The book chosen for this meeting is The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams. The meeting will be held from 5.00pm to 6.00pm on Wednesday April 2nd in the Communal Shed on the Kirklee Site. The Association has a number of copies of the book on loan from the library. So email the committee if you would like to borrow one of these copies. As always the book group meeting is about getting together with other members from both the Julian and Kirklee sites, having a drink and a bite to eat and talking. There’s no need to like the book, or even to have finished reading it! There’s always interesting and informal chat around the subject and about the allotment. We look forward to welcoming people who’ve come along before and those who are coming along for the first time.

The next book for the group is Held by Anne Michaels. We have library copies to share around so let us know if you want to borrow a copy and come along to the shed near the big gate on the Kirklee allotment site. We meet from 5 – 6pm and although we normally meet on a Sunday, this time it is going to be Wednesday 26 February.

Everyone is welcome, we have enjoyable conversations about books and allotmenteering, and there are always nice things to eat. If there are books you would like to suggest we’re always looking for a good read whether it’s fiction, non-fiction, autobiography or any other genre.

On Friday Jan 24 Storm Eowyn blew over Glasgow creating quite a lot of havoc as it went. Our allotment sites were not spared. Sheds were blown over on both sites, some merely damaged, others destroyed. The Kirklee site suffered considerably less damage than the Julian site possibly because it is on flat land and somewhat sheltered by big hedges. On the Julian site it was striking how the plots on the north side, at the bottom of the slope, were spared while sheds on higher plots were badly damaged. However the worst event was the demolition of the big Cupressus Leylandii on the west border, which was blown right over, destroying the fence and some of the pavement outside and landing itself right across the two nearest plots.

The first meeting of 2025 will take place on Sunday 19 January from 5.00 to 6.00pm in or next to the communal shed beside the big gate on the Kirklee site. The book will be Silent Earth by Dave Goulson. We have a number of copies from the library so let us know if you would like to borrow one of them. As a subsidiary book some members are also going to look at Small Things Like These, a short novel by Claire Keegan. There are library copies of this book also available. There is a film of this book out just now. While the main conversation on January 19th will be about Silent Earth, it is expected there will be time for a short chat about Small Things. All plot holders are welcome. There is always hot drinks and baking, a good chat about many books and general community chat.

The annual general meeting will be held at 7.00pm on Thursday 21 November 2024 at the Scottish Mask and Puppet Theatre, 8 – 10 Balcarres Avenue, Glasgow G12 0QF. Tea, coffee and biscuits will be available from 6.30pm. All KAA members should have received an email with full details and all the relevant documents for the AGM attached. In case this email has gone astray, the documents can also be downloaded from the web site (by members who remember the password) at this link.

In addition to the formal business of the meeting there will be a presentation from Emma Plant, a research student at Glasgow University, on the research project on pollinators that she undertook at the Kirklee site this summer.

On this occasion there will NOT be the opportunity to pay rental and membership fees. Glasgow City Council have moved from Calendar to Financial years for the payment of rents and they have not sent out the missives. The committee will contact members when the missives are received.

We were bathed in sunshine at our June book group meeting: 9 of us gathered around a table  on the Kirklee site, 4 of us with plots at Julian Avenue, 5 of us with plots on Kirklee. The home-made, allotment-grown rhubarb cake disappeared quickly. We’d shared around three titles by Raynor Winn that we’d borrowed from the library, people reading one, two, three or none of them, so we had lots to talk about.

Our next meeting will be on Sunday 14th July, from 5 – 6pm, at the Kirklee site. We’ve got copies of ‘The Chronicles of a Cairo Bookseller’ by Nadia Wassif from the library – let us know (e.g. email the committee or leave a comment) if you’d like to borrow a copy and come along for the discussion. This autobiography describes the experiences of three young women who set up an independent bookshop called Diwan in 2022. Hachette says: ‘Frank, fresh and very funny, Chronicles of a Cairo Bookseller is a portrait of a country hurtling toward a revolution, a feminist rallying cry, . . . . above all, it is a celebration of the power of words to bring us home.’

This year the Julian site open day is on 22 June and is to be part of WestFest, the Glasgow West End summer festival. The organisers are lead by the Julian Site Manager, Maggie McLellan, who is looking for all the helpers she can get. So if you have any time to spare on that day, please sign up as a helper on the list in the green cabin in Julian. You do not have to be there all the time. We need as many helpers as possible – people to help set up, people to man stalls for a period during the event, people to meet and greet and guide visitors, people to clear away at the end. We are also looking for ‘stuff’. Prizes for the tombola, produce from the plot, including seedlings and plug plants and flowers, to be sold, baked goods for sale and to accompany teas and coffees, jam for sale ……. The open day is our main opportunity to make enough money to cover the site maintenance and improvement tasks that are not covered by our Council landlords. if you can contribute anything it can be brought on the day or left earlier in the green cabin (preferably close to the actual date if it is perishable!)

Firstly a reminder that the monthly Clear Up (or Maintenance Day) will be on Saturday June 1 at both sites. Kirklee from 10.00am to 12.00pm and Julian from 11.00am to 12.00am. Do come, meet your fellow plotholders and contribute to making the allotments a natural and beautiful environment. Tea/coffee and biscuits will be on offer at 12.00pm. Julian is particularly looking for people to help with painting. If you are willing to take part in this please come in suitable clothing. There will not be any overalls available to borrow.

The second plot inspection of the year will take place the following weekend on Sunday June 9. Please check that your plot number is clearly displayed by this date. Remember that plotholders are responsible for keeping the paths between plots clear and accessible. On the Julian site a plot holder is responsible for the shared path on the side closer to Julian Avenue. On the Kirklee site a plotholder is responsible for the path closer to the toilet hut.

The next maintenance day/clear up is Saturday May 4th on both sites. On the Kirklee site the clear up runs from 10.00am – 12.00pm, on the Julian site it is 11.00am – 12.00pm. At both sites participants can relax with tea or coffee at 12.00. As usual it is recognised that Saturday mornings are not convenient for everyone and so a list of tasks that can be undertaken in a member’s own time will be posted.