Bowling Park Community Orchard

bee on Keswick Codling Blossom: Bees are essential for the pollination of the fruit, so we manage the orchard to attract them.

bee on Keswick Codling Blossom

Volunteering at the orchard
Would you like to join the volunteer group to help manage the orchard? We are keen to welcome new volunteers to help with tasks through the year. Having dominated our time through September and October, the harvest is complete now, so we are now moving onto juicing and preserving.
Through the winter we need to prune the trees and manage the hedges and edges. By late winter we move onto feeding the trees, ready to welcome the spring blossom. Through the summer we aim to control some of the unruly vegetation (while making sure we are managing the grassland to support the predators than control the pests). Summer pruning is a job for August, and then we are back to harvesting....

This makes it sound easy, but we need more volunteers if we are to maintain the orchard satisfactorily. 

Some of the management is done on BEES conservation volunteer days, but a lot is done by the Friends of Bowling Community Orchard. We usually meet on the third Saturday of the month, 10.00 - 1pm, though this does vary. If you are coming along as a first timer please contact BEES in advance to make an arrangement. 

Forthcoming dates; 
1. Friday 24th November; BEES Task day . at the orchard from 10.30-3.30
2. Saturday 25th November; Friends of Session at the orchard. Meet at the gates on Bowling Park Drive at 10.30am. 
3. Tuesday 28th November. Juicing at Culture Fusion. Come along from 9.30 until mid afternoon (until we have gone through the shed we don't know how much we will have to juice, so please come along early so we can get as much done as possible). We aim to work outside so dress warmly. Washing up gloves are useful for staying warm when washing the apples. 
4. Wednesday 29th November. Pasteurising at Culture Fusion. Get in touch for details. 
5. TBC Saturday 16th December; Friends of Session at the orchard. Meet at the gates on Bowling Park Drive at 10.30am. Getting started with the winter pruning. 

 

Apple Day 2023 was held on Sunday 15th October 12-4pm

We will have a reasonable harvest this year, though at this stage it is hard to know how this will progress. We have noticed the early croppers such as Discovery are not lasting as well as usual. We may have had to juice much of the fruit before Apple day, meaning there may be less to juice on the day. 

Apple Day will be full of the normal range of activities; juicing, cakes, chutneys, activities, advice about your fruit trees, harvesting and a time to meet with friends and hang out in the autumn sunshine. And apples to buy.

Keep an eye on the Apple Day page for updates, and for requests for donations of baking etc, and about volunteer opportunities. We would really welcome new volunteers to help us make the event run smoothly, so please do get in touch if you are able to help. [email protected]

We hope to see you at the orchard soon.

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Our Jams and Chutneys are available all year round.
Look at this link to our jams, chutneys and juice to see what preserves we have in store. Place an order at [email protected] and we will discuss collection/delivery

https://tinyurl.com/BCOPreserves

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Call for Volunteers (and other help...)

Can you make a cake for Apple Day?

The cake stall is always a popular part of Apple Day, but we rely on volunteer contributions to get the range and the number of cakes needed to satisfy our eager crowd. And this year we are celebrating our 21st birthday, so cakes seem all the more important. If you would like to bake for us please email and we will send a brief outline. Basically we are looking for cakes, biscuits etc using apples, pears, plums or English soft fruit...
We look forward to hearing your ideas.

Chutney - have you got any spare jars? 

In order to make the most of the apple harvest, be it using windfalls or just preserving fruit that won't store,  we make a lot of chutney. However, we are short of jars (we prefer to recycle rather than buy new) and would welcome any donations.  Ideally we would prefer that they arrive to us without the labels - these need to be removed before we sterilise them and sometimes they are just too hard to get off.

And while we are talking about chutney, if you want to get involved with making some please talk to us. Or if you have a favourite recipe you'd like to recommend to us please get in touch. We'd welcome new inspiration. 

Do you know of spare apples for juicing?

The fresh apple juice we produce at Apple Day is another firm favourite. To make enough this year we will need to find contributions from outside the orchard. Do you have a glut of apples at home? Have you seen a tree in your neighbourhood that doesn't get picked? Get in touch with any thoughts and we will discuss collection. 

Volunteering on the Day 

We need volunteers on the day to help with setting up, helping to run activities and stalls and with packing away at the end. You can volunteer for a part of the day if you like. 

If you wish to get involved with volunteer days at the orchard through the summer, keep an eye on the task programme here, or contact the office (still limited time to the office to keep staff safe, so best to email [email protected] at the moment). 

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We do not have card facilities at the orchard. 

We know that everyone has become used to cashless transactions over the last year or so...but ....
please bring CASH for your cakes, apples, chutney, juice etc. (and of course your donations too!!)

Thank you. 

