National Allotment Week
09 August 2010
To celebrate National Allotment Week (9th to 15th August 2010) a Scarecrow competition was held at Eden Allotment Gardens on Saturday 7th August. The competition was won by Holy & Becky Disley.
Carrickfergus Borough Council is committed to improving the wellbeing for all the people of the Borough, through the services it provides, including our Allotment Service. We officially opened our first allotment site at Eden in 2008. What started as 36 plots has grown to 189 plots, Eden Allotment Gardens is now the largest allotment site in Ireland. Alderman May Beattie, Chairperson of the Parks & Countryside Committee said "Eden Allotment Gardens has been a great success. With rising food prices, concern regarding the distance food travels and the ‘grow your own’ television programmes allotments throughout the UK are in demand. National Allotments Week is a great opportunity to highlight these issues."
"Allotment gardening can provide a number of benefits to individuals, such as the opportunity to produce a wide range of relatively inexpensive healthy vegetables, whilst at the same time providing physical exercise in the outdoors. It can create the opportunity to make new friends and provide the chance to socialise with others who enjoy a similar rewarding pastime."
"Allotments can provide a great sense of well-being and give pleasure and satisfaction to people who through their own skills and effort produce their own food and of course in addition allotments are also beneficial to the environment and wildlife generally."
"Owning an allotment could also mean cancelling that expensive gym subscription and having an alternative workout at your very own 'green gym'."
“With the recession and the upsurge in the need for land for people to grow their own food, we hope to encourage more allotment provision to satisfy local demand.” Concluded Alderman Beattie.
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For further information please contact:
Stephen Daye, Parks & Countryside Development Officer
Telephone: 028 9335 8039
E-Mail: parks@carrickfergus.org
Web: http://www.carrickfergus.org
