Robert the Allotment Cat and Friends

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It’s encouraging to see that people want to get out into the fresh air and grow their own fruit and vegetables. It’s just really really fulfilling. There’s nothing better for your mental health than feeling tired after a day in the fresh air.

Hopefully, it should add some context for any of Roberts new followers who might want to find out a bit more about his friends. The allotments have been invaluable over the past couple of months. I haven’t been working, I’m a supply teacher and the school is closed, and if I didn’t have the allotments to come to I’d have gone stir crazy I think. Plot holder Kate Millington at the allotments - image courtesy of Kate Millington Betty Farrugia, long-long-time Secretary of Walsall Road allotments, has purrsuaded Robert, the internationally acclaimed allotment cat, to write his meow-memoirs of his life and times in merry Perry Barr.The Tweet has sparked a huge response. Captain Mánkas said: “This is so so sad.Dear Robert,we will miss you terribly. Run free buddy, our Angel pals will welcome you at The Rainbow Allotments.” And this sense of community is something which is also valued by 36-year-old Mark Foster, who’s had his own plot for just over a year now. It’s the sense of community. It’s really good, you can learn so much, and because we’ve got so many nationalities you learn about what they grow in their own country, and how they grow it and the different ways they grow it. So there’s lots to learn from different people.” And she says that having her plot to turn to in the current climate has been an "absolute saviour" for her – though she admits that she came across the allotments completely by chance.

I’m a bit of a gardener, I’ve got a nice garden at home, but I’ve always wanted to have an allotment,” she says. So what would the allotment users say to someone thinking of indulging their green fingers by taking on a plot of their own?

She said the allotment users would be happy with access at limited times of day. Other allotment users have said they are unsure about using a shuttle bus service due to Covid fears. Can you imagine? I’ve been born and bred in this area and didn’t even know it was there. They just happened to have a tiny plot available that became a half a plot, so I think it was meant to be.

Last month she said it was like the city council ‘don’t care’ given their car ban plans. She had said: “More than 80 per cent of [around 110] plot holders rely on a car to get to the allotments – a lot are elderly and some have mobility problems. Apart from the cats, people will have plants growing. For people with greenhouses – especially if it’s dry weather in the day – the plants must be watered. Because it’s great exercise, and because of the operation on my leg I couldn’t do a lot of the stuff I used to do. The new plot holders are absolutely fantastic. There’s one chap who’s taken over a really badly overgrown plot, and in three weeks he’s dug it from one end to the other. With the cats – we have got to rely on people from the allotment to go and feed them and keep an eye on their medical conditions. We need people regularly there every day to notice things. I agree the Games are important but we are as well.” The map for Alexander Stadium shows Church Road in Perry Barr will become permit-only during the Games. Separately, there will be days when the users of the Walsall Road Allotments can access the allotments even though the permits are in operation on Church Road.I was just driving past one day and there was a huge poster on the fence saying ‘Save Our Allotments’, and I thought "there’s allotments there?" And people say ‘oh I’ve got a garden at home I can grow stuff there’, it’s not the same – not the same at all. You can get different sizes of plots, you can get quarter plots, half plots – I’ve got a plot and a half.