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We are twenty years old! On Sunday 26th March 2023 we celebrated 20 years of the orchard. 
It was a chilly morning but we gathered with our photo albums and cake to take a moment to appreciate what we have achieved. 

BEES lead a pruning workshop on Sunday 8th January at the orchard. 
This training was targeted at people who live in the Bowling area, as part of the Festival of Trees. 
Apple and pear trees should be pruned in winter to maintain a healthy shape and size and to ensure they will fruit plentifully for future decades. We worked with the group to talk through the theory and have a little bit of practice of winter fruit tree pruning.

The Harvest 2020

Reflecting a challenging year all round, the harvest this season has been severely compromised by frost and we have a fraction of the number of apples of previous years. Hardly any eating apples - even Katy, normally so prolific, has only had a few apples, which means we have not mean able to make any juice this year. 

Keswick Codlin has done well, but coming towards the end of it's shelf life. Make sure you book onto one of the orchard visit slots if you want a  few. 

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The 2019 Harvest.

We harvested a grand total of 994 kilograms of top fruit (take the blackcurrants into account and we may well have made it to a ton!)
969.5 Kg apples and 24.5 Kg plums and pears. 

Coming in top of the list is Bramley who produced 122 kg, but a special mention has to go to Katy with a whooping 121.75 kg - so productive for a smaller tree. We even managed to make better use of the Katy apples this year by pressing 60 kg in late September to make juice. 

Our weighing methods wouldn't pass any weights and measures quality control, but it gives a good indication of the potential of the orchard to provide locally grown organic fruit. 

So, what do we do with it all? 
Of course some of it gets eaten fresh; some straight from the tree, some stored and filling our apple fruit bowl through to the spring. There are plenty of Bramley in the store, as well as Ribston Pippin, Jupiter and several other eating varieties. 

But we also make pasteurised juice, chutney, jam and dried apples. 
We have finished our autumn and winter markets for the time being, so just get in touch if you wish to arrange to buy any apples or products. 

What's on at the orchard?

Work days through the winter will be organised as part of BEES conservation volunteer group - keep an eye on this page or email [email protected] to be added to the mailing list. 

In addition Friends of Bowling Park Community Orchard will continue to gather at the orchard on the third Saturday of the month, 10 am till 1 pm. These sessions are not organised by BEES. People meet at the orchard (sometimes arranging to share lifts but there is no minibus transport provided) and we liaise to bring appropriate tools and refreshments.  go. 

If you use Facebook the easiest way to keep in touch with plans for the Saturday sessions is to joining the Friends of Bowling Park Community Orchard Facebook Group. [this is inactive at present] This is a closed group used mainly just to communicate about details of sessions, with very occasional extra bits of info. Or email [email protected] and we will be in touch about sharing email addresses etc. 

The sessions are occasionally changed or cancelled if too many of the group are unable to attend, and the gates to the allotments are locked so we do need to arrange to meet for your first visit. 

Friends of BPCO

The Friends of Bowling Park Community Orchard was established in 2005 to take forward responsibility for management of the orchard. It is a loose, unconstituted organisation which to date is mainly made up of BEES volunteers. The 'friends' commit to management sessions to supplement the volunteer task days that BEES organise at the orchard. We plan to have work sessions in the evening during summer months, and dates will be publicised here once they are arranged. Anyone is welcome to join the group, please contact BEES is you are interested.

Our first wassail

We enjoyed our first wassail at the orchard at the end of January 2017. We'd thought of doing it many times, but never quite got round to it. 

Sue led us in a few appropriate words around Belle de Boskoop, our most productive tree, but really it was just an excuse to have a social gathering at the orchard. We had a fire to get rid of prunings and hedge cuttings and it was a good opportunity to catch up with friends and take stock of what we need to do to have a successful year ahead.

There are some key tasks to undertake; revamping the paths, benches and shelters, ongoing grass cutting, weeding etc. We need to create more storage for apples. Can we make something (a straw bale shed, flowering roof?), or shall we buy a shed? We want to continue to increase nectar sources in the orchard so the bees are happy all year round.

How do we coordinate work days and harvesting visits?  Interestingly a re-read of our management plan (attached at the bottom of this page) highlights the lack of any mention of the harvest! This is now a key task, and crucial that we plan it properly so that we make the best use of the apples. 

So, at the same time as updating the management plan we will make sure this year's action plan reflects what we need to do and how we are going to do it. 

If you have got any ideas, or want to get involved, please get in touch

About Bowling Park Community Orchard

The orchard is developed on six disused allotment plots adjacent to Bowling Park.

In March 2003 we planted over 40 trees including

  • 35 varieties of apple,
  • 6 pears and
  • 4 plums.

The orchard is managed by BEES conservation volunteers and we have established the Friends of Bowling Park Community Orchard who we hope will take responsibility for the orchard into the future. New members are welcome - please contact BEES if you wish to find out more.

