HAWKINGE ALLOTMENT SOCIETY

Transcription

1 HAWKINGE ALLOTMENT SOCIETY ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 29 th January pm Hawkinge Village Hall ELECTION OF CHAIRPERSON Nick Lord was proposed by Nick Hilditch and seconded by Dawn Wolley. Nick Lord stood as Chairperson for the AGM. APOLOGIES: Hedley Wethered Chris Rumbold Sue Foster Sid & Carol Seabrook Jenny Wilson Carole Hill Carole Wright Christopher Wolley MINUTES OF PREVIOUS AGM Nick Lord read through the minutes. Honorary Auditor Roy Adams name was amended from Roy Sayer in the previous minutes. Content was agreed by a show of hands and Nick Lord signed the minutes off. CORRESPONDENCE: None to report MATTERS ARISING: None to report CHAIRPERSONS MANAGEMENT REPORT: Here we are again at the start of another year in the annals of the Allotment Society, our 8 th year of production and it is 12 years since Eileen organised the first meeting of a small group of people to set up the Society, many of whom are here today. We have come a long way since those early days and the Society has 65 families who currently have plots or raised beds. Another 90 plus families have had plots during the last 7 years and subsequently given them up. That is quite a high turnover of 1

2 members when you think about it and it is one of the tasks that keeps some of the Society officers and Volunteers very busy. And on that subject, you will have found on some of the seats an article taken from the Allotment magazine which came out at the end of last year. If you can multi-task and read the article while listening to me, then do so now and I will talk about its content a little later. Firstly though, it s time to reflect on last year, we had the usual round of Coffee Mornings, Working Parties, competitions and Open Days. All, I think, were successful in their way and will be repeated this year, although the Pumpkin and Sunflower competitions are, I believe, being replaced by a Best Shed competition, I might ask Doug to talk about that a little bit later! We will still be having the best plot competitions. Of course, the highlight of the year for me was the arrival of the ride-on mower, something I had always wanted the Society to have; the grass cutting rota has never been so easy to fill! Sadly, we had to cancel a couple of events because of the weather; perhaps we will be luckier this year? Eileen and Alan s shop continues to prosper and last year they donated half of the profits to the Hospice and we will ask Eileen to talk a little about her plans for this year later too perhaps. This year we have encouraged members to buy potatoes through us, so that we could try the varieties that are allegedly more resistant to disease and hopefully you have collected your order today and we will have a better crop this year. We also enjoyed a trip to the RHS gardens at Hyde Hall, which is a bonus of having our site insurance with the RHS. We also established this year that, to our surprise and great joy, our Clubhouse is actually covered under our insurance policy. We had always thought that due to it being a wooden building it was not covered, but due to pressure from our Treasurer they advised in writing that it is covered! This is very significant in terms of our finances, because it has been in our minds for a long time that if something happened to it and we had to replace it, the cost would have fallen on the Society and would have been a heavy drain on our resources. We still have to consider whether it will need replacing within the 30 years of our lease, however having to keep funds in reserve is not such a high priority now. This year s trip to a RHS venue is one of the items we will cover under Any Other Business. I will ask Dawn to talk about the plans for exhibiting at the RHS show at Hampton Court; there was a very enthusiastic group who wanted to do this, though I believe for this year they have decided to hold off until There are still a number of challenges facing us in the coming year; we have to do some work on the hedgerow on the South border of the site, which we have recently discovered is our responsibility. There is a planning application to build 19 houses on the field to the west of the site and we have to reflect on the impact that might have on us. There are some projects that our Site Manager will outline in his report that are quite labour intensive, which sort of brings me back to the article from the Allotment magazine. Basically, the article is written by an allotment committee member from a site in Brampton, Cambridgeshire. What he is saying is that every allotment site needs a management committee in order for a site to exist; they have the difficult task of 2

3 bringing people to task when their plots become neglected or overgrown with weeds. And as I have already mentioned we do have a high turnover of members and that is partly due to us constantly monitoring who is coping with their plot and who isn t and following that up with support or possible eviction. The article s writer s point is that it is a thankless task but without it, the site would fail so we do it because somebody has to but it doesn t make us any different, or indeed the only members, who have to do everything. So, if you see that a communal hedge needs trimming, trim it! Put your name down on the grass cutting rota, your name will be going down on the toilet cleaning rota anyway, more of that later too! Last year we adapted Mr Kennedy s famous words, Ask not what your Allotment Society can do for me, ask what can I do for the Allotment Society! ANNUAL AUDITED ACCOUNTS & TREASURERS REPORT & RECOMMENDATIONS Dawn Wolley read out her report: Introduction: Report distributed Questions as we go Brief overview details to follow: Started year at 7, and are carrying forward 9, So the surplus this year is 1, We have received most of the 2017 plot fees so the actual bank balance at 31 st December was 11, Slightly lower surplus this year. Income for year 6,643 of which 2,749 was fees etc. and 1,605 was the grant for the mower ( 2,287 exc fees and grant) Expenditure 5, including mower costs ( 3,279 exc mower), Comments: Surplus lower than last year due to a number of reasons: Expenditure although this was slightly lower than last year excluding mower costs there were a number of increases. Our rent to Hawkinge Town Council was increased by 14%. This was the first increase we have had and it will now be held for the next 4 years. The cost of water and the website also increased. We also bought a new trophy for the best plot competition. Maintenance is our largest expenditure after the rent. The site now 6 years old so general maintenance will continue to be high. The site manager report gives more details but the general maintenance of the site, fencing, varnishing the clubhouse etc. as well as grass cutting is all done by a few volunteers. If it 3

