Paul Hurt's linkage site: home page

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Note: PHD (Paul Hurt Design-construction) has never been a business. It's financed entirely from my own very restricted resources. None of the products, including ones on this page,

have ever been for sale. When an innovation is described below as 'cheap' or 'very cheap,' this relates to the cost to myself, for the materials and equipment used to construct the

product, in prototype or finished form, not the cost to any buyer. I've an interest in all the things I design and construct but some aren't central interests at all, e.g. camper vans
and pizza ovens. None of the fruit and vegetables and other produce from the land I rent has ever been sold to the public, but I'm happy to give away surplus.

Below: images (some with text) concerned with design, construction, growing. Some of these are very new. After those images: many, many general but smaller images, with far

less text. Then, much larger images, with passages of text. The images not concerned with my own work are the majority and one principal guiding principle for selection of

these is a guiding principle of the site: 'admiration and criticism.' I prefer to praise rather than criticize. I only criticize when I think that criticism can be justified. I provide evidence

for my views. I oppose 'slogan shouting' and similar simplifications: I actively oppose them. The emphasis is upon breadth, variety, the synoptic approach. The page About this site

gives further information about some of the policies I follow, including those on published profiles and removal of profiles from the site.

Photograph 2, row above: Not long after this photograph was taken, intruders, or a single intruder, scattered apples taken from this store on the ground and threw apples into the wildlife
pond at the bottom of the plot. I've lost count of the number of cases of vandalism and theft of tools and equipment which have taken place here - but only one case of threatening behaviour.
This plot is very hard to secure, for reasons to do with the extensive boundaries, but I've worked to improve security. There can be no guarantees of complete success, but I think, or I'd like

tto think, that the problem is under control. A worrying development has been visits by thieves obviously equipped with some quite sophisticated tools, used to break into the smaller upper
plot, which is much easier to secure than the larger plot shown here. There's an Anderson Shelter in this plot, a reminder of the Sheffield Blitz. The Anderson Shelter in the neighbouring plot,

a very heavy structure made with thick corrugated metal, was stolen by thieves. There was a murder in an allotment not far away, many years ago. A garden fork was the murder weapon.

Row above, photograph 1: the large versatile structure I constructed using lightweight galvanized steel beams, used here as supports for netting. This netting cage has been
used to protect quite a wide range of crops over the years from bird damage, including white and purple sprouting broccoli and Oriental vegetables, Mizuna, Pak Choi and Komatsuma.

Click on official U.S. patent document to view the pdf document on this site. Zooming in will be advisable in most cases to obtain a text size suitable for reading, to a magnification of 150% or more.

To view the patent document on the United States Patent and Trademark Office Website:

https://ppubs.uspto.gov/api/pdf/downloadPdf/12144291?requestToken=eyJzdWIiOiJiZjMzY2UzYy1mOTZlLTQyNTQtYTkzMS0zOTE3MjY3M2EwMWUiLCJ2ZXIiOiIxNmFjZGFjNS1lMzk5LTRkOWItYWM5My03NjMxYWI4YTkxMzUiLCJleHAiOjB9

Above, 1st photograph shows New Greenhouse Design. The core structure takes the form of a triangular prism (a shape with great structural strength.) Around the core structure are
extensions, here with curved panels. Three straight panels of the core structure are visible on this North-facing side. There are 3 panels on the South-facing side. The system has great

versatility. With all the panels in place, gutters and pipes at the base can divert water collected from the roof to water storage containers and ponds (dual-function, for water storage and to
benefit wildlife). Panels can be removed and put back very easily. When most or all of the panels are removed, crops inside the greenhouse can be watered with natural rainfall. The system
has many advantages for water conservation. It reduces reliance on mains water. It has many other benefits, e.g. for temperature control. Ventilation is very important, to reduce or
eliminate overheating when external temperatures are high and for other reasons. One or more panels can be removed and all the panels can be removed, to give maximum
ventilation. Plastic coverings don't enhance the appearance of a site, for most people. When polycarbonate sheets aren't needed, none need be visible. One of the panels on the South-
facing side has been removed permanently. A grape vine in the greenhouse grows inside the greenhouse, at roof level, and outside, higher up, above the roof. The extensions shown
below, on the West side, include a 'solar composter,' which speeds up the production of compost by the greenhouse effect, a wildlife / water storage pond and other growing areas.
There's a much larger wildlife / water storage pond outside the greenhouse and other water-collecting surfaces and water storage facilities. An extension on the East side includes a
storage area for e.g. tools and supplies and a working area for e.g. propagation. A straw bale wall has been a feature of this extension (shown above, also with a straw bale storage area.)
The greenhouse has been featured in an article I wrote for the magazine of the National Allotment Society.

My New Growing System for farms has the advantages of the New Greenhouse Design as well as many other features. From the official U.S patent document: ' ... the present invention

is a trellising system with modifiable components and configurations for growing, protected cropping, protected working, materials handling, water collecting and water conservation for

use in vineyards and orchards and as a polytunnel substitute.' The New System has aesthetic advantages. The plastic sheeting which forms part of the system is needed to secure
environmental advantages but is unnecessary when external temperatures are high and no water can be collected. Unlike the plastic of polytunnels, the plastic used in this system can
be retracted. The plastic need not be visible when not needed. The plant growth on the unobtrusive supports will be seen all the more clearly.

Below, images of flowers of native British plants in the land I rent, most of them growing there due to my active encouragement.
There are just two exceptions. Solanum crispum isn't a British native. Pilosella aurantiaca isn't a British native but s widely naturalized in this country.
I'm never in the least danger of neglecting food production in the land I rent but without neglecting other plants, the 'ornamental plants' - but I'd rather think of them as the 'sensuous' plants or the
'beautiful' plants, although many of the edible plants are sensuous, beautiful as well. And there are so many plain, unobtrusive, even drab plants which interest me so much, plants which I view

with a degree of affection.

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Row of Images above: Image on left, some Geranium (Pelargonium) flowers in a container on the wall platform high above the large growing area, some of it shown in the Image. The
crop being grown: variety Kestrel. The same variety is shown in two images above, with much more of this growing area to be seen.

Image in centre and Image on right: red flowers of climbing rose, variety 'Olympic flame.' This was planted next to a privet hedge on the lower boundary of the upper growing area,

Plot 112, which is growing in a very awkward sloping area, difficult to reach and keep in check by pruning. The rose plant is very vigorous, competing very well against the privet and
now suppressing its growth. I planted a climbing perennial sweet pea, which has been able to suppress growth of a much smaller privet hedge at the upper end of the lower allotment,
Plot 111. I also planted hawthorn hedging in front of the privet hedge. This has grown well, allowing the privet hedge be removed completely. I planted blackthorn hedging on part of the
boundary with the neighbouring allotment. When I began to cultivate this land, there was no hedging at all, and nothing to prevent intruders from walking into the land I rent. I planted

gorse hedging which has grown very well. Its spines effectively deter intruders. These hedging plants only cover a fraction of the long boundary between this plot and the neighbouring
plot. I planted five hazel trees along the boundary. These leave no gaps. The hazel trees have many advantages, not least for wildlife. They produce hazel nuts in abundance, support over
250 insect species - the male catkins provide an early source of pollen for bees and other pollinators in late winter and early spring - and very good nesting sites and shelter.

The multi-stemmed growth habit offers the advantages of a hedge, forming an effective barrier to intruders, with some additions, which are very easy to provide. I don't coppice the

trees but coppicing provides wood which has many uses in the garden and for traditional crafts. A short section of privet hedge by the allotment path leading to the entrance to Plot 112 will
be left for the time being. I encouraged two beech saplings in front of the hedge to grow, and they've grown well. I intend to convert these trees into beech hedging. I like native hedging
plants and have taken a strong dislike to privet. A long length of privet hedge forms the boundary between Plot 112 and neighbouring allotments. My very small vineyard is next to
this privet hedge. I've devised a method to partially suppress growth of the privet without compromising the boundary. Without supplying any detail, I intend to to construct a long solar
composter with one long, sloping wall, made using some of the used polycarbonate sheets I have. These are easily removable, for appearances' sake. Compost materials will be placed
in the composter. Conditions in the composter willbe favourable for the formation of compost but not favourable for the growth of the privet plants. Increase in the width of the hedge,
on this side, will be checked. It's likely that the privethedge has been having an unfavourable effect on the grape vines. This method is intended to reduce its competitive advantage.
The polycarbonate sheets are easily removable.

.Images in the row above: Images 1 and 2: the wreckage left after very strong winds destroyed the very old greenhouse which occupied this area for many decades before I took on this land.

Image 3, the debris to be found in one corner of the same allotment when I took on the land. Image 4, a Floribunda rose, 'Abraham Darby' which I planted in the upper allotment.

Image 4, the area occupied by Nasturtium, Tropaeolum majus, on a North-facing slope, shown in flower in some other images. The slope was steeper before planting, corrected with earthworks.[]]]]]

I cleared the site where the greenhouse had stood, precariously, before it fell, and had all the debris removed in a skip. I designed and constructed a greenhouse of radically new design.
I ensured that the new greenhouse would withstand winds of any force, except for exceptionally violent winds, the kind that would cause damage to buildings of brick, stone or concrete.
The main growing area makes use of straight polycarbonate sheets, similarly one of the two large extensions, but the extension at the other end makes use of curved polycarbonate
sheets. I've long experience of using curved (and straight) polycarbonate. Proper use of curved polycarbonate sheets allows the construction of surfaces with great structural strength
and remarkable resistance to wind damage. I've provided quite detailed information on the site about these features, the flexibility of the system. It allows the removal of one one or

more of the straight (as well as the curved) panels. All of them can be removed if necessary - when the external temperature is higher than 30 Celsius, then no heating by the greenhouse
effect is needed. Removal of panels allows natural rainfall to water the crops inside the greenhouse, avoiding a great deal of unnecessary work. The panels can be replaced as easily as

they are removed.

I cleared and removed a great deal of the debris shown in Image 3 but I found that the debris went down to quite a depth and that there was a great amount of asbestos sheet. Fragments
of asbestos sheet can be seen in the photograph. I planted a vigorous grape vine, Vitis vinifera Brandt near to the area shown, which produced grapes - small grapes in large quantities,

well worth having. The vine has grown as far as the composter nearby and covers the roof of the composter, which was the first structure I built after taking on these
plots. I now use the composter for storage.

Below, some images taken in the summer and autumn of 2025: projects undertaken, land use, miscellaneous images, accompanied in some cases by more than minimal text.

The extensive material on flooding and the use of boats of new design to help the victims of flooding is now on a new page Building boats and much more: a versatile, flexible system

Above, some of the images from the page. Row 1: showing flooding scenes, rescue, damage. Rows 2 and 3: prototypes, examples of dual-unit boats with contrasted units. Only one

unit is based on larch (or oak) beams. The other unit is structurally very different. Row 4, prototyping on the sloping prototyping bench (the slope has advantages in viewing and

working on prototypes.) The images show Dual-unit bases and dual-unit boats in a very basic, preliminary form, simply larch beams placed on the bases. These are the longer

beams used in this design.

Image shown in Row 5: shorter larch beams and a thin surface material fixed to the longer larch beams have important functions in the design. The

'thin surface material' is galvanised sheet metal, not visible here. This has multiple functions. The functionality can also be achieved by other means. The small larch beams are

clearly visible at the perimeter of the structure. When the structure is used as a boat, this raised section prevents water from entering the boat in water which isn't flat calm.

