The demographies of allotment tenants are suggested to include most sectors of the population (DETR 1998), with increasing numbers of females and younger people, but also the traditional stereotyped ‘old man with a cap’ (Crouch and Ward 1997). A brief picture of the key characters who participated in this research, many from the larger sites, but also from others across Plymouth is given in Table 4.6 below.
Table 4.6 Demographic profiles of allotment holders and gardeners in Plymouth quoted in this research (Source: author)
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C01 0-10 Classes of children with plot and classes run by one (dedicated) teacher. Hoots of delight heard across the site when they are digging up potatoes.
F01 40s
Plot is designed as a wildlife haven by agreement with the AO, which elicits comments from other tenants “allotments are meant to be for growing food”. Has help from an older friend who would like his own allotment. Feeds other tenants’ chickens and ducks every day.
F02 60s Retired schoolteacher looking after elderly father. Mainly just loves gardening and the wildlife. F03 40s Young family and working. Lives just over the road, so easy to call by after work. F04 60s Single professional woman. Offered to be on the committee and to help with publicising events, although not familiar with computers. Interested in discussions of buying
woodland.
F05 30s New tenant in the last year, delights in the whole experience of gardening and growing food to eat. F06 30s Offered to help with association if there was something practical to do. Comes to site events with children and husband F07 40s Macmillan nurse, so a difficult day job. Partner helps out with any ‘construction’ aspects of the plot and occasional clearing and digging. F08 30s Two young girls. They all come along as a family in the evenings. Novice gardeners and plot was overgrown into the spring but they got it cleared, and have crops growing well. F09 40s Friend of F07. University academic, expert gardener in a traditional style and gets good crops. F10 40s Young daughter. Lives next to M11. Enthusiastic and husband kept chickens for a while until he experienced heart problems. Finds it hard work without his help. F11 30s Got the hut ‘going’, helped by M27, and started selling canes, compost and organises books, and veg box for DCFA. F12 70s Wife of M13. Also retired. Expert grower of cabbages, and comes from a farming family. F13 50s Wife of M16. Does not visit much during winter, but then ‘blitzes’ it during spring and gets tidy and productive crops growing. F14 50s Professionals at council and university. Teenage daughters. Organised the lottery bid and hut as well as two of the veg shows. Now taking a back seat but still come to events. F15 70s Often seen sitting on the plot, sunhats on and having a picnic. Keep their plot tidy, productive and attractive. F16 60s
Daughters and grandchildren often there early evening, playing on the plot, which has an entrance arch and neat paths and an air of the leisure garden. They are there most days, coming and going.
F17 40s Daughter away at university. Parents grew vegetables when she was a child; they visit occasionally from Durham and take a good interest in the plot. F18 40s Wife of M21. They have different gardening styles but both enjoy spending as much time on the allotment having started many crops off at home. F19 60s Husband died unexpectedly a few years ago. The plot had been their joint effort, and now sometimes looks a bit overgrown. F20 30s
Works at local university. Had been on waiting list for a plot in London for several years and had just been offered one when she moved to Plymouth. Waited for a couple of years here, got one just before getting married and has now had a baby.
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F22 40s Yoga teacher. Plot looks wild and unkempt but food crops in between the ‘weeds’. F23 40s Married with grown-up daughter. Gave up her plot when she went away for a year then waited for over 2 years for another when she got back. F24 30s Young professional involved in greenspace strategy at the council.
F25 60s Wife of M26. Healthcare professional. Their plot demonstrates the approach of a French potager, looking colourful and attractive. F26 30s Single mother. Doesn’t get to the plot as much as she would like. Leaves all the forget-me-nots because she loves them and wants them to go to seed before clearing for the
growing season. F26 20s
Single mother, doesn’t manage to get to the plot very often but gets good crops of what she does grow. Brother helped to build a fruit cage, which is sturdy but looks untidy and was told to ‘do something about it’ by the AO.
F27 50s Waited for over three years for a plot and delighted to now have one. She is an experienced gardener. Husband is supporting her through bringing in bags of compost and building bed structures, but not interested in growing.
F28 30s Civil engineer with busy job. Joined with F14 to galvanise CPAA F29 50s
Working weekdays but spends many hours on the allotment at the weekends and during summer evenings when possible. Partner occasionally helps bringing in manure and weeding.
F30 30s Negotiated for a new allotment site on a patch of land adjacent to home and set up a community plot. F30 30s Enthusiast for local food and for growing what she can in her garden. The most important aspect is for her children to learn about growing food. M01 80s
Retired, likes telling stories about the war, and carries a card from Rommel’s son with him all the time. Tells of how they got prisoners of war to dig allotments on a new patch the other side of the main path. (The ‘Surveyor planting potatoes’ patch...) M02 70s Runs allotment trading hut. Knows everyone on the site, and has long chats with all the ‘old boys’. Hut got put on fire a couple of years back; arson. M03 40s Single, his father encouraged him to take on an allotment. Plot was overgrown when he took it on. Trying a Permaculture approach, growing green manure. M04 60s Retired. There most days in fine weather, enjoy pottering around and opportunity just to be outside. M05 60s Retired schoolteacher and expert gardener.