4 is not done by volunteers we will have to pay a contractor which would increase the fees considerably, grass cutting alone would cost over Please volunteer. Fundraising went very well this year especially the sale of plants etc., 360 with a similar figure going to charity. Thank you Eileen and Alan. The monthly coffee/cake mornings continue to be successful and raised over 340 We only held one successful quiz night in the spring, thanks Nick. Insurance Our Insurance costs for 2016 were the same as last year and have been held at the same rate for this year. However, it has now been established that despite the policy wording that our clubhouse is covered so we have increased the cover for 2017 and hence the premium. Water usage Water consumption was similar to last year. The cost this year is slightly more as our monthly payments were increased. The cost per cubic meter has increased again this year so we have to assume our costs will increase too. Our water consumption is totally dependent on the weather but please use piped water sensibly to try to keep the costs down. ( 14month) Water butts Each plot was allocated a water butt when we started the site. Over time some have been moved. Would everyone please ensure that all HAS water butts are connected to a gutter/being used. Fees 85% of the 2017 fees have been paid electronically compared with 70% of 2016 fees. Please keep paying electronically wherever possible and all invoices etc. will continue to be sent by wherever possible. These measures reduce the use and cost of postage, paper (save a tree!) and shoe leather and simplify things. Membership Resignations 14 New members - 8 in 2016 Some members with ½ plots have taken on another ½ giving them full plots. Vacant 1 full plot and 1(poss 2) half plots and 2 raised beds Sure these will be filled by spring. Adverts have been put out. Proposals: Fees We need to set the 2018 charges at this AGM. Despite the fact that the income from fees did not quite cover our expenditure this year I propose that we keep our plot fees at the same level for another year. Our site rental to Hawkinge Town Council but will then be held at the same level until

5 We have a surplus in the bank which I believe we ought to use to cover any shortfall. However, we have to be aware that as the site ages the cost of maintaining it may increase. We also cannot ever guarantee our income from fundraising/plant sales etc. So I recommend that the plot rental fees should remain at the 2017 level as follows; Full plot 50 ½ plot 25 1/3 plot Raised bed 7.80 (Fees include compost water repairs etc.) Membership vote on proposal No fees increase proposed by Sylvia Hilditch seconded by Eileen Blythe. Signed off by Nick Lord Any Questions? Site Managers Report 2016 Chris Wolley sends his apologies, he is at a conference. He would like to thank all those very kind people who turned out to help look after your allotment in The grass cutting rota worked well and we will be repeating that this year. There will be a copy to sign up on at the back of the hall after the meeting. The more volunteers the less often you do it. The 3 working parties a year are to keep the site clean and tidy and if everyone was to give up a couple of hours we would get a lot of work done. The dates for this year s working parties are on the website and we look forward to seeing as many of you as possible. The major projects are carried out in addition to the working parties. Anyone who has a spare hour or two and would like to help please let Chris know. The major projects completed in 2016 were: Rubbing down and varnishing the remaining 2 sides of the clubhouse Mending and expanding the manure bins Manufacturing a gas cylinder cage, thank you Nigel. Moving sheds and very good working groups to clear a couple of abandoned plots. A very big thank you once again to all those that helped. 5

6 Jobs for 2017 More grass cutting nobody has found a way to stop it growing yet. Maintaining tidy boundaries, trimming the hedges and trees. Weeding and cleaning. Major Projects for new giant water butts giving us a capacity of 6000 litres of free water need to be installed. We aim to put 2 at the bottom end of the site near the copse, 2 more behind the clubhouse and 2 by the portacabin unless we can find an inconspicuous way of putting one or two in the centre of the site. We plan to fit an extra worktop and units next to the sink in the clubhouse. Re-varnish the WC and panel the interior Strip back main gates to galvanise metal. We are planning to provide a manure bay at the bottom end by the copse if feasible. Thank you again to everyone who helped last year and he looks forward to another good year in Christopher Wolley Site manager MATTERS ARISING None received CHANGE IN RULES Nothing proposed ELECTION OF OFFICERS President Eileen Blythe. Proposed by Doug Martin, seconded John Chairperson - Nick Lord. Proposed by Nick Hilditch, seconded Dawn Wolley Secretaries Julie Wells and Miriam McDowell. Proposed Sylvia Hilditch, seconded Dawn Wolley Treasurer Dawn Wolley. Proposed by Nick Lord, seconded Helen Mellin. Committee Members Helen Mellin, Doug Martin, Anthony Hogben, Sylvia Hilditch. Proposed by Nick Lord, seconded Eileen Blythe Site Manager Christopher Wolley. Proposed by Eileen Blythe, seconded Julie Wells 6

7 Honorary Auditor Roy Adams. Proposed by Dawn Wolley, seconded Terry Wright Publicity and Database Management Terry and Carol Wright. Proposed by Steph Martin, seconded Alan Blythe Web Management Ray Ashdown. Proposed by Sylvia Hilditch, seconded John Moloy ANY OTHER BUSINESS Toilet Cleaning Rota A draw was held for a rota to clean the toilets, as previously mentioned in the Chairman s Report. The rota will be displayed and also attached to these minutes. RHS Trip A discussion was held on whether to organise a trip to Wisley again and whether members should use their own transport and suggestions as to when to go. The choices were a Spring/Summer trip, autumn or Christmas. A vote was taken and the majority were in favour of a Christmas trip. Dawn will look into available dates and costs etc. Shop Eileen Blythe advised that she and Alan were trying to decide whether to continue with the shop and plants for sale as they are becoming very busy with requests for plants to other groups. It was suggested that they might provide a list of plants available on the website. They will let us know their decision. It was also suggested that other members could offer their surplus plants for sale. Vote of Thanks A vote of thanks was made by David Godfrey to the Committee and all the volunteers for their work. DATE OF NEXT AGM 28 th January 2018 Meeting Closed 7