Get involved
Hands are always welcome; gloves we can lend.
You don’t need a plot to help the site along, and you don’t need experience either; somebody here will happily show you which end of the billhook to hold.
Lend a hand
Working parties keep the shared parts of the site in good order: hedge-laying in autumn, tidying, building and mending, and the general shifting of things that allotments generate. The community plot is the base, and there is usually a kettle. Working days are announced on the news page and our Facebook page; or email rvascontact@gmail.com and we’ll tell you when the next one is.
If growing is more your interest than building, the monthly permaculture workshops are open to all members, and the continuity beds are a gentle way in; see join us.
Bring your workplace
A day on the allotments suits a team. The work is real and outdoor, and there is something to show for it by teatime: a bed built, a stretch of hedge laid, a path cleared, a mountain of woodchip in a better place than it was. It worked for the crews who built our raised beds and laid our hedge, and it can work for yours.
If your company gives staff volunteering days, or you’re looking for a community project with over a century of history and a genuinely good story about accessibility, talk to us. We’ll sort the plan, the tools and the tea; you bring the people. Email rvascontact@gmail.com with rough numbers and dates, and someone on the committee will get back to you.
Companies have helped us with materials too; a donation from the Wickes Community Programme built one of our accessible raised beds. If your firm can offer materials, skills or sponsorship rather than a workforce, that conversation is just as welcome; you can read what we’re building next on the developments page.
Schools and community groups
We’ve built bird boxes with children and sent leftover plants to an infant school’s bee garden; we like this sort of thing. If you run a school, scout group or community organisation and the site could be useful to you, get in touch and we’ll see what can be worked out.