Bowling Park Community Orchard Management Plan

The management plan is attached at the bottom of the page. It gives an overview of the orchard; background, ethos, intentions and an outline of the seasonal work plan.

Please get in touch if you have any comments.

BPCOrchard Harvesting Record

The harvesting record shows the weight of each variety of apple harvested each year.

More

Community Orchard Development

BEES has been involved in developing Community Orchards at Bowling Park Allotments, Redcliffe (Keighley) and in many school grounds.

Why?
We see them as a place to grow fruit, develop wildlife habitats and create sociable urban green space.

Orchard cultivation nationally has declined by 57% since 1950. Community Orchards offer the opportunity to counteract this decline whilst learning and sharing fruit growing skills and growing varieties that are distinctive of our locality and that we cannot readily buy elsewhere. They offer space for wildlife and for the community to celebrate and enjoy the harvest and heritage surrounding fruit growing and its use.

External Links

 

Directions

Map of BPCO

 

You can find the Orchard on Google Maps with this address; Bowling Park Community Orchard, Bowling Park Drive, Bradford BD4 7ES

By Bus from Bradford Interchange

Bus information is also available at: www.wymetro.com
The orchard is within the allotment site which can only be accessed from Bowling Park Drive.
Open access is available when we are holding events. If you wish to visit at other times please contact us.

On Sundays the 621 (First) bus leaves the Interchange from Stand K at 17 minutes and 47 minutes past the hour. The destination is Bierley.

It goes up Wakefield Road to the big junction by St John's Church, then turns right along New Hey Road, Brassey Road then Paley Road. Get off at the stop at the end of Paley Road, then cross the bottom of Bowling Hall Road/top of Hall Lane and walk down Bowling Park Drive until at the allotments gate.

If that stop is missed get off at the next stop a little way up Bowling Hall Road and walk back down. If you pass Bolling Hall you've gone too far!

The 621 returning to the Interchange leaves the stop at the end of Paley Road at 14 and 44 minutes past the hour.

That's best advice for Sunday, though there is the 671 (First) bus to West Bowling, leaving the Interchange from Stand B at 25 minutes past the hour. Get off at the end of Parkside Road and walk down Avenue Road then bear right onto Bowling Park Drive.

 
Geolocation

53.777934, -1.744025

Conservation Work

Blossom Day 2014

Bowling Park Community Orchard, allotments Bowling Park Drive, West Bowling, BD4

We had a lovely day at the orchard today.

Everyone worked hard to tackle several essential tasks - grass cutting and general weeding, clearing around the trees and applying some food (seaweed meal, fine charcoal and compost), clearing the area near the new gazebo, and weeding and planting vegetable seeds.

This year the vegetable beds are an extension of our Ration Garden. The seeds we planted were donated by the Heritage Seed Library and the potatoes are varieities that were being grown over 100 years ago. Read more about our WW1 Ration Garden here.

The forcast had been for a chilly day but we were actually blessed with warm sunshine (and the need for suncream!). And another bonus was the amount of blossom! The orchard looked lovely.

There is still quite a lot of work to do to finish the spring tasks. We are next at the orchard on 6th June.

Click here to view the rest of the days pictures

Click here to view the BEES Flickr account

Bowling Park Community Orchard

In the allotments, Bowling Park Drive, BD4

As part of the Apples for All project, horticulturist Andrew Chapman joined us to deliver some tree pruning training. There is a lot to learn and take in, but the more we learn and put those lessons into practice the better the fruit production will be in the future. At the same time other jobs were being carried out around the site, these included cutting the privet hedges, laying the native hedge and clearing encroaching vegetation. This will improve the amount of sunlight that is able to get to the trees and their fruit. The missing tree labels were replaced, now visitors can identify the trees and the label includes useful information like when to harvest the fruit. Considering the weather of heavy rain which set in before lunch it was impressive that the group kept going to get as much of the work completed as possible. But there is still more hedges to cut before the birds really get on with nesting.

Today we worked with 8 volunteers.

 

Click here to view the photos of the day

Bowling Park Community Orchard

Bowling Park Community Orchard, at the allotments, Bowling Park Drive, BD4 7ES The event runs from 12-4pm.

APPLE DAY

The event runs from 12-4pm. If you wish to volunteer and get a lift, please
let us know in advance. Early pick up at Culture Fusion ( 8.30am), or make your own way
there later. Volunteer tasks include putting marquees up (and down), helping with the juicing, teas and coffees and selling chutneys, apples etc.

