Huge Success for LDAGF and Allotments in General at Britain’s Number One Flower Show
Phil Gomersall received a certificate and a new Community award on behalf of the Leeds & District Allotment Gardeners Federation from Chris Smith the President of the North of England Horticultural Society at the Harrogate Spring Flower Show 2015 for creating the outstanding central feature of the show, a VE Day Allotment. The Harrogate Spring Flower Show is rated as Britain’s number one Flower Show.
The Federation was invited by the NEHS to create the centre piece for the show way back in November 2014. Phil, Publicity Officer for the Federation, created the initial design for the VE Day Allotment. A team of volunteers from the Federation have been working on the allotment gardens creation and have been researching, sourcing original artefacts and growing plants since November. It was pleasing to see that we had more volunteers this year as the allotment garden was four times as big as previous one’s created.
We were so lucky to have the use of one of the Leeds Parks and Countryside glass tunnels to create the display in. Thanks have been sent to the Red Hall Nursery manager. All plants were grown under glass by Federation members and nearly all without heat and only brought together five or six weeks before the show.
The volunteers are elated by all the positive responses they have received from the public and fellow exhibitors. There has been huge media interest from television, radio and the press. It can only have done the allotment movement in general good, but also improved the image of our organization. Although the Federation have received many gold awards in the past for allotment gardens created, and even exhibited at Chelsea, they feel this garden has been the pinnacle of their creations. As previously mentioned it was four times the size of their normal demonstration gardens.
Thanks go to all our members who volunteered and from what I can gather have thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
Phil Gomersall
PS. Check out the Horticultural Channel on the internet (thehortchannel.com) the ‘Dig for Victory’
