The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Annascaul Allotments look to online fundraiser to help stay afloat this year
A GROUP dedicated to serving their local community and the people of Annascaul have taken to the internet to help keep them afloat during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.
Annascaul Allotments is a non-profit community-based project which aims to provide spaces for local people to promote and grow their own food for their own enjoyment.
Speaking to The Kerryman about what the group does, PRO for Annascaul Allotments, Noel Spillane, said that the group is involved in many different aspects of the community aside from food production.
“There’s a group we have here in Annascaul. There are about eight of us involved,” said Noel.
“We acquired an acre of land with a poly-tunnel, and the idea was that you would get local people to come in and grow their own food and flowers and bits and pieces.
It’s very much got a social aspect to it, where people can come and chat and what have you, which is very important now, especially during the current crisis where people might be feeling trapped at home,” he said.
“The allotment itself is made up of about 15 plots, and the plot itself is about 17 yards long and 10 yards wide, and then we have the poly-tunnel which is quite large. People get one or two spaces in the poly-tunnel, and they get one plot in the allotment, all for €100 a year,” Noel continued.
In addition to this, Noel said that the group is involved in lots of different projects around the village, including the painting of derelict houses and bee-keeping in the village.
However, like many of the community groups around the county, the Annascaul Allotments group have found themselves in a fight to stay afloat due largely to the fact that their traditional methods of fundraising have been halted due to health and safety fears over COVID-19.
About the GoFundMe page that they have set up to help them through this year, PRO for the group Noel Spillane had this to say:
“We’re a very small group and, roughly, it would take €1,200 to €1,400 to help keep the whole group going. We’re involved in painting derelict houses in the village, we have two or three large bee hives in the back of Hanafin’s bar, and we do an awful lot of work in biodiversity and so on. We’re also involved in planting trees all around the village too,” he said.
“The money will be used on a little bit of everything. Due to COVID-19, we simply can’t fund-raise anymore. We used to do three our four bagpacks, and we’d get around €500 or €600, and this would do us for insurance and other costs.
“It’s to keep us afloat. Small groups like us, we have nowhere to go. We’ve set up the page and, hopefully this week, we’ll send out messages to a few local businesses to help us out,” he continued.
“I know that businesses are struggling as well at the moment, so anything we can get off people, we’d be very grateful. If we got €5 off everyone, we’d be okay for the rest of the year, and then, hopefully, by next year, things will have eased up and gotten some way back to normal,” he said.
During these difficult times, Annascaul Allotments will be open to the public from Sunday August 2 from 2pm to 4pm.
People are invited to come along and have a browse and pick their own fresh flowers and vegetables.
Anyone who wishes to donate to the fundraiser can head over to the Annascaul Allotments Facebook page where they will find the link to the GoFundMe page.