Welcome to our website
Welcome to the website of Gilroy Road Community Allotments, Wirral. We hope it gives you a good introduction to us and how we go about growing and working together. In fact we hope it will inspire you to want to join us!
Situated behind Coronation Buildings on Greenbank Road, West Kirby, our three acre allotment site is leased from the Council and we have our own management committee.
Gilroy Road Community Allotments was formed in 2011, adopting the low-lying former horse paddock just behind Coronation Buildings. At that time the paddock had become overgrown with brambles, but once cleared the virgin soil had no endemic problems such as clubroot (unlike many long-established allotments) and it is wonderfully fertile.
We are now a community comprising over 60 plots, with just a short waiting list.
Interested? Then read on!
About us
The most important thing to know about Gilroy Community Allotments is that we were set up to be a gardening community. We encourage local families to look on us as a community resource, our members help each other out and we have work parties to improve our own site and the land surrounding it. We also hold community events - such as the summer “Big Lunch” and autumn Mikron outdoor theatre productions - to which we invite our neighbours and friends.
As the site develops, we are making it more and more accessible to people with all sorts of additional needs, and are currently trying to arrange a “gardening on prescription” partnership with our local GPs.
We ask all members to cultivate organically, and recommend all to use raised beds, as our low-lying site is prone to waterlogging in winter. We source communal supplies of farmyard manure from local farms, free wood chippings (for paths) from local tree surgeons and used paving flags from anyone who will give them to us. You could say we’re a hive of industry - we’re certainly very keen free-cyclers!
Money
We do everything we can to keep our charges to a minimum, so that people of all incomes can afford to be part of Gilroy.
Annual plot fees (which can be paid in two instalments) range from £15 - £60 depending on the size of the plot.
We use the plot fees to improve the communal areas of the site, and to buy equipment for all to share. We also have access to cut-price seeds, and by affiliation with neighbouring allotment sites’ shops, to other discounted supplies.
We have also been awarded National Lottery “Awards for All” grants which paid for a composting toilet for the site (with disabled access), for tarmacing our uneven entrance driveway to make it safe and easy for all to use and for a large steel container to securely store the communal equipment. We are hugely grateful to the Lottery for their generous support.
Contact us
The Gilroy Road Community Allotments site is situated down “Tip Lane” off Gilroy Road in West Kirby. It is easily accessible for prospective members from West Kirby, via either Greenbank Road or Black Horse Hill, and from Hoylake (on foot or by bicycle) via the path across Hoylake Municipal Golf Course. Applications and enquiries are welcomed.
To talk to a Committee member about visiting the site or joining the waiting list, you can email: gcas.committee@gmail.com
We look forward to hearing from you!