APPLE JUICING DAY ON SATURDAY 12TH SEPTEMBER

Join us for an apple  juicing day on Saturday 12th September at the communal plot on Hurst Road. We’ll provide the equipment, you bring your apples and pears, a jug and bottles. Great fun for the kids, and healthy juice for your breakfast. Make a note in your diary. More details to follow.

TATA ran a stall at the Twyford Donkey Derby which was held on 16^th June. The whole event was well attended and the weather was kind as you can see in the photo. As the event was principally intended for children, TATA planned to use the event to engage with them and raise their interest in the pleasure of growing plants. Roger Lewis did a commendable job of developing kits for children to grow plants from seed. The kits (seeds, compost, growing containers and instructions) were given free to any child. Many thanks to Roger for interesting so many children in the kits and the joy of growing plants.

Also, many thanks to all who volunteered to man the stall and a particular thank you to Steve Loyd for pushing the TATA barrow all the way from his home to the King George V playing fields. The barrow caused a lot of interest and drew visitors to our stall.

In parallel to interesting children in growing plants, we used the event to raise some funds for TATA. We’re very grateful to all members who provided items for sale – vegetable plants, lavenders and hazel stakes all sold well. We made a profit of £93.50 on the day.

Plot 20A on the Hurst Road site hosted this years’ TATA BBQ and Pizza Get Together. For a whole week beforehand a bonfire smouldered continuously getting rid of overgrown vegetation, couch grass and the most unwelcome bindweed.

What a terrific turnout at the village fete yesterday! The TATA stall boasted a wide variety of allotment produce, flowers, plants, jams and chutneys and homemade cakes. In addition to the edibles, we ran a ‘guess the weight of the marrow’ competition and a raffle with prizes including a box of fruit and vegetables, a sultana cake, free-range eggs and jams/chutneys and a bottle of wine.

TRHA put on a spectacular Autumn Show this year. Well done to all TATA members who entered!

There were some fantastic award winning entries in a number of categories including heaviest pumpkin (affectionately known as ‘Big Bertha’ – Malcolm – hope your back recovers …), first in class parsnips (a lot of patience required to dig these up!), melt in the mouth boiled fruit cake, scrumptious chutney and divine plum jam. A TATA family member even won 1st prize for ‘arrangement of weeds in a jam jar’.

Summary In April 2016 an allotment plot was planted with osiers (willow) to recreate a bed to allow first-hand experience to be gained of a once thriving village industry. The three species triandra, viminalis and hybrid red will provide willow suitable for such applications as basketwork and willow sculptures.

Membership of TATA is open to anyone that wants to support the association, regardless of whether you have an allotment. Find out more here