Gardening Against the Odds awards 2011: Our winner

Our winner Sherborne allotments is a plot to give people their lives back that fills Francine Raymond with admiration.

Haven of tranquillity: David McDonagh and Pat Nelson
Haven of tranquillity: David McDonagh and Pat Nelson Credit: Photo: MARTIN POPE

As I wandered into Sherborne allotments, I was taken aback by the sound of laughter. Quiet concentration is what I expect from gardeners working on their plots, not giggling and guffaws, and what makes it all the more unusual is that every one of these gardeners is suffering from, or caring for a sufferer of, one of the most insidiously dreadful of diseases – Huntington’s.

There are only about 8,000 sufferers of HD in this country – thank God – and because it is hereditary, family carers know that 50 per cent of them are likely to suffer themselves eventually. Symptoms develop gradually over months or years, appearing first between the ages of 30 and 50, starting with memory loss, clumsiness or uncontrolled movements, and then progressively curtailing a person’s ability to walk, think, talk and reason.

Yet members of the Southend HD branch are some of the most inspirational and jolliest people I’ve ever met, and over the past two years they have turned a weedy piece of wasteland that used to house prefabs into a haven of tranquillity. Neat boarded beds house all the usual veg and soft fruit, carefully grown. Helper Kevin is planting bulbs and heather for winter colour and Gary is cutting the small grass lawn with a cylinder mower, while his wife and carer Carole trims the edges. As manager Pat Nelson affirms: “This scheme has transformed the lives of our group and their carers. It is an escape, a meeting place, to work or rest in the fresh air, a place of happiness for those who, in the past, rarely left their homes.”

PETE, PHD in scientific archaeology

Pete says coming to the allotment turned him from a vegetable to someone who grows and eats them. With a wicked sense of gallows humour, much appreciated by the rest of the group, not so long ago he stopped talking. His 83-year-old mother and carer had lost hope of him communicating again, but since his visits, he even writes poetry. He loves to work the deep raised beds where he grows parsnips – often multi-rooted to everyone’s amusement – and garlic, though it can take him hours to plant a single row.

JENNY & MELVITA

Sufferer Jenny and her mother Mel come to the allotment on the bus once a week and call this place their bolt-hole. “You can relax if you want and just watch, you’re not obliged to help.” They both agree it’s a happy place, even though everyone has the disease in common, but it brings them out in the fresh air, sometimes a little too fresh, says Mel, as she dreams of the warmth of her native Barbados. Her 19-year-old grandson Sinclair – a big strapping lad – sometimes comes and helps.

STEVE, HIS DAUGHTER & GRANDDAUGHTER

Steve likes being with people. Sitting in the shed enjoying the company, he loves the mental stimulation, the quiz nights and music, and the small sensory garden with herbs, brightly coloured flowers and different textures.

His daughter helps, bringing along her nine-month-old daughter. With no cure, not many of those at risk decide to be tested to see if they have the HD gene. But Steve’s little granddaughter is HD-free.

DAVID & PAT

Quartermaster and manager Pat has done wonders locating and persuading donations of bricks, paving stones, tools and even the impressive shed where members snuggle up in the warmth. She comes from a family of nine, five of whom have HD, and though she has arthritis and heart problems, she stoically cooks for those in her care every Wednesday. Understanding the need for sufferers to keep their weight up, she feeds them delicious soups made from allotment harvest, eaten in the appetite-inducing fresh air. The rest of the produce is bagged up and sent home with the 30-plus members. If there are strawberries, they are eaten at the meetings with cream.

Last but not least, David McDonagh, branch chairman, is the magician who dreamt up this allotment scheme. He has overseen the development of this plot into a haven with all mod cons: a disabled loo, plumbed in by themselves, and paths with wheelchair access.

A gentle giant with asthma, he ribs and gently bullies his charges into enjoying themselves – he recently organised their AGM outing dressed up as giant vegetables. Both his siblings have the disease, and he says he probably assuages his guilt at being HD-free by dedicating his life to his group, hoping, in his words, that through the allotment “he is giving people their lives back”.

My visit moved me to tears: not of pity or even anger at their plight, but in admiration of the spirit with which this group gardens against the odds. Elspeth would have approved of our choice.

  • For advice and support, contact the Huntington’s Disease Association (020 7022 1950; hda.org.uk)