All in a day’s work for a Pioneer Curate

Published: Monday June 27, 2022

A friendly-looking woman standing in an allotment with a pad and pencil in her hand, with a scarecrow dressed in a shirt and jeans and a bag for life in its hand.Green-fingered Sonya Newton was delighted to be asked to judge the Saintbridge Allotments scarecrow competition.

The winning scarecrow, created by Karen and Chris Russell (below), scored well in her three scoring areas of functionality, design and creativity.

“I loved the scarecrows that were cheerful and had a bit of personality to them. As we walked around I found the ones that were very colourful and often had a smiling face, made me smile back. For functionality, I looked at the scarecrows to see if they would actually scare or disturb birds on the plot.”

Sonya is a Pioneer Curate in Coney Hill and loves being part of the community there. For several years she has volunteered on the allotments with adults with disabilities from the Redwell Centre on the community plot.

Sadly, the effects of long-covid mean that she is just returning to work after a period of recovery.

A pumpkin headed scarecrow carved out of wood stands in the middle of an allotment.She said, “I’ve been away from work and the site for over six months due to long covid, so was thrilled when I started to return to work and they asked me to be the judge this year.

“I’ve made lots of friends on the site and in previous years have been able to bring school groups down to the community plot where they had their own bed to tend to.

“The community plot has also been used to grow crops to help with local food banks and the Allotments Association has joined us in our harvest celebrations at church.

“I’d encourage everyone to contact their local allotment society and see where they can join in with this wonderful community.”

For more information about the community plot at Saintbridge Allotments, please contact ku.gr1739001744o.egd1739001744irbtn1739001744ias@r1739001744iahca1739001744gas1739001744

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