THE nights are beginning to get lighter, the snow drops are well and truly in bloom and a lot of people are beginning to turn their thoughts towards their gardens.

This time of the year is very important for serious gardeners and allotment holders and some of them will be heading to a little known shop where seeds, fertilizers, compost and various pieces of garden equipment can be bought at rock bottom prices.

The Worcester Allotment and Garden Association shop has been operating for more than 60 years and is a veritable treasure trove for anyone in Worcestershire who is passionate about growing vegetables.

Although it has moved locations several times, the way it operates is well and truly rooted in the 1950s – if not even earlier.

It is run by a small group of volunteers – all retired and gardening enthusiasts – who buy in seeds, compost, pots, propagation equipment, canes, garden netting, sharp sand, pest control, disease treatments, fertiliser and other goods in bulk and then sell it on at a small profit. All the money they make goes to charity.

None of the current volunteers know exactly how it started but a visit to this shop – in a former chicken shed – on the Lansdowne Road Allotment site, Worcester, is like taking a step back in time.

Treasurer Ken Lander said the shop used to be on a site on the other side of the road and was run by a man called Mr Bullock. When it moved the association bought an old chicken shed from a farm in Hartlebury.

“We took it apart and transported it in a couple of vans and put it together again here,” he said. This about sums up the do-it-yourself/get stuck in attitude of the volunteers.

Ken writes all customer receipts by hand and tots up the cost of multiple items in his head - something largely associated with a bygone age in the retail business. Even Arkwright’s corner shop in the BBC’s Open All Hours had a till – albeit with an unpredictable mind of its own.

Once the potato, onion and shallot seeds come in, which is in January and February, the shop can get so busy there is a queue out through the shed door.

“The days when there is a queue out of the door is when I get writer’s cramp, “ joked Ken.

Anyone who wants to buy from the shop has to join the association. But before you say “I knew there was a catch”, annual membership costs just £1.50! That can be easily clawed back with just one purchase.

Secretary Ron Fincher explained: “By the middle of the summer when most people have paid their membership we have around 500 members. The £1.50 fee for each member gives us a float to be able to start buying our stock.”

And the benefits for members are easy to see. A 2.5kg net of seed potatoes costs £3 compared with as much as £4.99 in a garden centre. The volunteers say the prices, on average, are about 20 per cent cheaper than in most garden centres and the association’s motto is to supply the things that gardeners want at competitive prices.

Quite often members will also bring in second-hand garden tools or equipment for the shop to sell and then give the proceeds to charity.

“Sometimes when older people have to give up gardening they will bring along their tools like spades and we can sell them.”

Although the shop is largely focused on vegetable growing – apart from a bit of lawn feed and weed – occasional one of the members will turn up with an excess of flowering plants like dahlias that other members can buy for a few pence.

Ron said the shop offers a good service for the local community but some of the members come from as far afield as Bromsgrove and Bromyard.

It also acts as a free gardening advice centre, he said. People come in and ask questions or want advice about some aspect of gardening and one of the volunteers is usually able to offer the benefit of their experience or pass on some tip they have heard from another member.

“It is very rare we get a blank on our faces. If we don’t know the answer ourselves we know someone who does,” said Ron.

The shop also has a social function - a number of older garden lovers simply pop in for a chat now and again.

There is no doubt all the volunteers enjoy their mornings at the shop – it is open from 10am to 12noon every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday.

Chairman Bill Lawrence who has been involved for about 25 years said: “I really enjoy it. It is the camaraderie with the other chaps I like.” All the current volunteers are men, although there used to be a woman secretary and there are plenty of female members.

“We bring a flask of tea and some doughnuts and enjoy it,” he said.

There are about five regular volunteers, who make up a large part of the committee and Ken he thought they probably have the shortest committee meetings on record. “Usually, we get through the meeting really quickly and then we go down the pub,” he said.

Each year the association makes about £2,000 profit from sales and this is usually split between three or four charities nominated by the members. The Samaritans, the Stroke Association and St Richard’s Hospice are all recent beneficiaries.