M06 70s Retired from city FE college. Brews up tea for other retired men every day. M07 70s
Retired from the dockyard, travelled all over the world. There nearly every morning, before going off to swim at the new Life Centre or to take his grandson to the golf course.
M08 50s Out of hours work at PCC. Has 4 plots, keeps ducks, chickens and bees and visits the site most days. M09 70s Retired. Joins in with others at coffee time. Often seen wandering around the site. M10 40s Builder and Argyle supporter with big Union Jack flag flying on his plot. Calls by before and after work to water regularly. Family there at the weekend to have barbeques. M11 40s Works in London during the week. Makes up for lost time at the weekends. Partner visits occasionally, mostly to pick sweet peas or soft fruit.
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M12 40s Husband of F10. Built raised beds on most of the plot and kept chickens for over a year, but had heart problems, and only very rarely visits any more. M13 60s
Husband of F12. Now retired and pleased to be able to get to the allotment more often. Used to brew wine from all the excess produce. Often there in an evening with their dog Molly.
M14 70s His plot looks like a tree nursery. Son is a tree surgeon and drops off piles of wood shavings at the entrance regularly, which people barrow away to their plots for paths. M15 70s Retired dockworker. Works two half plots with other friends, one a train driver. Goes off on weekends with old working mates; wants to buy a place in France. M16 50s Husband of F13. Built a colonial-style veranda around their shed. Barbeques there when there are concerts at Home Park. Two men from his workteam spent a day barrowing
compost onto his plot for him.
M17 50s Husband of F14, works at university. Teenage daughters. Likes the peace and quiet of the allotment site but doesn’t get there as often as would like. M18 70s Husband of F15.
M19 60s Friend of F16, makes a lot of structures and plot has entrance arch and neat paths giving it an air of the leisure garden. M20 50s Builder. Chatty about life in general rather than gardening. Joins in tea breaks whenever he gets a chance. M21 40s Husband of F18. Drug trial manager. He ran the site association easily and efficiently. M22 60s Professional musician who keeps a tidy plot.
M23 70s Retired, brings whole tea-brewing kit on trolley to CPAA events. In Africa as cook for troops during war, talks about bushmeat. Chuffed to have been filmed for BBC programme about wildlife on his plot. Shed is like Fort Knox.
M24 50s Works at local plant nursery. Expert grower. Brings the barbeque to events at the hut. M25 60s Retired dockworker. Loved the allotment but gave it up as he couldn’t fit it in around home life and working. M26 60s Husband of F25. Involved in ‘Food is Fun’, organising Flavourfest for the city and helps with school gardens across the city M27 60s
Retired. Used to have a plot on another site but this is nearer his home. Experienced gardener and gets good crops. Transformed the site entrance, which is adjacent to his plot, building planters and an archway.
M28 70s Has been on the site for many years; his plot is right by the entrance. Referred to as the one with the loud voice. Buys and saves seeds and grows plants for the association to sell from the trading hut.
M29 70s Longest rows of runner beans seen on any plot, of many different varieties. Gives surplus crops to his bowling association to help them raise money. M30 50s Technician at the university. Keeps himself to himself and not interested in any site politics. M31 60s Retired. There most days in fine weather, enjoy pottering around and opportunity just to be outside.
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The brief descriptions of allotment holders in Table 4.6 are developed
throughout this thesis. As can be seen, some tenants are occasional visitors, and others have a life that is more centred on their allotment; the latter are largely but not all retired or unemployed. There are male and female tenants across the age ranges and across a wide range of occupations. They have different
motivations for cultivating a plot, from increased self-reliance or greater choice in food, to enjoying being outside and the restorative natural environment. Some seek social contact, while others desire a place to get away from stresses of life. Conversations with these and many other individuals took place over the period of this research on frequent site visits, often daily during some of the growing seasons, which were recorded in field notebooks and research logs. Many of their comments are included in the following chapters, referenced by their gender and allocated number in Table 4.6. The purpose was to illustrate the wide range of demographies and tendencies rather than categorised biographic profiling. These individuals are presented to demonstrate diversity, rather than as a statistically representative sample of Plymouth allotment tenants to reveal correlations or causal factors on the numerous socio- economic, cultural and demographic variables that could affect allotment cultivation. As suggested in Chapter 3, this research is instead presented as exploratory and illustrative, and the conceptualisations and findings included have been tested in individual and group conversations (e.g. RL310112, RL160113, RL 210313).
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4.7 Conclusion
This chapter has considered the development and demographies of Plymouth over the years, to provide the context for the discussion chapters that follow. Characteristics of size, population density, health and employment in Plymouth compared with a sample of other UK cities showed similarity on some
parameters, and especially with Coventry. The city’s status now as a
‘frontrunner’ in AFN activities through FoodPlymouth (Box 4.1), gives another justification for research into allotments and AFNs through the case of
Plymouth (see Section 3.3.1 above).
This chapter also gave an overview of the systems of food provisioning in the city as the context from which to consider allotment praxes. The geographies, facilities and management of the 31 sites in Plymouth, with over a thousand individual plots, were introduced, showing the variable geographies of size and location across the city. Demographies of the allotment tenants and other gardeners that participated in and contributed to this research were also presented with a view to demonstrating the range in socio-economic
characteristics, ages and inclinations. The setting that this chapter has provided thus forms the basis for the discussions that follow in Chapters 5-8.
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