Winshill Allotments & Gardens Association
Minutes of the AGM of the Winshill Allotments and Gardens Association held Monday 28th November 2022 at 7pm at St. Marks Church, Winshill.
1. Present (40)
Mitch Steel, Julie Batten, John Batten, Alan Moreton, Bob Corcutt, Richard Hicks, Rosemary Marsden, Terry Marsden, Val Powell, Gordon Powell, Lynette Andrews, Brian Foreman, Sean Carpenter, Andy Bell, Chris Richardson, Amanda Gates, Simon Gates, Rob Pilkington, Malgorzata Aniol, Pawel Bierniacki, Nina Hall, Ashley Hall, Mo Tiney, Judy Keen, Tim Keen, Ruth Crawford, Roy Crawford, Anne Wyatt, Chaz Wyatt, Hannah Gillespie, John Hipwell, Gordon Fisher, John Stretton, Pat Stretton, Celia Zaman, Alexa Gummow, Alistair Gummow, Colleen Murdoch-Pratt, Paul Maddock, Daria Wisniewska.
Apologies
Herb Croken, Sue Hockley, Elaine Dunn, Paul Dunn, Sue O’Callaghan Rich O’Callaghan, Mick Lovely, Yvonne Menear, Paul Menear, Derek Dolman, Lyn Dolman, Stuart Thom, Steve Cooke.
2. Minutes of the AGM 2021 Meeting
The Chairman welcomed everyone and thanked them for their attendance. He asked everyone if there were any issues arising from the 2021 AGM minutes which had been circulated in advance to the members. There were none. Adoption of the minutes was proposed by Paul Maddock and seconded by Val Powell. The Chairman then signed the document as a true and correct record with one item to carry over regarding concrete lock-up sheds' asbestos roofs.
3. Chairman's Report
The Chairman stated this had been his fifth year as Chairman, that it had been a privilege and that he had really enjoyed the last year on site. The Association had continued to build upon the strong foundations that previous members and committees had laid down and that there was a growing sense of momentum and community on site. He presented a slideshow of pictures of the past 12 months' achievements. The Chairman welcomed all new members to this year’s AGM.
The Chairman then introduced the committee members to the meeting and thanked them for all their help and support during the year. He went on to thank Sue Hockley who has worked tirelessly in promoting all aspects of the allotments whilst holding down two very important roles within the committee over the previous five years. The Chairman thanked Val Powell for the seed ordering and distribution. Val said this was her 14th year. The Chairman stated that Val was stepping down from the role and presented her with flowers, and that Andy Bell had volunteered to take on the role . He finally thanked Chris Richardson for his ongoing support and development of the allotment website.
4. Treasurer's Report
The Treasurer began by talking through the Annual Accounts and Statement of Assets & Liabilities. There were hard copies of the report available for everyone in the room and were available on request via email. Total income for the year of £9,400 was 8% up on the financial year 2020/2021. This increase came from a one-off donation of £700 from Claverhouse Road Allotment Society.
He reported that total expenditure for the year of £7,199 was down 19% compared to 2020/2021. As various projects were completed over the previous two years, project spend was down by £2,800. These offset an increase in shop purchases and maintenance costs. All areas of expenditure were tightly controlled. In line with the commitment the Treasurer made at last year’s AGM, at year end the Association held increased cash and bank balances of £7,091.
The annual review of the finances highlighted that the current level of service charge did not cover the costs the Association incurred regarding insurance, NSALG subscriptions, water, electricity and newly introduced banking charges. Therefore, a proposal to increase the service charge for 2022/2023 was to be discussed later in the meeting as a separate agenda item.
It was envisaged that 2022/2023 would be a more normal year with less project activity as the Association had met most of the 1, 3 & 5 year plans' objectives and that any significant exceptional spend would have to be supported by additional grant income sourced from public funds and other funding entities. To this end, the committee was continuing to invest a considerable amount of time and effort identifying and sourcing grants.
