Plot Holders
“My garden has the River Lea along one side.
It’s in three parts.
A shingle garden planted for birds and butterflies, with nest boxes and spring bulbs.
A lawn area where I would like to plant a mini orchard, where I hang up food for the birds and wildlife.
A vegetable plot where I have a shed and greenhouse.
I have lots of wildlife habitats for wasps and bees and spiders. The slugs and snails attract the frogs, toads, hedgehogs and Thrushes, and the aphids await the presence of the beetles and Ladybirds. In the spring the pond has several dozen newts, and from then I eagerly wait to see dragonflys emerging from the murky depths.
My two dogs love it in my garden, and we meet up with all our friends.
The gardens are about 100 years old. I’m a newcomer, I’ve only been there 14 years.
I don’t have a garden at home, so it’s everything to me.
My garden is an allotment to be bulldozed for the 2012 Olympics.
We do not want to stop the games, but we think we should be able to stay and perform our gardening feats alongside the athletes. If done in the right way it could look truly wonderful. In the midst of the hustle and bustle of these international sports, us, a really true multi cultural society sharing our love of gardening, our hobbies and real friendship.â€
Penny, plots 38. 39. 8.
“I’ve been 26 years on my allotment and have got all my trees, greenhouse, and everything to my satisfaction.”
“I’m so upset at having to leave my allotment, which I’ve spent years cultivating and the growing of grapes, cherry trees, figs, pears, apples, artichokes – which is a joy to see growing. I’m a pensioner in January 2007 and I feel I won’t be able to enjoy the next garden as much.”
“This place has been very valuable for us. I have learnt about how communities come together in a very special place. Everyone is so friendly and kind. Great place.”
“I cannot see the LDA getting permission from the Marsh Lane site. There is too much opposition still. I do not want to leave Manor Garden site. Their insensitivity to our site shows they do not care about local people, so why should we go so meekly along with them, they don’t seem to budge one inch on changing their designs.”
“We are very unhappy as we love the community at Manor Gardens Society, it is a unique environmental location; it is very local (walk-able and cycle-able) so we can visit more often and more spontaneously. The flora and fauna exist in a ruralised setting which will be impossible to recreate. We do not believe it is justifiable to destroy this haven for the short-term creation of a footpath or car park which will probably never be deconstructed to return the land to its rightful owners as specified by the legator.”
“This has been my plot for 26 years and I’ve done all my planting and cultivation for that time. I don’t want to leave and I’m a pensioner. We have such a nice community of people which help each other.”
“£300 compensation is not enough.”
“I have felt from the start that they could build around us. We have asked for plots at Marsh Lane because they are offering an allotment site, that to me is important, more important that any compensation.”
“I would like to stay where I am, but I still think that we will be forced to move, even if we put up a fight. But I am with you all the way.”
“A close knit community will be split after a great number of years. Extra time involved in travel. Three bus routes will be required to reach the new site (if we get it).”
“I’m not happy about having to leave my present allotment. I’ve spent years nurturing my fig trees, cherry trees, apple trees and roses and artichokes.”
Visitors
“I can’t find myself an allotment – please can I go on your waiting list! its so lovely here…”
“Good luck. What a wonderful place.”
“This is an important place which has been in existence for many years. I can see no reason why these allotments cannot be incorporated into the design of the Olympic Developments.”
“Every time I come here it makes me very angry to think that this really fantastic alive community should have to go… IN THE NAME OF WHAT?”
“Don’t flatten it.”
“No Olympic concrete boot to Manor Garden. Keep this magical place.”
“Beautiful gardens. I’ll be back.”
“What a fantastic oasis. What a tragedy it would be to destroy it. Good luck with your campaign and you have our support.”
“Wonderful allotments. Don’t loose heart.”
“I visit regularly the allotments and its a very nice place. I think its a shame to close it.”
“We have visited the allotments on several occasions and it is really relaxing and refreshing. It helps people to maintain a healthier, more balanced way of life enjoying organic food. It will be really unfair for these people to loose their right for using their land, which they have been using for so many years. They enjoy it as a hobby, entertain friends and follow a healthy balanced diet. Please reconsider your decision as it will affect the communities way of life.”
