Syston Allotments would like to thank them for all their work. Awards were as follows:
Children’s art:
All children’s art entries were excellent especially two from plot 65B and one from plot 63B.
Best box of produce:
Gold: Beryl Ellis plot 60A
Silver: J. Morris plot 8B
Bronze: T. Strutt plot 10B
Best item made from produce:
Gold: Sue Kirk plot 73b, spicy courgette chutney.
Silver: Helen Lake plot 63b, especially the jams.
Bronze: Kate Hubbard plot 19b, especially the gin.
Best kept plot award:
The plots were judged by Alan Dayman, from Derry’s Nurseries. Syston Allotments would like to thank him for all his time and the care with which he assessed the plots, not an easy task. He said Syston plots are very much better than ten (or more) years ago last time he judged; better in terms of less wastage, more cultivation, and perhaps most importantly a lovely variety of plants and veg. He said he was not bothered about a few weeds, so long as they were part of a well cultivated plot that was being used productively. He admired the half plots and said they were working very well: that was a big change since his earlier visits. Overall he was very impressed and seemed to enjoy his visit and his conversations with plot holders.
Best kept plot awards:
Winner: Martin Aherne, Plot 35b, pictured here, with plot below.
‘brilliant use of the area for production, loved the amount of re-used materials and absence of waste, thinks about nature, neat plot, considers all aspects of gardening’
Silver award: Brian Piggin, Plot 3
‘All sorts of stuff, good use of full plot because great variety of crops.’
Highly commended: three half plots all demonstrating how a smaller plot can be used to cultivate a wide variety of crops
8B: S Gretton, 9B: J and S Lay, 16A: G and D Mistry.
Mark Cherry flew his drone to take some fantastic photos of the winning plots.
Syston is very fortunate to have allotments which are so much part of the town rather than being on the periphery, and which are managed by a Town Council who see them as an asset. A huge thank you to everybody involved.
See pictures below including aerial views by Mark Cherry. 1, Overview of the allotments by Mark Cherry, 2, Produce on sale, 3, View into the allotments, 4,5,and 6, Shows the judging of the fruit, veg and preserves made by the plot holders, 7, the winner of the best plot: Martin Aherne and 8. an aerial view of the winning plot by Mark Cherry.
