Beccles: Community Apple Share Project 2010

Early Summer is now upon us and the glorious apple blossom has all but gone. That sea of pink will miraculously develop into delicious juicy fruit and it will all happen quicker than we think, so now’s the time to plan.

Last year, as part of the Sustainable Beccles group strategy, a group of folk began a scheme to marry unwanted apples with those who were keen to get their hands on some of these versatile fruit, and they plan to run the scheme again this year. If you live in the Beccles and Bungay area and have fruit you cannot pick, a group of people can help you by arrangement with the organizers. In addition we want to encourage planting local variety apple trees and also to run an apple flavoured lunch and talk on all aspects of growing fruit trees and getting to know apples in July.

If you are interested in the scheme from any aspect please get in touch. You may have more fruit than you can use, or maybe you have difficulty picking it; you may want to offer your services to help pick fruit for others or you may want some fruit for your pies and chutneys – whatever your interest, register it now, without commitment. Let’s celebrate this very English fruit and enjoy the abundance that grows locally – we’ll save more than the money.

Contact: netta.swallow@btinternet.com or ring 01502 470135 to register an interest in picking, giving or receiving fruit.

Beccles, Suffolk

Market town: pop. 10,000
Timeline: Started November ‘08

Inspired by Sustainable Bungay’s Growing Local Food Conference, Sustainable Beccles began last November. Originally the group was supported by members of a local church who had a strong interest in the environmental and community aspects of Transition, and their first event was a successful screening of Power of Community. The initiative stalled when numbers dropped and there was a lack of commitment to move projects forward.

However a renaissance occurred when a working party began the Apple Share project in the summer. This is a scheme to collect unwanted apples from gardens and neglected orchards to redistribute back into the community and make into apple juice. The scheme was inspired by the many urban gleaning and scrumping projects that have recently sprung up all over the country, from Shef f ield (http://www.growshefield.org/) to Walthamstow http://www.growingcommunities.org/). On October 10 SB had a stall in the High Street identifying and giving away many different varieties of apples, apple recipes and freshlypressed apple juice. Next year they hope to team up with neighbouring Sustainable Bungay to map and document the fruit trees of the surrounding district. Another high profile event SB organised was a well-being day on October 31 when Neil Chadbourn (of Transition Town Totnes, responsible for the planting of the TT well-being garden) came to talk about the relationship between Transition and the health service in the future.

Beccles are now waiting for other members to join the steering group who will take SB forward. (“We would become official provided we can maintain sufficient interest.”) Meanwhile another working party is neogtiating with the Town Council to renovate an old school playground another working party is negotiating with the Town Council to renovate an old school playground and turn it into a community orchard and educational centre.

Poster for Apple Share Day, October 10 '09

Website: www.transitioneast.net/
groups/sustainable-beccles
Contact Person:
Netta Swallow
Tel: (01502) 470 135
Email: swallownetta@btinternet.com