Golf Course Allotments Association
Minutes of Annual General Meeting held at 11am on 17 May 2009
Attendance:
Karen Sellars (Chair), John Blackwell, Gina Christodoulou, Anna DeGuillio,
Linda Doughty, Tim Hunt, June Lambert (Assistant Trading Shed Manager), Sean
Lambert (Trading Shed Manager), Tullio Moglia (Secretary), John Newman, Alwyn
Pritchard (Secretary), Brian Rossiter, Debby Rossiter (Treasurer) and a large
number of members.
1. Welcome
There being a quorum, Karen opened the meeting, welcomed the members present
and introduced the members of the GCAA Committee.
2. Minutes of 2008 AGM
The Committee unanimously approved the minutes of the Annual General Meeting
held on 11 May 2008.
3. Officers’ Reports:
3.1 Site Secretary’s Report:
Since the beginning of the season, (January 2009), plots had been let to fourteen
new members. Due to the high demand, all these plots were of half size (5 poles).
The waiting list for plots now stands at 85.
The site secretary reported on the physical maintenance and improvement work
carried out on the site during the year. The following work had been carried
out by the site secretary, assisted by other members:
An old storage shed had been demolished to make room for the new trading shed.
Preparatory work for the installation of the new trading shed was carried out,
including planning the work, purchasing materials and modifying the concrete
base.
Repairs had been made to several leaking pipes, taps and to a water tank on
the site.
All water tanks had been given numbers to facilitate maintenance work and one
new water tank had been installed.
A repair to one leaking water tank is outstanding.
Plot inspections will begin shortly. Also, a new style of contract is being
developed by the Council: members will be kept informed of developments on
this.
Members approved the site secretary’s report.
3.2 Treasurer’s Report
Debby Rossiter, Treasurer, summarised the financial position of GCAA: the cash
balance was £2,420 at the beginning of the financial year and £1,639
at the end. The turnover of the Trading Shed continued to rise and generated
a higher profit (£540). A membership drive increased subscription income
to £674. Attendance at the GCAA Annual Show was again higher, largely
because participation in the National Gardens Scheme brought in significant
numbers of visitors. The tea and produce stalls both sold out, generating a
profit of £1,077. Other profitable activities included sales of the GCAA
calendar and greeting cards, plant sales and an international lunch. Grants
from Haringey Council totalled around £1,900.
These income sources had been used mainly to fund the installation of a new
Trading Shed. The total cost of this is £4,344, of which roughly a half
was incurred during the financial year. The remainder will be a charge on the
accounts of 2009/10. The committee agreed to honoraria of £350 for Sean
Lambert and Tullio Moglia in recognition of their hard work over the year.
Other expenses were incurred on insurance of buildings and on general maintenance
of the site and the buildings.
In view of the diminution of the cash position of the GCAA over the year, the
Treasurer urged members to continue to be active in fundraising during 2009/10.
She then invited members to propose two persons to audit the accounts. Nigel
Errington and John Bayes were nominated.
Members approved the Treasurer’s report.
3.3 Trading Shed
Sean Lambert reported that there had been an increase in custom since the shop’s
move to the new building with its more pleasant atmosphere. The shop currently
has a wide range of gardening goods for sale. It also has a rotavator, lawn
mower and strimmers for hire; these should be reserved one week in advance. It
is the intention of the shop to stock more organic products. Feedback was requested
from members regarding what products they might buy in future. Members were
thanked for their custom over the year.
3.4 GCAA Annual Show
The Annual Show was held on 31 August 2008. Karen Sellars, Show Secretary,
reported that this had been an excellent Show. She presented a report showing
the numbers of entries in each section and the total number of participants.
Overall, 35 participants submitted a total of 236 entries, an average of
over 6 entries per participant. The net income from the show came to just
over £1,000 taking into account the entry fees and the sales of drinks,
food and allotment holders’ produce. The Allotments were again open
under the National Gardens Scheme and sales of produce were popular with
NGS visitors. The next Show will be held on 6 September 2009 and Karen presented
suggestions on how to make this even more of a success. These ideas will
be considered at a meeting of the Show Committee in June. Members approved
the Show Secretary’s report.