The major cost item facing the Association in the coming year was roadway resurfacing work. While submissions had been made for grants, this type of work did not lend itself to grant awards. As such, the Association might need to meet a considerable proportion of the costs from reserves.
5. Secretary's Report
The Secretary added his thanks to everyone for ongoing collaboration with the committee in the past year and offered his thanks to Sue Hockley for her help and support with handing over the role of Secretary. The Secretary appealed to all members to let him know when there were any personal detail changes to names, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses so that he could keep the allotment database up to date.
He reported that the Health and Safety Guidelines could be found on the site noticeboard and were available on request via email. All new plot holders were receiving an emailed package of documents including an introduction to the allotments, a Tenancy Agreement, a copy of the Local Rules, the Health and Safety Guidelines and the Association's Data Protection commitments.
Social
The Secretary thanked Julie, Sue, and John for organising the summer picnic held in August which was, again, blessed with good weather and a great turn out and hoped the same for next year.
There were good responses to the working parties throughout the year and the Secretary thanked all those who were able to attend and said that without members' continued support the Association would achieve little.
The Secretary thanked Chris Richardson for managing and maintaining the website without which the Association would have little digital presence. He said that in 2022 we had all but one new plot request via the site.
Shop
The Secretary thanked all members for their support with shop sales through the year as it had been a challenging one. The events around the world had brought new difficulties with exceptionally high inflation rates coupled with significant increases in both fuel and energy prices. The Annual Inflation Rate was at a forty year high of over 10% that put pressure on all purchase prices, however, he stated that the Association had managed well given the circumstances.
6. Lettings Secretary's Report
(Read out by the Secretary)
“I would like to apologise for not being able to attend the AGM in person, due to a family bereavement. I would like to start by saying a big thank you to Sue for all her help and support during my first year with the Allotment Committee and to the rest of the Committee for their warm welcome and to all the allotment holders that I have come to know. It’s been a real pleasure. Since the last AGM in 2021: -
6 new plot holders have joined the Association
6 plot holders have resigned
3 plot holders have been asked to leave
3 existing plot holders have taken on additional plots
At this moment in time, there are 3 people on the waiting list. At its height, there were over 20 people on the list, however, when plots became vacant and people on the waiting list were approached, many failed to respond, even after two or three attempts. My belief is that this was due to us coming through Covid and peoples’ circumstances were changing.
Plot inspections have continued to take place with myself and the Chairman, John. In general, most plot holders look after their plots very well and are a credit to the Allotment Site, however some do need a little encouragement to attend their plots and keep down the weeds. Unfortunately, we have had to terminate 3 plot holders, due to them failing to attend their plots completely this year.
This year only one person has enquired about vacant plots in person, all the rest have come via our web site, which we must thank Chris Richardson for.”
7. Election of Officers
The Chairman offered the 4 officers' roles out to the membership. There were no new applicants.
Chairman: John Batten offered to remain in the role. Proposed by Simon Gates and seconded by Rob Pilkington. He was duly elected.
Treasurer: Alan Moreton offered to remain in the role. Proposed by John Hipwell and seconded by Bob Corcutt. He was duly elected.
Secretary: Mitch Steel offered to remain in the role. Proposed by Val Powell and seconded by Rob Pilkington. He was duly elected.
Lettings Secretary: Elaine Dunn offered to remain in the role. Proposed by Terry Marsden and seconded by Rosemary Marsden. She was duly elected.
8. Election of Committee Members
Other members of the Committee were proposed and voted in:
Julie Batten - Proposed by Val Powell, seconded by Colleen Murdoch-Pratt
Terry Marsden - Proposed by Judy Keen, seconded by Brian Foreman
Andy Bell - Proposed by Lynette Andrews, seconded by Celia Zaman
Amanda Gates - Proposed by Gordon Fisher, seconded by Bob Corcutt
(Amanda is newly elected and is doing so on a trial basis)
9. Service Charge
As detailed in the Treasurer’s report, the Treasurer explained that historical service charges had been:
£5.00 from 2011
£8.00 from 2014
£13.50 from 2019
He detailed that all costs were rising - insurances, water, electricity currently £15-£16 per month with a further 40% rise expected, NSALG at £3 per member, and new bank charges – which were all having an impact. The Treasurer proposed an increase to the service charge for 2022/2023 of £4, forecasted to meet requirements which equateed to 8 pence per week for almost all plots. When combined with the unit charge this usually equated to under £30 per year which was still cheaper the most allotment sites.
