About Us

We are a friendly non-profit making society which is run, by unpaid volunteers, for the benefit of all our members. We aim to provide help, advice and competitive products to members.
Formed in around 1931, we hope to improve the quality of allotments, for the benefit of the local community throughout the whole district.

We operate an allotment shop which is open :-
Currently every Sunday 10am-12noon.
Anyone over 18 years of age is eligible to join and new members are always welcome.
Annual membership Adults £3.00 Concessions £2.00 (due 1st January each year)

Please see price list below:-
Contact us via e-mail :- HaggLaneAllotments[at]hotmail.co.uk



Wednesday 31 January 2024

Mr Fothergill seed prices

 

Friday 26 January 2024

Potatoes - (or hope springs eternal...)

No beating about the bush, this email heralds the arrival of the potatoes, onions, shallots and stuff.  To celebrate this momentous date in the calendar, we will be throwing open the doors of the hut at the usual time on Sunday for the collection of pre-orders, and for those last-minute impulse purchases.  Yet again, we have reduced our quantities, so we would encourage you not to delay visiting if you missed the order form - or were completely baffled by it...  We are aware that there were some issues, but such are the hazards of a owning a grumpy, uncooperative, out-dated computer. 

The hut dwellers have enjoyed the winter Sunday mornings, huddled around the wood-burner, but we are now girding our loins for what will surely be a sunny and fruitful 2024 season.  I mean, can the weather get any more interesting?  The wet weather has certainly put a damper on any optimistically planned autumnal clear-ups, but I guess that the weeds will be raring to go and the slugs will be revving up their engines as soon as a ray of sunshine penetrates the gloom.  Yay!

We will continue to operate on Sunday mornings throughout the season, and we are currently well stocked with most items, including varieties of compost and growbags, seeds, netting, canes etc.  Normal trading hours are 10 - 12, although we may be open a little later during busy periods.  At the moment we do not have plans to open on Saturdays, but will happily discuss volunteer openings if you are up for it, Saturdays or Sundays.  

So!  Come on down to collect your orders, or swoop in on the remaining stocks!  We will be pleased to see you, although maybe I was a bit rash in claiming that we will be throwing open the doors.  In these chilly, draughty times I suspect that we will continue to (loudly) encourage members to close the door behind them!  Also, if you wish to purchase seeds via the Kings Seeds Scheme you have until the end of January to panic buy.  Let me know quickly if you are hoping to order and claim your 50% discount.

Happy New Year to one and all!

Thursday 26 January 2023

Keep your eyes peeled...

I’ve run out of potato puns, but suffice to say that this email heralds the beginning of our new season.  As well as alerting you to the exciting news that the potato delivery has taken place this week, it also includes important news about :

Seeds

Break ins, hedging and gates

Volunteering opportunities and opening hours

Poly tunnel growing space

Plant (ish) sale

 

Yes!  The potatoes and oniony items have arrived and orders will be available to collect from Sunday January 29th between 10am and 1pm (as opposed to our normal 10 -12 noon). We would ask you to collect them sooner rather than later;  we are always concerned about possible deterioration in wintry conditions.  If you did not place an order, there will still be some varieties available, although it is worth noting that we are scaling back on our total order year on year, as demand decreases.

 

The Kings Seeds orders have also landed, and are available to collect.  We achieved our target of £200 and enjoyed the benefit of half price seeds! Yay!  Additionally, we have a good selection of seeds at the Hut, although these are not quite as generously discounted!!!

 

Unfortunately, our allotment site has had more unwelcome visitors during December and January, and if you only visit your plot occasionally during the winter months it would probably be worth popping by to check that everything is ok.  There are frequent reports of the security gates being left unlocked and even wide open, and this is obviously frustrating to allotment holders who are more vigilant. PLEASE close and lock gates responsibly, and consider if there is anything that you can safely do if you see anything suspicious. As far as your own plot is concerned, the society has had a kind donation of some pots of hawthorn whips which are intended for use on the Hagg Lane allotment site in order to fill any gaps in hedging.  Please come to the hut if you would be interested in using some of these.  Free!

 

Changing the subject completely, do you think that you might be able to help us?  It has been a long road, and we are just about getting back to normal , but we are aware that the personal circumstances of members the volunteer team are ever changing, and we’re not always able to give the time that we used to in the past.  Obviously we have reduced our opening hours, although we are aware that some members would be pleased to see us open on Saturdays as well as Sunday, if it was practical.  If you are at all interested in helping, please get in touch, or pop in for a chat.  You will find us a motley crew - some more motley than others – but we do our best to be friendly and hospitable!  In the short term... we are hoping to get some working parties together in March.  Amongst other things, the society polytunnel needs a complete overhaul, and we need both brains and muscle to help dig trenches and do battle with a new cover.  Expressions of interest, please! 