3.5 Haringey Allotments Forum
The Forum brings together Council officials and representatives from each of
the borough’s allotment sites. Tim Hunt and Brian Rossiter are the
GCAA’s representatives. They reported that the Council was drawing
up a new contract which, if put in place, would govern its relationship with
allotment holders. It is likely that the contract would have terms which,
in some respects, differ from those currently in force. These terms were
not yet fully agreed but there is an expectation that the Council would not
retrospectively impose any new standards, e.g. on the dimensions of allotment
holders’ sheds.
The Council has a small budget for repairs and refurbishment on its sites. They are considering installing new gates at the Bidwell Gardens entrance. In addition, GCAA’s representatives had drawn attention to the need for improved drainage at the GCAA site. Twenty six plots are known to have been affected by flooding: it is estimated that the cost of solving this problem for the long term is approximately £12,000. There is a possibility that this would be considered by the Council in the next financial year.
The Council had recently carried out a survey to identify the presence of
asbestos on its allotment sites. They had found a number of pieces of sheet
asbestos on the GCAA site: any tenant with sheet asbestos on their plot is
requested to leave it in place as that is the least dangerous option. Council
officials also plan to carry out a survey of trees on the GCAA site at a date
to be specified.
3.6 Chair’s report
Karen Sellars, GCAA chair, reported on the events and activities of the GCAA
and its officials from April 2008-March 31 2009. She summarised the goals
for 2008/09 as agreed at last year’s AGM. The most ambitious of these
goals was to build a new storage/trading shed on the site of a derelict building.
This was achieved during the year. In relation to the other goals:
work had been carried out to finalise the installation of the new gates at
the Winton Avenue entrance
the timber of the new community hut had been treated but some work was still
unfinished in the area of the community buildings (which Karen proposed would
be carried forward)
shrubs had been planted on the site boundaries to help improve security
more tables had been obtained for use in the Annual Show
the July tea party and the Annual Show had been held as planned
there had been a substantial increase in the membership subscriptions paid
to GCAA (as already reported by the Treasurer – see above).
The following goals were not achieved and remain on the agenda:
Accessing green manure available free of charge from the Council turned out
to be impractical as it is normally distributed in lorries too wide to pass
through the site’s entrance gates.
No funding had been found to pay for the installation of new gates at the Bidwell
Gardens entrance in the near future; the Committee would continue to pursue
this.
The task of improving the surface of the internal road on the site was carried
forward for consideration in 2009/10.
In addition, the following goals were proposed:
Work to ease the flooding of plots by introducing better drainage
Investigate the practicalities of installing a composting toilet on the site
These meeting accepted the report and the proposed goals for 2009/10. Members
approved the Chair’s report.
4 Other issues
4.1 Officers
The following honoraria were proposed for officials: Trading Shed manager (£350),
Site Secretary (£350). This was accepted.
4.2 Show dates
It was proposed that the GCAA Annual Show was held on September 6 and the site
would be open under the National Gardens Scheme. This was accepted.
4.3 GCAA Guide
It was proposed that the Guide should state that members and guests should
drive at no more than 5mph and park responsibly while on the site. This was
accepted and signs would be erected to this effect.
4.4 Future events
Jenny Turner had been researching the history of the GCAA site and would give
a presentation to mark the 80th birthday of the allotments site. This would
be held at 3pm on June 14 in the Community Hut. Members were invited to attend
and to bring guests.
Fiona Morrison spoke briefly to draw members’ attention to the decline
in the numbers of bees. She was drawing up a proposal to locate hives on the
site and would approach the committee on this in due course.
5 Election of officials:
The following members resigned from the Committee:
Gina Christodoulou, Anna de Giulio, Veronica Rodziewicz
The following were elected to the Committee:
Jeff Cloke, Tanya Nelson, Helen Pritchard
Officials for the current year were proposed and accepted as follows:
Site Secretary: Tullio Moglia
Treasurer: Debbie Rossiter
Trading Shed Manager: Shaun Lambert
Assistant Trading Shed Manager: June Lambert
Show Secretary: Karen Sellars
Chair: Alwyn Pritchard
Auditors: Nigel Errington, John Bayes
The meeting closed at 12.25pm.
Alwyn Pritchard, Secretary