Dear friend,
And just like that, we are back round to my favourite season, Autumn. It has been a little rainier than I’d like, the fallen leaves aren’t as crunchy, but the colours are beautiful nonetheless.
Thank you to all that have helped us with our harvest this year; on our additional August harvesting sessions and our regular Tuesday sessions on the Nursery. Your continued support ensures we have enough food to distribute to the local communities and at our free Orchard sessions such as Play, Grow & Eat and Community Days.
We are also happy to announce that we have secured further funding for an additional New Shoots session on a Thursday afternoon, in term time. These sessions are for local families with children ages 0-4, to provide an outdoor open space where children and families can connect with nature, learn and explore.
Our second term of our City and Guilds qualification is well underway with two fantastic groups, learning and developing their skills in practical horticulture. Spaces to join us in January are limited, find out how to enrol with us further down this newsletter.
Coming up this month, we host our biggest event on the Community Orchard – Apple Day!
This will be taking place on Saturday 26th October, 12-3pm. All welcome as we enjoy apple pressing and tasting, lots of kids crafts and activities and more.
We look forward to seeing you all there!
P.S. If you’d like to receive news like this in your inbox each month, join our mailing list here.
Best wishes,
Kayleigh
Learning Opportunities
City & Guilds – January Enrolment
Our Autumn term has begun! We have had new students join us, eager to learn and looking forward to the progress ahead.
We already have a lot of interest for our January enrolment, so if you are thinking you might like to join us in the new year, do get in touch as spaces are limited!
You can contact us on learning@staa-allotments.org.uk for further information and how to enrol, or head to our website.
Upcoming Open Days & Online Q&A’s:
Tuesday 8th October (online) 4:30pm
Saturday 9th November 12noon – 3pm
Tuesday 3rd December (online) 4:30pm (available to book soon)
A reminder of the two course routes available:
Pro Gardener: which focusses on fundamental practical skills in horticulture such as pruning and plant identification.
Grow Your Own: which will develop your skills in growing and maintaining growing spaces and improving soil fertility.
Please click here to register your interest in the qualification.
Upcoming Workshops
Why not purchase a gift card for our workshops, so you can share our horticultural, floristry and seasonal crafts experiences with friends and family.
What’s on this Christmas!
Christmas Wreath Making
Thursday 28th November – 18:00 – 20:30 – Spaces available
Saturday 30th November – 12:00 – 14:30 – Fully booked
Saturday 14th December – 10:00 – 12:30 – Spaces available
Festive Willow Decorations
Saturday 7th December – 10:00 – 12:30 – 5 Spaces available
Christmas Table Decorations
Saturday 7th December – 13:30 – 16:00 – Fully booked
Saturday 14th December – 13:30 – 16:00 – Spaces available
We do have some limited availability for private Christmas workshops, please do get in touch if you are arranging your works Christmas do and would like to all come together and get creative!
Saturday 5th October
Cider Making & Apple Tasting – 13:30 – 16:00 – £35
Join Leo Jordan from Blue Barrel Cider as he shares the art behind cider and perry making. Learn how to pick, mill and press fruit and get the chance to try different heritage and cider varieties on the Community Orchard.
Saturday 12th October
Full Day Introduction into Garden Design – 10:00 – 15:00 – £60 – Limited spaces available
In the first of our Design Workshop Series, Gardeners’ World Live Lifetime Achievement Award winner Mike Baldwin will introduce all the key stages to designing a garden – from surveying your site and drawing up plans, to choosing plants and materials.
Saturday 2nd November
Composting: Hands-on How-to – 10:00 – 12:30 – £35
Join us for a practical and informative morning in a beautiful setting.
Learn the characteristics of a good compost system, including a variety of techniques to make your own compost, and how to build your own wooden pallet compost bin at home.
Introduction to Wildlife Garden Design – 13:30 – 16:00 – £35
Continuing our Design Workshop Series, Andy, of Sherwood Garden Consultancy, will share his practical tips and advice on designing gardens with a specific focus on wildlife.
You’ll explore ways to maximise wildlife and nature rich gardens and discuss how to design, renew or redesign your green spaces and gardens.
On the Orchard
The Community Orchard runs free events for all ages.
New Shoots, term time, every Tuesday 09:30-11:00 and Thursday 13:00 – 14:30.
Youth Sessions, every 2nd and 4th Saturday.
These sessions are for local young people of St Ann’s to spend time on the Orchard, learning and crafting. For more information and to book: contact Sarah at sarah@staa-allotments.org.uk.
Our next Community Open Day is our Apple Day! Saturday 26th October, 12:00-15:00 
Join us for our biggest event of the year where we celebrate and share food grown on the Orchard. There will be apple tasting, juicing, a creative workshops and activities for kids, apple games and refreshments.
Click here to book your free ticket!
Volunteering & Social Gardening
A wide selection of volunteer sessions to help maintain our beautiful open spaces all year round!
Tuesdays at the Nursery, 10:00-14:00
Digging, sowing, pruning, clearing, building, watering, harvesting! All things food and flower focused for a productive garden.
Wednesdays at Oliver’s, 10:00-14:00
Help maintain a beautiful display garden for visitors to enjoy, and promote its heritage features.
Saturdays on Urban Nature 10:00 – 14:00
Our Saturday sessions are back! Join us on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays to help manage and explore our Urban Nature plot. Each session will have a specific focus, such as pond management, wildflower meadow management and coppicing.
Volunteer inductions:
Wednesday 16th October 10.00 – 12.00
This is an introductory session for anyone interested in volunteering at STAA. Receive a tour of our projects to find out what you might be interested in, and an opportunity to meet people and ask questions.
If you have any questions about volunteering or our gardening sessions, please contact Lucy at volunteer@staa-allotments.org.uk or visit our volunteer page.
You can also find out more about all our volunteering sessions and book on, here.
Volunteer opportunities:
We are also looking for tour volunteers to help us with our guided tours on the last Wednesday of the month.
If you think this might be for you, please do get in touch with me at kayleigh@staa-allotments.org.uk for further information.
Talks & Tours
We offer both regular guided tours, private tours and private talks to learn more about the rich history of St Ann’s Allotments. Our final Heritage tour of the year will take place Wednesday 30th October.
On the last Wednesday of every month, we lead walks around St Ann’s Allotments, 1:30-3pm. The 1.3-mile guided tour takes you to our Heritage Display Garden and Nursery, telling the 700-year story of how this 75-acre site changed from pasture and orchards, to Victorian pleasure gardens, to working-class allotments. Including stories of people who lived here and the grassroots campaign to save the site from redevelopment.
Use the link below to book on to our public tours. If you are interested in a private tour or a talk at your venue, please enquire by emailing kayleigh@staa-allotments.org.uk
