A very warm welcome to our website.  We are a small but very active and friendly group of allotment holders based on the Hempland Lane site in York, North Yorkshire.  This website is run by volunteers so please be patient awaiting updates. If you have an idea for an article, or have pictures you would like us to include in the gallery then please get in touch using the contact links.

Winter 2023 Newsletter

You can now download our latest newsletter.

Annual General Meeting

We are pleased to announce that the next AGM is booked for Monday 19th February 2024. 7.30pm start at Burnholme Club. We hope you can be there. Everybody is welcome and we try and make the evening as enjoyable and informal as possible. If you have any items you would like to be discussed on the evening please let either myself or Nigel know and we can add them to the agenda. Rather than our vast bring and share cold Buffet, we have opted for a Cheese & Biscuits, snacks and nibbles offering, as a trial for this year (provided by the committee). As so much has been left in previous years. Our usual cash bar and hot drinks will available from the Club. Arrive from 7.30pm, renew your association membership and enjoy some refreshments. Meeting will commence at 8pm. Agenda items to Nigel plot 66 or nigelthegardener@hotmail.com by 31st January 2024. If you would like to be really well organised you can pay your 2024 Hempland Lane Allotment Association membership fee now! Nigel our membership secretary is ready to take payment. The fee is £5 per person and the membership will run through until the 28th of February 2025.

Self Service Plant Stall

We would really appreciate it if you could donate any spare unwanted plants to our self service plant stall. This is situated near the shop and opposite hempland haven. As usual just well presented & labeled helps helps them to sell much easier. Thankyou

Self Service Plant Stall

Accessibility Statement

Please be advised that Hempland Lane Allotment Association has reviewed the Website Accessibility Guidelines (WAG) 2018 and feels that converting our website for the small number of users that view it, and the income made by the association each year, is a ‘disproportionate burden’ to its operation. Therefore, the website will remain unchanged however, if any individual association member requires information in a different format please do contact one of the committee members. We already email (through mailchimp) our newsletters and hand deliver to those who do not have access to the internet.

Volunteers required for the tea / coffee and cake Sunday mornings.

Volunteers required for our tea/coffee and cake stall for Sunday mornings. Covid, allowing we plan to re-commence on Sunday 13th February 2022.

Liability Insurance Leaflet

Here are parts one and two of a allotment liability insurance leaflet which you might find useful.

Definition of an Allotment?

An allotment garden (British), often called simply an allotment, or a community garden (North America) is a plot of land made available for individual, non-commercial gardening or growing food plants. Such plots are formed by subdividing a piece of land into a few or up to several hundred land parcels that are assigned to individuals or families. Such parcels are cultivated individually, contrary to other community garden types where the entire area is tended collectively by a group of people. In countries that do not use the term allotment (garden), a community garden can refer to individual small garden plots as well as to a single, large piece of land gardened collectively by a group of people. The term victory garden is also still sometimes used, especially when a community garden dates back to World War I or II.

The individual size of a parcel typically suits the needs of a family, and often the plots include a shed for tools and shelter, and sometimes a hut for seasonal or weekend accommodation. The individual gardeners are usually organized in an allotment association, which leases or is granted the land from an owner who may be a public, private or ecclesiastical entity, and who usually stipulates that it be only used for gardening (i.e. growing vegetables, fruits and flowers), but not for permanent residential purposes. The gardeners have to pay a small membership fee to the association, and have to abide by the corresponding constitution.

In 1904 there were about 20,000 allotment gardens in Denmark, 6,000 of them were in Copenhagen. During the interwar years the number of allotment gardens grew rapidly. In 2001 the number of allotment gardens was estimated to be about 62,120.

The first allotments ("dachas") in Russia began to appear during the reign of Peter the Great in the late 16th Century. Initially they were small estates in the country, which were given to loyal vassals by the Tsar. In archaic Russian, the word dacha means something given. – In the case of Hempland this could be Ground Elder, Mares Tail, Couch Grass, Brambles or Bindweed, or I am I just being sarcastic?

Nigel Collinson, Plot 66, Committee - Secretary

York Allotments Charitable Incorporated Organisation

As of 1st November 2017 York Allotments Charitable Incorporated organisation (YACIO) has taken over the management of 16 allotment sites across York from City of York Council.

How many trustees are there?

Currently there are five trustees who are made up of plot holding volunteers who expressed an interest in holding office at the conclusion of the task force initiative, which began in January 2017. The Charity’s Constitution, which has been ratified by the Charity Commission, proposes that there can be up to nine trustees who can hold a post for up to three years before being put before an Annual General Meeting for re-election or otherwise.

Who are the trustees?

The current volunteer trustees are:

How are decisions made about how the Charity will be run?

To begin the process, five trustees (drawn from allotment plot holders) volunteered to put time aside and build a business plan which offers an alternative management structure to that provided by the City of York Council. The trustees have taken advice from a number of sources and have agreed to take up office for a period of up to eighteen months during which time the first Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be held. All members of the charity who are allotment holders will be entitled to attend the AGM and cast a vote on any issues raised. This will include nominating new trustees or re-electing current trustees. The trustees will have responsibility for managing all of the City of York allotment sites but be accountable to members through any resolutions passed at AGMs.

York Allotments

Manure

We are now having to pay for the manure that is delivered to our site. Please note that any "donations" will be very gratefully received at the shop on Sunday mornings or can be given to any member of the committee. The manure is provided for association members so if you have not joined you can do so for only £5.00 in the shop as well.

Lock that gate!

Please make sure that, if there are no vehicles in the car park when you leave the site, you lock the gate. This makes it so much more difficult for thieves who might drive onto the car park and it also reduces the likelihood of fly-tipping which has been on the increase recently.

Important Notice Regarding BonFires

Please see the link for information regarding bonfires. This has been created by Yacio