Thanks to http://www.porchesterpress.co.uk/ for allowing us to use this poetic tribute to the allotments at Hungerhill.

The Soil is all the Richer

The soil is all the richer, to have formed on Hungerhill

Years of cultivation and domestication, with little time to play

Industrial winds and those of change, supplemented the gardener’s skill

Brick, coal and human dust, now settled on Mapperley’s clay

Gazing over the town to the Trent, preceding a time for nostalgia

Grazing, rearing and coppice clearing

Indigenous bracken and gorse, adding acer and salix-alba

These hills now had more meaning

Industry led to wealth and something novel; leisure time

For the middle class, their houses of glass in a space to sail away

Town Gardens the answer, within a mile, supplied by Messrs Hine

Relief from the noise of the framework, the mine and railway

The concept proved great and the gardeners free; to produce in variety

Only restricted by the need to feed in times of war

Where wholesome and plain outweighed the fragrant and pretty.

While digging for victory was the call; they dug for much more

Coronation and the liberated youth brought forth new optimism

The struggles of the past were very fast forgotten

The area developed, the gardens enveloped, a siege not unlike a prison

This rustic retreat now in defeat, had the smell of something rotten

Nature ahead of nurture and no-one to make a stand

As factories diminished, Hungerhill looked finished and dead

The area’s inevitable future? Another Legoland

The city’s leaders lacking a plan, looked away instead.

To those that remained and initiative regained; in 1994

To the features and the creatures that remained for many years

To those that understand history but never experienced war

Celebrate this fertile ground,appreciate its laughter and tears.

The people are all the richer, to have been part of Hungerhill.

The panorama has altered, and society did falter that is true

Industrial winds and those of change, happen again they will