After being cooped up in my house for almost 2 years during the pandemic I was desperate to spend some time outside in the fresh air. This got me thinking that surely the other people in my community who felt the same as me so I decided to reach out to the council and see if there are any plots of land available for us to open an allotment. It just so happened that there was one largely overgrown plot of land that needed some love and attention and so I decided to turn that into the Ashton Circle Allotment!

The allotment is a perfect example of Business 100, Small Sparks and the Two Hour Club in action.

When we first came to the allotment the grass was up to my shoulder and the job seemed very overwhelming so I reached out to the local group, Green Crew and asked if they’d be willing to help us clear the plot. They were more than happy to get involved and dedicated an hour of their members’ time every Monday for 3 months!

Also on the plot was a battered old shed, Jed had the idea of renovating and repairing the shed and saw that this could be a place to store tools and have a flask of coffee and a tin of biscuits for the allotment users to enjoy and so he applied for a Small Spark Fund.  We want to support people with their great ideas to make a difference in their local community, a Small Sparks fund of £250 can help a great idea become a reality, bring people together and support further ripples of connection.

We were delighted with his idea and sent over the mone for him to use on his project.

We shared stories of our progress on the allotment on social media and members of the community were beginning to show an interest in what we were up to. People were keen to get involved and shared that they would like to spend two hours of their time every month coming up to the allotment to share their knowledge of growing, sharing their gardening skills, and to generally help build the allotment community!  This month, we’re hosting an allotment welcome day, with cake and coffee to welcome keen gardeners of the area to get involved and meet each other!

The Ashton Circle Allotment is now coming along nicely with the support of Green Crew’s time and skills, Jed’s Small Spark and the help of our Two Hour Club members, and I’m looking forward to a summer ahead of friendship, gardening and fresh air!

Becky Noy