This is the 1 layer configuration. To deal with rougher waters (but not very rough waters) another layer can be added. Not shown and not yet installed on this prototype, the methods

I've devised to prevent these perimeter components from moving. These methods allow these smaller larch to be quickly removed and quickly replaced, on one side or more than

one side. They will need to be removed on one side when bulky materials are brought on board, to give free access.

The second image in Row 5 shows the raised wildlife pond I constructed many years ago, in the area now occupied by a water-storage pond, as well as a growing area. This was the first
pond I constructed in the land I rent. The pond which can be constructed according to this much newer design is larger and much easier to construct than the older pond. The sloping
board visible in the photograph is to allow animals, in particular frogs, to get out of the pond. There's a similar board in the water storage pond inside the greenhouse, which is frequented
by frogs.

The third image in Row 5 shows some work on the issue of provision of shelter, for weather protection, of people and also property. This is a further use for curved polycarbonate
sheets. For this preparatory work, only one sheet has been used. Two overlapping sheets would be necessary here. A second sheet was available but one sheet is sufficient to obtain some
useful findings. This is a demanding application. Previous experience and previous uses, which include various applications as greenhouse extensions, have made it possible for me

to build structures which can withstand very strong winds without any damage. If a boat is used in a static or semi-static capacity, as during flooding, then methods are available to

incorporate shelter without too much difficulty. The movement of the boat can be constrained, to prevent lateral motion and allow only upward and downward movement. When the boat is

used as a sailing boat, then the problem is much more challenging. The polycarbonate sheets can act as sails and the effects can be extreme. The situation becomes more manageable

when the boat is carrying a large, heavy load, one which is of appreciable height. This kind of load has great inertia and can provide gives and secure fixings for attachment of straps

or chains which can prevent flexing and other distortions of the sheet. In practice, sheltered or fairly sheltered conditions would be needed and the sheets would be taken down if the

wind is obviously excessive. The sheets could be stored along the sides of the boat. They could be added to polycarbonate sheets which form the bows of the boat., if these are being used.

When the sheets are being used above the deck and in contact with the deck at one end, the curvature of the sheets can easily be adjusted, to give a longer but lower protected area or a

shorter but higher protected surface. However, the length can easily be almost doubled by linking a second sheet to the first sheet, with some overlapping of the sheets. This is a procedure

I've used for other projects.

Other methods prevent movement of any chairs and tables on the deck, fix the rowing seat in position and allow for the installation of oarlocks to take the oars when the boat is propelled

by rowing. The containers, visible also in one of the photographs in row 3 above, can be increased in number or decreased. Oak panels, visible in the photograph in Row 4, can be

increased in number - they can also be varnished. Varnishing of the larch beams, some or all of them, is also easy to carry out, or relatively easy.

When additional components have been added, when some modifications have been carried out, then this will look more like a boat, less like a plain box structure, but function
determines structure to a large extent. This is, after all, a flat-bottomed boat, with the advantages of a flat-bottomed boat, such as the ability to sail into shallow - very shallow - water.
This boat is designed to carry heavy loads, not to win races. The modifications necessary for installing an outboard motor at the stern (but either end of the boat can become the stern,
or the bows) would make it clear that this is a boat, and no longer a garden-based structure. The addition of oarlocks and oars, or a mast and sail, would similarly remove any doubts.

When the structure in these photographs is used for other purposes, rather than as a boat, then the same components are used, or a selection of these, sometimes with a few more components.

Row 6 Photograph 1. This shows part of the plastic base, with no horizontal larch beams in place. The vertical front of the structure, which is identical to the vertical rear part, clearly visible

at here, has been removed. This allows a better view of the interior of the structure, which now contains, just for display, a PVC pond liner, further back, and underlay, nearer the front. This

shows the configuration for container growing. For this use, the floor beams are unnecessary and can be used for other purposes. When the underlay and pond liner are installed, then this

makes a large raised container bed, suitable for growing a wide range of crops. This large bed is made up of two units, with two bases. More units can be added, to give a bed two, three or four

times as large. Alternatively, a smaller bed made up of one unit, with one base, can be built. Any bed can be divided to give two smaller beds, of varying sizes, by installing one or more divider

beams. Liners and underlay of a different size from the ones shown here are readily available. The liner and underlay can be arranged to cover this divider or a larger number of dividers.

When the liner and underlay have been installed, compost (or soil, or a mixture of the two) is added.

I've already designed an add-on bow structure, installed on the end of the boat acting as the bows, which makes the boat much more streamlined. The bow is of the kind named 'straight-

stem bow and is yet another use for polycarbonate sheets, here with a sharp bend rather than curved. The polycarbonate sheets shown in the second diagram in make up

double layers, for additional rigidity and structural integrity, with the sheets brought to a sharp frontal line. Bows with more than two layers can easily be constructed. There's insufficient

room on the prototyping bench to include an add-on bow to the prototype boat.

A polycarbonate sheet, straight or curved, can be installed on the container bed. The curved bed can be made resistant to wind forces more easily than the straight sheet, but the problems
aren't substantial in the least. The polycarbonate sheets have these main benefits: they allow for protective cropping, making use of the 'greenhouse effect' to raise temperatures inside the

structure, extending the growing season, making possible the growing of tender crops. They also achieve shielding of the compost from heavy rain, preventing it from turning into mud.

There are no drainage holes in the liner. It would be easy to make drainage holes, but in most circumstances, unwise - an intact pond liner is needed when the system is converted into a pond.

A further use is as a water collecting surface. This structure is on a slope and water is carried down to a water collecting / storage container outside the structure. For structures which are

non-sloping, a slope is easy to arrange. An additional row of horizontal shorter beams installed at one end, on top of the existing layers. The water collecting surface can be extended, if the

space is available. The space is unavailable in the case of this prototype, which is installed in my very small backyard, with a plum tree growing very near. There was no garden when I moved
into the house. Extended water collecting surfaces can be constructed using more polycarbonate sheets, or flexible polythene sheet material, generally requiring a lightweight galvanized

steel support or more than one support, or black surface protection sheets which can be easily opened out or folded back in and which work very well when used for this different purpose,

water collection. There are various examples of this use in the photographs towards the top of this page, most of them laid on what were originally paths, and which can easily become paths

again by removal of the sheets.

The configuration for a wildlife or water storage pond is very similar - the pond liner and the underlay are installed on the base, but in this case, the thin sheet mentioned above is installed

on the plastic base. On this sheet the larch beams, longer and shorter, are installed and the pond liner and the underlay are added. The polycarbonate sheet (or sheets in the case of larger

systems) is unnecessary as a water collecting surface. Rainwater and other forms of precipitation can fall directly on to the water in the pond. However, polycarbonate acting to promote

the greenhouse effect will be useful in the case of more tender water plants, if any are grown. The polycarbonate will obviously not be used as a permanent fixture. It can be removed easily.

When the structure is used for growing plants, vegetables and fruit or non-edible plants, the plants grown can be perennial or annual. Growing perennial plants will need the structure, or

part of the structure in the case of a larger multiple-unit structure, to be available for years in many or most cases. If annual plants are grown, then changes of use are easy. For example,

amongst food plants, courgettes (but not strawberries), bush tomatoes, cordon tomatoes, broad beans, dwarf French beans, climbing French and runner beans, lettuces, cabbages and

potatoes could be cultivated. There are many other possibilities, of course. At the end of the growing season (which can be extended by using the protected cropping facilities), then

the structure can be put to an alternative use, such as water collecting and storage. Rain in late autumn and winter can be collected and stored, available for use in watering the plants

grown in the next season. The compost is easily removed from the structure. I find a scoop, as used by bakers to transfer flour, very useful for this and similar purposes. The compost can
be stored for future use, with additions to restore full soil fertility before use. A wildlife pond has to be regarded as a permanent fixture, although a wildlife pond can occupy just part of a
multiple-space structure. A water-storage pond is different. It can be drained, without wasting the water, and then used for a different purposes, such as growing crops in spring, summer and
early autumn.

If the structure is used as a viewing platform, then the pond liner and underlay are unnecessary, but can be kept in position. It will be necessary to move out of the way their topmost part,

to allow for installation of short horizontal beams placed on the vertical beam layers making up the rectangle, and at right angles. The same configuration is used to build a storage box.

As with all the applications of this very versatile and flexible system, smaller and larger structures can be built, from a size corresponding to 1 base, 1 unit to multiple bases, multiple units.

The storage box requires a door, or more than one door in the case of larger boxes. I don't provide the information for inclusion of these.

iIf the 2-unit structure shown above is increased, to give a 4-unit structure, then the water surface area becomes 3.52 square metres, which is more than sufficient for dragonflies as well as

damselflies to visit the pond. However, the depth of the pond is important. Dragonflies ideally need water no more than about 30 cm deep and the pond as shown here is much deeper than
that. Dragonflies do not need shallow water in all the pond. Larch beams placed on the base over a proportion of the area before the pond liner and underlay are put in place will give a
shallow area. If the main use of the pond is for water storage, then the deeper pond can be constructed. If a larger multiple-unit pond is built, there can be vertical walls only at the perimeter,

to give a pond with a single undivided space, or the internal space can be made up of two separate spaces, four different spaces, or a different number of spaces. Again, the system has the

flexibility to choose from alternatives. In this case, one space can be used for water storage and another space, with a lower water level, to attract wildlife such as dragonflies. Water lilies
can be planted in water storage ponds as well as wildlife ponds, but these need to be non-native plants. The native water lily, Nymphaea alba, is very demanding. It needs water which is at least
1 metre deep and has a spread of approximately 120cm. The much larger ponds needed to accommodate Nymphaea alba can be constructed according to this system but techniques are

needed which enable the walls of the pond to withstand the varying water pressures, including pressures much greater than the ones which are taken into account in these ponds with lower sides.

The third image shows a fork lift truck, which makes moving complete, assembled structures very easy, provided the surface is suitable - firm and level. The fourth image shows a hand truck.
A hydraulic hand truck is capable of moving heavy structures and substantial quantities of components, such as larch beams. They generally have a capacity of 2000 - 2500 kg, 2 - 2.5 tonne.

Hand pallet trucks can be bought for as little as £275.

Row 7. The I used the prototyping bench which supports the base and the layers of this system - some possible configurations of the new system. There were some problems which required
solutions, not problems to do with the main system but problems to do with aspects of the system, but important aspects. I found solutions which satisfy me and which I've tested. The bench is

in my yard. When I took on this terraced house, there was no garden, only the backyard. In the neighbouring backyard are the outside toilets which were used before the luxury of indoor toilets.

I grew up in a terraced house without an inside toilet or a bathroom. This was no hardship. We brought the metal bath up from the cellar o Friday night, bath night, and we had a bath one after
the other in the same water. For use in the outside toilet, there was no toilet paper (or toilet tissue). We had the use of squares of newspaper. There's a Monty Python sketch about growing up

in poverty, with more and more exaggerated accounts. I had no interest in gardening when I moved in, but in time, I began to take in interest. I used a great many containers and filled them
with a mixture of things: soil I bought and had delivered (very, very poor, infertile soil, with many, many stones), compost I made, and leaf mould I made from autumn leaves collected in the
area. I grew a wide range of vegetables and I planted a plum tree, variety Opal, in the centre of the new garden. The fruit tree is still there, still producing fruit, but when I took on my two

allotments, I felt no need to continue container gardening in the yard.

