News Roots 2 Shoots project blooms
A project to revamp a messy allotment site is starting to bear fruit.
The six allotments, on Cottingham Street in Old Goole, were once a a litter-strewn wasteland which had not been used for 20 years.
Now, thanks to sterling efforts by the Yorkshire Waterways Museum which runs the site, they are brimming with spring and summer vegetables and salads, as well as a 68-foot fruit cage full of blueberries, blackcurrants, blackberries, tay-berries, vines, kiwi fruit, figs and raspberries.
Five fruit trees have also been planted and a new 48-foot poly-tunnel is due to be installed this week, along with a picnic area.
Next in the pipeline are six 40ft x 8ft raised beds, one of which will be paved for wheelchair use.
There are also plans for the summer planting of main crop winter vegetables and an outdoor play area, which will be built this summer.
Since January this year staff and volunteers at the Waterways Museum have been busy regenerating the allotments.
The funding for the regeneration project was secured when the museum won The People's Millions competition, which was a partnership between ITV and The Big Lottery.
The winner was to be given funding for a regeneration project, but the Waterways Museum had to battle it out with a big Leeds charity on an ITV Calendar news slot.
Despite the stiff competition the museum scooped the £62,500 top prize, thanks to a robust action plan, which it called the Roots 2 Shoots project.
The museum has to spend the money before December this year.
To celebrate the progress made at the allotment site, an open day was held last Friday, June 13, when Goole mayor Councillor Kevin Flynn and Stacey Powell from the Big Lottery were guests of honour and were able to see the volunteers' handiwork for themselves.
Claire Hunt, operations manager with the Sobriety Project which runs the museum, said: "We're very pleased with what's been done on the allotment site. The Big Lottery said they were very impressed with what's been achieved and the progress we've made.
"They're also very pleased with how the money was being spent and how the community was getting involved."
She added: "Before we cleaned it up this site was full of old sheds and litter and rubbish. It was also riddled with rats."
The museum and volunteers now plan to consolidate their work with further additions to the allotments site.
As well as creating three large, winter-cultivated growing areas, they will also be planting a selection of fruit trees. The site's tool storage and rest room are already in place.
The fresh produce is grown by the Youth Inclusion Project, and volunteers from the museum and Moorlands Café. The produce will go on sale at the Museum Café and Moorlands Café, with the surplus distributed locally.
Meanwhile, if the museum - which rents the allotments from Goole Town Council and has a ten-year lease - secures further funding for next year, even more developments could be in the pipeline.
Published on 19th June 2008 in News.
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