DUNMOW S Jubilee allotment committee have secured a £10,000 grant from the National Lottery Awards For All scheme. The money will be used for extensive renovations of the site located on Waldgrooms including disabled access, security and new paving stones

DUNMOW'S Jubilee allotment committee have secured a £10,000 grant from the National Lottery Awards For All scheme.

The money will be used for extensive renovations of the site located on Waldgrooms including disabled access, security and new paving stones.

The grant has already helped to fund the construction of a new toilet block on the site.

Allotment committee chairman Patrick Coates hopes the new facilities will attract more people to the various open days and barbeques that happen during the summer months.

He said: "We are very lucky to have this grant because they are

difficult to get. All the paper work we had to get to do has to be spot on for this sort of thing."

Mr Coates thanked Dunmow Town Council for help with the allotment improvements, in particular deputy town clerk David Green.

He said: "The site is well over 100 years old and to see improvements with the help of the council shows what a good community place it could be.

"The town council owns the land after taking it over from the Countess of Warwick and has done a great job."

Now the toilet block is completed the project is moving onto stage two with disabled access being

provided and a possible trading post being constructed.

Mr Coates said: "We have 58 members at the moment and an extensive waiting list, that is why we have to provide top facilities for everyone without exceptions."

The allotments create a focal point for many community activities including a plot owned by the Puffin Group, a group aimed at educating and developing pre-school age children.

Group supervisor Toni Fuller said: "The allotment is a tremendous facility for us, we provide the children with outdoor activities and play as part of our curriculum, without the space it would be impossible."

Children in the Puffin Group are regularly escorted from their base at the Foakes Hall to the nearby allotments to plant strawberries, raspberries and flowers to give them an experience of the outdoors from an early age to promote healthy living.

Mrs Fuller said: "The allotment space gives us a chance to look into growing further crops and maybe using them to teach children how to cook with fresh ingredients."

On top of the huge lottery boost the committee have had a number of smaller grants including £500 from the BAA Community Fund to provide new equipment for plot users.

Mr Coates said: "We have enough cash for six new wheelbarrows and a strimmer to cover our 80 plots.

"We are also applying to our local Tesco and Co-op - our vision is to have a real trading post at the site for everyone to sell the goods they spend so long working over.

"It may take a bit of time, but we

are determined and Rome wasn't built in a day.