Now, I want to resume container gardening after an interval of so many years. The main container is the single system container shown above, now used as a raised bed, with the perimeter
walls constructed from larch beams resting on the two plastic bases. There are two similar views of the raised bed in the photographs of Row 7, containing compost which I bought in bulk.

To the right in the photographs is a galvanized metal container, not part of 'the system.' This is filled with some of the compost bought recently. There's another, larger galvanized metal

container not visible in either photograph, at a lower level - resting on the asphalt surface of the yard. I've chosen the crops I intend to grow in each of these containers. They include herbs
as well as vegetables. I intend to recycle the compost in these containers eventually, by adding the compost to the soil which covers most of the garden. The soil needs increased depth,

although the plum tree and the hedge on one side of the garden have grown very well in the soil available. I can fit in a vegetable crop (a very vigorous one) in the soil available, on the side

opposite the hedge.

Below, The wildlife pond, some visitors, dragonflies and damselflies. These photographs not taken by me.

A wildlife pond can be very useful as a water storage pond. I've found that the biggest difficulty is the fact that there are very large numbers of tadpoles in the water in the spring, after

frogs have mated there. When a watering can is used to collect water from the pond, many tadpoles are unavoidably transferred to the watering can. I designed a simple modification to

prevent this from happening, a mesh filter placed over the opening to the watering can.

Next, some miscellaneous, supplementary information.

Row 6 shows a forklift truck. Range is an important concept for me. Range includes, of course, the small and the large, the very small and the very large. I carry out work relevant to small-
scale gardening, gardening on a larger scale and farming. The system which can be used to build so many useful structures - a wide range of useful structures - can accommodate carrying
of components using simply muscle power, by hand, or by using a trolley or wheelbarrow, but it can also incorporate machine handling, industrial methods. The units which make up the
boats, the container growing structures and the rest, can also be moved in bulk, by forklift truck. I don't own a forklift truck but for commercial operations, the fact that the design includes

this facility is important.

The plastic bases are essential in these designs. The number of bases determines the number of units. The number of units can be increased to give larger boats, wider and / or longer.

A smaller one-unit boat can be constructed. All the boats shown here are one layer boats, with a single layer of larch (or oak) beams. Multi-layer boats can also be easily constructed, with

two or more larch layers, capable of carrying bigger loads, but one-layer boats can carry a substantial load. Each of the bases shown has a rating of 1 tonne. When used in boat form, when

the boat is floating, then the upthrust from the water changes the rating appreciably, allowing heavier loads to be carried.

If the dual structure here were to be launched in a suitable pond, lake or river (not the sea), then obviously, the two units would quickly separate. The beam-superstructures would remain

on the bases only if the water were perfectly calm or very calm. I don't provide information about the 'binding' methods I've devised to ensure that the components of a boat constructed

according to this design stay together. I'll be providing only the most basic information about any of the additional structures and the necessary fittings and equipment added to the

decks. These would differ markedly, depending upon the intended use or uses. I don't provide information about the fixing methods I've devised to ensure that the additional structures,

fittings and equipment stay in place. The page 'Building boats and much more: a versatile, flexible system' does supply some information about these matters in connection with dual-unit

boats with contrasted units, the boats illustrated in rows 2 and 3.

The boats which can do something to mitigate some of the effects of flooding can also be used in very different ways and propelled in different ways., including propulsion by punting.

One of the various uses for the boats is maintenance of ponds and smaller lakes. These doneed maintenance - for example, correction of plant overgrowth. Water lilies, despite their

beauty, can become too much of a good thing. They need taking up and periodic division. This work needs a boat but the boat won't be used very often for this purpose, although a

boat would be very useful for other purposes. This design allows the components to be used for other gardening work as well as non-gardening work. A large and sturdy table which

lasts a very long time and can withstand any weather conditions can easily be constructed using some of these components. The table can be quickly built using the larch beams

which are smaller in length (but with other dimensions the same as the longer beams). These beams are used as uprights, supporting one or more of the bases, which now act as the

table top, with the thin surfacing material fixed to the table top. This arrangement gives a table with a convenient height for very many purposes. Instead of acting as a table, this makes

a very strong and useful workbench, again, at a convenient height for very many purposes. (The workbenches illustrated on this page were constructed years ago, before this system.)

Other configurations make it easy to construct platforms. I find that viewing platforms and sitting platforms in a garden enhance the experience so much. So much more can be gained

by viewing the garden from above. The fact that the increase in height is very modest doesn't impair the experience. The components can also be used to construct the basic framework

of garden sheds. The plastic bases used in this system make very good bases for sheds.

The page Building boats and much more: a versatile, flexible system will contain much fuller information about the structures which can be built using the components bases and beams, together
with other components, generally few in number. I don't give information on this page about use of this system to build - quickly and easily - storage units and shelving units. The shelving

system referred to in an image on this page is an earlier system, making use of different components, oak panels and straps - nothing else. No screws, nails or other fixings are used and

there are no woodworking joints. This is a radical design. Facilities for presentations, displays and publicity are described in quite a detailed way on this page, below, but don't embody this

design system - but these different systems can be integrated.

Below, an image which shows an integrated system. To the left, a piece of furniture which was been in place for a long time. Here, it supports a colour ink-jet printer and a monochrome laser

printer but the structure has many uses. Some images on this page show the structure after installation of a mechanism and cutting head. After installation of a hydraulic jack, it becomes

a log-splitter, useful in providing firewood for the stove in this room. To the right, a much newer structure, which belongs to the same system as the one which generates such different

constructs as boats, container growing units, raised water storage ponds, raised wildlife ponds and furniture, amongst others. The structure in the image below has many possible functions.

One use is as a counter / bar table, in conjunction with a counter / bar stool, for eating and drinking. Another use is as a small workbench. The structure is very sturdy but can be assembled,

disassembled and moved very easily. After installation of some additional components, including a hydraulic jack, this structure, like the one next to it, can be used to split logs and as a

fruit press. The conversion process takes very little time. The upper surface of the structure clearly visible is made up of grooved oak boards, not the upper surface of the larch beams. These
boards are unvarnished. The beams are unplaned and unvarnished, as in all my use of these beams. I appreciate varnished surfaces very much but realistically, I don't have the time to

carry out varnishing.

Boats in the new system described above would make good punting boats - and modifiable, to make different sizes. Below, Image 1, punting on the River Avon - not the British River
Avon but the River Avon at Christchurch, New Zealand. Other images: views of 'The Backs' and the River Cam at Cambridge, with punts. Image 2: Clare College building and King's

College Chapel seen from The Backs. Image 3: Clare Bridge. Image 4: Trinity Bridge. Image 5: Mathematical Bridge, Queens College. Images 6 and 7: The Bridge of Sighs, St John's

College. Image 8: View of the River Cam near Trinity College. These photographs not taken by me.

For more on Cambridge University, see my page Cambridge University: excellence and stupidity which now includes comment on some other universities.

Below, images showing a 'sack-truck-system:' a set of applications with similarities ('linkages') and contrasts. The system which includes boats, growing and water conservation

units is another example. The boats form a sub-system - they vary in size and are very varied in their possible applications. In the sack-truck-system, the possible
applications are very varied too. They include carrying loads, as a shopping trolley and a trolley for transporting tools. These applications are common enough but the system has a
higher degree of versatility. It includes display and presentation facilities which can be used for portable advertizing and for use in protests. I've taken part in many protests myself but
I think that many public protests have become over-used and misused, heavily dependent upon slogan shouting and practically never providing argument and evidence sufficient to
defend the cause against reasoned objections. I find it essential to distinguish argument against and action against opponents with few or no redeeming features and action against
people and organizations which have great strengths, in some cases massive strengths. In the first category I include Christian belief, but there are many other examples. In the
second category, I include police forces such as South Yorkshire Police, whose strengths are accompanied by some bizarre, disastrously misguided shortcomings. There are other
examples of this second category described on this page and other pages. I refer to action in these cases as 'appreciation-protest.' Another use for the sack-truck-system is as a

replacement for a tripod. The system incorporates a monopod which has the stability of a tripod and which has various advantages.

Above, images from left to right. The lightweight sack-truck in folded position, easily carried. There are three small wheels on each side, which facilitate moving the trolley up steps and stairs.
Despite the small size of the wheels (which enable the truck to be readily moved up stairs) it can be moved over quite rough ground.

The sack-truck used as a shopping trolley, an adaptation which followed the loss of my van, which had suffered catastrophic engine damage and can't realistically be replaced.

The sack-truck used to support two white boards. The boards can be used for information hand-written with a pen and for displaying paper documents. Larger white boards can be used.

Image showing possible use for a (non-appreciative) protest. People making use of the system for protest, appreciative or non-appreciative, or using the system for other purposes,
may well bring the trolley and associated equipment in a car or van. This system is a convenient way of transporting these things from a vehicle to the place where the system will be used.

Image showing the reverse side of the trolley system. White boards, of this size or larger, can be installed on this side, to make a double-sided system.

Image showing folded chair supported on the reverse side of the sack-truck.

Image showing chair erected after removal from storage position on reverse side. If the system is used for long periods of time, then a chair is very useful.
Image showing use of sack-truck to transport a tool-box. Tool boxes and other storage containers can be piled high on the trolley, secured by straps. Once the various containers have

been removed, the white boards are visible again and can be used to advertise the business carrying out the work, if the trolley is being used by a business.
Image showing monopod fixed in position and supporting a video camera, with image visible on the screen of the camera. The system can obviously be used for still photography also, and for
transporting photographic equipment in containers, and many other pieces of non-photographic equipment / food / drink etc. The monopod is as stable as a tripod and has the advantage,

when used in this way, that any objections (generally invalid) raised against use of a tripod in crowded places - as causing obstruction - aren't applicable to this system. It can be
moved much more readily than a tripod and photographic activities can be resumed. Tripods are much more unwieldy than the complete system here. Not all photographers favour
lightweight cameras. This system can accommodate heavy cameras, including heavy film cameras.

Image showing the camera and the head of the monopod in more detail, larger. The head is flexible and allows the camera to be fixed in many different positions, or rotated to follow movement.
Two monopods, supporting two cameras, can be installed on the system-trolley. Sound equipment can also be readily carried.
Not shown in any of these images: the provision which the design makes for security, including the use of heavy duty chain to prevent theft of a camera attached to the system, to
prevent theft of containers stored on the trolley and provision to prevent the trolley from being taken away.

Above, some uses for two of the foldable sack-trucks.

Image 1, two trucks form a horizontal surface which can be covered with rigid boards. Image 2, another view of the linked trucks. The two truck system in this configuration can be used
to transport quite heavy loads. Plastic containers placed on the horizontal support can contain a wide range of goods - manure, compost, straw bales, bricks, building stone, timber and, of
course, many other things. Some of the paths I've constructed have smooth strips which make movement of single containers much easier, pulled up the slopes by straps, but the system

here is preferable, since there are wheels at the ends of the linked trolleys and less frictional force to overcome. It's essential when using this wheeled system to have safety measures in
place which would make impossible downwards, possibly out-of-control movement. This could be ensured by straps fastened securely to a person, with checks to ensure that the person
could not be thrown off balance.

