Dear members,
In these uncertain times there are unprecedented numbers of members making very frequent trips to their plots. People are observing our recommended social distancing measures and we thank everyone for doing so. We recognise that EWAA is more than simply a place to grow fruit and vegetables. In these times it is, more than ever, a place to escape, and seek sanctuary in nature and in our community.
However as more people are using the plots, we need to be mindful of other people. There have been a few complaints about the use of our shared space by other plotholders, so in order to facilitate good relations in our community, could we please request that members are respectful of their neighbours particularly regarding:
-noise (music, radio, power tools, mowers, dogs, children, or other any noise). One person’s choice of music may not be someone else’s!
-boundaries (leaving tools, weeds, clippings on boundaries or extending over them with constructions or compost heaps). Access should always be maintained along the boundaries.
Many of us enjoy the social aspect of our plots with refreshments and picnics but under no circumstances should this include overnight stays, however appealing the idea of a ‘camp out’’ might be. Our lease with the Council does not permit this. Evidence of plotholders staying overnight would be a serious breach of the rules and would result in expulsion from the site.
We would also draw everyone’s attention to the existence of the social area on the middle row which may be useful for children or dogs and balls or larger families taking a break. This may be used by any member at any time providing of course, social distancing measures are observed.
We thank you for your attention in these matters, so our community can grow together.
Hoping we all have a good growing season and that we will be able to celebrate harvest in the normal way.
With best wishes,
The EWAA Trustees & Officers.
Thought I might point out that I mentioned to a plot holder the other evening that it would be great to camp down on my plot, I KNOW ITS NOT FEASABLE! I would never do this.
Thanks. Helpful and clear message there.
Please add to the point about noise:
Talking for hours on mobile phones. It is painful to listen to long conversations on a nearby plot. Even more painful if the speaker is turned on. On the allotments I expect to be away from such devices and media, apart from the odd necessary call.
And yes, ‘camping’ overnight, creates a different, not so welcome culture, on the allotments.
Many thanks for keeping us posted – much appreciated!
This is to ask you to re-consider the ban on bonfires. My fellow plot-holder (who until recently worked for Public Health England) and other nearby cultivators and I all feel this is an excessive and unnecessary prohibition! There’s so much space at the allotments and the odd bonfire here or there (after 6pm) is not going to cause respiratory problems in the neighbourhood!!
You might think so but for those of us with asthma it is a real problem. I have often been forced to leave my plot and go home because of bonfires. There is almost always a wind of varying strength blowing on the plots and, perhaps because it is bounded by trees or buildings on all sides, the wind tends to veer around. I am nearly at the top of the shop road but have been smoked out by a fire on the plot by the Children’s allotment area. I have also seen smoke drifting from one side of the site to the other. Bonfires might not be a problem if plot holders obeyed the rules and only burnt dry material but most put green material on their fires, making them very smokey.
Thank you for your reply, Pat, all of 5 weeks ago. I’m sorry I missed it then (and I was hoping for a response from the committee). I understand what you’re saying as an asthma sufferer and of course you should never be smoked out. Burning green matter, as you say, seems to be (or to have been) the main problem.
However, I’m puzzled about an overall ban on bonfires, in the particular context of Coronavirus. Over the first several weeks of lockdown (and before) I had already built up a huge pile of brambles etc, many of which were very woody already and all of which turned brown. Because of the ban on bonfires I ended up cutting it all up and putting it in several sacks and taking it to Redbridge by car – thereby adding to air pollution….
If a committee member reads this, please would you explain why the policy is different now from pre-Covid times?
We’ve used a radio for a few years for the news and listening to Radio Oxford but it’s never loud.
If music is heard loudly it’s probably one of the houses when lodgers are sitting in their back garden facing the allotments/carpark…
Are we now allowed to have bonfires on the allotment, despite the Covid-19 virus crisis having not gone away? Have seen at least two bonfires recently so the position needs to be made clear to everyone now!