Association Minutes

GLEN ALLOTMENTS ASSOCIATION

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

HELD ON SATURDAY, 29^TH JUNE 2019 AT THE CABIN ON GLEN ALLOTMENTS

Present: Claire Kennard (Chairperson)

Norah Godfrey (Treasurer)

Efro Tooms (Acting Secretary)

Association Members: Susie Braithwaite, Martin Braund, Shan Braund, Celina Gee (Site Secretary), Les Gee, Dorothy Godfrey, Ann Harper, John Harper (Site Secretary), Annie Holder, Mariela Munoz del Valle, Brendon Stewart, Alison Stockdale, Jill Skinner (Tang Hall Primary School)

Apologies: Jonathan French, Catherine Hollingworth, Andy Holt, Kate McArdle, Tara Mason, Dave and Margaret Matthews, Adam Myers & Colin Smith fromYACIO, James Stockdale,

1. WELCOME & INTRODUCTIONS

Claire welcomed everyone for coming and thanked all Association members for attending, and asked them all to introduce themselves. She also thanked everyone who had helped over the past year.

2. CHAIRPERSON’S REPORT

Claire presented her report regarding work and events that had happened over the year, as follows:

1. Cabin Roof: The first big thing we needed to do was to repair the leaking roof of the portakabin and this was done by Nev Lowes with money donated by John Harper. The inside of the portakabin was then painted with paint donated by members and the work was done by John Harper, Mariela and Claire and John also painted the outside.
2. Cabin Floor: The portakabin floor which was in bad repair and dangerous, was replaced and the cost was covered by money donated by YACIO, with a small contribution by the Association. Thanks to Tom Ambler for putting the floor down with help from Les and John.
3. Manure: The supply of manure was arranged by Audrey and members were charged £1 per wheel barrow.
4. Photo Shoot: There was a half page article on the new Glen Allotments Association in the Press in October, together with a photo of some of the members who were there on the day.
5. Area at the entrance gate to the allotments: This area was cleared over a weekend by Les, Celina, Efro and Claire and all the plants used were donated. She asked that if any of our members had a little time to spare it would help if they could help with weeding the flower bed and keep it tidy.

6. Association Member Tara Mason: Claire informed the meeting that Tara had submitted a garden design to Gardner’s World at their exhibition in Birmingham and that she had received a Bronze Medal. Claire will send photos of Tara’s garden will be put on John Harper’s blog, https:glenallotments.blogspot.com.
7. Ward Funding: Glen Allotments Association had applied for Ward Funding to cover the cost of two picnic tables, a notice board for Association notices, and catering equipment. Thank you to Susie and Claire for the work they did on the application. We have now heard that we have been awarded the funds and we are going to go ahead with the purchase of the items.
8. Minutes of Committee and AGMs will be put on John Harper’s blog (https:glenallotments.blogspot.com.) and, therefore, be accessible to all. Copies will also be displayed on the new Notice Board when installed.
9. Site Secretaries Reports: Claire asked the Site Secretaries, Celina Gee and John Harper to update the membership of their work and responsibilities.

John stated that one of the big jobs is showing prospective tenants around and explaining conditions and then to have them complete the tenancy forms. They have had ten tenants in the last few months.

Celina then clarified certain rules:

1. Sheds & Green Houses: Permission must be obtained from the Site Secretaries for these to be constructed and put on the allotment.
2. The Notice Board in the parking area is for YACIO notices only. Members are encouraged to check for new notices/information.
3. Site Secretaries do a site inspection once a month and if it is considered that an allotment needs to be cleaned up, a letter will go out from (Anna the YACIO Administrator) asking the allotment holder to do whatever is necessary. If this is a problem due to anyone being ill or there is some other problem, then the Site Secretaries should be contacted.
4. Waiting List: At this time, there are 27 people on a waiting list.
5. Skips: This year we were really disappointed with people putting in things they shouldn’t have. The skip was delivered on Friday and by Saturday morning it was full. Susie and Celina had to take stuff to Hazel Court. As always there are details of what can and can’t go into skips. The Site Secretaries will try to educate people to not bring things to the allotment if they are not going to be used on the allotment and are just brought for storage purposes.
6. Tool Marking: Celina mentioned that we had the police come to the allotments to mark tools and other equipment. If necessary, she could arrange for this again.
7. Break-ins/Stolen Items: Celina stated that in the event that allotment holders have had items stolen, break-ins or other anti social behaviour they should contact the police on 101. If

incidents are reported, there is more likelihood that there would

be more frequent patrols in the area and advise the Site Secretaries who will inform YACIO. Site Secretaries contact details are on the YACIO Notice Board in the car park.

