NORTH WARWICKSHIRE ALLOTMENT FEDERATION

Minutes of Annual General Meeting

Held on Thursday, 23 January 2014at The Rose, Baxterley

Present:

Sandra Clarke / Hartshill Allotments / Andy Winspeare / Ansley Village Allotments
D J Welland / Gypsy Lane Allotments / Les Daw / Ansley Village Allotments
Roger Cartwright / Ansley Common Allotments / Steve Mawson / Ridge Lane Allotments
Marie Fisher / Hartshill Allotments / Wendy Townsend / Gun Hill Allotments
J Mawson / Ridge Lane Allotments / Alex Simpson / Hurley Allotments
Barbara Etheridge / Shustoke Allotments / Barry Coton / Shustoke Allotments
Pam Coton / “ / Gordon Etheridge / “
Karin Cartwright / Ansley Common Allotments / Tony Duffy / Birch Coppice Allotments
David Wilson / “ / Helen Simpson / Hurley Allotments
Sue Thornett / Fillongley / Julie Duffin / Ansley Common Allotments
Jayne Moore / “ / Colin Duffin / “
Les Martin / ADI/WM Regional Rep. / Roy Skidmore / Warton Allotments
Ray Warton / Warton Allotments
Apologies: / Karen Garland – Gun Hill / Alethea Wilson / NWBC
  1. Meeting commenced at 7.30 pm with the Chairman welcoming everyone to this, the 6th AGM of the NWAF.
  1. Chairman’s Report:

The Chairman opened the meeting by welcoming everyone to the North Warwickshire Allotment Federation AGM noting that he was pleased to inform everyone that another successful year in the life of the Federation has drawn to a close, giving a brief outline of what events had taken place.

The AGM Minutes 2013 were accepted as correct. Proposed by R Cartwright, seconded by A Winspeare and carried by meeting unamiously.

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January 24th - Our 5th AGM was held again at The Rose Inn, Baxterley. The event was well supported by Allotment holders from across North Warwickshire, with John Taylor from Fillongley Gardening Club giving a talk on the history of the Club and encouraging all gardeners within North Warwickshire to attend.
April 29th–A second Allotment Workshop had been held at the Shustoke Village Hall with the opportunity to view and buy allotment products, seeds, plants, fertilisers etc. Additionally information on site security insurance and composting was available.
June 13 -17th - BBC Gardeners World Live – NWAF, after 2 years of entering the Edible Patch section, had been declared winners of the “Best Public Vote Edible Patch” which was a great achievement for all involved. It was hoped that 2014 would be even better with the NWAF taking on responsibility for this section.

June 21st – another production by Mikron Theatre Company, again at Fillongley Village Hall, entitled “Beyond the Veil”.

June 24th & 26th- Judging for the Best Site/Best Plot took place, attracting a recordbreaking number of entrants in all categories.

September 8th - Church End Brewery Horticultural Day – this was held to raise funds for Mary Ann Evans Hospice by holding a vegetable show, sales of vegetables and other items, resulting in £400 being raised for the Hospice.
September 13th – Our Awards Evening took place at the The Rose Inn, Baxterley, where monetary awards, shields and certificates were presented by the Deputy Mayor & Mayoress Councillor Dominic Ferro and Mrs Louise Ferro. Again, our Guest Speaker for the evening was Philip Turvill from Ryton Organic who spoke on the subject of “Pests & Diseases”. Following the conclusion of the Awards presentation and talk from the Guest Speaker everyone enjoyed some light refreshments and an enjoyable social evening.

As we look forward to 2014, we have some dates for your diaries:

January 24th6h AGM

June 12 – 15thBBC2 Gardeners World Live, NEC

June 21stMikron Theatre Production “Till the Cows come Home” at Fillongley Village Hall

June 30th‘Best Kept’ Site Competition

July 4th‘Best Kept’ – all other categories

July Shustoke Annual Horticultural Show – date to be confirmed

AugustFillongley Show – date to be confirmed

September 11thNWAF Awards Event

January 22nd 2015NWAF AGM

On behalf of the Management Committee, the Chairmanthanked all allotmenteers for their support of the NWAF during 2013.

