Dear friend,
A new STAA project at Urban Nature has been shortlisted for a Severn Trent Community Fund Gold Award and we need your help to make sure we win it.The award total is £20,000 to support our ‘Growing Wild’ project to enhance inner-city green spaces here at St Ann’s Allotments. The awards are chosen by public vote and all Severn Trent customers are eligible to take part in the ballot so please click now on www.stwater.co.uk/publicvote and vote for STAA in the Gold category 🌟
We’ll be using the cash to get our local community and supporters involved in restoring a huge area of habitat by planting wildflower meadows, creating wildlife ponds and restoring hedgerows and much, much more. There’s lots of info on our project page so head over there to find out more.
Voting closes on 24th April so please spread the word 🏆
Thanks for your support!
PS. If you’d like to receive news like this in your inbox each month, join our mailing list here.
Recruiting trustees
We’re recruiting to our Board of Trustees here at STAA due to existing trustees standing down this Summer. Could you help shape our projects at St Ann’s Allotments and our impact and contribution to the local community?
STAA is committed to building a Board of Trustees that reflects the diversity and expertise of the great communities we work with and we would be particularly interested in candidates with knowledge and understanding of community development. Applications are welcome from all ages and backgrounds. Whether you are an experienced Trustee or want to take your first step at Board level get in touch – we’d love to talk to you.
For more info about what we do visit: www.staa-allotments.org.uk and to arrange an informal chat please email holly@staa-allotments.org.uk
Spring workshops
Spring wreath makingSaturday 9 April, 10:00-12:00, £30Use a blend of fresh, dried and faux foliage and flowers to create a lovely Spring wreath to adorn your door.Grow with us: What to do in the veg plot in SpringSaturday 9 April, 13:00-15:00, £25Learn about seed sowing, hardening off, soil prep and taste some refreshing spring tonics.Dawn chorus walkSaturday 30 April, 05:00-06:30, £12Brave the early start to enjoy this wonder of the natural world and to identify birds by their song.Floral expert immersion daySaturday 28 May, 10:00-16:00, £80Experience the absolute joy of flower arranging at its very best. Uncover useful floristry techniques and create three stunning displays to take home. Tickets include a two-course vegan lunch made by Nourish Me Wild.Garden essentials 1: Compost and soil fertilitySaturday 28 May, 10:00-12:00, £25Bring along a jar of soil from home to test, and learn how to improve your soil fertility with homemade liquid plant feeds and green manure.
On the Orchard
We have special Easter holiday events on the Orchard for families and children, and a nature special Community Open Day for people to take part in the global citizen science project ‘City Nature Challenge’ – more about this below 🐞Family sessions, Thursday 7th & 14th, 11:00-12:30Adventure Play for ages 8-12, Thursday 7th & 14th, 13:30-15:00Community Open Day, Saturday 30 April, 12:00-15:00New Shoots for ages 0-4, every Tuesday 09:30-11:00 in term timeAfter School for age 8-12, every Wednesday 15:45-17:00
Volunteering
Anyone is welcome to join our volunteer sessions:Tuesdays at the Nursery, 10:00-14:00Wednesdays at Oliver’s, 10:00-14:00Paths and rustic fences, Saturday 9 April,10:00-14:00
Induction for new volunteers, Saturday 9 April, 14:00-15:00
Induction for new volunteers, Tuesday 19 April, 10:00-11:00Suitable for all abilities and levels of experience, tools provided. Just dress for the weather! 🌦️
If you have any questions about volunteering, please contact Lucy at volunteering@staa-allotments.org.uk
On the blog
Last month on the blog, Paul uncovers the story of a wine merchant having a plot on St Ann’s Allotments — George Trease, who bought the local Weavers Wines company in 1897. Find out more about choice wine cellars, skittle alleys and donkeys here: https://staa-allotments.org.uk/news
If you’d like to write a blog, get in touch at info@staa-allotments.org.uk
“For my father, a wine merchant by occupation but a countryman by instinct, lacking an adequate garden, at our house in the middle of the town, rented one on the Hunger Hills. These Corporation gardens were steeply terraced plots, bowered in tall secretive hedges and entered by padlocked gates like doors.”
Guided heritage tours
Our tours continue twice per month on the second Saturday and last Wednesday until October.
The guided walk begins at the Visitor’s Centre and takes you on a 90-minute tour around the oldest and largest detached Victorian pleasure garden in the world, stopping at features of importance and interest during its 700-year history. We’ll share the story of how the allotments started, their use as Victorian pleasure gardens, and how the site is used today.
Book now – limited spaces available.
City Nature Challenge
City Nature Challenge is an annual four-day global bioblitz where cities around the world are in a friendly competition to see not only what can be accomplished when we all work toward a common goal, but also which city can gather the most observations of nature, find the most species, and engage the most people in the event.
Last year Nottingham made 2,777 observations of 746 species. Can we do better this year?
Download the free iNaturalist app to your phone and upload photos of your observations between Friday 29th April – Monday 2nd May.
