Acer davidii - the Snakebark Maple

Development

The Gardening Club has realised ambitious plans to replace the 20+ year old allotment building with a new purpose built building. This development has brought much needed improvements to the facilities available at the allotments. The facilities include: toilets; a dedicated mower store; a new shop and a multipurpose space for refreshments and meetings.

No project of this kind comes cheaply and a lot of effort went into raising the £25,000 plus needed for construction.

In December 2006 a long serving member of the Gardening Club, Chris Smith, tragically died of cancer aged only 56. Chris started the whole process of building replacement, but never lived to see his visions realised. The Gardening Club has inaugurated the Chris Smith Memorial Fund, the proceeds from which were used to support this development. The new building is dedicated to his memeory and is called the Chris Smith Building. The old building was called the shed and the new building will continue always to be "The Shed".

Further developments are planned subject to the necessary finance being available.

These include the continuation of the Chris Smith Memorial Fund with other purposes such as providing resources for people who wish to further their knowledge of and interest in gardening, horticulture and plants. The Trustees are not yet sure how this will evolve, but we are clear that promoting interest in gardening, especially amongst young people was a subject close to Chris Smith's heart.

Additional raised beds for disabled people are planned as is the construction of a secure storage area for keeping stock for example for the Red Lion Street sale.

The Trustees will need to tackle the problems around parking and of course, health and safety.

Any organisation which stands still while all around it are making progress, is actually going in reverse!! This should never be true of the Gardening Club.