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Gardeners losing the plot
 | | Julie Sumner |
A campaign has been launched to save scores of Hackney allotments which face being bulldozed to make way for the London Olympics in 2012.
Uncertainty surrounds the future of the 87 rented plots at Manor Gardens allotments on the banks of the River Lea near Waterden Road, Hackney Wick, because the site is earmarked for hockey pitches and a walkway to the Olympic stadium.
The allotments, which were featured in top chef Rick Stein's Food Heroes TV series, have been lovingly tended by generations of gardeners for more than 100 years.
Campaigners fear it will destroy a close-knit, multi-cultural community united by a shared passion for growing their own fruit and vegetables.
"Many plot holders have been here for decades, some since the end of the Second World War, taking over from their fathers," said allotment holder, Julie Sumner, who lives in St John's Church Road, Homerton.
"Nowadays it is a culturally diverse mix of old East Enders, Turks, Greeks, Cypriots and Jamaicans as well as English, Scottish and Irish, a kind of multi-cultural melting pot".
Campaigners hope to block the redevelopment by exploring whether there is a covenant on the land that would make it illegal for its use to be changed.
FOR THE FULL STORY SEE THIS WEEK'S GAZETTE AVAILABLE FROM THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 15.
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