“I have recently heard that the Lee Valley allotments will be destroyed. We are upset to hear that this will be taking place and I am writing this letter in distress. I have visited these allotments and they are beautiful areas in which people such as pensioners may go and relax with friends and family alike. Many people that we have been aquainted with agree with our views that the allotments should be left alone. Not only is it a place of relaxation from the busy London life, it is also home to a variety of flora and fauna that has flourished. It is also an area where elderly people, disabled people and youngsters can go for enjoyment and many other activities. the community over here expect more amenities in this peaceful area and you must re-consider your actions.”
“I wish to protest regarding your plans to make Manor Gardens Allotments into a park for the London Olympics visitors. I strongly believe that this is very unfair and you will destroy a beauty spot.”
“Cross the bridge to the magical island of reality against the coming tide of the virtual” Iain Sinclair
“It is a beautiful place to spend time with our friends and children. We all want this place to stay like this in the future. I would like to put my name on the waiting list.”
“I love this place, it is very beautiful. We are coming here almost every weekend with my family to see my friends and spend time in that nature.”
“I love this place. It is a melting pot for so many different people with different backgrounds. We should have more places like this, not less. It will be a shame if it comes to an end in the name of progress.”
“I would like something like this, so I can make a BBQ.”
“I would really like this place to stay because its fun and we have barbeques during summer.”
“Fantastic site. So many possibilities in the middle of the city. I can’t wait to get a plot.”
“I live on the 3rd floor and work on the 4th. Great to get a chance to play on the ground. My name is on the waiting list.”
“A green oasis in an ugly old London! Best of luck with the campaign to keep this marvel alive!” Django Bates.
Politicians
“It is a real shame that the allotments are to be lost. I realise that they are a valuable resource for local people and offer much enjoyment and relaxation. However I also feel that the benefits that the Olympics will bring to Hackney as a whole are enormous, and do outweigh those of other facilities in the area” Diane Abbott MP
Supporters
“PM & Olympics People, this is a golden opportunity to show your green credentials to the world – do what you know is the right thing here.”
“I feel very strongly that successful communities are about people being able to make their own decisions, and being part of processes of change.”
“The Olympics are supposed to be a national show case on our behalf and for our benefit. The Manor allotments should be a national showcase for the allotment movement in the UK and all the benefits it provides in terms of health and to the
community, not an inconvenience.”
“I feel that the planned eviciton and destruction of the allotments says it all about the current urban policies that systematically privilege money over life, corporate marketing over genuine community relations. The rhetoric of ‘community’ is everywhere yet actual policies bulldoze them mercilessly.”
“I hope you’re successful in beating off the LDA in their effort to bulldoze your plots to make room for a footpath. Not winning is unthinkable!!! Best of luck to you.”
“I support your campaign to preseve Manor Park Allotments.”
“I wish every success to the London Olympic games, they are an opportunity to show the world what is so great about our nation – not to destroy some of the great things about it”
From dekay:
“Does anyone remember Rio and sustainable development? Did anyone read the recent UN report on Climate Change? Does anyone really think that offsetting the destruction of this allotment aganist a plethora of solar panels, wind turbines and Bio fuels boilers actually amount to development that is really sustainable? Think i’ll just go and buy a 4X4 and stop caring!”
“I think it is disgusting that they can even think of wiping you out. All the hours spent at universtiy etc and the planners cannot even come up with a way of keeping a piece of England right in the heart of the biggest project London has seen since the Dome (another planning failure). I am all for the Olympics but come on planners think outside the box, you may even go down in history for it! ”
“Damn the Olympics! You can’t trust any council,or political figure,to lose this for the sake of a stupid path. I thought our wonderful leaders were pushing for health foods and staying fitter?
You would never know by this would you? I have a plot and I feel for these people.”
“There’s no argument for concreting over these allotments and in the process of re-allocating them destroying a piece of ancient common land. So much for a ‘green Olympics’.”
“Never doubt that a small group of committed people can change the world. It is the only thing that ever has.”
Margaret Mead
“Stick in there, victory to the underdog ! I am with you all the way”