Chris Swain Memorial

A dedication ceremony was held at Dig In on Saturday 26th November in remembrance of Chris Swain who sadly passed away this year. Chris was very dedicated, both to his family and the allotment, and he is missed by all of us, not only for his kindness and generosity, but also for his tireless contribution to both Pulp Friction and the Dig In Community Allotment.

In honour of his memory, a pear tree was planted in the Dig In orchard, along with a dedication plaque.

Pumpkin Day Winners!

Congratulations to the following pumpkin exhibitors at the Annual Dig In Pumpkin Day event-

The Bradburn family - Largest pumpkin award (weighing in at 34.93 kgs).

Chris Davis' daughters - Joint winners for best dressed pumpkin.

Mystery exhibitor (unknown) - Strangest looking pumpkin.

Gary and Claire Swain - Honory prize for their misshapen pumpkin.

The event was one of our best attended so far, with around 180 adults and children (including volunteer helpers). A total of £124.67 was raised through a raffle and donations on the day, which will help towards seed, materials, tools and repairs for the next season.

Many thanks for all who attended, making Pumpkin Day a huge success. We also have some video footage of the event;

Pumpkin Day

Today was very busy and loads of things was going off from carving pumpkin's, pumpkin soups, bird feeders, facepaint, pumpkin games and activities and other things too.
I was doing the bird feeders shaped of pumpkins by using

lard and wild bird seed.

Last of the Summer Grapes

Many of the summer crops are coming to an end, but Gary Swain spotted the last remaining bunches of grapes in the polytunnel. This photo of today's bounty was taken by Chris Davis.

Apple Day 2011

The Dig In Apple Day event was held on September 24th. The weather was perfect, and the volunteers worked very hard to ensure the event was a great success. Everyone I spoke too said they had a wonderful time, enjoying apple related food and refreshments as well as the various activities. We had over 100 visitors, and very positive feedback was received.

Over £90 was raised on the day through a raffle and donations, which will be put to good use for repairs, gardening equipment and other items needed for the project.

Chris Davis, a Dig In volunteer with a keen interest in photography was our official photographer for the event, and has provided some fantastic images which I have put together as a montage to give a flavour of the event. Please click here for pdf version.

Pond Dipping Event 2011

This year's Pond Dipping event was held on August 17th in conjunction with Alan Heath from the Long Eaton Natural History Society (LENS). These events are always very popular with the children, both from a fun and educational perspective, and this one was no exception.

Although we felt that the numbers and types of species found in the pond have been limited by the unwanted introduction of goldfish (which will also eat tadpoles, so reducing the numbers of frogs which in turn help reduce the surrounding slug population), Alan reported a total of 19 species found during the survey.

A pdf listing the species found at this year's event is available by clicking this link.

Stapleford Carnival 2011

Once again DIG IN attended the Stapleford Carnival ( 3.9.11)with an array of fruit and veg, preserves, seeds and strawberry plants to give out to local people. A fabulous well dressing was created and now is displayed for a week at Stapleford town Council. Lauren, Gill, Chris, Claire and Kathy were able to chat to people about DIG IN, offer growing advice and encourage involvement in the future events and coming along to wednesday and saturday sessions- although any discussion was in competition with a very noisy falcon on the next stall! Hundreds of people came to Stapleford Carnival- a great opportunity for us to publicise the Garden. Lots of folk were very interested in coming along and the swell of support for the Apple and Pumpkin days was evidence of how DIG IN is fast becoming a well known and well loved part of the Stapleford community. Thanks to the Town Council for a stall in their gazebo and their support.