Greencroft and Waterman's Allotments in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire
Minutes of annual general meeting held at 7pm on October 6th 2005 at Henley Town Hall
Doug Richards, Robin Rippon, Graham Jones, Liz Cope, Jane Cooke, Graham Neighbour, Ted & Ann Allwright, Doug Godfrey and Dianne Browne.
Apart from a not missed out in item 3 they were passed as correct.
Charitable status - Dave McEwen has spoken to Steve Cook about this and it is a non starter, for various reasons. Steve is involved with Eyot Boat Club who are a charity and he was able to advise that it is not relevant for an Allotments Association like ours.
This was circulated with the agenda. The only thing to add was thanks to all committee members especially Alison & Liz for being the site managers of the 2 sites.
Copies of accounts were circulated at the AGM, Dave apologised for them not being circulated with agenda.
At present we are quite nicely solvent, our grant of £360.00 is due from the council shortly. Our income comes from the grant, boat trip and donation from the cricket club and these generally balance our outgoings. (This stresses how important the boat trip and cricket parking are to us.) Should we loose any of these the books won't balance and we would have to look at other ways of raising funds, maybe membership fees as many other allotment associations have.
The council has approx £3,000.00 to spend on the Allotments (mowing, skips, dealing with the pumps and any other work we ask for within the budget - we cannot carry any unspent budget from one year to the next.)
The Cricket Club are allowed to use half of Greencroft's parking on about 10 days per year and then at Regatta we get all the proceeds from the parking (This year due to bad weather and another major event else where it was not very good so the CC gave us a donation of £250.00). We will negotiate that next year maybe £20-£30 per day that they use approx up to 10 days. Bob Crawford suggested maybe give up the first two Allotments to parking. Natasha Street mentioned that we did have a waiting list and could ill afford to give up 2 allotments. Also someone mentioned not very nice for those next to parking. Mr.Dapper said it was not essential to allocate extra parking as generally not much inconvenience, and didn't want us to set a precedence. Andrew Hawkins stated that we seem to have one or two teething problems at start of season which we were sorting out. Dave McEwen also stated that we have made it clear that it is a one year agreement, to be renewed each year.
We have now changed our bank account to Alliance and Leicester.
We now have a working rotivator if you wish to borrow it speak to Peter Herbert. We also have a trailer. (Although it needs mud guards to be fitted to be legal - Peter Herbert is sorting this out.)
The NASLG membership has gone up again but this gives us access to the seed scheme (if you wish catalogue see Dave McEwen). HDRA - organic gardening association, we get magazines these are circulated to committee members so if you wish to see these speak to a committee member. Also they have a website and you can email queries to them. Although Dave recommended individuals join.
We got the council to purchase us some membrane with the remains of last years budget. Primarily to use on un-let plots but if you wish to buy some see Alison (579852).
Pam Phillips also asked if we could use some of the budget for more taps on Watermans (But because we cannot carry over budget this might not be possible) Ian Reissman said we should look at it being a Capital Budget item and approach Town Clerk with quotes for the work.
6 vacant plots on Greencroft and 5 on Waterman's. Rent notices will be sent out in the next week or so.
We no longer have a newsletter collator since Sarah Sharland moved so if anybody would like to take this on please let us know - Debbie Byrne volunteered.
We have tried to get an up to date figure of what is left in the budget, but have not been able to get a figure.
Celia Hope asked what should we do if someone has paid for a plot and is not working it? Is there any reason why they should not be asked to vacate it. The feeling from the floor was that they wish the committee to get much tougher on members who do not keep their plots up. Andrew Hawkins stated it was much easier to evict members if we have a waiting list. The floor did not agree. They wish us to send out eviction notices to members who do not keep their plots up to an acceptable standard.
Skips were requested for both sites for an Autumn clear up. Pete will arrange this.
Since the agenda was circulated Jean Oliver & Gary Heeks resigned so there are two vacancies on Waterman's committee. We have received a nomination for Robin Rippon, Pam Phillips also offered these were seconded. No other nominations were received. The committee and officers were elected.
We were asked why building materials are not allowed. Andrew Hawkins stated this was because when a plot is vacated it is not possible to rotivate if there are building materials. He also said that the object behind the rules was to make them simple and understandable. Further to the last AGM the committee listened to ideas from its members and incorporated these. The rules as they now stand were passed and adopted by the floor.
Gardeners Question Time - Tom Batty, Peter Anderson and hopefully Petra will make up the panel.
Please return all seed catalogue orders by then or to Dave McEwen by this date Cheques made payable to Henley Allotments Association adding an extra 80p for individual packing. Also when advised they are ready please collect ASAP. (Include name, site, plot number and contact phone number on order form)
Next social committee meeting Wednesday 11th January 2006 at 7.30pm in the back room of the Bird in Hand - everyone welcome.
Sally McEwen asked that thanks should be minuted to everyone who has helped with social events - Doug Richards for his cookery evening, Hobbs for the loan of the boat, Ian & Diane Perton and Marie Turner for the food for the boat trip and everyone else who help to arrange the social events.
Graham Jones sent an email asking about Japanese Knotweed on Greencroft - Andrew Hawkins will discus this with Gareth at our meeting next week.
Pumpkin Competition weigh in will be on Sunday 16th October at 11.30 on Waterman's.
Pumps on Greencroft - Andrew will number pumps so they will be correctly put back next year. It was also suggested that we draw up a set of operating instructions to give to all new members.
Vandalism - we keep looking at ways to stop it.
Mr. Dapper also said it is wonderful to see young people with children coming to the allotments.
The floor wished to express thanks to the chair other officers and committee members.
Next AGM Thursday 5th October 2006
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