The Rose Avenue Allotment site has come a long way since Sustainable Merton were awarded over £77,000 from Local Food (a £59 million programme supported by the Big Lottery Fund) and began work on the 4 acres of neglected, litter strewn land in late 2012.

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To prepare the site (located at Tamworth Farm Allotments), we received help from around 60 young people from the National Citizen Service with The Challenge over two days in September 2013.

 

These ‘Action Days’ were designed to encourage community engagement and sharing of skills and with guidance from our team and volunteers, the young people participated in tasks such as weeding, digging and building raised beds.

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65 of the 67 newly created plots are now tenanted by hard working ‘allotmenteers’, with the other two being tended to by children from St Mark’s School.

 

The children receive weekly lessons and hands-on gardening experience using tools provided.  Along with a running water supply, both a community shed and lock-up container have now been installed on site.

 

The project, which has turned the land into a food growing hub for the local community, would not have been possible without the help, grants and kind donations received from Local Food, Merton Council and local volunteers and so we would like to say a big thank you to all!

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Moving forward... Day to day management of the allotments was handed over to the Tamworth Farm Allotment Society in April 2014. The lease was later handed over in December 2017.

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Please contact the Tamworth Farm Allotment Society for all enquiries.