{"id":17169,"date":"2025-03-04T08:45:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-04T08:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/?p=17169"},"modified":"2025-03-02T10:23:19","modified_gmt":"2025-03-02T10:23:19","slug":"manor-gardens-and-hackney-wick-2007","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/?p=17169","title":{"rendered":"Manor Gardens and Hackney Wick – 2007"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Manor Gardens and Hackney Wick<\/strong>: The allotment holders at Manor Gardens Allotments were still fighting to be allowed to keep their allotments on a site next to the River Lea inside the London 2012 Olympic site. On Sunday 4th March 2007 I went to the community centre at Hackney Wick where the Olympic delivery authority had agreed to meet with the plot holders to discuss their future and later went on to take more pictures on the allotment site. It was a cold, dull and wet day and the pictures reflect the weather and the mood. Here us the piece I wrote in 2007 with the usual minor corrections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Manor Gardens Allotments Meeting<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Plot holders outside the community centre before the meeting<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sunday I went back to Hackney Wick, where the London Delivery Authority for the Olympics had arranged to meet with the plot holders from Manor Gardens Allotments. But hearing that the media were likely to be around, the LDA had pulled out, leaving the plot holders to hold their meeting on their own – which they did, without the other supporters or the media present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The plotholders go into the community centre for their meeting; the press and supporters are left to demonstrate outside<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The situation is a mess, and the LDA appear unable to make any suitable provision for plot-holders, or to accept the idea of a green heart to the Olympics with the allotments in place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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LDA = Land Destruction Agency<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The LDA don’t actually seem to have any real use for the allotment site – possibly a footpath may run through it – but I think feel that its presence would sit oddly with the mass corporate sponsorship they rely on. One of their ideas is to put a giant scoreboard advertising Coca-Cola in its place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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After their meeting, plot holders look at the Manor Gardens website<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Eventually we were too cold and wet, so we came inside to wait for the meeting to end. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

more pictures<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Manor Gardens Allotments<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

After the meeting, we went with the plot holders to look at the Manor Gardens allotments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A bridge led to the allotments were on an island between the River Lee and the fiChannelsea River, both tidal.The water was fairly high. The bushes are in blossom – some is wild plum which apparently makes fine jam. Fray Bentos once made pies and puddings in the factories to the right of the river.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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These figs will be ripe in August if allowed to grow<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At the allotments, I was able to take pictures of a few plot holders at work, clearing their plots. A few are still planting in the hope that they will be able to continue there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Some were still planting crops, hoping they will be able to harvest.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Films were being screened in the community hut, and I watched one about the fight to keep urban gardens in New York; although some were lost, the fight led to others being protected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A film show in the community hut on saving the gardens of New York<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Only 4 weeks remain until the date set for the site to be vacated. The LDA have failed to come up with a replacement. It is just possible they may change their mind at the last minute, or at least delay the closure, but unless the Manor Gardens Plot holders come up with a credible legal challenge the chances seem poor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Many have comfortable areas where they can enjoy their work – and eat the vegetables – Jerusalem artichokes are being peeled ready to cook<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Manor Gardens raises many questions about the kind of democracy we live in and the kind of future we want. If it goes it will be a powerful message that regeneration will be at the expense of the local community and at the expense of the environment. If were are to have a future it needs to be considerably more green than our present, and places like Manor Gardens are the models on which we need to grow and develop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ready for planting – but when and where, plot holders ask. Will Mayor Ken have any answers?<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The question really isn’t a matter of deciding between a green or a brown future. Increasingly I’m convinced there isn’t a future unless we go green. More than that, we also need to move rapidly from a top-down society to a bottom up one, where people have more control over their lives rather than being controlled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Work stops for tea in the shed on one of the plots<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Manor Gardens is a site that is more important than the few acres of land and the small community who grow there. It is a part of our battle for survival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I say goodbye to everyone and hope to come back and photograph when the weather is better. Manor Gardens is a great resource, and was bequeathed in perpetuity for growing food. It would be a great loss and a great missed opportunity if it isn’t still there in 2012 and beyond.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

more pictures<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hackney Wick<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Waterden Road in the rain – all this will be demolished<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As I walked back to the station and the North London Line I took a few pictures of Hackney Wick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Flickr<\/a> – Facebook<\/a> – My London Diary<\/a> – Hull Photos<\/a> – Lea Valley<\/a> – Paris<\/a>
London’s Industrial Heritage<\/a> – London Photos<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

All photographs on this page are copyright \u00a9 Peter Marshall.
Contact me to buy prints or licence to reproduce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Manor Gardens and Hackney Wick: The allotment holders at Manor Gardens Allotments were still fighting to be allowed to keep their allotments on a site next to the River Lea inside the London 2012 Olympic site. On Sunday 4th March 2007 I went to the community centre at Hackney Wick where the Olympic delivery authority … Continue reading Manor Gardens and Hackney Wick – 2007<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[3360,19772,150,8966,6822,19771,8630,12463,19768,19769,941,19767,17,3367,19766,3366,1343,3363,17100,4309,19770,19764,3675,3391,83,19765,151,3121,6505],"class_list":["post-17169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-my-own-work","tag-allotments","tag-battle-for-survival","tag-bridge","tag-coca-cola","tag-community-centre","tag-community-hut","tag-corporate-sponsors","tag-films","tag-green-heart","tag-green-olympics","tag-hackney-wick","tag-lda","tag-london","tag-london-2012","tag-london-delivery-authority","tag-london-olympics","tag-london-photos","tag-manor-gardens","tag-manor-gardens-allotments","tag-meeting","tag-missed-opportunity","tag-olympic-delivery-authority","tag-olympic-site","tag-olympics","tag-peter-marshall","tag-plot-holders","tag-river-lea","tag-river-lee","tag-waterden-rd"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17169"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17169\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17171,"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17169\/revisions\/17171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}