Gold for Slough Plot
A community project based at the allotment on Ragstone Road, Chalvey, Slough has won a prestigious Sony Gold Award for participating in a BBC Radio Berkshire programme, The Plot.
Slough Borough Council, along with the Slough Environmental Education Development Service (SEEDS) and SHAPE, Slough’s Health Action Programme, funded by the Big Lottery Fund, helped supply the allotments for the award winning programme.
The Plot involved a mixture of local residents working along side immigrant families to work their magic on the allotments.
Slough Borough Council gave Radio Berkshire two allotment plots for the special programme and the SEEDS TRUST and SHAPE’s Community Food Gardens Project, gave lots of support to make the programme award winning.
Linda Wolski, allotments and project officer for Slough Borough Council, said: “I am absolutely thrilled about the Sony award.
“I loved the idea of the project from the word go. It was intended to encourage people from the Chalvey area to take on an allotment and get involved in producing their own food.
“The two plots were divided into manageable sized beds for the programme, but are still used now. The fact that the project is still going long after the programme is a testament to the good work done by Allison Wragg, SHAPE and Radio Berkshire.”
The experience of residents using the beds varies, as not all of them had previous knowledge of allotments.
Dawn Estabrook, SHAPE coordinator, said: “It just shows what a good programme like SHAPE is at providing projects that bring people together and reach the community, alongside our partners at the allotment and SEEDS.
Allison Wragg, from The SEEDS Trust, added: “It’s been a fantastic experience working with such a diverse group of people and although I’ve been growing vegetables for many years, they have taught me a thing or to.
“I’m so pleased the group are set to continue and flourish and to receive such as grand accolade, as a Sony Gold Award is the icing on the cake for the SHAPE Community Food Gardens Project. It fully recognises the positive impact this type of project has on our modern lifestyles”.
Slough has more than 900 plots on 13 allotment sites throughout the borough. Plots are available to all borough residents and are economically priced, with concessions available for people aged 60 or over, registered unemployed and the early retired.
A five pole plot (126.5 sq.meters) costs around £20 per year.
For more information about any of the sites, please call 01753 875574 or email allotments@slough.gov.uk.
Slough Borough Council