Shrivenham Road Allotment Open Event

A year in the planning, our open event, was held at the Shrivenham Road allotment site today. A great time was had by lots of plot holders, those who came along to find out more about having a plot, and also those who wanted to accept the invitation to look round, have some BBQ food, cordial and cake. I took a few photos and will start with the best one, this shows a great group sitting together on plot 13:

The day was very hot with temperatures in the late twenties, we needed a bigger gazebo to get out of the scorching sun. Special thanks to Rene seen on the right who cooked on a barbecue for hours.
To go back to the planning, Ruth Wakeley, Allotments Administrator, South Swindon Parish Council
has been essential in encouraging us to organise the day, and helped by identifying unlet plots, organising to have them cleared and strimmed ready for new tenants. Having set the date, we produced a poster which we put up in various places and on our Facebook page:

We also had a lovely piece in the Advertiser thanks to Tom Seaward, who sensibly quoted Barbara Crook! It spread the word about today wonderfully. Thanks also to Carolyn Clack who advertised us on radio 105.5.
Here are the rest of the photos, in the order I took them in:

 Above a flip chart produced by Barbara with a map of the site highlighting those plots available, and below Donna and Rene's marigolds glowing today

 Here are a few photos of two plots:

 and time for a cup of tea before the start

 Below here's plot 13, the area we were using for the BBQ and gazebo before anything was set up on it

 and now the gazebo is up, barbecue lit and preparations well under way

  here's Ruth under the parasol at the gate ready for the first visitors to the site

 More people chatting to Ruth

I'm hoping that was the first of many events we'll hold, we now have the land we used today for the BBQ as a community plot which is fabulous. Thanks to everyone who supported the day.