Five Leaves Publications

Book details

The Windrush story of Caribbean migration to the United Kingdom was played out in our factories, our music, our streets and inner cities and, in a little known aspect, on under-used allotment sites. This book features the experiences of six Caribbean gardeners of Nottingham's historic Hungerhill Gardens, now known as St Ann’s Allotments, told in their own words through interviews for English Heritage and illustrated with photographs of them and their gardens through the seasons.

These gardeners were brought up on smallholdings in Jamaica and were already experienced gardeners when they found the overgrown plots in St Ann’s available for very low rents. They learned to grow crops they knew in a colder climate. As they retired, they were able to take on additional plots and produce large quantities of vegetables for their families and to satisfy the demand in the community. They built remarkable greenhouses and summer houses with scrap materials, and cultivated using traditional tools from their homeland, leaving a vibrant legacy to the UK’s oldest and largest allotment site.

This expanded edition contains a new introduction by Windrush Commissioner, Reverend Clive Foster MBE, and a new poem inspired by the first edition from Nottingham’s Nature Poet Laureate, Cara Thompson.

About the Author

Colin Haynes first shared a garden on Hungerhill Gardens fifty years ago. He is a photographer, writer, archivist and community activist. He produced community papers from Chase Chat to East of the City, a photobook on Manila and the book Stories of Sneinton Market. Rosey Thomas Palmer is a writer and community activist. She founded the Gardeners4health association.