 

And then...once the polytunnel is back in working order, we hope to offer growing space to people who could make use of it.  We’re open to discussion!

 

And then...last year we had many enquiries about the return of a plant sale, and lots of people called in looking for seedlings.  We know that we cannot undertake a plant sale on the scale that we used to, but we would like to be able to offer something in its place.  Anybody got any ideas?!

 

Well, that’s it for now!  We hope that you’re looking forward to the warm spring sunshine, hosepipes at the ready! 

Thursday 8 September 2022

Potato & Onion Order Form

 


Tuesday 1 March 2022

Ne'er-do-wells

Unfortunately we have received reports of multiple break-ins and acts of vandalism on the Hagg Lane allotment site.  We always encourage victims of such crimes to report the event to the police because, whilst it is unlikely that anything can be done to find the culprits, it is helpful to the police to keep tabs on where crimes are committed, and to maintain realistic statistics.

If you haven’t been to your plot recently, it might be a good idea to check for damage and losses, and it is obviously helpful to keep the site gates locked, even when you are on site.

Hope that all is well with you.

Wednesday 26 January 2022

Feeling chipper, half baked or making a hash of it....

The allotment year is already trundling onwards, and we are pleased to let you know that potatoes, garlic and onions have now arrived at the Hut.  Once again, our order has been reduced to reflect the quantities purchased over the last few years, and there have also been a number of crop failures to throw in.  If you have pre-ordered, please come to collect your stuff as soon as possible – we always get nervous about potential frost or rodent damage the longer they are left with us.  If you haven’t pre-ordered, and are hoping to drop by to make a purchase, we suggest that you don’t hang about!

We have also received the seed order from Kings, and our seed merchandiser in the Hut is freshly stocked.

We are still opening on Sunday mornings only, between 10 and 12 ish, working with a reduced volunteer team.  Apologies if this causes any frustration.  Please contact us directly if our current opening hours makes it impossible for you to visit, and we will do our best to help.  Obviously, we are trying to operate as safely as we can, and would ask visitors to the hut to wear a mask, and to use common sense if there seems to be a bottleneck! 

Look forward to seeing you soon.  Happy New Year!!!

Debbie, Eric, Kevin and Steve (on behalf of the wider volunteer team

Monday 1 November 2021

Order! Order!

 ... (or so they say in the shambles that is our system of democracy...)

 
So, this long and eagerly awaited email is to remind you that it is not time to rest on your growing laurels.  Instead, you will undoubtedly be tidying away the last of this year’s triumphs in the vegetable patch, putting your beds to ... er ... bed and already planning how you will increase your yields and defeat the aphid army, in a totally environmentally friendly manner.
 
Firstly: Technology permitting, next year’s Potato Order form.  Once again we have reduced the total quantities of stuff that we are ordering, to try to match the demands of the past few years.  With this in mind, we would seriously urge you to pre-order as soon as possible in order to secure your preferences, although we will probably still be able to offer some for sale in February.  If you want, you can email your order to us, or visit us at the hut on a Sunday morning.  Onions, garlic, shallots etc are also on the list.  Ooooh, and there is a rumour that the ever-popular bucket/potato competition will be making a return.
 
Secondly: The Kings Seed order will be being placed on November 15th, or thereabouts.  For a handling fee of £1.30, we hope to be able to offer members a discount of 50% off vegetable, herb and flower seeds, assuming that our order totals more than £200 altogether.  Your order needs to be submitted by ourselves in order to qualify and, again, you can email this to us, or beat a path to the hut.  We can build a little bit of flexibility into the date, but don’t want to repeat the excitement that we lived through earlier this year.  Please let us know if you are running late AND please contact us if you do not receive acknowledgement of your order within 14 days of sending it to us. 
 
Thirdly: We have had a delivery of Peat Free Compost this week -  Bloom and Gro Organic Peat Free 40L. It is new to the market!
 
Finally, it has been lovely to see an increasing number of visitors to the hut, and to meet new allotment holders from both near and further afield.  We look forward to seeing you sometime soon, and socially distanced cups of tea are on offer once more,
 
Get them orders in!