A public garden

Source A: a newly written contemporary non-fiction-style account.

“I joined the community garden in March and was given a plot beside the water tank. The membership fee was ten pounds for the year. On my first Saturday, I planted beans with help from a retired bus driver called June. The garden occupies a former car park behind the shops. I had assumed that growing vegetables would be a private hobby. Within an hour, three people had advised me about slugs and one had offered a spare chair.

The soil resisted the tidy rows I had drawn in my notebook. Stones surfaced like awkward questions, and every root appeared to have signed a lease. June watched me attack one with a fork, then suggested a different angle. Around us, the garden was an untidy parliament of opinions: when to sow, what to feed, whether the weather had ever behaved properly. I found the disagreement unexpectedly restful. Nobody pretended that a living thing could be managed by a perfect plan.

Not everything grew. My first beans vanished, possibly into a pigeon, and the second planting survived only after I accepted June's advice. By summer, I valued the shared water tank almost as much as the harvest. People paused there long enough to exchange news. A garden is often praised as an escape from other people. Mine became useful because it offered a gentler way of meeting them, with something practical to do while we spoke.”

Source B: a newly written letter in a nineteenth-century voice. This is a period-voice simulation, not an archival document.

“Sir, I support the proposal to turn the unused ground near the mill into allotments. Families in the surrounding streets possess little space beyond their doorsteps, and vegetables brought from the country are not always within their means. A modest piece of cultivated ground would provide useful food and an occupation whose results can be seen rather than merely promised.

I would, however, urge the committee to consider the water supply before celebrating the plan. The nearest pump is a considerable distance away. To carry every pail from it after a day's work would make the supposed recreation another burden, especially for those whose strength is already taxed. A garden may be described as wholesome in a report while becoming exhausting in practice. Good intentions will not fill a watering can.

There should also be a fair arrangement for sharing tools and deciding who receives a plot. If the smallest holdings go only to people with influential friends, we shall have reproduced the inequalities the scheme claims to relieve. I favour the proposal precisely because it could improve ordinary lives. Let us therefore attend to its unromantic details: water, access and an honest list of applicants. The beans will benefit more from those than from our speeches.”

Refer only to the first paragraph of Source A. Select exactly FOUR true statements. Write their four letters in the answer box.

A. The writer joins in March.

B. The plot is beside a water tank.

C. The fee is ten pounds each week.

D. June is a retired bus driver.

E. The annual fee is ten pounds.

F. No one offers advice.

G. The writer plants carrots first.

H. The garden occupies an old railway station.