Homes and Gardens / Ashley Vale Allotments
Celebrating 100 years of Ashley Vale Allotments
“Documenting the community of people farming in Ashley Vale felt very important in its 100th year,” says Chris Bowles, who has produced a short film celebrating the allotment’s centenary.
“Everyone has a slightly different reason for taking on an allotment and some take it more seriously than others but the number of interesting characters on the site joined by a common interest was too good an opportunity to miss capturing on video.”
Chris had initially planned the film as a private project that would only have been shared online but during discussion of a centenary celebration, allotment holders thought it would be nice to project the film inside one of the sheds in the yard.
is needed now More than ever
Fellow allotment holder Maggie Manson made a series of posters showing the history of the site and Carrie Hitch photographed some of the plot holders. A produce show outside was arranged by Jodi Peacham and Keith Cowling brought his paella pan down to cook lunch.
“It was nice to be able to come together for a sunny autumn afternoon to put on a show and share a little bit of history,” Chris says.
Around 20 per cent of the footage used in Chris’ film was taken by other plot holders.
Rachel Potley shared a lot of video clips from her allotment with, with Chris trying to include as much as possible of these different views of life on site.
When not on his allotment, Chris is a designer and animator. See his work at www.christopherbowles.co.uk
Our top newsletters emailed directly to you
