Winshill Allotments & Gardens Association
Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of the Winshill Allotments and Gardens Association held on Monday 27th November 2023 at 7pm at St. Mark's Church, Winshill.
1. Attendance
Present (35):
Mitch Steel, Julie Batten, John Batten, Alan Moreton, Elaine Dunn, Paul Dunn, Andy Bell, Terry Marsden, Amanda Gates, Simon Gates, Stuart Thom, Lawrence Oates, Val Powell, Gordon Powell, Brian Foreman, Mick Carpenter, Bob Corcutt, Chris Richardson, Mo Tiney, Steve Tiney, Judy Keen, Anne Wyatt, Chaz Wyatt, John Hipwell, Celia Zaman, Freda Dolman, Kevin Stretton, Paul Barrett, Helen Barrett, Yvonne Menear, Paul Menear, Dave Jones, Herb Croken, Ian North, Steve Ottewell
Apologies:
Rosemary Marsden, Sean Carpenter and Mick Lovely.
2. Minutes of the 2022 Annual General Meeting
The Chairman, John Batten, welcomed everyone and thanked them for their attendance. He asked everyone if there were any points they wished to raise from the 2022 AGM minutes, which had been circulated in advance to the members. There were none. Adoption of the minutes was proposed by Terry Marsden and seconded by Brian Foreman. The Chairman then signed the document as a true and correct record.
3. Chairman's Report
The Chairman announced this had been his sixth year as Chair, that it had been a privilege and that he had really enjoyed the second half of the year. The Association had continued to build upon the strong foundations that previous members and Committees had laid down. He presented a slideshow of pictures and text covering the past 12 months' achievements. Highlights were the achievements of plot ten, the new Apiary housing with circa 24,000 bees producing circa 450lbs of honey and road resurfacing. The Chairman then introduced the Committee members to the meeting and thanked them for all their help and support during the year.
Special thanks were given to Alan Moreton, the Treasurer, for all his efforts, especially the detailed accounts which the Association was blessed with and not normally found at Allotment Associations.
4. Treasurer's Report
Hard copies of the report were available for everyone in the room and were available on request via email.
The Treasurer began by talking through the Annual Accounts and Statement of Assets & Liabilities. Total income for the year of £9,071 was 4% (£329) less than financial year 2021/2022. Significant increases in shop sales and rental income were offset by significant reductions in grants and donations received because of reduced project activity in 2023.
Total expenditure for the year of £10,330 was up by 43% (£3,131) compared to the financial year 2021/2022. As various projects were completed over the previous two years, project spend was down by £1,600. These were offset by increases in shop purchases and maintenance costs. A major expense was £3,300 on the road resurfacing work. A detailed breakdown was in the full report. The activities had produced a deficit for the year of £1,259. 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 £5,832.
The annual review of the finances had highlighted that the current level of service charge covered the costs that were incurred regarding insurance, NSALG subscriptions, water and electricity and newly introduced banking charges. There was therefore no proposal on the service charge for 2023/2024.
It was envisaged the financial year 2023/2024 would be a more normal year as the Association had met most of the 1-, 3- & 5-year plans’ aims. Any significant exceptional spend would have to be supported by other grant income sourced from public funds and other funding entities. To this end, the Committee continued to invest a considerable amount of time and effort finding and sourcing grants.
5. Secretary's Report
The Secretary, Mitch Steel, added his thanks to everyone for attending the meeting and collaborating with the Committee in the past year. Mitch appealed to all members to let him know when there were any personal details 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.
Social
The Secretary thanked Julie and John Batten for organising and setting up the summer picnic held in August, despite being unwell. Elaine, Mitch, and Amanda stepped in on the day to run the event, where despite the forecast, we were blessed with pleasant weather and a great turnout.
He reported that working parties were rain delayed from the start of the year however, the Association had particularly good responses to all the work parties. The The Secretary thanked all those who were able to attend and appreciated the continued support of members.
The Secretary thanked Chris Richardson for managing and maintaining the website and went on to say the site is regularly updated, and encouraged all members to visit.
Shop
The Secretary thanked all volunteers who gave up their time to open and work in the shop and thanked all members for their purchases and Kings seed ordering that year.
Rent renewals
The Secretary stated that 2024 invites for plot renewals would be sent out after 1st December.
6. Lettings Secretary's Report
Lettings Secretary, Elaine Dunn, stated for 2023 that thirteen new plot holders had joined the Association. However, two that joined did not attend their allotments, and left soon after due to a change in their circumstances. Therefore, we had eleven new plot holders and their families on site.
