SOCIETY AGM 2014

MINUTES OF THE ANNAUL GENERAL MEETING OF HARPERS LANE ALLOTMENTS SOCIETY

 

Held at Hollywood Rd. Social Club, Bolton on December 2^nd 2014

 

The meeting was attended by 26 current members of the Society.

 

Chair’s Welcome

Mrs Gill Chamberlain having previously resigned as Chair, Glynn Platt took over as Acting Chair, and opened the meeting.

 

Presentation of the Annual Accounts and Treasurer’s Notes

The Treasurer (David Jackson) circulated the Annual Accounts (which had previously been scrutinised and passed by the appointed Auditor, Mrs Christine Hargraves to all members present. He proceeded to highlight a number of factors.

 

• Total Income £1660
• Total Expenditure £1,240
• Nett Surplus £ 420

 

Key Items of Expenditure were

• NSALG Membership £180
• Insurance £340
• Electricity £ 70

 

Society Balancers at the Year End were -

Restricted (Grants) £544

Unrestricted £ 1044

 

The Treasurer requested that Provision ne made for the following expenditure

 - £500 (Insurance), £220 (Memberships)

 

This leaves £320 ‘free’ for society projects.

 

The accounts were duly passed (unanimously) by the meeting.

 

PRESENTATION OF SOCIETY AWARDS AND TROPHIES

 

TROPHY	For	Awarded to
Albert Parker Trophy	Best Full Plot	Sue and Michael Colman Plot 21
Hospital Saturday Trophy	Best ½ plot	Brian Crook Plot 46A
Barron Trophy	Best Newcomers	Dennis and Jennifer Wooley Plot 60B
Brian Caswell Trophy	Most Improved Plot	Kathryn Williams and Nick Foster Plot 54
Joan Caswell Trophy	Most improved ½ plot	Tony and Hazel Buckley Plot 62A
Walker Challenge Trophy	Best Frontage of Plot	Josephine and Gunther Bruos Plot 10
Jules Rigby Cup	Tallest Sunflower	Sue and Tony Torkington Plot 15
Jubilee Trophy	Outstanding Contribution to the Site	Sue Jones Plot 44

 

Secretary’s report

 

Events

• Open Day – raised £950 – costs were £370 – surplus £ 580
• Car Boot Sale – raised £188 – costs were £22 – surplus £ 166
• Bonfire Night – donations £133 – expenses were £118 – surplus £ 15

 

The Treasurer pointed out that the second and third events were actually in financial year 2014-2015.

 

Site Works

• Replacement of fencing on top field (materials provided by Council, labour by Society)
• Drainage on Plot 1 (carried out by the Council)
• Drainage next to Compost Bays (carried out by the Council)
• Drainage on Plot 41 –remains an outstanding issue. The Council had costed remedial works at £1370 and had asked the Society to make a contribution of £1000. The Society does not have sufficient funds for this and is investigating alternative solutions.

 

Site Services

• Kitchen and Toilet Cleaning –
• Shop –
•  

The Secretary asked members to volunteer for the rotas of both these activities.

 

Site Inspections

Part of the Management Agreement with the Council is that we carry out plot / site inspections and report breaches of tenancy and mal-cultivation to the Council.

The Secretary reported that there had been some disagreement in the current Committee about the execution of the Breach of Tenancy / mal-cultivation procedures set down by the Council. Some members of the Committee felt that the Society should not co-operate in the inspection / reporting process, whilst others felt that the Secretary had in certain instances failed to carry out the decisions of the Committee and had shown undue leniency to some offenders.

There was a general discussion amongst the members of the Society present as to whether the Society should continue to operate the inspection regime and if so what ‘standard’ should be applied. It was pointed out that Council guidelines are relatively vague and current advice is to target plots which are not being ‘actively managed’.

Following the discussion the Acting Chair and Treasurer proposed that inspections should continue and should prioritise ‘abandoned’ or ‘unworked’ plots – i.e. those on which the plot-holder had not done any work for some time. Such plots will be subject to the Breach of Tenancy Procedures agreed between the Society and the Council.

The Society will also look at situations where the condition of the plot or the activities of the tenant are causing a nuisance to other plot-holders. It is hoped that most such issues can be resolved by agreeing an action plan with the tenant with the Breach of Tenancy procedures being a last resort.

This proposal was agreed by the members present. Members present also recorded their continuing support for the Secretary.

 

2015

The Secretary outlined (some of) the activities planned for 2015

 

• 2015 will see the arrival of Church Rd. School on Plot 3
• The Society will be holding a Spring Event (date to be confirmed) to raise funds for the Society and to increase community involvement with the site.
• Mikron Theatre will be coming on May 10^th with a production called  – “Fish and Chips”
• No date has yet been set for Open Day 2015, but it will take place and will be in August
• The Bee Group will commence activities in 2015. Anyone interested should speak to Kath or Keith Worsley.
• ABAS will be reintroducing the Bolton Onion and Leek Show in 2015. The event will take place in September. There will be talks etc. on Onion and Leek Growing and Showing details of which will be posted in  the Brew Room and on the ABAS blog-site Http://abas2014.blogspot.co.uk
• ABAS will again be managing the Fairhurst, Greenhalgh and New Entrant Trophies. Plot-holders interested in entering should contact the Site Secretary.

 

Chosen Charity 2015

The Secretary nominated Urban Outreach which provides food to needy people. They are introducing a new ‘Pantry’ and Mobile Service, based on the theme ‘Fresh Produce for People’

Harpers Lane would be working with other allotments sites

Urban Outreach have offered a small payment which would ensure that costs can be recovered

The Society agreed to adopt Urban Outreach for 2015.

 

Election of Officers and Committee

 

The following were elected

• Chair – Keith Worsley
• Secretary – Margaret Jackson (re-election)
• Treasurer – David Jackson (re-election)
• Committee Members

o   Glyn Platt – (re-election)

o   Kath Worsley (re-election)

o   Pev Evans (re-election)

o   Veronica Burns

o   Jospephine Bruos

 

The Society would wish to thank retiring officers and Committee members – Gill Chamberlain, Tom Liptrott and Barry Savage for their contribution over the past year.