Tiggers goes Green. Tiggers is developing an allotment and green area and we hope it will soon look like Levens Hall garden above with vegetables. If you want to help cultivate it, please get in touch with Darren Downs on 07972-186522.

Click here to download our join Digger Invitation poster

Click here to download our Garden Party poster

The story so far:-

Here at Blackpool Tiggers, we like a challenge … So when we were offered an allotment – a DERELICT allotment, that is, we said, “Hey, why not?”

The fact that the plot hadn’t been used since the Second World War , that it was higher and deeper in brambles that Sleeping Beauty’s castle, or the fact that there was 6 inches of glass and asbestos in place of topsoil on the ground didn’t faze us at all!

Not a bit of it! Darren (AKA “Machete Man”) saw it & said “a couple of hours I’ll clear that!” Y’Vette & Ness saw it, looked skywards and rolled their eyes, but asked “why not?” and Debra asked “Well, Folks?” So we all said “Let’s do it!”

There was an incredible amount of rubbish & brambles to hack through and dispose of before we knew what we had.

With a great deal of determination, a HUGE amount of hard work, a few mini-diggers, a few skips, a few trailers, (PHEW) not to mention a lot of good will, help from the Parks Department, the other allotment holders, patience of the local residents and an initial grant from Cleaner, Safer, Greener, a huge impact has been made.

The grant will help us to purchase a poly-tunnel, 30 tons of organic topsoil, a shed, tools, raised beds, plants, books, writing and drawing materials… LOADS of things with which we aim to lure the youngsters (& parents of course) down to the allotment. This will increase the amount of time they spend outdoors, increase their understanding of food and where it comes from, increase their (self-imposed) “allowed” foods list and DECREASE some of their anxieties about insects, germs, new foods and new experiences.

It is Eco Friendly, Eco Therapy & Eco Logic.

The allotment project aims to encourage children affected by autism to:-

- to understand more about the food chain (they can have severe food phobias)
- gain horticulture skills
- to work co-operatively
- to benefit from stress reduction (ecotherapy/mental health benefit)
- to do physically demanding work outdoors
- to understand more about the environment and ecology
- to offer an alternative learning and education environment

The allotment project outcomes include:-

- For children to experience success in growing their own food
- to overcome food phobias by eating their own produce
- to gain life skills by preparing the food they have grown
- to promote healthy, balanced eating
- to involve the community and increase awareness of autism
- providing a safe place for children to be outdoors, particularly for those home educated or during periods of exclusion.

Digger Tigger Diary

See the photos in our gallery of the work to start in October, November, December 2007. It was such an overgrown mess we had no idea what was underneath it. Darren, with some assistance latterly from Shaun, and parents Ness and Y'Vette have done a fantastic job of revealing just exactly what was underneath it all. Unfortunately that included at least 12 bags of domestic rubbish, the contents of a radio transmitter station, five established self seeded trees, a skip load of rubbish, glass strewn soil, chemical containers..... it has been used as a local tip for a good while and we discovered it hasn't been worked since the Second World War.

Wednesday June 18th 2008

Photos of the first seed sowing. Not sure what seeds they are.

Saturday March 8th 2008

These are photos of the site taken on Saturday. It shows how much work has been done. There is still quite a bit of glass in the soil and it is still higher than the alley, so we're going to have a 'rake and sift' day. If anyone is interested in helping we'd like them to get in touch.

There are some underground electric cables that we are waiting on tech services attention for, but once they have sorted that, the site is literally a blank canvass waiting to go.

27th December 2007: Rosie, Chris, Charlotte and myself turned out for Darren to help move some bricks ready for the return of the mini digger in the New Year. We will be mapping out the site soon and will send a copy of the plans to put on the site. We will be seeking help with planting potatoes, turnip and parsnip early in the New Year.... and we have been awarded nearly £10,000 from the Cleaner, Safer, Greener initiative towards our allotment plans.

8th December 2007: Darren continues to lead with gusto having secured a mini digger for 6 times less than it should have cost. Rosie got on site with the lads in absolutely horrendous wet, cold, rain to urge them along with the site clearance.