During 2023 eight plot holders had resigned and three more had informed her they will be giving up at the end of that season. Two plot holders had been asked to leave and one plot holder who had two plots and has given up one of them. Five existing plot holders had taken on extra land with a further two wanting extra land in 2024 and there were eight people on the waiting list.
Plot inspections had regularly taken place on, or near to, the last Saturday of each month from April to October. These normally started in March but it was decided that due to the extremely wet conditions at the beginning of the year, to postpone until April.
As a result of the plot inspections, in total, forty-two enquiry letters were raised, and six final warning letters were issued. Unfortunately, two termination were letters issued. However, in general, most letters that were sent out were offers of help because, as we all know, life sometimes gets in the way, and we could all sometimes do with a helping hand.
7. Election of Officers
The Chairman, following the constitution guidelines, offered the four officers' roles out to the membership. There were no new applicants.
Chairman: John Batten offered to remain in the role. Proposed by Andy Bell and seconded by Bob Corcutt. He was duly elected.
Treasurer: Alan Moreton offered to remain in the role. Proposed by Yvonne Meaner and seconded by Paul Dunn. He was duly elected.
Secretary: Mitch Steel offered to remain in the role. Proposed by Elaine Dunn and seconded by Rob Pilkington. He was duly elected.
Lettings Secretary: Elaine Dunn offered to remain in the role. Proposed by Julie Batten and seconded by Annette Wyatt. She was duly elected.
The Committee were duly proposed and accepted by the meeting.
8. Election of Committee Members
Other members of the Committee were proposed and voted in at this point:-
Social Officer Julie Batten - Proposed by Paul Dunn and seconded by Val Powell.
Grants Officer: Terry Marsden - Proposed by Simon Gates and seconded by Andy Bell.
Equipment and Maintenance: Andy Bell - Proposed by Terry Marsden and seconded by Judy Keen.
Community Liaison: Amanda Gates - Proposed by Julie Batten seconded by Ian North.
9. RHS It’s Your Neighbourhood Competition
The Chairman announced the Association had kept the gold award, the highest award the Association could get, and then briefly ran through the breakdown of the various scoring categories. The Association scored an impressive 88 out of a possible 100.
10. Honorarium
The Treasurer proposed to keep the honorarium at £600 for the following year to be split equally between the Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer, and Lettings Secretary.
The room was asked to vote by show of hands. 30 hands were raised, and the motion was accepted.
11. One Year Plan
The Chairman confirmed everything on the One Year Plan had been achieved however noted there we did not have a dedicated meeting space other than the shop which was not ideal. To address this the Chairman had asked the Grants Officer to start looking at quotes and grants for a 5 m x 5 m structure.
The Chairman suggested that we should register the Allotment site as an Asset of Community Value.
What is an 'asset of community value'? Under the Localism Act 2011 Parish Council and community groups can nominate a public or private asset to be registered on the assets of community value register giving communities the opportunity to collate a bid for an asset should it be disposed of on the open market.
12. Reserve the Right (Tenancy Agreement update)
The Chairman let it be known, following the improvement notices issued to repeat offenders, the Committee proposed updating the rules to include the following:
3.3.5 We, the Association, reserve the right not to offer for relet any plot(s) to a plot holder who has been subject to repeated improvement notices throughout the preceding year.
The above would not affect any member until Autumn/Winter 2024
The members were asked to vote by show of hands. The majority of hands were raised and the motion was accepted.
13. Local Rules Amendments (Trees)
The Secretary reported on the issue first raised at the 2022 AGM regarding the matter of trees, their size, type, suitability, and overall impact on other plot holders. The Committee had discussed this at length. The Chairman thanked Andy Bell, who conducted significant research and produced suitable information, which was discussed and proposed to be included in the Tenancy Agreement as an addendum.
14. Any Other Business
Paul Dunn asked if the Association had a projects manager on the Committee. The Chairman responded, that projects were managed as a group effort within the Committee and this worked very well.
Amanda Gates asked all members to put forward any ideas they might have for consideration.
Dave Jones asked what happens if a member loses their keys when on site and were locked in. He was told there was a contacts list of all Committee members on the notice board.
Ian North proposed the Honorarium should be adjusted annually in line with inflation.
15. Date of Next Meeting
The date, time and location for the next AGM would be set during the coming year 2024 at one of the quarterly Committee meetings.
