Whilst the bid was in the approval stage we discovered that our JCB driver and ground works chap had gone out of business. We also found that the source of top soil dried up with the cancelling of building developments. So we became a victim of the down turn. A new set of contractors had to be found along with sources of top soil. We were lucky in that a local farmer bought into our development. He has a social conscience and wanted to help local people with a local project. Since the allotment were no more half a mile from his door, we fitted the bill. Unfortunately finding a JCB driver was more difficult. The timing of the receipt of the grant, which started the clock ticking, came at a bad time for the farmer and therefore the Society. June to October is the farmers busiest time of the year and being a small concern the farmer could not assist us straight away. We had to wait until he was available. In the meantime the JCB driver search continued.
Winter 2010 came early and stayed round for a long time. Snow lay on the ground for many weeks and when not frozen the site unworkable because the wet and sticky Leicestershire clay. Whilst we waited for spring to come round we were not idle. Our persistence paid off and we found a JCB driver and we were able to plan the physical elements of the development with him and the farmer.