Image 3, the two trucks in a vertical position. The distance between the two trolleys is obviously adjustable, to fit various lengths and heights for polycarbonate sheet, when used.

Two uses for the two truck system: a lightweight container growing system, in which the trucks act as horizontal supports for the containers, as a lightweight water collecting / conservation
system and as a lightweight shelter. The shelter can protect the trucks from the effects of rain, protect users from the rain - as when the system is used for displays / presentations - and protect
the displays / presentations from the rain, for example the magnetic white boards shown in Image 4, and the colour-printed sheets attached to the boards with clamps or magnets shown in Image 5.

Here, the displays are unsympathetic to Christian belief but there is obviously nothing to stop an end-user of this system using it to promote Christian belief, evangelism.

Above, construction of a new raised water storage pond, following the very, very flexible design above. The pond is very different from any of the variants described above,

but not in every way. This pond is intended to be used for one purpose only, storing water. A structure constructed according to the same design but in a different location could be

used as a solar composter or a protected growing system, provided that one of the long sides faced south, necessary to take maximum advantage of 'the greenhouse effect.' This
structure does have one side which follows the pattern above, or one of the patterns: the long wall to the south, obscured in the photograph by the nearer north facing side here,

is strengthened by a straw bale wall, one of the strengthening structures - in this case pre-existing - which can be very valuable.

The third photograph shows the new water storage pond, still under construction but largely complete. The ideas for this design came, I gave a great deal of thought to the details,
revising and choosing components and spatial relationships which were practicable, all as design thought processes. I' d already been to the land and decided that one of the
two possible sites for the pond was out of the question. Constructing the structure shown in the photograph in a work period later was achieved quickly. I already had most of

the components needed.

The site chosen is next to the platform, of various levels, shown in the first photograph above. I built it a long time ago. Later, I added more platforms, smaller. I built an extension
to the platform for storage, of produce and materials. The pond has been installed in front of the extension. Years after the extension had been built, I placed a straw bale wall in

front of the extension and in contact with it. There are strong straps to prevent the bales from falling forwards. Before I put the wall in place, I planted a yew tree in front of the wall

with a distance of 90cm between the two. I constructed the pond so that it would be 'site-specific.' The width of the pond would be 90cm. By placing the pond between the straw

bale wall and the yew tree, the yew tree would help to withstand the outward forces exerted by the stored water. The columnar yew tree, one of eight, and the smallest, is Taxus
baccata Fastigiata robusta. Together, these trees occupy a very small area of land, not in the least significant, but the trees themselves have great significance for me. At the

time of writing, the pond liner and underlay haven't arrived, so the structure is unfinished, but most of the work has been done. Two panels have been added to the structure at the
east end, forming a roof and a wall, which extends the polycarbonate wall not visible in the photograph but to the left of the central curved polycarbonate arch. The extension is

a smaller version of rectangular container B in the diagram above. It can be used for various purposes, including storage.

The photograph shows the view looking North, so the straw bale wall is to the south and the two curved sides, formed from polycarbonate sheets, are to the east and west . The

polycarbonate sheets have been used 'additively.' The number of sheets needed to withstand water forces can be found when the pond fills with water. Here, three sheets have been

used. Sheet polycarbonate has great structural strength. The long side to the north can be seen clearly. It incorporates polycarbonate sheets, of course, and more than one
galvanized wire mesh panel. Another wire mesh panel and another long polycarbonate sheet has been installed on the south side, next to the straw bale wall. This side is already
very secure. The precautions necessary for the north side to avoid breaking of a wall and loss of water, aren't needed to anything like the same extent. An apparent problem, the

difficulty of inserting the liner and underlay into the structure, has been solved by a simple technique. Another apparent problem, that of extracting water (obviously, it's not

possible to remove polycarbonate sheets and wire mesh panels to use a watering can) also has a ready solution.

The fourth photograph in the row above shows a wire mesh cage containing rocks, a 'gabion.' I'm able to construct gabions of various sizes, using the wire mesh panels available to

me. but the gabion shown in the fourth photograph in the row above wasn't constructed by me. The Wikipedia article on gabions can be recommended. Gabions have a very wide range
of uses, in civil engineering and many other fields, including some unexpected, unusual uses. (The article includes an image of gabions used as X-ray protection during customs
inspections.) The materials which can be used to fill the wire mesh boxes include not only rocks but used tyres and other recycled objects. If the boxes are lined, for example with
nonwoven geotextile, they can contain soil, sand, grit and other granular materials. In general, wire mesh panels can withstand water forces only if faced with polycarbonate sheets

or other continuous or almost continuous surfaces. Strong components which can prevent movement of the panels are obviously a necessity.

The fifth photograph above shows an 'Intermediate Bulk Container.' (IBC). I have an IBC but the photograph doesn't show the one I have. With suitable additions - one or more

continuous surface materials. an IBC forms a strong structure for placing a water storage pond of a design similar to this - or very different. In a design sphere which is very different,

design of shelving, including design of bookcases, I've used the same principle: an existing structure, such as a conventional bookcase, if it's sufficiently robust, can be used to

construct a second structure for the same purpose (or a completely different purpose). The bookcase I constructed is held together by means other than woodworking joints or screws

or nails. It's radically different from existing bookcases. Although constructed using solid oak boards, it's very cheap, simple to construct and requires very little time to construct.

The platform in the first photograph has been modified radically, since it was constructed. The large galvanized container on the highest level is still there. It was used for

water storage but now forms part of the apple / grape press shown on this page in various images. There are now two large water storage barrels on the lowest of the three levels. In
the photograph, another galvanized container can be seen on the lowest level. This is still there and has its original purpose, water storage. There are now water collecting containers

on the large horizontal area which makes up most of the platform, the middle level. These containers cover most of the area and by collecting rainwater, protect the wooden

boards of the platform from rain water, extending the useful life of the boards. Wherever possible, whatever the function of the structure, I include protection from rain in structures,

protection for people and protection for stored materials, including construction materials, such as wood.

Simple Science (1) has some background information on hydrostatic forces, forces acting on these structures, but obviously not the only forces. Simple science (2) has more information.

Above, image on the left, the new water storage pond, but not the newest pond. This shows an early post-construction phase. The two large water barrels are shown on two trolleys. The
original intention was for the water barrels to remain here as part of a larger water storage area. The barrels on their trolleys have now been moved to the large multi-stage-platform
(with extension). The area occupied by the trolleys and barrels is now available for cultivation again. The straw bale wall of the extension provides structural support for the newest water

pond on one side. The walls of the newest pond are polycarbonate sheets, straight and curved. The straight sides are reinforced by wire mesh panels. The outside of the pond is 'softened'

and partly concealed by hazel panels, visible in the photograph above to the right. A wide range of other surfaces can be installed for the same purpose.

The white expanse is one side of a plastic cover which conceals the two barrels on their trolleys. They were moved to a level surface of the platform, the lowest one, for storage. The barrels
can, of course, store water in their new position. The plastic cover (which is designed to protect an Intermediate Bulk Container and which was originally bought for this purpose) now
protects the trolleys from weather damage. Wherever possible, I provide protection for structures and equipment. The cover can be quickly installed, to protect the contents from rain, and

quickly removed when this protection is unnecessary. A water-collecting surface can be installed on the roof of the cover, directing water to a galvanized water container on the same level
and behind the cover and contents. On a higher level of the same platform is the new fruit press described above, with images. Some of its high-visibility 'mechanism-strap' can be seen.

The barrel-trolley units can now be used for transporting and dispensing water. In previous years, during drought conditions, which have sometimes lasted a long time, I've used a watering
can to water crops but I've come to the conclusion that this is an inefficient way of working when extensive watering is necessary. There are repeated walks to and from the water source, to
and from the area to be watered. The weight of water has to be taken into account - 5 litres of water weighs 5 kg and greater volumes are correspondingly heavy. For large volumes of water,
using a trolley-water-container is easier than repeated use of a watering can. The trolleys shown here are heavy-duty and the barrels are large. For many purposes, lighter trolleys and

water containers can be used. In the previous section, lighter trolleys, referred to as 'sack trucks,' are shown. They are very versatile. This is a further use, as mobile water containers.

The pond shown above is partly hidden by the boundary rocks and not clearly seen in this photo. Visible on the right

of the photograph, the lower part of the gutter system at or near ground level, taking water from the water collecting surfaces on the upper slopes to the storage pond.

The polycarbonate sheet conceals pond liner at this end of the pond. Some of the liner here is unused but it can easily be put to use, to make the pond longer. This side of the pond has

the polycarbonate sheet as a boundary. The longer side nearer the wall has a lightweight galvanized steel bar as boundary. These two sides are straight edges, then. The other two sides,

one short, one longer (only the longer side visible here) are bounded by quite large rocks - gritstone, slate and 'Cotswold stone.' (The larger wildlife pond at the lower boundary of this

plot has two straight edges and too irregular edges, formed by vegetation and the natural boundary between land and water. The metal components give support to the polycarbonate

sheets. These metal components, of the same size or a different size, have played an important part in construction projects here, to build trellis systems for plant support (runner beans,

grape vines and others). A long table in the upper plot, used for growing watercress in containers, usable for propagation outdoors and for general purposes, was strengthened with

these metal components. The watercress has since moved on, to ground level. For many years, there was a large structure, quite high, on the largest growing area, used for various

purposes. For example, it supported netting for plant protection. This was constructed with these lightweight galvanized bars.

In water conservation systems which rely on gravity (although two water pumps are available to supplement movement of water by gravity, to move water uphill) then a lower pond is
obviously a suitable storage container for water transferred from a higher level and a higher pond or water container is obviously needed to supply a lower storage pond without the

need for pumping. As well as the ponds, there are a number of galvanised steel water storage containers. Watering cans are the obvious choice for transfer of water from these containers.

The two photographs above in the centre show the fig tree growing against the wall which can be seen in the first photograph. These photographs shows the fig tree in summer, with

courgette plants visible in the foreground in one of the photographs. The first photo shows some of the fig tree in later October. The fig tree has by now lost most of its leaves. I don't

share the view that gardens can look good in every season, for most of the year. I regard late autumn and winter as low points in garden aesthetics (except in snowy periods). These

periods are still very good for outdoors working, unless there's heavy rain and strong winds.

After the magnificence of the autumn foliage has finished, there's still the appeal of planes, surfaces and other architectural features, and many other sources of fulfilment - and lack of
fulfilment. The inner world can be as changeable as British weather. The rhythm of the seasons involves many changes, adjustments, in choices and preferences, in feeling and in

practical matters. The fig tree shown in the first photograph above has far less interest for me than the fig tree in the second one, in full leaf.

This is a water storage pond, not a wildlife or wildflower pond but I did plant a water lily, not the native water lily, Nymphaea alba, the water lily I planted in the large wildlife / wildflower pond lower

down. Instead, I planted a water lily with a similar appearance but more suited to this smaller pond, Marliacea albida. It will be quite a long time before this pond and the other components lose
their rawness and begin to harmonize with their surroundings. Nature should ensure that smoothing and blending and harmonizing take place, together with active management to ensure that
nature doesn't take over completely. Left to its own devices, this pond, like all ponds, would eventually be filled in, with land rather than water. The immediate environment includes a great deal

of bare soil. Constructive work will be needed to encourage some plants and discourage others, often by drastic action.

