The title of the article read: "Allotments in Schoorldam Forbidden Area". The story goes like this: "The allotment complex next to the Damweg (a street) is immediately closed for good". [It seems that a type of grenades have been found there from WWII. This area was once part og the German defence lines along the North Sea...so there were poles in the ground with a sort of grenade on top of them. When the Canadians came in at the end of the war, apparently they removed the poles and buried poles, grenades and all. Now an action has begun to remove them....but...the allotment holders will not be allowed back onto the ground afterwards. This may seem reasonable at first glance, but I have discovered that perhaps all is not as it seems. Apparently there was a little problem with the Rijkswaterstaat, a sort of governing body over the water works in our country (that means the shifting of water from the lower areas out and into the sea), when the big road was being built nearby the complex. Anyway so some folks are speculating that this is a sort of "getting-back" action by them for being impeded before. :-? ] To continue with a bit more translation: "The detection will only be possible when the top 20 cm's (~8 inches) is scraped-off. This coming monday [or Tuesday] the process will begin. There is too much metal bits in the topsoil for proper detectection. An estimated twenty gardners have the possibility until that time to remove their things under the supervision of the detection company's workers-- the rest [sheds,etc.] will be flattened to ground level". This is just a snippet of the entire article that was published on friday 13 june 2008 in the "Noordhollands Dagblad". It's causing a bit of a stir locally for several reasons, which more and more seem to have less and less to do with ordenance clean-up and more to do with a sort of revenge...and the gardners are the victims. Anyone who has gardened can somewhat imagine what it would be like to have to rip out your flowers, dig-up your lawns and veggies and leave your gardens...right as things really have begun to take off. It must be terrible for these folks after all those years of gardening to have to totally leave and never be allowed back. What a shame...and as of now not clear as to why (they wouldn't be allowed back). Oh well, perhaps it's good for folks to be aware that things like this happen even here in our agrarian-oriented land. I have also read alot in the past few years about councils in Great Britian that have started taking back and closing allotment complexes as well. I hope that is just a local spat and not a trend here.
I can only imagine what it would feel like to loose all your plants, future food and other things like that. I do think about that possibility every spring during the heaviest part of tornado season but can not imagine having that kind of distruction caused by human action.
Hello Sjoerd, I just read about your gardens.......this is awful! Is it the ones we see on the website you have or another one or a part of it? Is it all going away? I can't imagine how it would be.....all I can say is I am sorry for all the hard work and beauty you have created to go away. If they are taking it away from you will you be able to recreate it all somewhere else? Kathy
Oh no, Cactusflower! These are not my gardens. These are in another part of West-Friesland. Whew! Thank goodness. But I find it none-the-less shocking. And my heart goes out to them during this most painful time. You know, gardners are sort of a brother-sisterhood, so it's natural that I would empathize with their plight. I think back a month or so ago when those gigantic machines roared through many of the gardens on our complex to dig deep trenches for water drainage. It was terrible for the ones affected, and many of us pitched-in and helped them fill the trenches again. The gardens look very good now and the folks have re-planted and will be able to harvest some crops and have some blooms after all...mostly thanks to Mother Nature and her cold wetness since that time. If it had been dry and hot...they would not have bounced-back so well. So...No it was not our garden comple3x in that article. Thanks for your feelings and concern.
Not fully understanding the concept of allotments, I can still smell the stink of political games. Most times when a government agency uses its authority inappropriately, it's the guy at the bottom, and in most cases not even involved in the disagreement that gets the slap in the face. There should be a government agency with equal authority that looks out for that guy at the bottom. Nothing makes up for the time spent and frustration experienced by those who worked so hard for nothing. Maybe after the danger has been dealt with and some time passes, cooler heads will prevail, and the allotments will be reopened. Tom
Just a note of explanation of the "allotment complex" thing. An allotment complex is a piece of land that is sub-divided into more or less equal allotments(plots, or lots) that people rent to grow veg and or flowers on. Most allotment complexes are owned by local governments and rented, for very little money, to people that want to garden. Our complex we bought ourselves after a few disagreements with the mayor and council government. This has certain fiscal aspects attatched to it, of course...but in the end, it is better to be "the captain of your own ship". I hope that makes it clearer. I am fully aware that allotment complexes as we know them here, are as common as hen's teeth there in North America, but still, I think you can get the gist of the concept now. If not, I will try to explain it again.
Surely if there was a danger of grenades being dug up on the land being used for allotments then they would never have been allowed there in the first place!!! Someone, somewhere must have known what was going on a looooong time ago!! I agree with Tom that it's all to do with politics. :-x What a pity all those allotmenteers have to lose their land and crops. I don't understand either why, when the land is deemed safe, they can't be given the chance to use it again. Will they get any kind of compensation for the greenhouses, huts, plants etc?
Oh how sad it would be to work your bunns off and then loose all you worked for.My heart goes out to all that are loosing there gardens and hard work.
The poor, poor people! I sympathize deeply and wish that they get another space to call their own where they can grow and flourish again. That's just so sad!
Yes Eileen...it sounds all too "funny". There is documentation of the so-called disposal of the explosives, etc-- all recorded. We keep records on everything here. So, yes...it smells like a rat. p.s. There was no mention of compensation in the articles or forum entries that I read, which is also peculiar in this country.
Id there any chance that the allotmenteers could band together and get a lawyer to see if they are due compensation? After all a lot of these people grow prize winning veggies and flowers and have put years of work into their plots. Oh things like this make me soooo angry. :-x
Oh Eileen, me too, me too... I do not know what options they have or what steps they are taking. I guess we'll hear as things progress. It's infuriating.
Taking away one's bit of earth is a fundamental crime - we feel their pain. I hope they become their own advcocates and fight this. Perhaps containers can substitute their bit of earth. I know it's not the same - but .....Gardengater
Sjoerd, cna they not run a mine sweeper through the street to contain any potential blasts? I would like to hear more about these so called explosive devices as I was an ammunition and explosives technician in the Marines Corps. Please let me know.
O those allotment holders must be struggling with their feelings so horribly right now! But, with all the digging and such there, it's amazing that no explosions happened. It's so hard to related to, living here where not even, not even the Indians, ever lived since the dawn of time... Are the allotments all booked up or is there available space for those folks?