Secretary’s Report

  • Committee meetings have been held regularly during the year, and all Minutes are available for inspection.
  • Thanks to Andy Winspeare from Ansley Village for setting up and taking control of our website. All events are listed, together with sections for photographs from sites around North Warwickshire, information about availability and brief histories of sites within the Borough. and a section if anyone wants to buy or sell anything. If there was anything anyone thought should be on there. please let us know.
  • As the Federation is recognised by the National Society, this entitles us to some funding, which helps with admin. costs, room hire, etc. More importantly for sites within the Federation, they are also entitled to approach the NSALG for funding of small projects, ie noticeboards on sites and money is available for similar projects including banners advertising any future events. The only stipulation is that whatever funding is for, mention is made of the NSALG. Approval for funding has been to received before go ahead with any purchases. Once approved by the Region, a receipt needs to be forwarded to the Regional Treasurer.
  • The 2014 Calendar was again a big success and sales from these do go some way to increasing our funding which enables us to give more prizes in our Annual Competition. If anyone has photos of sites/plots, recipes and/or gardening hints that could be included in next year’s please forward to Secretary. Photos will be taken on the Competition Days so if anyone wants to be included or has something on their plot they think should be photographed, either let us know beforehand, or on the day.
  • A handout has been left on each table for everyone to see what we have planned for 2014. Anyone interested in taking part in any of these, GWL in particular, please let one of the Committee know.
  • Borough News - Alethea Wilson from North Warwickshire Borough Council had now been appointed our Contact Officer, but was unable to attend. However, she had advised that all leases, with the exception of two, had now been signed off with the sites involved. Note: TD raised the issue of his outstanding lease and KC advised she would contact the Borough Council in an effort to resolve.

Treasurer’s Report

  • All attendees had been issued with a copy of the Accounts up to 3 January 2014 which had been audited by J Edwards. The meeting was informed that the Current Balance stood at £2,008.38. It was hoped that the financial support we received from the Borough Council would be forthcoming again this year.
  • The Treasurer talked through the Accounts, advising that the bank account transfer to The Co-operative Bank had gone through successfully and whilst we had some reserves in the bank, more funds were needed.
  • The apparent anamoly regarding a reimbursement of £82 to T Duffy was explained to the meeting and agreed by TD. Accounts were proposed by Gordon Etheridge, seconded by T Duffy and carried by meeting unanimously.
  1. Formal Election of Committee including new opportunities.

In accordance with our Constitution, the management committee stepped down, and Les Martin, at the invitation of Barry Coton, chaired this part of the meeting:

Chairman – LM asked for nominations for this post. K Cartwright nominated Barry Coton, proposed by T Duffy, seconded by Steve Mawson. Proposal that Barry Coton be elected Chairman was carried unanimously by the meeting.

Secretary – LM asked for nominations for this post. Karin Cartwrightnominated by C Duffin, seconded by D Wilson. No further nominations were put forward. Proposal that Karin Cartwright be elected Secretary was carried unanimously by the meeting.

Treasurer – LM asked for nominations for this post. Julie Duffin nominated by R Skidmore, seconded by R Cartwright. No further nominations were put forward. Proposal that Julie Duffin be elected as Treasurer was carried unanimously by the meeting.

Other Committee Members – Dave Welland, Karen Garland, Wendy Townsend and Steve Mawson all nominated as Committee members. Proposal carried unanimously by meeting.

  1. Guest Speaker – Les Martin ADI

Les Martin gave an informative talk on the work undertaken by himself as the region’s ADI mentor and his involvement with the NSALG and his forthcoming role as West Midlands Regional Rep. when Maurice Lander stands down from this role in June.

Funding issues were discussed with LM giving details of grants/funding available to sites.

  1. BBC Gardener’s World Live 2014

Wendy Townsend gave details of the above event, advising the meeting of what it was hoped to achieve in 2014 at this event. She advised that the NWAF would now be responsible for the “Edible Patch bite-size” section and it was hoped that we would be able to include sites/groups from outside the Borough. She gave a brief overview of what was required and the benefits of taking part. Anyone interested in taking part in this venture, in any capacity, was asked to either contact herself via the website or any other Committee members. Full details were available on the NWAF website (

  1. Barry Coton rounded up the meeting, advising that the next NSALG meeting for the Region was being held at Shustoke Village Hall on Saturday, 8 February and all members were invited to attend. The evening’s raffle had raised £49 and Barry Coton thanked everyone for their attendance and continued support.

The meeting closed at 9.30 pm.