Dear friend,

We all know that Spring is an exciting time of year for many reasons. The nights get brighter and the days get longer; we hear more bird songs in the air and my personal favourite – it’s cherry blossom season. On site, we continue to do our pre-Spring tidies: removing leaves and weeds, pruning, turning over our compost that has been working hard over the winter.

Throughout March we would like to do a ‘Friday Feature’ of all the signs of Spring emerging and need your help! If you spot any signs of Spring, whether that’s while visiting us on St Ann’s Allotments, on your own allotment, or in your gardens, send us a picture and we will spread the joy on our socials!

Send us your photos to kayleigh@staa-allotments.org.uk – we can’t wait to see them.

Best wishes,

Kayleigh

Fundraising

We are incredibly grateful for all the help and support you provide throughout the year, whether by volunteering, donating, attending our events, or sharing what we do with friends and family.

Here are a few additional ways you can help us continue raising funds for our charity, and keep our community projects open year-round:

Movement for Good hosts prize draws throughout the year where charities can be nominated for donation draws. We would be very grateful if you could help us by nominating us to be in with a chance to win a £1000 prize to go towards our projects.

You can nominate us at: https://movementforgood.com/#nominateACharity

We have also signed up for Easyfundraising! You can raise FREE donations for us when you shop online with over 7,500 brands. It’s simple and only takes 2 minutes to sign up! This really would make a huge difference for us.

Please visit: https://join.easyfundraising.org.uk/staa-st-anns-1/gi88gp/ca/BzoopvuG/A2306/facebook/

Learning Opportunities

Our April enrolment for City & Guilds courses in Practical Horticulture Skills (7573) is fast approaching!

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.

If you are considering gaining a qualification in Practical Horticulture, please do get in touch for further information.

Our next open day is being held on Saturday 23rd March. If you register your interest below, we will be in touch as soon as the Eventbrite event is launched.

Picture of potential city and guilds students visiting STAA plots at St Ann's Allotments

On the Orchard

The Community Orchard runs free events for all ages.

New Shoots, every Tuesday in term time, 09:30-11:00
Community Open Day, Saturday 23rd March 12:00-15:00. Click here, to book your free ticket!

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

Volunteering & Social Gardening

As we enter the new year, this is the perfect opportunity to join us as a volunteer!

There are plenty of opportunities to join us maintain our beautiful open spaces, as well as tour volunteer opportunities to help us with our guided tours on the last Wednesday of the month.

Please do get in touch with me at kayleigh@staa-allotments.org.uk for further information.

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.

Our Social Gardening sessions will run alongside our usual volunteer sessions, giving you the perfect opportunity to come and enjoy the the beautiful spaces, see our volunteer projects and have a go if you wish!

Volunteer inductions:
Tuesday 5th March 10.00 – 12.00
Wednesday 20th March 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 social gardening, please contact Lucy at volunteer@staa-allotments.org.uk or visit our volunteer page.

Guided Tours

Now the weather is brightening up, our Guided Heritage Tours are back!

We lead walks around St Ann’s Allotments on the last Wednesday of every month, 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.

March Newsletter

Fundraising

Learning Opportunities

On the Orchard

Volunteering & Social Gardening

Guided Tours

Author: KayleighS

Related posts