Friday 7th August: Bowling Park Community Orchard, Bowling Park Drive

Friday 7th August 2009 Bowling Park Community Orchard: Weeding the vegetable beds Weeding the vegetable beds

 Today we carried out the necessary task of maintenance at the site. We mowed grass using scythes and a mower, weeded path areas and vegetable beds and cut hedges. All this work is needed to keep the site looking a good example of a community orchard project whilst at the same time leaving plenty of space for wildlife to thrive. And today the Knapwed and Soapwort were looking very good and we found a lovely Shaggy Ink Cap. Again people who were new to the site were surprised at how away from the city it felt. There was an excellant turn out of 15 volunteers.

Click here for photos of the day.

Friday 9th October 2009: Bowling Park Community Orchard

New pathway under constructionNew pathway under constructionWe had another productive day at the orchard completing a further section (but not all) of the path. The path has been sligtly rerouted to give the Winston tree more room to spread. The change is a satisfying expression of how the orchard is maturing and changing with age.

We also cleared around the wildflowers, the dogwoods (which have responded marvelously to the pruning done by Dixon's Students in March), the rasperberries and some of the younger trees.

Thanks to the thirteen volunteers today we made the site ready for Saturday's Apple Day event.

Friday 30th April 2010: Bowling Park Community Orchard, allotments Bowling Park Dr, BD5

replacing the benchreplacing the benchToday we returned to the orchard for pereration towards our Blossom Day event next week. We split into smaller groups to carry out work across the site, a bench was replaced, grass cut in two areas, vegetable beds weeded, trees weeded, hedges cut and the shelter water butts secured. At the end of the day the site looked and now we hope for good weather so that we have a great display of blossom.

Today we worked with 13 volunteers.

Click here for other photos of the day. 

Friday 8th October: Bowling Park Community Orchard, Allotments at Bowling Park Drive, West Bowling

tidying the compost areatidying the compost areaToday was our chance to make the final site preperations before Apple Day 2010. A good turn out meant that we were able to concentrate on the areas that we needed to. So the growing beds were weeded and tidied, the compost bins were turned, the grass cut, hedges tidied, paths weeded and wildflower areas weeded. Looking at the site at the end of all this work it certainly looked ready for an open day. Plus the return of Raquel boosted moral for the day.

Click here for more photos of the day.

Today we worked with 19 volunteers.

Friday 6th May 2011, BLOSSOM DAY, BPCO, Allotments Bowling Park Drive, West Bowling, BD4

Blossom on espalier treeBlossom on espalier treeToday we held our annual open day at the Orchard to celebrate the spectacle of the tree blossom. Unfortunately due to the weather conditions most of the blossom had finished. However we were able to enjoy the occassion and carried out several management tasks including cutting the grass and cleaning the shed. A school group planted seeds, carried out a craft activitiy and looked for minbeasts. A college group toured the orchard and planted vegetables while several other visitors enjoyed the site. With so many people on site it made a good atmosphere and they showed enthusiam for the project and celebrating local food growing.

Click here to see other photos of the day.

Today we worked with 14 volunteers.

Sunday 9th Oct 2011: APPLE DAY Bowling Park Community Orchard in allotments Bowling Park Drive, BD5

Many people braved the rain to enjoy Apple DayMany people braved the rain to enjoy Apple DayApple Day 2011 was another successful event. Despite the inclement weather - rain most of the afternoon with gusts of strong wind that were a challenge for the gazebos - the event was busy with initial estimates of around 400 visitors.

Horticultural questions ranged from 'how do I plant my apple tree?', 'Can you help me choose which to buy - an Egremont Russet or a Blenheim Orange?' (BO chosen as it will give a longer harvesting season when taking into account the other trees on the plot), to 'I've moved into a house and cut down an old apple tree, is this alright?' (I'm not sure what answer was given!). Martin was also able to help us with a few issues we have in the orchard, from a badly diseased Fiesta (and Lane's Prince Albert) to overcrowded trees that need restrictive pruning. The guidance Martin has provided will be added to the management plan for the orchard for the forthcoming year.

A banner for the orchard was made as part of the art activities, along with badges and purses using old bottle tops, apple wood and juice cartons. The more foolhardy had a go at apple bobbing, as if they weren't wet enough already. The longest peel produced an extraordinary result - 3.8m (I think). Whilst the apple used was admittedly large it was the technique that impressed - a knife was used to score the apple before peeling. The 'peeler' was from Oregon, USA. We are obviously being taught the wrong things in school.

Plenty of cakes, salads and hot savoury meals were consumed and diners were entertained by local band The 309's. Fresh juice was pressed from apples donated by Bradford Fruitshare, and about 20 varieties of apple were on sale. Unfortunately Yorkshire Orchards suffered frost this year so had no apples, however we purchased fruit from Park Fruit Farm in Essex who have consistently high quality fruit which is produced in an wildlife friendly orchard.

Many thanks to the volunteers who helped on the day - without whom we could not run the event - and who worked hard in advance to make chutney, jam and food for the cafe.

 See more photos here