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Paul Calland ·
2 min read
GRANT AWARD - Park Ward Allotments
The 3R Foundation recently awarded £500 to Park Ward Allotments for the components for a water pumping and irrigation system.
They are a long established allotment site on Derwent Road in Lancaster. Currently they have 75 plot holders gardening plots of different sizes.
They are a long established allotment site on Derwent Road in Lancaster. Currently they have 75 plot holders gardening plots of different sizes.
In order to cater for people with different levels of physicality and time constraints, many of the original plots have been divided into half, and sometimes even quarter plots and this has allowed us to meet the needs of a wide variety of people within our community.
They have a steep site that has been terraced to provide level growing surfaces. Thye told us that when the allotment site was first set up, a group of volunteers installed a system to provide water around the site. Each tap has a water butt that can be filled and used as a dipping station. This system is still in existence today and relies on mains pressure.
In practice what happens is that it is very difficult for allotmenteers who have plots at the top of the site to gain access to water as any taps being used further down the hill automatically get priority due to mains pressure and gravity. This was leading to frustration and was an issue they wanted to address.
A member of the committee suggested an ingenious scheme which would involve the installation of a cistern with ballcock by each of the three taps that cause the most difficulty. Once installed, the taps would be left permanently switched on ensuring that they are able to fill the water butts at times when the allotment site is very quiet, such as during the night. When the water butt is full the ballcock would stop the flow of water in much the same way that a toilet cistern is switched off once full. They approached the 3R Foundation for a grant to purchase all the components and the system is now up and running successfully.
They have a steep site that has been terraced to provide level growing surfaces. Thye told us that when the allotment site was first set up, a group of volunteers installed a system to provide water around the site. Each tap has a water butt that can be filled and used as a dipping station. This system is still in existence today and relies on mains pressure.
In practice what happens is that it is very difficult for allotmenteers who have plots at the top of the site to gain access to water as any taps being used further down the hill automatically get priority due to mains pressure and gravity. This was leading to frustration and was an issue they wanted to address.
A member of the committee suggested an ingenious scheme which would involve the installation of a cistern with ballcock by each of the three taps that cause the most difficulty. Once installed, the taps would be left permanently switched on ensuring that they are able to fill the water butts at times when the allotment site is very quiet, such as during the night. When the water butt is full the ballcock would stop the flow of water in much the same way that a toilet cistern is switched off once full. They approached the 3R Foundation for a grant to purchase all the components and the system is now up and running successfully.
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