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By Bert Cook
Paterson Park Allotments were started
in 1920 when Britain was digging for victory.
A few local men who worked in the shipyards
and the Clyde Trust gave up their time to get
it established.
When work began there were thirty
plots all
measuring 90 by 30 feet but in the fifty's, the
SSEB took over the land to build a sub station,
so we lost five plots. During the 1950's and
1970's there was a decline in allotment sites
all over Scotland but we managed to survive.
At one time in Renfrew there were 11 sites,
now there is only one.
Our members are a mixed bunch aged
between
20 and 85. Some are retired or unemployed
and some are working. We call our plots the
soup kitchen because of the vegetables we
grow. In the last few years there are more
flowers growing. We do not have much fruit
as we think it encourages vandalism.
As our site is not far from the
River Clyde
we have a very severe problem of flooding,
some times it is under water for up to two
months, so we cannot start digging until
the beginning of April which makes it a late
site to be getting on with. Over the last five
years the committee and the members have
worked together and we now have an allotment
to be proud of with new fencing, all internal roads
tarmacked and a portacabin which was a
welcome gift from AMEC the builders.
We now have a healthy waiting list
so it keeps
us happy. We have our open day in August
which is very popular with the people of
Renfrew, when we have raffles, sell plants and
vegetables. We also give a lot of produce
to the old age pensioners in the community
and we use the money we make to pay for the
running of the site.
Over the last few years since we
rejoined SAGS
our site has had some success, as seen in the
last newsletter. We won the Stevenson Memorial
Trophy in 1997 after it had been missing for over
twenty years. We also won it last year and the cup
for the best allotment in the competition and we
also got third, with Bellahouston getting second.
When looking at the Stevenson Trophy, we
discovered that the last time we won it was 1944,
a long time ago.
This year our site has joined the
National
Vegetable Society which I know a lot of SAGS
members are already in and we hope to compete
in the near future. As for wildlife, we have a pair
of foxes which have produced three cubs over
the last two years, we also have got ten bird
boxes on huts and trees around our site, the
wild birds come back every year. One of
our members has ringed approximately thirty
young birds last year so that he can see if they
will come back this year.
We have seen ducks, a pair of herons
and this
year for the first time we have stoats,
hedgehogs, a few cats also roam about so it
keeps the rats and mice down. Paterson Park
Allotments are on the Ferry Road, Renfrew
near the new Braehead Shopping Centre,
So if any allotment holders are in the area
they aremost welcome to visit us.
That's all for now, happy gardening
for the year
two thousand.
Bert Cook
President SAGS
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