A community group set up to save allotments in Great Ayton has submitted a bid to a national funding pot as part of efforts to raise enough money to buy the land.

The ten-acre site, on Guisborough Road, contains 178 plots and was put up for sale by its owners in September, along with an adjacent area of grassland.

A working party was formed in response with a view to saving the allotments, and now the group, in conjunction with Great Ayton Parish Council, has submitted a bid to the Community Ownership Fund. The scheme is a government fund which help communities buy assets at risk of being lost.

The Great Ayton Allotment Fundraising Working Group, which has had overwhelming community support for the plan to buy the land, is now in the process of raising an additional £50,000 to support the bid application process.

The allotments team are working to purchase the site

The allotments team are working to purchase the site

There have been several successful fundraising events, including a Stokesley “sing-along”, with Stokesley guitar group, Safety in Numbers, and a supper dance at the Great Ayton Working Men’s Club featuring local band The Dicemen.

Future events include table top sales, pub quizzes, "gang" nights and a dance and hog roast featuring Teesside band Platinum at Fletcher’s Farm, Great Ayton, on April 19.

To date more than £16,500 has been raised. The group said this has been achieved with fantastic support from local businesses, residents and the wider community.

Regular fundraising updates are available via the Great Ayton Allotment Facebook page, and an information stall will be present on Great Ayton High Street on a regular basis. It provides updates, information on how to make donations and sells allotment produce, as well as homemade cakes.