Gordon Fisher asked if the service charge was proportional to the size of a member's plot. The Treasurer said that all plotholders pay the same service charge for the plot or raised beds they held regardless of size. Over time as full plots had become available and demand for smaller plots had increased, the Association had split these plots into smaller plots which was one of the reasons service charges had been kept to a minimum and which had already been taken into account.
Bob Corcutt suggested raising the charge by £5 in case costs rose by more than forecast. The Treasurer replied that this was not needed as a small margin was already included in the proposal.
The Chairman proposed the motion to increase the service charge by £4.00 and asked the members to vote by show of hands in favour of the motion. 32 hands were raised and the motion was carried.
10. One Year Plan
The Chairman announced the Association had just negotiated a new 20 year agreement with Winshill Parish Council which granted a new lease for the allotment site until 2042.
A planning meeting would be held in January for the year ahead.
Road re-surfacing the lower road was a priority.
A new Community Greenhouse project was planned to create a plot with 2 greenhouses to be used by any member.
11. RHS/It’s Your Neighbourhood Competition
The Chairman announced that at the first attempt the Association had won an “outstanding” award, the highest award we could get, and ran through the breakdown of the various sections and scoring. For 2023 the Association might apply to become part of the wider Winshill in Bloom or even Burton in Bloom categories.
12. Honorarium
The Treasurer proposed the motion to expand the honorarium to include the Lettings Secretary and to increase the total from £450 to £600 to be split equally between the Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer and Lettings Secretary. The members were asked to vote by show of hands. 31 hands were raised the motion was carried.
13. Local Rules Update
The Chairman said the Local Rules have been updated with some subtle changes to the document, i.e. at least 75% of any plot should be cultivated. The Secretary would be circulating the revised document.
14. Bee Apiary
The Chairman said that Stuart Thom had planned to be present to give a brief talk about the bees and the plans for the apiary but unfortunately had been taken ill earlier in the day. There were already 7-8 hives moved on to the site with each hive containing up to 3,000 bees. In time, the apiary could hold around 50 hives/colonies (between 50,000 to 150,000 bees). The perimeter fencing would have bee netting to the top of the enclosure and as bees fly to the horizon they will come and go from the apiary with minimal contact to humans.
Stuart had pledged to offer jars of honey for sale in the Allotment shop etc. with 10% of sales going to the Association. There would be safety/contact signs erected around the apiary.
15. Any Other Business
Trees
Gordon Powell said there are a number of trees appearing on some plots and asked if the committee could investigate this as most trees take 20-25 years to reach maturity.
The committee agreed to look at the issue raised in more detail.
Main Gate Padlock
Amanda Gates pointed out struggling to open the main gate padlock.
The Chairman agreed that this was sometimes a problem and that remedial action to limit these problems was taking place on a regular basis. It was reiterated to everyone for the need to clean their gate keys using the brushes supplied at the gate before inserting to help prevent dirt making its way into the mechanism.
Rent Renewals
John Hipwell asked when we will know about the rent increases.
The Secretary stated this would happen in the rent renewal invites which would be sent out in the following 1-2 weeks.
Tools
Amanda Gates asked about the tools in the maintenance shed and whether they were available to plotholders.
The Chairman confirmed that equipment like the rotavator and strimmers were available and a small charge would apply to cover maintenance and fuel.
Main Gate
Gordon Fisher said he noticed the main gate was starting to drop making it difficult to close.
Remedial action would be taken likely requiring some replacement washers on the hinges.
16. Date of Next Meeting
The date, time & location for the next AGM will be set during the coming year 2023 at one of the quarterly committee meetings.
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