Dear Bradley Folders,

Thanks so much to everyone who is helping us improve the communal areas of our allotments. You’ll notice work around the entrance gates, new hedging whips ready to grow and fence poles now in place for everyone to place your tree pruning to create  dead hedges.  This not only tidies the site but helps improve security and biodiversity. Well done to everyone who has volunteered or provided support.

We’ve paid for hedging whips and fence poles using our income from your membership fees, so thanks also to everyone who has paid up. And I’m delighted to report we’ve also had a couple of donations from people grateful for help received, it’s been inspirational to see folk helping their neighbours whether it’s creating compost bins, cutting back big trees or building fruit cages. Thankyou to everyone who is helping , it’s a great community spirit.

We still need help in particular areas… please does anyone have graphic design skills and could help us update a map of the site? Nothing too complex but beyond our personal skills! And is anyone able to help out please when we participate in Didsbury Open Gardens on Sunday June 21… we are hoping we could organise a children’s trail such as a scarecrow display or plant/ vegetable/ bird spotting? Grateful if anyone could contact me with ideas and time to set up a community activity, thanks.

I’ve been disappointed to hear that thefts are still happening even though we have our new gates. Please report any thefts to the police using their online form. You will see that our incredible volunteers have now repaired the fence along the river boundary using donations from the Environment Agency and corporate partners. This volunteer work is also continuing along the boundary with the golf club. If your plot sits on the border, the volunteers will be careful of your planting but please do help out. It’s essential we do as much as possible to deter unwelcome visitors. And of course any thefts occurring from within our site  will be met with the harshest penalties possible.

We’ve had a very positive reaction to the pruning courses organised last month. Thanks too for the cake! We harvested a huge amount of fruit last year from the community trees to take to food banks , so this should reap rewards later in the year. Again we are looking for volunteer drivers to drop off donations to our contacts… it’s a lovely job as the food banks and community centres do such fabulous work for their clients .  We are also keen to keep in check the more vigorous trees on site, and we are hoping to start identifying more trees and manage them better. Again if you have skills in these areas, please let us know. The only trees that should be planted are dwarf root stock fruit trees…no baby Christmas trees or spare shrubs from your gardens at home  please, they suck shade and goodness from veg and pollinators, and  have no place on an allotment. 

Key date for your diary is April 12 at 2pm when our annual general meeting will be held in the function room at the Northern tennis club, at the junction of Palatine Road and Lapwing Lane. You’ll be able to buy refreshments from the bar in advance of the meeting, which will start exactly on time. The club is just beside West Didsbury metro station and is well served by bus routes. Please let me know in advance any subjects you’d like to raise …. that will help you get a much more considered answer! 

We will be entering again the annual campaign run by the Royal Horticultural Society and North West in Bloom/ Its Your Neighbourhood which has a theme this year ” bringing nature home”. This is about increasing biodiversity, looking at good practice and examples of what community gardening groups are doing. You’ll remember we scored 99 out of 100 last year, so it would be great to achieve something similar in 2026. 

We’ll be holding a plot inspection very soon so if some reason you are struggling with your plot, please let us know. If there’s a temporary problem, we can support you and if there’s an issue that’s more long-term , we can help you downsize or move to one of our raised beds in the community plot. You can stay part of our allotment community while having less pressure to keep a full plot pristine. We have a waiting list of more than 300 folk and it takes more than three years to get a plot at Bradley Fold so please don’t hold onto valuable space that you are not using. 

Wishing everyone a very productive growing season and thanks again to all volunteers. Do watch out for the monthly working parties which are just one hour long or do sign up for a session helping out in the shop. Meet other gardening buddies, swop triumphs and disasters, have fun! 

Best wishes  from all the committee,

Janine Cottingham

Chair, Bradley Fold Allotments