Above, some diagrams and photographs showing the uses of boards supported by stakes. The stakes are easily attached to the boards at both ends by using screws located

in the holes of the stakes. A primary advantage is that the boards last for much, much longer than boards resting on the soil, the usual method, as the boards are far less
exposed to water in the soil and water on the soil. Enclosed beds can be made without the need to join the boards with any woodworking joints. Even the use of screws is

unnecessary in many cases. Boards can be used as 'dividers,'' one or more boards placed end to end, standing with simply the stakes for support. (In some of the photographs

below, there are boards placed flat on the soil as well - these were placed temporarily or were placed on water-draining surfaces. In the case of the path shown below, the boards
are placed on a ladder laid on the ground, to give a 'raised path,' with advantages in very muddy conditions. ) Boards forming 'closed systems' can become cloches, if solar

plastic tops are put in place to give warming by the greenhouse effect. They can become beds for protected cropping, if netting tops are put in place. Landscape fabric for weed
control is easily moved (or can be blown away) by wind. This system gives a neat way to keep it in place. Landscape-fabric-beds can become growing beds when the weeds have
been eliminated. Closed and open units incorporating stakes can be moved very easily. The boards can be removed very easily and relocated simply by removing the stakes

from the soil and pushing them into the soil in the new location. The stakes can also be easily removed from the boards and the boards can then be used for different purposes,

for different projects. A system of narrow beds can be replaced by a different system, of larger beds or much larger beds. It allows land use to become much more free,

allowing for much more experimentation, with far more possibilities.

Below, general images. In the case of some images below, clicking on the image takes you not to a listed page but to Home Page Images. This provides description / explanation and usually

a larger version of the image.

The 'teaching' of Jesus and 'St' Paul made no mention of the evils of slavery. During most of the history of Christianity, almost all Christians ignored the evils of slavery. During the Roman
Empire, Christians failed to oppose the separation of babies and children from their mothers and fathers, the selling of babies and children in the slave markets, to become the property of
new owners - who had the legal power to torture slaves, to use slaves for sexual gratification, to abuse them emotionally and physically. In recent times, Christian clergy and other Christians
have carried out gross acts of abuse, including rape. Only a small proportion of these cases have come to general public attention. If this can happen in societies with strong legal safeguards,
the abuse in slave societies must have been far, far worse.

Following a section of images which include some showing pizza: a pizza oven of novel design. I constructed a wood-fired pizza oven and a garden incinerator many, many years ago. The results
didn't please me, but I gained experience in the use of fire bricks - the garden incinerator used these in complex ways. I still have the fire bricks I used then, now available for constructing a prototype

of a pizza oven which is radically different from all existing designs known to me. The overall shape is familiar enough, a curved wall over a flat base. For this design, the curve belongs to a (short)

tunnel design rather than a dome.

The smaller, lightweight pizza ovens can't make an 'authentic' pizza. Use of pizza stones and the more efficient pizza steels will give an approximation to an 'authentic' pizza in many domestic
ovens. The large, expensive pizza ovens which can achieve 'authentic' results have many disadvantages, though. For most people, the expense can't be justified. I don't have the money to buy
one of these ovens and even if I did have the money, I would never buy one. In winter, I work outdoors, in some winters, very often. Winter isn't the best time to build and modify outdoor pizza ovens.

I can't share the passionate belief of the pizza perfectionists and pizza purists in the importance of the perfect pizza, or the importance of devoting very substantial resources to achieving it, if it
can be achieved at all. I don't count this design as one of the more important ones, but I've found the problems to be overcome interesting ones.

This pizza oven is part of a system, like a number of other design systems I've thought up and developed. This system, like the other systems, is very flexible, easy to extend, easily modifiable,
and portable. Like the other designs, it can be easily assembled from the components and easily disassembled to release the components, which can be used for completely different purposes,

to make very different structures. Small pizza ovens can be made following this design, as well as large ovens. The small ovens can be converted into large ovens. Constructing a domed
or tunnel pizza oven using firebricks is a difficult skill, as is constructing a pizza oven using clay. This design makes the construction of curved shapes using firebricks easy. Unlike the case with

existing designs, the firebricks aren't held in position using mortar or another substance. The practical information here is restricted, necessarily so, but I intend to add further information.

Various fuels can be used for the pizza oven. I don't intend to use pelleted or other bought fuels. I have ample supplies of hardwood obtained by necessary pruning and felling work on
apple and other trees. I also have available large amounts of gorse from pruning a large gorse hedge. In past centuries, as well as more recently, gorse has often been used as a fuel in
bread ovens. It burns with a hot flame, although not a flame which lasts for long. The fuel has to be replenished often. Storage of the fuels and drying of the fuels are provided for in this pizza
system, which is also a bread-making system - but the oven can be used for purposes other than these. Far more often than not, the hot air leaving the oven, through a chimney or by some

other means, goes to waste. In this system, the warm air is directed to some of the stored wood or gorse, drying it and speeding up the process of converting green wood to wood with a
lower water content, suitable for burning.

INTERLUDE: INTRODUCTION TO THE PAGE IN PREPARATION Shambolic Sheffield.. MFollowed by a large number of general images, very varied and with reduced textaterial on 'Shambolic Sheffield.'

Design and construction of furniture are amongst my activities. One of the bookcases shown above is a new design, constructed from oak panels, which are fitted together without the use of

any woodworking joints or any screws, nails or other fixings. This allows for rapid assembly and disassembly and the system has much wider use, for general shelving as well as for books.

I work on other methods of storage - to reduce 'clutter.' The image on the right in the image-row below shows one of the workbenches I've designed and constructed, which can be used for

other purposes, such as a kitchen work surface and storage unit. This is heavy and solid but can be rapidly assembled and disassembled. Again, no woodworking joints are used and no

fixings, apart from ones used for the two diagonal metal strips, an optional feature. The images on the left of the row show books in bookcases and the use of floor space for temporary

prototyping of the trolley system described below. The image towards the centre shows a corner of the room seen by the two police constables. Clearly visible are some bookcases and,

partly hidden by the back of an ergonomic chair, two computer screens, part of my computer system. The size of computer monitors is usually given as a diagonal measurement. These

are large monitors, with a total width of 1.2 metres. My work needs monitors this big. For example, I used them to produce the series of technical diagrams which illustrated my successful

application for a United States patent. Also shown in the same image and in larger form in the photograph to the right, my violin and viola. The police concluded that the person who owned

and used these things was a person who was unable to care for himself properly. Their action was completely unjustified, wasting my time, a gross misuse of police time, a hideous blunder.

Further allegations were made, including the allegation that I was 'mentally ill.' A member of staff at Sheffield Adult Social Services came to visit
me. She found no evidence at all of 'clutter' and 'hoarding' and no evidence of mental health issues. Later, a letter from Tim Gollins, Assistant
Director, Safeguarding, Mental Health and Wellbeing at Sheffield City Council informed me that her visit to my house 'was prompted by a
'Vulnerable Persons Form' submitted by SYP [South Yorkshire Police] to the Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH.) The letter also included this:
'The MASH worker visited your property ... During the visit, no evidence of a mental health crisis was observed. The worker had no concerns
regarding your mental capacity and noted that you are a highly intelligent man and you are passionate about your views and values.'

Google gives this information about MASH: 'In Sheffield, the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH), often referred to as the Sheffield
Safeguarding Hub, serves as the joint, co-located service involving South Yorkshire Police, social care, health, and other professionals to manage,
screen, and respond to risks.'

South Yorkshire Police has a very different view of me, a view that I can show has led to reckless action, to repeated reckless action, a view that I
can show is grotesque, bizarre and based on active falsification. I take the view that South Yorkshire Police is unfit to remain a member of MASH,
that it should only be allowed to rejoin MASH after a period of exclusion. I have the documentation, the detailed evidence, to support this view.

A significant omission: the letter from Tim Gollins failed to mention that before the visit by the MASH worker to me took place, MASH had already
contacted my medical centre with a request to view or make use of some of my medical records, to provide, it seems, further information about the
false allegation that I was 'mentally ill.' The doctor refused to comply with the request, rightly so. According to the information available to me, if
the doctor had complied, the doctor would have broken the law relating to confidential information in a patient record and would have been
potentially liable to proceedings for professional misconduct. MASH acted on the basis of information from only one source, South Yorkshire
Police. Recently, I requested a copy of documents relating to me on the police computer. Some brief extracts, showing that, far from reflecting
'concerns' to do with an individual, this was part of a series of actions which have been damaging - the damage includes damage to the reputation
of the force. Quite apart from this damage, the actions of South Yorkshire Police have wasted my time, taking me away from my design and
construction work, my work in environmental protection, my work as an independent scholar, in wide-ranging academic fields, wasted the time

South Yorkshire Police has assumed very wide ranging powers, such as the power to sanction alleged 'clutter' and 'hoarding' in houses if they feel
like it, the power to act as amateur psychiatrists. The finding that my house is cluttered and shows evidence of 'hoarding' was based on a visit to
one single room. These are some images of the one room. At the time of the police visit, the bookcases were the same, with one difference. The
trolleys in various configurations were not there. I use the room sometimes for temporary prototyping - structures installed for a short time and
then dismantled, structures which it would be inconvenient or impossible to erect in other rooms. The trolleys were part of a display and
presentation system I was working on, with facilities for transportation of the components.

The visit of the police was unannounced, unexpected. The police had absolutely no right, no justification, for assuming that I shouldn't have
opened the front door as soon as they knocked, that the delay of perhaps less than a minute was evidence of chaotic circumstances inside the
house. They had absolutely no right to be admitted at all, if I had chosen not to let them in. They were calling less than two hours after I left the
Headquarters of the Church Army in Sheffield. I had called there the previous day to request the opportunity to talk with Faye Popham, the
'Associate Director of Organisational Development,' who had sent me a letter which was cause for concern. I was told that she was not present on
the day. I called on the next day, the day of the police visit, and was told that she was at a meeting. I had sent copies of correspondence
concerning some activities of the Church Army to Church Army Trustees. The correspondence is made available on this site. The main issue
discussed was to do with patronage of the Church Army and the benefits likely to result from this patronage. Faye Popham wrote, 'I am aware that
the police have been notified of this correspondence being sent ... ' The correspondence is made available on this site. It was courteous,
reasonable and certainly concerned the Trustees who received copies. The response of the Church Army was drastic. I was told that the building
was private property. I was ordered to leave the building. The Church Army obviously informed the police and the police sent a patrol car to my
house very quickly. The time of two police constables was unavailable to the public for an hour: not in the least a good use of police time. In that
time, I explained why I found their visit unacceptable and why the visit by two police constables on a previous occasion unacceptable - these
PC's had called to deliver the 'Community Protection Notice.' At one point, PC Sarah Forsythe, on of the PC's in attendance, said abruptly, 'And
you called at Snig Hill Station"' This is the main police station in Sheffield. I had called there to try to resolve some of the issues involved in that
previous police visit. Visiting a police station for such a reason is a perfectly reasonable activity. Sarah Forsythe's comment gave the impression
that this wasn't so at all. During the visit to the police station, I mentioned that the police had been penalizing reasonable free expression on my
part, expression which is allowable in this liberal democracy. The response of the woman: 'What does free expression have to do with the police?'

