July update

Hi all

Firstly, and a bit belatedly, I just wanted to say how fantastic the Open Day in June was. It was really well attended, the weather was great and there were lots of things to do. I particularly liked watching the bodger, my daughter loves her treasure from the treasure hunt and the sunflowers I bought are in now flower. The Committee sends a big thank you to everybody who volunteered to help on the day, came along and generally helped make the day such a success. And well done to Wendy for organising it this year.

I also wanted to say a bit about weeds! It's always a battle to keep the weeds at bay, but at this time of year it becomes a real challenge. I'm feeling this particularly keenly as I've just returned from a fantastic few weeks touring Iceland... only to find that my plot has been taken over by the dreaded bindweed. It must have been the warm weather and all that rain. But after a few hours of weeding I've started to make in-roads into a few of my raised beds but it's going to take another weekend or two before I have the plot looking respectable. At least the grass paths were easier to get back in order (only an hour mowing with my push mower!).

This takes me onto a more serious point. At our last AGM the Committee agreed to look again at the process for contacting plotholders if they (appear to be) neglecting their plots. The Committee have set out a new, hopefully transparent process and drafted new standard letters. These will be available for all to look at in the clubhouse at the end of this week. We'd really like to hear what you think - so please let us have your comments.

That's all for now.

Jeannette

Open Day today!

It's the Open Day today and I've been up early baking a chocolate cake to take along. The choice last year was fantastic and I had a slice of spiced apple cake and a piece of fruit cake.

My three year old daughter is so excited about the bouncy castle - it was her favourite thing last year (along with making a crown and hook a duck).

I've got my eye on some sunflowers and maybe another tomato plant or two. And lunch is sorted - sausage in a bun and a second slice of cake! Yum.

See you there!

Open Day - Saturday 13 June

Hi all

Just a quick message to remind you that our annual Open Day is on Saturday 13 June between 10am and 3pm. It is usually a well attended event with everything from plant sales to a bouncy castle and the ever popular home made cakes.

There's things to do both indoors and outside so why not pop by and join the fun!

See you there

New Committee

We had our first Committee meeting following the Annual General Meeting in April. There were a few new faces around the table - Tracey, Jeannette and George. After hearing from the Secretary and Treasurer giving their updates there was a discussion about the Open Day (please speak to Wendy if you can help out) and site maitenance. We also agreed to try and set up a 'local committee member' scheme whereby all plotholders will have a Committee member assigned to them based on their location around the site. Hopefully in the next week or so your Committee member will make themselves known to you - if they are not already!

After the meeting most of the Committee went for a tour of the site. It was really great to walk round and meet so many plotholders as well as see the different ways people manage their plots. Most people are doing a fantastic job and growing a range of produce. A few people seem to be struggling - especially at this time of year when every thing grows so quickly including the weeds!

I'm sure you all know, but there is a range of products in the Shop to help you - from weed suppressing fabric through to the strimmers available for hire.

That's all for now.

Hello all

A new feature for the Dorset Road Allotment's website - our own blog!

Here we'll update you with the latest from the Committee, what's going on generally around the site and any messages we've been asked to pass on.