8. Glen Allotments Anniversary: John mentioned that the allotments are 100 years old this year and perhaps we should plan an event to celebrate.

10. Tang Hall Primary School Allotment: Jill Skinner introduced herself as a teaching assistant at the school and the person responsible for the allotment held Tang Hall Primary School. She pointed out that the idea of the plot was to create a wild life area. However, the major issue was one of time and also that she could only bring two children when she is on her own. The school club has about sixteen children and the plot is the only green space they have. Members at the meeting agreed that they would help out with weeding if available. Jill would contact Claire about dates. Jill also said that members could go onto the school allotment and pick fruit from the trees. Also, the children’s equipment could be stored in the Cabin.
11. Future Events: As YACIO now has public liability insurance, we could arrange events. Various ideas were put forward including (a) have an open day during the National Allotment Day period from 12^th-18^th August; (b) have speakers who could talk about gardening and what we could be growing and how to best use our allotments.
12. Raising Funds for the Association: There were several suggestions on how we could raise money for the Association such as (a) selling tea, coffee and cakes at special events we arrange and at weekends; (b) sell spare produce to other allotment holders; (c) continue to sell manure; (d) gradually selling items such as plumbers’ tubing which is used around the allotments as a frame for netting and selling it to members by the metre. All these will be discussed at the Committee meetings.

3. TREASURER’S REPORT

Norah passed round a financial statement and confirmed that the Association Membership fee was £5 per plot. The manure that was purchased last year cost £50 and was sold to members for £1 per wheel barrow. It was agreed at Committee meeting that non-Association members will be charged £1.50 per wheel barrow. The cost of manure for this year will be £75.

We had received £300 from YACIO for repairs to the Cabin Floor and the Association had contributed a further £30.

At the time of this meeting, we had £162.39 in the bank account and £50 in petty cash.

4. APPROVAL OF ACCOUNTS

Approval of the accounts was proposed by Claire and seconded by Efro.

5. NOMINATIONS FOR OFFICERS FOR THE COMMITTEE

Chairperson: Claire Kennard

Treasurer: Ann Harper

Secretary: Susie Braithwaite & Efro Tooms jointly

6. ELECTION OF OFFICERS AND COMMITTEE

Approval of election of Officers mentioned above was proposed by Shan Braund and seconded by Les Gee.

Other members of the Committee are Les Gee, John Harper (Site Secretary), Tara Mason, Mariela Munoz del Valle and Jill Skinner

7. DATE OF NEXT ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

This was set for 10:00 am on Saturday, 4^th July 2020

8. ANY OTHER BUSINESS

1. Date of Next Association Meeting: Date to be discussed at next Committee meeting and email will be sent out to members.
2. Next Committee Meeting: This will be held at 10:00 am on Thursday, 11^th July at the Cabin.
3. Tree Pruning: Ann pointed out that the trees around the Cabin need to be pruned back as they are hanging over the parking area. Celina and John to speak to YACIO about this. Brendon also asked whether it was possible for branches from pruned trees on allotments to be put through a chipper. Celina and John can also discuss this with YACIO.
4. Susie said that she would do headers for the two notice boards, i.e. the notice board in the parking area for YACIO notices and the new notice board on the Cabin for Association notices.
5. Celina also mentioned that Adi French, an artist who lives on East Parade and whose husband is an Association member, has kindly offered to decorate the outside of the Cabin with painted flowers.

There being no other business, the meeting was adjourned at 11:00 am.

05/07/2019

Apologies

I was meant to have got the minutes of the association meeting out. Health matters intervened and I have had to do a gall bladder flush to clear out an accumulation of  gall stones. When full of stones I tend to act a bit erratically and become different character who can get angry and starts shouting. If I have offended anyone during that time in the way I acted, please accept my apologies. The cleanse seems to have been fairly successful but I will follow the daily apple juice routine for a while longer.

I know there are many sceptics but I feel that it has worked for me. About 9 years ago I had a similar problem and was sent by my doctor for an ultrasound to confirm that it was gallstones. Because of the long wait, about a month, to get an ultrasound done, I decided in desperation to give it a try. There are many variations of this but for those of you who might be interested you can find it here. I followed this regime and feel much improved but will probably do another flush in the near future.

So now I just need to find the minutes and get them posted. They will now follow shortly, after a small interlude. You'll have to imagine the interlude music in the meantime.

Congratulations to Tara

  Congratulations to Tara who recently displayed a plot at Gardener's World and won a Bronze Award. Well done!