Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 117740 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 589(@200wpm)___ 471(@250wpm)___ 392(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117740 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 589(@200wpm)___ 471(@250wpm)___ 392(@300wpm)
“Because he doesn’t care about any of our feelings,” I replied. “And before anyone tells me not to be extreme, he said those exact words to me several days ago.”
“Rupert is rollin’ in ’is grave,” Bernie shouted from the back with an enthusiastic wave of his fist.
“Good, then he can go haunt his bloody grandson,” I said.
“What are we going to do about it? Like Mrs Willis, a lot of us don’t have the space to grow at home,” Abby, one of my mum’s friends, asked. “Will he really relocate us?”
“I’m going to be honest: no. I don’t foresee that happening at all.” I pushed my hair from my face. “But we aren’t going to go down without a fight. We’re going to the media to see if we can get an article put out, and we plan to harness the power of social media.”
“Can we fundraise to buy the land ourselves?” another person suggested.
“We’ve already looked into it. The planning permission granted for the developments over the years has substantially raised the value, so unless we can stump up funds into the six-figure range, there’s no chance. But that’s not to say we can’t fundraise for legal means,” I said. “We have a lawyer, but our insurance won’t cover a drawn-out battle.”
“What do you suggest we do?” Yet another voice joined the fray.
I looked in its direction and smiled. “What I do best. Cause complete chaos and make the new duke’s life a living nightmare.”
“Someone call Shaun and Isadora. Maybe we should raise her bail money instead!”
“Very funny, Uncle Dean,” I said, glaring at my mum’s brother. “What we need to do is exercise our legal right to protest. If that inconveniences the lord in the big fancy house, then so be it. We still have a chance to change his mind. The duke and the developer haven’t exchanged contracts yet due to business reasons on the developer’s side, and it doesn’t seem as though it’s going to happen within our notice period. If we can make enough noise and get enough eyes on our cause, then we might be able to do something. Our goal is to save the allotments, whether it be at the same site or a new one.”
Colin stepped up beside me and motioned for the mic. “Just to be clear, that when Rose says we will be exercising our legal right to protest, she means peaceful protests.”
I shook my head.
He might. I didn’t. Peaceful was not a word I understood.
“Rose,” he warned, glaring up at me. “We must toe the line of the law. We must show the new duke why the allotments are so important to the community and our village. As important as making noise is, we must show him why we care so much. With that said, Leah has a table set up to our right.” He pointed towards her. “If you would be willing to be interviewed by a journalist, please fill out the forms with your contact details. Paula is next to her taking interest for a pop-up market at the allotments during the summer in a few weeks to sell our fresh produce. We must work together in order to keep Rose under control.”
“Hey!” I protested. “You think peaceful protests get people’s attention? No. Nobody cares about people holding placards wandering down the high street. You know what people want in their protests? Chaos! Passion! Football hooligan chants!”
“Yes, and I will leave the chaos to you. Don’t drag these poor, innocent gardeners into it.”
“Oh, Colin, you’re no fun.” I swiped back the mic. “If you have any other ideas for fundraising or to help us raise awareness, you can grab any one of the committee members when you see us. I know it’s counter-productive to ask that any ideas are run through us first, but anything you do will reflect on us as the authority.”
“What about what you do, Rose?” Uncle Dean shouted.
“I’m already the resident weirdo. What I do reflects on me and me alone.” I laughed. “Like Colin said, please see Paula and Leah to sign up for the pop-up market and to consent to interviews. I won’t keep you any longer but thank you all for coming tonight. I know what the allotment means to you all, so please know that we will do everything we can to preserve this space for our community.”
With that, I ended the meeting and jumped off the chair with Colin’s help.
My night didn’t end so quickly, though. As I’d expected, we committee members were harangued by the numerous plot holders who all had their individual questions. Some were things I’d already covered, and by the time we’d cleared the hall out, I’d repeated myself so many times that my throat was scratchy.
All in all, the meeting took far longer than we’d intended, thanks to those who stayed behind to discuss the whole situation with us.