Common Ground’s
Rules for Local Distinctiveness

Holding a torch for the allotments
on Hackney Marshes by Juliette Adair

Eastway allotments run by the Manor Gardening Society is a 1.8 hectare site on the east marshes of Newham. It’s a wedge of land between the River Lea and Bully Point Nature Reserve – and right in the middle of the 2012 Olympic site. For 100 years this ground has been an allotment and was supposed to remain so in perpetuity. Now it has a compulsory purchase order on it and it will soon be bulldozed to make way for a concrete walkway. After the four week Olympic period, this will be broken up and the area made into a reed bed. This may satisfy some environmental concerns but the community - diverse and layered as it is - will be destroyed. Far from dancing in the streets, everyone is grieving.

Some of the plot holders have been growing food here for nearly sixty years. Some came with their parents or even grandparents. Others are more recent Londoners, coming to England from other parts of the world in times of war. There is a strong Turkish community, from Cyprus and also mainland Turkey. There is a spirit of welcome and support for newcomers who may not speak much English. Seeds are swapped between the plot holders and often have an international dimension. In fact, this is an example of a truly diverse and multicultural community, growing its own food, supporting wildlife and quietly creating something beautiful in an area more often known for racial violence and urban blight. It could be held up as an example of good living; instead it is to be destroyed in favour of a temporary strip of concrete.

I became involved when a neighbour was telling me about her friend’s plot and the amazing community she has at the allotment. I went to visit in March and was treated to a delicious lamb and vegetable soup around the table with a very friendly and remarkably diverse group of people. It turned out that there was an empty plot, many of the plot holders having lost heart and found plots elsewhere. And so, I fell in love with the place and got involved …

Juliette Adair is a writer, artist and grower of a small number of pea and spinach plants.

Julie's Plot : An Inventory
Read the Press Release for the recent Allotments Open Day

Sign the ONLINE PETITION to save the allotments

Read about the Lea Valley Allotments ABC