South Yorkshire Police takes decisive action in the case of a Sheffield man, sending two police constables to his house to issue a 'Community

Protection Notice - Written Warning.' From the document: ' ... your conduct is having a detrimental effect, of a persistent or continuing nature

on the quality of life of those in the locality ... if from this time and date the conduct is still having a detrimental impact on the quality of life of

those in the locality, you will be served a Community Protection Notice. It is a criminal offence not to comply ...' Absolutely no evidence was

provided of any 'detrimental effect' in the locality. On the other hand, I can produce evidence of beneficial effects in the locality, evidence

that I've made efforts to enhance the locality, even: the photographs on this page and other pages showing my use of some land in this locality.

Sheffield City Council takes decisive action against the same Sheffield man for alleged failure to cultivate the land rented from the Council in the

locality (Plots 111 and 112, Morley Street Allotments, shown in many images on this page and others. 'I recently completed a formal inspection of

the above Allotment Site [Morley Street] I observed no significant improvement in the condition of your plot (s), which remain overgrown and substantially

uncultivated, despite recent correspondence. As a result I enclose a formal Notice to quit your plot (s) ... all the property and effects must be removed.'

(Jane Bullimore, who perhaps had her reasons for her comments. The allegations were false. There was evidence of cultivation and evidence of growing,

quite sufficient to meet the Council's criteria.

The Notice to Quit: I, Rowan Longhurst, Countryside Services Manager, duly authorised agent of the SHEFFIELD CITY COUNCIL ... HEREBY GIVE YOU

NOTICE TO QUIT and deliver up on the 19 October 2024 the possession of the plot numbers 111 and 112 and premises, which you now hold of the Council

situated at Morley Street Allotments. Dated this 18/09/2024. I was successful in having the decision overturned. The decision to issue a 'Notice to Quit' was

a bad one, for many different reasons, with substantial implications - and continuing repercussions.

My attitude to Sheffield has changed markedly as a result of events, in particular, actions of the police and the Council documented on the site. I don't generalize.

The criticisms are sharply focused. I regard Sheffield as a place where I now find it difficult to work in the way I'd like to work, an adverse environment for my

environmental work and work on other innovations, a very adverse environment for free expression. The events include many which are grotesque and ridiculous,

many involving gross unfairness, gross bias, outright falsifications, failures to produce any evidence at all for allegations, disregard for the detailed evidence

I've provided.

Above, Sheffield industry - one of the reasons why I think of myself as privileged to have been born in Sheffield. The presence of 'Sheffield Forgemasters' reflects my

admiration for the company, as for so many other Sheffield companies, past and present. Obviously, no endorsement for this page or any other material on the site on the

part of Sheffield Forgemasters (or any other Sheffield company) is claimed or implied.

An outstanding video concerned with Sheffield industry: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ov9jR7IC7tw Another outstanding video from the same producer, British Time Capsule,

on the history of industry in Middlesbrough: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0TsDxJCayo My appreciative page on aspects of Sheffield, Sheffield Dales.

My approach to growing is broadly based. Aesthetic values are very important to me and these values underlie my use of the land rented from Sheffield City Council. From the introduction

to Jane Grigson's 'Vegetable Book,' 'In my most optimistic moments, I see every town ringed again with small gardens, nurseries, allotments, greenhouses, orchards, as it was in the past,

an assertion of delight and human scale.' The claim that I've had 'a detrimental effect, of a persistent or continuing nature on the quality of life of those in the locality' (the land I rent happens
to be in 'the locality') is not just false but vile. I made determined efforts to have cleared a large heap of fly tipped rubbish near to the land I rent, shown below, but no action was taken by the

Allotment Officer, or by the so-called 'Lower Walkley Community Garden' who were using the area when the heap appeared or the Garden Church which took over the land later. As I see
it, the Allotment Office, a branch of Sheffield City Council, which owns the land, has favoured these groups far too much, acting in a biased way. I emailed the allotment officer on 21 September

2021, drawing the flytipped rubbish to her attention. I emailed her again on 21 September 2021 about various matters and reminded her of the fly tipped rubbish, which was still there. I've emailed

her since then, reminded her again, and got nowhere. The pile was removed in autumn, 2025, four years later. Extract from an email sent to Rowan Longhurst, Service Manager - Countryside, amongst

others. The email is long but it would take a much longer email to do justice to the issues. Justice, elementary fairness, have been lacking in the pathetic, inadequate responses I've received -

particularly in the case of South Yorkshire Police, which includes in its repertoire of responses failure to give any responses at all.

The extract from the email here (it contains almost all of the material in the email sent) been added to the page in preparation, Shambolic Sheffield. I have yet to decide whether the email extract
should remain on this page. One advantage of allowing it to remain is this. I practically never assume that anyone receiving an email from me will consult this Website. Very often, I'm writing
about matters which are already explained in detail on a page of this site. Very often, the issues need detailed coverage. Often, then, the email sent will necessarily be a long one. Emails are

a useful form of documentation, important as evidence. I regard documents of this kind as important, but they have drawbacks. I spend a great deal of time revising material on the site, but it

would be impossible for me to find the time to revise many many pages and parts of pages adequately. There are whole areas which need revision to a greater or lesser extent. This includes

quite a number of the gardening pages. Most of the pages concerned with literature don't require much revision at all but very many do require extension - they're too short to satisfy me.

Emails, once sent, can't be revised, of course. When the emails have documentary use, potentially, then this is a disadvantage. I may feel that nuances haven't been conveyed, or I may feel
that some important information has been omitted. If the email is added to a page of the Website, then this isn't in general a problem. I can add corrections, amplifications, revisions in general.

.Another advantage of leaving the copy of the email on this page, with other material on mistakes made by South Yorkshire Police and Sheffield City Council Allotment Office is that the land
I rent, my two allotments, have an important part to play in these mistakes. There are many, many photographs showing my work in growing and construction and encouragement of wildlife
on these allotments. They are near to my house, they are in my 'locality,' the word used in the 'Community Protection Notice - Written Warning' which was issued to me: '... your conduct is
having a detrimental effect, of a persistent or continuing nature on the quality of life of those in the locality.' Absolutely no evidence was provided of anti-social behaviour on my part in the
locality or anywhere else. I do have evidence of efforts to make the locality one in which plants and wildlife can flourish. I do have evidence that I made determined efforts to have fly-tipped

rubbish removed from an area in the locality. Surely this is evidence of a strong desire to benefit the locality? I have the evidence to show that I've made immense efforts to grow plants as

well as I possibly can, and this has involved very great effort to control weeds. The Allotment Officer's claim that my plots were 'overgrown and substantially uncultivated, despite recent
correspondence. I would estimate that the plots were far above the 75% level for cultivation mentioned in the Regulations and the Allotment Handbook. I regard the claim made by the

Alllotment Officer as demonstrably mistaken, deeply mistaken, disastrously misguided.

Before the text, images included in the emails sent:

Dear Rowan Longhurst, I refer to] ... the enormous heap of fly-tipped rubbish. The enormous heap was placed there whilst the allotment land was

being 'cultivated' by the 'Lower Walkley Community Group.' This is the group which had been given use of the land, initially rent free. The 'Garden

Church' was given use of the land later. (I think this would be an opportune time for some information to be made available: the Garden Church was

obviously recognized by the Allotment Office. Under what terms? … There are further questions which it would be beneficial to answer.)

Jane Bullimore obviously knew about the enormous heap of fly-tipped rubbish and had known about it well before I communicated this information.

She will have seen it during inspection visits to the site. Or was it thought unnecessary to inspect the site, to exempt these groups from the inspection

process? In my case, the inspection process led to blatantly unfair and deeply disturbing results last year. Certainly, after this communication from me,

she should not only have inspected the site but carried out action to have the rubbish removed. Surely it would have been essential to carry out this further

action: to end the use of the site by the Lower Walkley Community Group and the Garden Church. These groups had been grossly irresponsible in doing

nothing to have the pile removed. According to information I received, the rubbish had been put there by the Lower Walkley Community Group, with one

member named as directly responsible. If a pile of rubbish of this size or much smaller in size had been seen in any other allotment sites, then the allotment

holder would have been given Notice to Quit. To me, this disparity is worse than simple bias ... Jane Bullimore has questions to answer concerning her

failure to act. I take the view that you have questions to act concerning your failure to so much as mention this very important issue in your reply to my email

of 31 October when I had drawn your attention to the heap …

In my email to the Allotment Office of 1 November, 2025, I included a copy of an email sent to Lu Skerratt-Love of the Church Army but never received by

Lu Skerratt-Love, the founder or co-founder of this Garden Church, initially named the 'Forest Church.' This is an extract:

The place where it is planned to hold the event [services of the Garden Church] is rented land. These are Sheffield Council allotments and as such, are

subject to allotment law. The allotments are rented by Lower Walkley Community Group (LWCG). The group's decision to give permission for the Forest

Church to hold the event was very misguided but I have evidence to show that throughout, the use of the land by LWCG has been incompetent.

'[You are] seemingly unaware of the legislation applicable to allotments which is intended to protect the safety of the public and the issue of legal liability.

Allotments do have hazards … A very striking , and very off-putting feature of the garden is the very large heap of rubbish, very long as well as high -

discarded plastic, rubbish of many, many kinds, with further rubbish in some Council Wheelie bins.'

A Facebook page of the Garden Church gave the information that services would last for about two hours - whatever the weather - and made it clear that

children would be very welcome. The expectation that children should be expected to stand in severe weather is a separate, important issue. The Allotment

Office took no action to prevent children, and adults, from the potential dangers presented by this fly-tipped rubbish, not for a short period of time but for a

period lasting many years. I took photographs of the site this year. The heap had become smaller but was still very large, and the Council Wheelie-Bins were

still there, being used for purposes which were obviously not legitimate in the least. If a child had fallen on some sharp metal or been exposed to the dangers

of Weil's disease, spread by rats - rats might well hide and breed in the pile - then the consequences would have been severe.

[In the email I received from Rowan Longhurst] You include this very, very brief statement, which completely fails to do justice to the issues:

'Conduct of Jane Bullimore

'Based on our review of the matters raised, I see no grounds for concern regarding how Jane Bullimore handled these issues. Her actions were consistent

with council policies and procedures, and we are satisfied that they were carried out appropriately'.

Quite apart from the failures I discuss in connection with the inspections of my own plots, there are the further failures on the part of Jane Bullimore in

connection with this fly-tipping. You completely ignore the issue of fly-tipping in your email to me even though in my email to you of 31 October, I included

these graphic images. One row shows this area of the site at the time of occupation by the Garden Church. The other shows the area in 2025. I've added larger

images in this email addressed to the Allotment Office.

The email concluded with this: This email isn't the complaint itself but simply an introduction to the issues. I'll submit a formal complaint once Jane Bullimore,

and any others wishing to make a submission, have had the chance to give a response, if they so wish.

You will receive from me a further email setting out the many reasons why I consider that it was grossly unfair for Jane Bullimore to take the decision to end my

tenancy of both the allotments I rent, Plots 111 and 112 of the Morley Street site. Your very short email to me doesn't address any of these issues. I've begun to

record the issues on my Website www.linkagenet.com on the new page, a page in preparation www.linkagenet.com/themes/shambolic-sheffield.htm You have

given your answer to the email I sent without wating to consider the issues I would be raising. In my view, you have failed to respond in a way which gives me

confidence in your willingness to consider the issues in a fair-minded or thorough way, addressing the issues I will raise. You assumed that I had already made

a complaint even though I had made it absolutely clear that this was not the complaint but simply preparatory material. I don't think you read this part of the email. If you did, you ignored it. My further email will present the relevant issues, and there are many of them.

