GT Reading — Test 16

Reading passage

TEXT A — Millbrook Community Allotments — Plot Holder Notice Welcome to your new growing space. Please read the following before your first visit. Each standard plot measures ten metres by five metres. Half-plots are available for those who would prefer a smaller commitment, and these are usually offered first to anyone on the waiting list who has not held ground before. A shed may be erected on any full plot, but it must sit no closer than one metre to the boundary path so that your neighbours can pass freely. The site gate is locked at dusk throughout the year. Your key fob also opens the water store, where you will find watering cans for shared use. Please rinse and return them. Hosepipes are not permitted between June and September owing to the district's summer restrictions; hand watering only is allowed during those months. Bonfires may be lit only on the last Saturday of each month, and never before four o'clock in the afternoon. Green waste that cannot be composted should be taken to the far bays behind the toilet block rather than burned. Rent falls due on the first of April. Should a plot appear neglected for more than eight weeks in the growing season, the committee may issue a written warning and, if no improvement follows, reclaim the ground. ———————————— TEXT B — Spring Plant Swap and Open Morning The Millbrook growers invite you to our busiest event of the year, held this time on Saturday 18 April from nine until one. Whether you have gardened for decades or have never sown a single seed, there is something for you. Bring along any spare seedlings, spare seeds, or rooted cuttings and exchange them at the swap table. Nothing needs to be bought; the idea is simply that no healthy plant goes to waste. If you arrive empty-handed, don't worry — a donation box lets you take a few plants home for a suggested pound each. Our tool-sharpening stall returns, run by a retired joiner who asks only for a tin of biscuits in return. Bring your secateurs and shears. There will also be a soil-testing corner where you can learn whether your patch leans acid or alkaline, and what that means for what you grow. Children are especially welcome. The far meadow will host a sunflower-planting table, and every child who plants a pot may enter our tallest-sunflower contest, judged in September. Tea, coffee and home baking will be served in the store all morning, with proceeds going towards a new wheelchair-friendly raised bed. Parking is limited, so please walk or cycle if you can. ———————————— TEXT C — Shared Facilities — Booking and Rules The following facilities at Millbrook may be reserved by any plot holder in good standing. Bookings are taken through the online calendar or by leaving a note in the wooden box by the gate. The polytunnel may be booked for seed-raising between February and May. A maximum of two benches per household applies during that period so that space is shared fairly. From June onwards the tunnel is open to all without booking. The community oven, built by volunteers last autumn, may be hired for gatherings at a cost of five pounds towards firewood. It seats groups of up to twenty and comes with trestle tables. Please book at least a fortnight ahead, as demand is high in the warmer months. The wheelbarrow fleet lives in the lower store. Barrows are first-come, first-served and cannot be reserved; please do not remove them from the site under any circumstances. The compost toilet is cleaned every Friday by a rota of members. If you notice it running low on sawdust, a fresh sack sits beneath the sink — please top it up rather than waiting for the next cleaner. Lost keys should be reported at once. A replacement fob costs eight pounds and can take up to ten days to arrive.