This week the National Allotment Society (NAS) has been celebrating its 90th birthday. Formed in April 1930, we were at the forefront of the allotment movement throughout the grim years of the 1930s depression and the challenges of World War 2; then fought to preserve sites during the societal changes in the mid-20th century that led to a downturn in interest in home grown food. In the 21 century allotments have seen a renaissance and we have worked hard to increase access to allotment gardening and support community management of sites. During the current Covid19 pandemic our advice and guidance has helped to ensure that allotment sites remain open and safe, offering healthy exercise and home- grown food for hundreds of thousands of people.
Gardening is good for you and allotment gardening offers additional benefits that help to ameliorate loneliness and enable citizens to contribute to society, especially beyond retirement. Hundreds of allotment holders volunteer on their association committee and give up precious time, helping to manage and maintain sites. Our core services support these volunteers to work effectively. There is also a growing awareness of the role that gardening plays in both preventing and alleviating mental ill-health. Many allotment gardeners will tell you that a spell on the plot nurturing food plants, taking exercise and contemplating nature makes them feel calmer and more hopeful. NAS Life Member Elizabeth Allnutt told us
“There is so much trouble and misery coming out of coronavirus and it feels as if the world has gone crazy, but the allotment is a place of purposeful activity and hope. I hope the peace and restoration it brings me will have some impact on the world outside the allotment gate.”
The Society’s role is to ensure that allotments stay a relevant part of UK culture and as many people as possible have the opportunity to benefit, as Elizabeth has, from the seasonal food, healthy exercise, access to nature and social capital that allotments offer. As a result of the measures being taken by Government in response to the current threat from Covid19, the significance of allotments as a contributor to the maintenance of good mental health and physical wellbeing has been pushed up the agenda. Councils are currently reporting a significant rise in interest in renting a plot, up by 500% in one Borough, and in the coming months and years, we will endeavour to keep up this momentum and continue to support the existence of allotments by emphasising their benefits to society, as we have done for the last 90 years.
