From the Caribbean to Nottingham: The Story of St Anns Allotments

At this time of year, many of us walk past the strawberries in the supermarket and think, ‘Maybe I should give growing my own fruit and veg a go.’ There are few things more wholesome and satisfying than eating crops you’ve grown from scratch. The emotional rollercoaster of watching the first little green shoots pop out of the soil, worrying about whether or not the intermittent British weather is going to obliterate all chances of harvest, then excitedly picking the first crops hoping they are indeed ready to eat.

Once you’ve grown that first strawberry from seedling to ripe fruit, it is easy to see how gardening becomes such a massive part of peoples’ lives. But for some, it goes far beyond the seedlings, spades and soil. It’s community. Identity. Passion.

Colin Haynes’ book, Caribbean Pioneer Gardeners, tells the story of men whose love for gardening gave them much more than callaloo and oxheart tomatoes. It shares the true story of a group of Windrush residents who turned the neglected, overgrown Hungerhill Gardens, or St Ann's Allotments, as they would become known, into a Caribbean-inspired culinary and horticultural haven.

The making of the book started back in 2005, although arguably it really started long before. Colin had been working with STAA, a charity involved with the allotments, to promote them. English Heritage asked him to interview older gardeners for their Open Days project, an initiative which allows the public to access areas they wouldn’t be able to usually. Colin had a garden himself and already knew many of the gardeners, but the project encouraged him to get to know his fellow gardeners even more, doing interviews with them and taking photos of them at work. These were used for an exhibition but then went into an archive. Colin didn’t want the story to end there.

In 2005, when the interviews were done, many of the gardeners were in their 70s, and although many kept gardening until the mid-2010s, most have sadly now passed away. Although some of their descendants still enjoy gardening, he is keen to ensure their stories and work are not forgotten.

The book recounts interviews with gardeners Sid Fuller, Donald ‘Pipe Man’ Rowe, Henry Francis, Tom Oliver, Oscar Reid and Lee McCalla. The men had smallholding backgrounds in Jamaica, and came over in the Windrush years to work in Nottingham for companies such as Beeston Boilers, Chilwell Ordnance Depot and Dobsons. They didn’t take on the allotment straight away, with most of their time going into earning a living. But as they began to retire and gain more leisure time, work at the allotment began.

The book does a marvellous job of helping us imagine life on the allotments. The interviews are unfiltered, candid and vivid, and the images absolutely wonderful. You only need to read a few pages before it is clear how much the allotment meant to the gardeners. Although many of the gardeners would sell their produce to friends or local businesses, it wasn’t about the money. It was about creating a space where everyone was welcome and encouraged to get joy from gardening.

Colin says that as soon as you walked through the allotment gates, you left the outside world behind. You’d chat about the weather, how the crops were doing, what you were going to plant next. The atmosphere was welcoming and down-to-earth, with gardeners relaxing in their self-built summer houses on a lunchtime. Building restrictions were lenient on the allotment, so gardeners could build summer houses and many greenhouses, essential for growing Caribbean crops in a much cooler Nottingham. Some summer houses even had a bed, as many of the gardeners maintained the same work pattern they had in the Caribbean, where they would start early and have a nap at lunch to avoid the heat.

One of my favourite things about Caribbean Pioneer Gardeners is the insight into Caribbean horticulture. I hadn’t previously heard of callaloo, a spinach-like plant used in Caribbean stews, or red peas, similar to red kidney beans. The gardeners grew crops that weren’t readily available in Nottingham at the time, using seeds brought over from the Caribbean. They grew giant oxheart tomatoes, small, hard pumpkins, sweetcorn, Swiss chard, thyme and scallions.

Their methods were different too. There is a great section at the back of the book which describes the tools used, of which there weren’t many – a machete and a draw hoe. Colin said that over time, the gardeners began to expand their toolkit and steer away from the machete, but their practices always stayed close to their Caribbean roots.

And what about the allotments today? As mentioned, sadly most of the original Windrush gardeners have now passed away, but their legacy very much lives on. Not only are the allotments tended to by their descendants and other gardening enthusiasts, but St Ann's Allotments continues to be a place of great diversity and culture. Colin says there are many people who come from strong rural backgrounds in different countries who want to continue growing the crops they grew up with here in Nottingham. In particular, in recent years the chocho – a tropical Jamaican vine – has been grown.

Colin’s goal with Caribbean Pioneer Gardeners is clear – he wants to preserve and share the stories of these incredible gardeners. Not only are their personal stories interesting and inspiring, but he is keen their methods and practices are recorded and shared. The way they gardened, both the crops and tools but also the atmosphere and environment, are fascinating to learn about. The book is sure to be a hit with gardening enthusiasts and complete amateurs alike.

And ultimately, the book goes far beyond the callaloo and chocho. It tells stories of determination, community and culture, of people united by their love of growing fruit and veg and of the outdoors. The ethos of the St Ann's Allotment gardeners is as relevant today as it was when they sowed their first seeds in Nottingham, if not more so.

Caribbean Pioneer Gardeners by Colin Haynes, with additional text by Rosie Thomas Palmer, is published by Five Leaves. It is available to purchase in-store and online.