The Home Page of the site gives a series of images and text information about my cultivation of these plots over the years. It's completely unfair to claim, as Jane

Bullimore did, that the plots were overgrown with weeds. I have a very, very full record of my progress in my allotment plots over the years, including many, many

images. Anybody who takes the view that the decision to end my tenancy was fair would be disregarding an enormous amount of evidence to the contrary.

In the Web page material, and in the summary I intend to include in the next email, I make it clear that last year, I faced substantial challenges and that it was

completely unrealistic for me to attend to all the necessary tasks of sowing and planting in the Spring of 2024. I did prune, in the dormant period, in early spring,

the bushes and trees which needed pruning, including the apple trees.

The inspection process of the Allotment Department seemingly ignores the fact that it's impossible to see any of the interior of many, many allotments. Very

many allotments when viewed from outside have areas which are clearly visible and areas which are hidden. This applies to my allotments. Only some of the

interiors are visible.

Very briefly, when Jane Bullimore looked into my top allotment, Plot 112, she will have been able to see, on the right, a vine trellis, with grapes visible at the

time of the second inspection, and a long path next to the vine trellis which has more than one function, including usefulness as a water collecting surface,

directing water to a galvanized container, storing water for watering crops in the nearby greenhouse, which I designed and constructed to replace a very

old greenhouse destroyed by gale force winds. The new greenhouse was featured in the magazine of the National Allotment Society (Patron, The King),

Issue 2, 2023. The greenhouse features important innovations, including ones to do with water collecting, water conservation and mitigation of high temperatures.

She will not have been able to see any of the interior of the greenhouse, so in deciding that I must lose this allotment, she acted without this further knowledge. Jane

Bullimore will also have been able to see a substantial area devoted to container growing of watercress, but this would have been seen edge on.

When Jane Bullimore looked into my other, much larger allotment, Plot 111, from the path at the top end, she will have noticed the very large area devoted to the growing

of Nasturtium plants. Nasturtium is a perfectly good, legitimate allotment crop. The plants here are growing on a slope which was very steep, unfit for growing any crop.

I made this into a cultivated area by moving compost and soil into the area. She failed to take account of the apple trees in this area. At the time of her second inspection,

she will have seen apples growing. She may perhaps have felt that the short privet hedge to be seen from the path looked very untidy. There's a reason for this. I've

undertaken a great deal of work to replace privet hedges with hedging of native British plants. I planted a hawthorn hedge next to this privet hedge, in front of it. Since

last year, the hawthorn has grown very well and I'm able to remove the privet hedge. The untidy state was strictly temporary. Two beech trees appeared next to the

privet hedge at the lower boundary of the upper allotment. I've left them to grow and it will be easy to convert these native trees into beech hedging, to replace the privet

hedging. Any impression of untidiness here is temporary. This is certainly not a case of overgrown vegetation. A much taller privet hedge nearby is very difficult to reach

for the purpose of pruning. It's situated on a slope. I've used a method which is proving very successful. I planted a vigorous climbing rose which is competing well with

the privet, which will eventually allow the complete removal of the privet hedge. The rose hedging is a far more attractive and worthwhile form of hedging.

The other viewing point, the only other place which would have given Jane Bullimore, a view into this allotment, was on the public road at the lower side of the allotment.

Visible from this viewing point: views from below of the apple trees seen from the upper viewing point. She will have seen hazel trees, which produce a very worthwhile

crop. This year I have felled some of these trees and some apple trees, for reasons I'll explain in the email to be sent. In an area of the allotment next to the public road,

I planted a grape vine, Vitis vinifera Brandt, which has grown very well, producing abundant crops. It produced an abundant crop in the year that Jane Bullimore inspected.

The grapes are many, very many, but small and were probably not noticed, or if noticed, not taken into account. An important fact is the fact that in this area too, the land was

impossible to cultivate without the work I carried out. There was an accumulation of rubbish here, including asbestos sheet. I removed much of the rubbish but this area could

not realistically have been used for general cultivation.

Jane Bullimore will not have seen the long trench I had dug in the nearby area, very near the public road, later used to install a water storage pond next to the wildlife pond,

which attracts dragonflies and is a place where frogs mate. I have had practically no slug damage to crops in these allotments and I think I can claim that the care I've taken

to ensure that frogs have such facilities must be one of the reasons. By far the largest area in the two allotments is a growing area in this lower allotment. I have taken immense

care to control and eliminate the perennial weeds which at one time infested this area. One of the techniques has been to grow potatoes, on rotation, of course. The earthing up

and cultivation of the soil for this purpose disrupt weed growth. Potatoes were grown here in the year before the inspections of Jane Bullimore. I didn't dig over the soil by the

time Jane Bullimore made her first inspection but I did dig it over after that (I have a rotavator but decided not to use it.) I planted the area this year and the soil was in a very good

state. It needed no further digging. I have regularly applied large quantities of manure, or sometimes manure and straw, to this growing areas and other growing areas in both

allotments. This treatment has further suppressed the growth of weeds.

I applied glyphosate to kill weeds in most of the areas of the two allotments after her first inspection but I state categorically that Jane Bullimore's claim that the allotments were

overgrown with weeds was untrue when she made this first inspection. I've used glyphosate rarely, perhaps once every six years. An earlier email, sent to Jane Bullimore but

not quoted heres, included information and comment concerning weed-killing, in particular, control of perennial weeds and the problem I faced from perennial weeds spreading

into my lower allotment from outside. This email will, or should, have left no doubt in her mind that I saw weeding as an important job which had to be carried out as efficiently as

possible. The Notice to Quit gave a different picture, a completely unfair one, of someone who couldn't care less about weed problems.

I used glyphosate last year only so that she would have absolutely no reason to take the decision to evict me when she made her second inspection. When she made this

inspection, the one which led her to decide that I must be deprived of the allotment, any residual weed growth, which was already slight, was even less. Perhaps it's time for

people carrying out allotment inspections to be equipped with digital cameras, to record alleged weed growth and to have the evidence, if there is any, recorded. This would

be to overlook the insuperable obstacles to recording evidence when the person inspecting can't even see into an allotment. For this to be possible, drones would need to be used.

Implicit in your email to me, I feel, is the claim that since my appeal against eviction was successful, the inconvenience to me was minimal and can be disregarded. It can't be

disregarded. After receiving the official notice to quit, there was a lengthy period when I couldn't be sure that I would retain the allotments. The decision was a major issue for me,

not a minor one. Another aspect is this: I've cultivated the allotments for twenty years. I've spent a great deal of money on the allotments as well as so much time. During one

winter, I went to work at the allotments every day, except for the few days when there was snow. I live in a small terraced house where I have more than one workshop, with

tools and a great deal of equipment. The equipment I own obviously includes a great deal of gardening equipment. If my appeal had not been successful, the inconvenience

would have amounted to far more than inconvenience - there would have been major problems. I would have had to take to my house hand tools, including not just a

gardening fork but specialist garden forks such as a manure fork and a potato fork, hoes of different kinds, a rotavator, which is stored, in very secure conditions, in the upper

allotment, a scythe (with a scythe blade bought from the manufacturer very near to these allotments - I'm a strong believer in supporting Sheffield industry whenever possible)

which I used to clear the brambles which infested the allotments after I took them on. But I would have had to move far more than this - the plastic sheets I've used to construct

the greenhouse, cloches, 'solar composters,' the lightweight galvanized bars which I've used in so many projects, to build supports for runner beans and other crops, to build

tables for support of containers for container growing, to build trellis for grape vines. (Sheffield is not far from the Northerly limit for grape growing - it used to be Renishaw Hall,

just outside Sheffield. I think it's interesting to grow grapes in an area which may be marginal but which does allow great success in growing them.) There are many, many other

items I could include. I could add much more detail here. The detail I include is for this purpose - because I think that narrow views of allotment growing leave out far too much -

the difficulties of allotment growing as well as the deep satisfactions and joys of allotment growing. For me, much of the interest lies in the detail.

As I don't assume that people receiving an email from me which mentions my Website will actually look at the material on the Website, I often need to send lengthy emails which

discuss the issues. This email is quite long and the email to you which gives the evidence more fully will need to be a lengthy one.

I intend now to make a complaint about the actions not only of Jane Bullimore but also to make a complaint against you. As in the case of my earlier email, this email does not

present the complaint against you. The material will be presented in a form suitable for a formal complaint when I've completed the necessary documentation. I make this clear:

the Allotment Office surely has to ensure that the person or people taking decisions after my submissions take great care that the procedure inspires confidence in the fairness

of the procedure. There should be no reason for thinking that Jane Bullimore or you yourself have no case to answer, are completely blameless, in advance of the proceedings.

I have experience of another public body which deals with complaints, which has acted in an abysmal way - and I have the evidence to show multiple errors and clear-cut unfairness.

I take the view that the Sheffield Allotment Office should show a much higher standard of conduct. So far, the failures on the part of the Allotment Office are cause for dismay. I'm

determined not to repeat those time-wasting and disillusioning experiences I've had with the complaints procedure of that other public body. A casual approach to issues which

have a bearing on the wider reputation of Sheffield should be avoided.

My environmental work is wide-ranging and includes innovations which led to the award of a United States Patent for a new growing system for use in vineyards, orchards and other

growing areas. I make it completely clear on the Website that I don't have a business. None of the products I've designed and constructed have been sold to the public. None of the

produce from my allotments has ever been sold to the public. The produce is for my own use. I'm happy to give away surplus produce, without any payment.

My Website includes very favourable views of Sheffield and adverse views of Sheffield. In recent years, I've found the accumulation of dismal facts impossible to ignore - needing,

in fact, decisive action on my part. In my email to you of 5 November 2025, I wrote, 'material will be added to my Website www.linkagenet.com at intervals.' This includes, of course,

material from this email.

You should be aware of a further dimension to all this, complex and wide-ranging events. After I contacted or attempted to contact Lu Skerratt-Love of the Church Army, about

such issues as security and safety at the site of the projeted Garden Church, the response was grotesquely unreasonable - a complaint to the police, who issued a Community

Protection Notice against me, claiming that my conduct 'is having a detrimental effect, of a persistent or continuing nature on the quality of life of those inthe locality ...' No evidence

at all was presented in connection with this claim. I can make the confident claim that I've benefitted the quality of life of those in the locality, by tending these allotments where

flowers as well as food crops flourish, visited by dragonflies, a haven for wildlife.

Since that dreadfully unfair Notice, there have been other bizarre complaints. It's necessary to outline the background to one of these complaints because it has possible implications

for the actions of Jane Bullimore. I don't claim outright evidence for any such claim. A dramatic, or quite dramatic instance. Howden House, where adult Social Services are based, sent

one of their employees to my house. I was out at the time, but I was informed that according to the police, my house had 'clutter' and there was evidence of 'hoarding.' The police had

no busines at all to be taking action in this case, of course. The lady visited my house and found no evidence of 'clutter' or 'hoarding.' The accusation of hoarding is related to the fact

that there are almost 1000 books in the room. I'm an independent academic, who carries out research and other work in a setting other than academia ...

