Frome Allotments Association has had their praises sung by the National Gardens Scheme, whose vice president called the new raised beds ‘brilliant’.
Penny Snell, vice-president of the National Gardens Scheme (NGS), recently met volunteers from Frome Allotment Association who have worked on the new raised beds. NGS awarded the allotment association a grant to build the raised beds for less mobile gardeners, including wheel-chair users.
Penny said, “Funding the raised beds at Frome allotments, thereby enabling people in wheelchairs to garden, is exactly the kind of brilliantly executed, community project that the National Garden Scheme likes to support through the Elspeth Thompson fund. I was so impressed with everything that you have achieved, and in such a short space of time.”
Accompanied by Sue Phipps, a trustee of the National Garden Scheme, Penny took a full tour of the five acre site and chatted to plotholders, and site reps Gerry and Arthur Gasson. Penny said, “These are the prettiest allotments I have ever seen.”
The National Garden Scheme, NGS, was started in 1927, to raise money to pay for district nurses in the days before the NHS. In 2015 over 3,800 people will open their gardens and sell teas as part of the scheme.
Every year the NGS raises and gives away about £2,500,000 to nursing and healthcare charities. It is the largest donor to Macmillan, Marie Curie, Help the Hospices, the Carers Trust and the Queens Nursing Institute.
Ricky Anderson, Vice-Chair of Frome Allotment Association said, “Penny suggested that we might like to open our allotments as part of the National Garden scheme, so that we can share what we have achieved with a wider audience. It would be a big step for us but it would be fantastic to be a part of such a worthwhile national scheme.”
Less mobile gardeners, including wheelchair users can rent a raised bed from the allotment association by contacting info@fromeallotments.co.uk
