AS one of the plotholders on Madresfield Road who is not taking up a new plot, it is with great sadness that I viewed the end of 2011 as the end of the allotments.

They’re becoming increasingly a sad sight, with no one now undertaking winter digging or planting; the ground simply reverting to a wilderness. No doubt the plot will eventually (I wonder how long?) be neat and tidy for the dead bodies.

At least the council will have no arguments with them! Below is a poem I wrote on the subject.

Allotment – Final Days There’s nothing so lonesome, morbid or drear As to stand on your plot at the end of this year.

The beans have been picked And the peas have been cropped No point now in digging The allotment’s been stopped The soft fruit’s been eaten The potatoes are dug But the council’s decision Remains frozen and smug.

No councillors have journeyed To where our spades delve Perhaps they’ll visit the cemetery Join the dead like themselves.

No, there’s nothing so lonesome, morbid or drear As to stand in a cemetery, as this will be next year.

NICK HALLIGAN
Malvern