Allotment Open Day Showcases The Benefits Of ‘Growing Your Own’

An open day held at Beverley’s Queensgate Allotments has not only raised awareness of the benefits of ‘growing your own’ fruit and vegetables, it has also raised over £450 for charity.

Hundreds of visitors attended the first-time event, and saw firsthand the attraction of having an allotment to grow and enjoy eating freshly picked produce.

Organised as part of the National Gardens Scheme (NGS) which raises more than £2.5million each year for UK nursing and caring charities, the open day was featured in the UK-wide NGS ‘Yellow Book’ and drew in visitors from across Yorkshire.

Cookery demonstrations held in the East Riding of Yorkshire local food network mobile kitchen throughout the day showed visitors how locally grown produce can be made into mouth-watering meals. Cooks included Picklin’ Rick, who made blackberry and raspberry jam, Mayor of Beverley Councillor Margaret Pinder, who cooked courgette flowers filled with locally sourced crabmeat and holistic nutritionist Karina Clappison, who created juices, pates and salads using raw foods such as broad beans, celery and beetroot.

Allotment representative Eric Johnson was on hand at the event to offer help and guidance to budding growers. He said: “The visitors I spoke to were very interested and inquisitive about the allotments. They wanted to know things such as how to apply for an allotment, what having an allotment involves, how to grow English marigolds, which are quite rare, and how I got so many berries on my blueberry bush.
Continued…

Continued…

need a lot of enthusiasm to have an allotment; it’s hard work and it needs a regular commitment, but it’s worth it to get great results.”

The event was supported by Beverley Town Council’s Big Lottery funded Local Food project called from ‘Field to Table’, which aims to help make locally grown food accessible and affordable. Town Clerk said: “We are delighted with the success of this open day at the allotments. For a first time event it went really well. As a town council we would like to thank all of the allotment holders who helped to make the allotments look so beautiful.”

Other attractions at the event included an open air cafe serving cream teas, and a gardening book stall hosted by Beverley Heart Town supporting the British Heart Foundation. Raffle ticket sales at the event also raised £61 for the Mayor of Beverley’s charities of Cherry Tree Community Association and Beverley Chamber Music Festival.



More From .net

This article has 1 Comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *