Next year we celebrate our 100th anniversary, so we're hoping to do something to mark it. (My idea of compulsory Morris Dancing in the local shopping centre didn't meet with quite the enthusiasm I had envisaged....) I'm collecting information & photographs on our history, hoping that we might mount an exhibition in the local library.
But then I started thinking about our site, compared to other allotment sites. We are totally independent, on land rented from the local Church Charity. I know there are plenty of you out there in a similar position. But we are not just an allotment site: we are a Smallholding & Allotment Society, with two smallholdings as part of the site, and part of the membership. (One is a working stables; the other used to be a working pig farm, but is now used for private stabling.)
I know that the 1908 Act - which obviously led to the formation of our Society - was The Smallholdings & Allotments Act. Also the model constitution, as published by NSALG, caters for the presence of both as part of the same set-up. But have any other societies actually got smallholdings as well as allotments, either now or in the past? I don't think I've ever come across any.
So, are we unique? Even if we're only fairly rare, it might make a good selling point in the publicity. (And I'm sure the members would be fascinated to find out if they were unique!)