What I'm leading up to is this. The complainant, Lu Skerratt-Love, who has been ordained and is now the Rev Lu Skerratt-Love and very likely other complainants from the Church,

have energetically pursued complaints which I can easily shown are fabricated, attempting, it seems, to cause me as much damage as possible. Jane Bullimore is well aware of my

view that allotments should be essentially secular, or at least not allow churches and church groups to conduct evangelistic activity, to attempt to convert non-Christians. Allotments

are places to grow food. They have other benefits, but should not be places where the main aim isn't to grow food but to pray, sing hymns, attempt to convert non-Christians. If some

Church people have been able to persuade South Yorkshire Police to carry out many actions against me, I have to wonder if Jane Bullimore was ever exposed to the same pressures.

If she was, this could explain why she took the otherwise inexplicable decision, in my view, to deprive me of these two plots which I rent.

Howden House has stated explicitly that South Yorkshire Police contacted them, that they contacted the Medical Centre to view my confidential records, and that the reason was to do

with alleged mental illness. At present, I'm waiting to hear from Howden House about the further investigations they have been making. I think it's essential that in a setting which allows

for the free exchange of views and which has the power to reach the true facts, in so far as they can be found - that Jane Bullimore should reveal whether she was ever approached by

the police or by members of the Church. If she says that this never happened, she still has to account for the fact that she disregarded all the evidence that there was nothing at all wrong

with my cultivation of the allotments, that she took a drastic decision based on no evidence whatsoever. If she has the evidence, she would be able to give it at a hearing of a fair, unbiased

hearing. I've no direct evidence that Jane Bullimore was approached by anybody wishing to disadvantage me, to do me harm, in effect, but I would say that police or church members would

have had motive, an important consideration.

The issues are complex, surely in need of thorough investigation. Your email was (as I see it) simplistic. You can either defend your approach or be prepared for an exacting, thorough

approach, which has a chance of reaching the truth.

As before, I would be grateful if you would bring this material to the attention of Jane Bullimore. As before, a reminder that I do have a very large Website where I can publish publicity

material. Whatever the results of the complaints I'm making against South Yorkshire Police (to the Independent Office for Police Conduct) and my complaints against Jane Bullimore and

yourself - I'm also making a complaint against Revd Lu Skerratt-Love under the Clergy Discipline Measure. I need to make it clear that these fairly numerous disciplinary actions are confined

to recent or fairly recent events. In the many previous decades, I've never taken out any complaints. I'm not a vindictive or abrasive person. I'm far too busy to take much notice of these things,

but recent and fairly recent events call for a different response. It's essential to take note of human imperfections, which can so often be excused, it's essential not to over-react, it's essential

to show robustness in the face of inconvenience or even badly mistaken action, sometimes, but it's also essential that public life should be conducted in an honest and fair and unbiased way,

so far as possible. Behaviour which falls well below the standard to be expected should not be ignored. I consider that South Yorkshire Police and the Allotment Office have failed in very

significant ways. My overall attitude to South Yorkshire Police and the Allotment Office is unaffected: one of respect and admiration for the work they do. I refer to this on the Home Page

of my Website as an attitude of 'Admiration-criticism.'

Best Wishes,
Paul Hurt

The fire at Crans-Montana, Switzerland has shown that neglecting fire safety can have horrific consequences. In 2024, I sent an

email to Professor Koen Lamberts, Vice Chancellor of Sheffield University. (20 May, not long after the camp had been set up.) I visited the

pro-Palestinian encampment frequently. I documented conditions at the encampment. I drew his attention to the acute problem to do with

fire risks at the camp. I had photographic evidence to illustrate these issues. An extract from my email:

... the tents at the Pro-Palestinian Camp in Sheffield University Concourse, near the Student Union building, are very closely spaced.

Very often, the tents - the smaller ones and the much larger ones - are touching or almost touching. The recommendation, made again

and again by Fire and Rescue Services and camping organizations, is this:

Tents should be at least 6 metres apart, to avoid the spread of fire.

At this camp, a grossly excessive number of tents have been packed into the available space. A tent can be consumed by fire in

60 seconds and at this camp, fire would spread from tent to tent with dramatic speed. Tents are waterproof, not flameproof. Flammable

materials abound in the large tents for substantial periods and I have seen no fire extinguishers. Fire regulations have been ignored at this camp.

This camp isn't a 'Safe Space' but a dangerous one.

'Sheffield Campus Coalition for Palestine,' the organizers, and Sheffield University have been risking disaster. In the event of fire, the closeness of

the tents would not only have
accelerated the spread of fire but limited the ability of tent occupants to get out of the tent and get out of the area. The occupants would have got in

each others' way, increasing the possibility of a high fatality rate and a high injury rate - a nightmarish scene which could involve students trapped in

an inferno in the middle of the night. [One of the images above shows that the tents extended right up to a main entrance (and exit) of the Student Union

Building. Fire would very likely have spread to this building and perhaps others in the area. If so, the exit shown in the photograph could not have been

used by any occupants in the building.] There would have been very severe legal consequences, very severe general consequences,
the University suffering catastrophic harm, its reputation suffering catastrophic harm - and many dead and injured students at the encampment.

What was the response? The students were allowed to 'Carry On Camping.' They were instructed to take more care but the fire hazard remained.

It took quite a long time - far too long - before they were evicted. A possession order was granted by a judge at Sheffield County Court on 26 July,

more than two months after I contacted the university. The reasons for enforcing the closure of the camp released to the media gave prominence

to the fact that there was a fire hazard at the encampment and that requests concerning health and safety had 'largely been ignored.' I think I can

claim that if I hadn't pointed out some obvious facts concerning fire hazards and health and safety, it would probably never have occurred to the

Vice Chancellor and so many others that there was a serious risk. This was an avoidable risk, like so many fire risks.
Instead of delaying, he should surely have acted quickly.

A decision to put a stop to the camp would have been strongly opposed by groups with a vested (and ideological) interest in supporting the camp,

such as the UCU (University and College Union). Would the UCU and others have promoted the continuation of the camp in the face of such risks?

Would they have been willing to risk a 'Concourse Disaster,' with a death rate perhaps comparable to the Hillsborough Disaster? What of the danger

to university staff and the general public as well as students in the Concourse area?

IEND OF THE INTERLUDE, INTRODUCTION TO THE MATERIAL ON THE PAGE IN PREPARATION Shambolic Sheffield.. Ma

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Simple Science (1): Some considerations relating to the pond constructed with wire mesh panels, amongst other components, with information above.

Simple science (2) Some considerations relating to the boat (alternative use of the system: water conservation unit) shown above.
A great deal of additional material will be needed to explain the construction and uses of the system. For the time being, these

are the only aspects I discuss, background information concerned with (1) flotation and forces (2) background information,

very restricted in scope, concerning aspects of polymer chemistry.

in s
In static equilibrium, the boat will displace a volume of water. The weight of this will equal the total weight of the boat,
together with any loads added to the boat. The buoyant force F, acting upwards, will equal the total weight of the boat
acting downwards: these vector forces are equal and opposite. The state is one of static equilibrium. The boat will
float because the average density of the boat is less than the density of the water in which it floats. The density of the
larch wood which makes up the bulk of the boat is approximately 550 kg/m³ and the density of water at 4°C is
approximately 1000 kg/m³ The mass of the boat (with any additional loads) is equal to the mass of water displaced.
The boat has a mass of approximately 200 kg. The boat can support and move large loads. The greater their mass and

density, the greater will be the buoyant force needed to counteract the downward force. This is achieved by adding
more larch layers and / or the use of other flotation materials.

Calculations making use of hydrostatic equations can supply useful information, eg, the submerged depth of the larch
beams and the depth above the waterline. If it's found that all the beams are below the waterline when the boat is
carrying very heavy loads, more buoyancy material will need to be added, eg in the form of buoyancy bags, PIR
polyisocyanurate material, closed cell polyurethane foam, air-filled plastic barrels, layers of wooden material,

but not very dense woods. (Below, complex science: structure of polyisocyanurate and polyurethane.) Strengthening

by use of steel bars or other means will often be required but the high density of these will not increase significantly

the overall density of the added material. Steel will obviously require protection from corrosion but for many uses, eg

flood mitigation, steel components are not needed.

Calculations in connection with boat buoyancy require use of equations in hydrostatics, including some of those listed here.

The associated discussion and explanations are very concise.

(1) m = ρ V where m is the mass, water, ρ is the density in kg/m³ and V is the volume in /m³ These quantities, m, ρ and V can

refer to the boat or the water. Subscripts make clear that the reference is specifically to the body, in this case the boat (_B) or

the fluid, in this case the water, (_f)

(2) F_B = m_fg = ρ_f V_fg where g is the acceleration due to gravity, 9.81 m/s² (alternative units, newton N per kg.) This gives
the magnitude of the buoyant force. In this equation, the term m can be replaced with the expression ρ V, using equation (1)

ρ_fV_fg = m_B g (3) since the buoyant force, acting upwards, is equal in magnitude to the weight of the boat, acting downwards.

The boat is not fully submerged, due to the buoyant force acting on it. .

Furthermore,

ρ_fV_f g = ρ_B V_B g (4) It will be obvious that the left hand side of the equation refers to the fluid, water and the right hand side

refers to the body floating in the water, the boat. The gravitational constant g which appears on both sides of this equation

can be cancelled. Solving for V_f gives this equation:

Vf = ρ_B / ρ_f x V_B (6) where V_f is the volume of the fluid displaced. V_B is the volume of the body itself, the boat. ρ_B / ρ_f is the

ratio of the densities of the body and the fluid.

IEquations in this section can be used to calculate how much of the semi-submerged boat will be above the water line - the height h

above the water line in m or cm - and how much will be below the water line, with and without added loads.

Calculations involving hypothetical loads, including very heavy loads, are of course crucial in establishing the possibilities and uses

of this boat, including uses in disaster situations. There are many other possible uses, which will require extended comment and explanation.

Notes on some polymers which have potential uses, important uses, in the construction of the system.

Below, left: structure of the isocyanurate group (polyols shown as R-group) in the polymer polyisocyanurate, a valuable polymer for buoyancy uses.

Below, right: a synthesis reaction in the manufacture of polyurethane, another valuable polymer for buoyancy uses. Unlike polyethene

and polystyrene, polyurethane is a group of polymers. This polymer is an alternating chain of two monomers. The starting materials for the manufacture of

polyisocyanurate are similar to those used in the manufacture of polyurethane.

The macromolecular and polymolecular level determines and explains the very wide range of properties and applications of polyurethanes,

rigid and flexible, with different degrees of water absorption, their value as insulation materials and buoyancy materials: the polymers

very useful in providing buoyancy for the boat are also very useful insulators, and can readily be used for insulation in applications
where the components can readily be removed, and replaced as needed. The versatility of polymers contributes very significantly to

the versatility of this particular practical application.

Compare the complex structure diagrams for an organic polymer, lignin. Lignin makes up 30% of terrestrial carbon (non-fossil)

and up to 35% of the dry mass of wood. This is a group of heterogeneous polymers synthesized from a few precursor molecules,

lignols, all derived from phenylpropane. Varied and extensive crosslinking between the lignols accounts for the heterogeneity of lignin.