Moss Lea Allotment Society
Minutes of the Committee Meeting held on
Tuesday 30th June 2015, 8pm at Astley Bridge Cricket Club
Present
Steve Barlow, Steve Cowell, Steve
Watson, Andy Warburton, Gwen Kinloch, Phil Almond, Steve Richardson, Barry Ashton
1. Apologies
Joe Tarkowski, Ray Hardcastle.
2. Minutes of the Previous Meeting
Minutes of the last meeting held were
accepted as an accurate record.
3. Matters Arising
There were no matters arising
from the previous minutes.
4. Secretary's Report
Steve reported that Ken Worsley
had passed away and that the Society had sent a card and donation for the RSPB
to his wife. The cheque also included a donation from Tommy Halliday, the show
judge who knew Ken well from his time on the site.
The last ABAS meeting included
feedback from a meeting with Malcolm Russell from Bolton Council regarding the
problems with communication with the Council. It appears that dissatisfaction
with communication and feedback from the council is widespread throughout the
borough's allotment associations. Cutbacks and staff illness have impacted on
the resources the council has been able to provide. The Council will now
respond within two weeks of receiving monthly returns and if no response given
this can be taken up via ABAS.
A new Operational Management
Agreement is to be put in place which will bring in some significant changes,
but should make administration easier. ‘Breaches of tenancy’ will be more clearly defined and
there will only be two stages leading to termination of the tenancy. There will
be no community plots, however there will be a probationary period for new plot
holders. Tenancy agreements will be
signed at the end of the probationary period ( period length to be agreed by
allotment associations). This means the vacant half of the community plot at
Moss Lea will now be a normal plot. There will be no shared plots except joint
tenancies and buddies can only be for two years, after which a joint tenancy
will be required. These measures are designed to prevent queue jumping on the
waiting list.
The available greenhouse space
has been taken by Joe Tarkowski and
Steve has two more names of people who want greenhouse space : Dave London and
Herby Millar. When available, spaces will be issued in order of who has been on
site the longest. Anyone who wants to be put on the waiting list should let
Steve Barlow know.
Ken Worsley's plot will become
vacant from the end of the season, in the meantime his wife will harvest the
crops. Plot 5a is vacant and potential plot holder is due to see it. One other
name is on the waiting list.
5. Site Maintenance and Repairs
The council have agreed to
replace the broken greenhouse panels and the job is being chased up by the
Allotment Team.
Paving slabs have been laid in
front of the amenity hut.
A mulching mower and a tea urn
have both been purchased.
The roof of the garage is still
to be fitted, it is planned to be completed before the show.
The toilets require signage on
the doors.
Since the last meeting there have
been some thefts from the site. Access was over the fence on the Moss Lea side
of the site and some ladders, a wheelbarrow and plastic chairs were stolen. The
theft was reported to the police.
A decision on allowing
greenhouses on plots is still awaited. As it would require a change to legal
tenancies council members rather than officers will have to take the decision.
The Secretary has asked the
Council to review the erection of compost bins by the holder of Plot 27 across
what has previously been regarded as communal and open land. It has been
referred to the Council as the plot holder maintains permission was
granted by the previous Allotment
Officer.
There were several comments about
dog mess on the site. Plot holders are reminded that dogs should be kept on
leads and mess should be cleaned up. Some may be due to members of the public
with dogs coming onto the site. Signage is to be put up to make it clear that
there is no path through the allotments.
There have also been some reports
of cars driving along the allotment track at an unsafe speed. Plot holders are
reminded to drive slowly around the track especially as children may be on
site.
6. Annual Show
The Moss Lea show will be on 22nd
August. Tommy Haliday has kindly agreed to do
the judging.
The catering worked well last
year and we request that where possible Society members provide cakes,
especially home-baked, scones, biscuits and other provisions etc – but not
sandwiches – with a label so customers can see what it is…a well-stocked
catering table last year helped us financially.. so please have a thought about
what you could bring on the day…
We have a new tea urn to speed up
delivery of cups of tea etc which was a bit slow last year at times. There will
be a rota of members to staff the kitchen and serve the customers – please
speak to Steve Barlow if you can help here.
Steve Richardson provided a
sample of tickets for the event and an initial print run of 500 was agreed.
The ticket price to the show was
discussed and it was agreed to increase the entry fee to 30p, from last year's
25p. It is hoped that each plot holder will take at least 10 tickets to sell or
pass on to family and friends. Each ticket has the chance to win a prize. There
are also raffle tickets available on the day.
Contributions, volunteers and
entries for the show are required. A sheet of guidance and hints for new comers
to showing is to be produced.
8. Any Other Business
The Astley Bridge Festival is on
11th and 12th July. Steve Barlow proposed making contact with the organisers so
that we can be part of this community event .
This was agreed : contact has now been made but it is really too late
for us to be involved for this year but for next year we would like to be
involved in the planning from the early stages. We discussed the possibility of
some kind of Open Day Event perhaps with some catering, plant sales etc.
9. Date of Next Meeting
Tuesday 28th July 8pm at
Astley Bridge Cricket Club. If you can help with the Show please come along.
