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  Newcastle Allotment & Gardens Festival in early autumn is a highlight of the year. 

  Best Newcomer, Best Family Plot, Best Quarter   Plot - whatever your size of plot, you're welcome to enter this category!

  Please let committee know or email Olwyn soon, so committee can send the entry form.

Plotholders will probably have seen the new sign by our gate confirming that Newcastle City Council has taken back its role running the city's 60+ allotments. This ends the arrangement with charity Urban Green. Our allotment committee has been kept in touch with developments and attended a meeting of Newcastle Allotment Working Group (NAWG).

Concerned about the dramatic decline in bird numbers? Many of us are, which is why annual Birdwatch is now the world's largest wildlife survey. Thank you to all who took part, at our plots or in the garden. It helps RSPB volunteers plan how best to restore species most at risk and campaign for better protection.

Urban Green's Allotment Officer, Ali Coxon, has agreed an arrangement with North Shields B&Q that is now available for allotment societies and plotholders. 

The contact is Alyson Lee, the Trade Partner in North Shields B&Q. You can email her using this email link, and her mobile is 07967 850647.

We have many unseen friends appreciating our efforts at the gardens. This spiky neighbour emerged from the shadows to say a quick hello, en route to finding a snack or two :

https://youtube.com/shorts/Bi5WYuFOIGU?feature=share

Have you time to help an MSc student doing a project on slow worm distribution on allotment sites around Newcastle?

The project is based on a questionnaire, and a link to the survey can be found here and on https://forms.office.com/e/hLvV1nmgkQ

Let us know how you get on!

Everyone's welcome at this year's Allotment Show on 15 September in Exhibition Park. You can enjoy music, street food, trader stalls and best of all, view all the winners and other entries from allotments across the city.

And 6 September is your deadline to enter - children's entries are welcome,  categories include chutneys, cakes and drawings, nd there are also new sustainability categories. To check out the dozens of categories:

Donations to the People's Kitchen can be made on weekdays between 1pm and 5.30pm. The address is 56 Bath Lane, a couple of streets away from the Newcastle United stadium.  Olwyn recently dropped off several kilos of Jerusalem artichokes and a box of windfall apples. If you face the main entrance, you will see a little yard to the left - go into it and there is a door to the kitchens. Ring the bell and a friendly person will come to the door and thank you!