A flourishing social movement needs space
Dark evenings offer an excellent opportunity for catching up on some reading. I’ve accumulated a sizeable library of gardening books including a wide selection of ones about allotments. Many of them are amusing tales of efforts to tame new or overgrown plots with mixed success. Others trace the history of allotments. A recent gift to me was Growing Space ,a history of the allotment movement by Lesley Acton.
The author covers the history of allotments throughout the UK from the beginning of the 20th century to the present day charting their rise and fall. She wisely says that allotments may seem a relatively insignificant part of our history but they were and still are affected by a diversity of major issues such as land reform, social welfare and politics. Many of our allotments were founded towards the end of the First World War when food supplies from overseas were badly affected.
During the Depression, the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) recognised that allotments provided a worthwhile activity and a source of food for the unemployed. In Scotland they offered grants for seeds and tools. New to me was how the Quakers set up the Coalfields Distress Committee in 1928 when 300,000 unemployed miners, almost half of them living in South Wales, faced terrible poverty and misery.
Once again, allotment waiting lists have soared and Acton explores both barriers to the creation of new plots and reasons behind the demand for space to grow our own food today. Finding suitable land is proving one of the most difficult challenges. Members of the Scottish
Finding suitable land is proving one of the most difficult challenges
Allotments and Gardens Society are familiar with the obstacles standing in the way of establishing more plots and frequently contribute to political debates aimed at reducing them. Those of us who have a plot know that our fellow plotholders come from a wide range of different backgrounds and their enthusiasm has many different facets. This is one of the joys of gardening in the company of others. There are many examples of why we love our time on the plot in Chapter 10: The Culture of Allotments.
Christmas usually throws up some lighthearted books about allotments but I recommend Growing Spaces as worth your attention before then. Acton comes from a background of conservation and cultural heritage. Her book is very readable, wellillustrated and the text is supported with plenty of references. n
Lesley Acton, Growing Space a history of the allotment movement is published by Five Leaves Publications, 2015, at £14.99.