Annual General Meeting of the Paignton Home Garden & Allotment Society held at the ROAB Club, New Street, Paignton on Monday 1st October 2018

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Hon Vice President Joe Wallis welcomed everyone to the meeting and thanked the committee for their work over the last year.

Present: Joe Wallis, Keith & Jane Parker, Alan Smith, Flis Cotton, Liz Barnes, Gary Buckingham, Pat Messenger, Andrew Bibbings, Jackie Yates, Jacqueline Green, Gary Quinn, Phil Moore.

1.    Apologies: John O'Neill, Nigel & Catherine Ambury, Leigh Burns, Pat & Steve Marriott, Christine Guiver, Kay Mason. Elaine Care.

2.    Minutes of last AGM held on Monday 2nd October 2017 were read, proposed and seconded then signed.

3.    Correspondence:

• Email received from plotholder on 14a DR. She has used Roundup weedkiller on her plot and is aware that this may be of concern to other plotholoders. She wanted the committee to know that she is using it responsibly to get rid of thistles. She will use it sparingly, only when necessary.
• Request from plotholders on 19LP to keep bees. Sec has replied that this is fine as long as they are trained and take out insurance to the value of £5m.
• Ongoing bonfire matter: The homeowner below Lower Penns has sent another email to say that he disputes that the fire was not on site and has provided more date stamped photos as evidence.
• We have received an email from the Webmaster who has advised that a change of host will be required as we were previously on a free plan. He has provided 3 options to be considered and it was decided that this was not a matter for the AGM. Sec has been asked to hold this until the next meeting and ask him to be present to discuss with the committee.

4.    Chairman’s Report:

• Chairman has reported that it has been a productive year overall.
• He is disappointed at the level of support for the Society seed shop and there was discussion as to whether or not it should continue next year.
• There will be seeds available to buy before Christmas and onions before spring planting. The Society has lost stock this year and approximately £40 has been written off. This has been possibly due to the weather and the late start of the season. It was agreed that we would keep the shop going another year and monitor its popularity.
• The finances of the Society are in good shape. There will be some major outlays in January as usual – being the stock, insurance and club affiliation fees.
• A new light commercial lawnmower for DR has been purchased. A good discount was negotiated and so it was thought to be worthwhile.
• As he was resigning, the Chairman thanked everyone for making his tenure in the position of Chairman, so pleasant.

5.    Treasurer’s Report:

• Income
  • Rent/membership             £3,958.00            
  • Bank interest                       £1.89
  • Chicken pellets/shop         £1,146.85
  • Fuel                                        £37.58
  • Sub-total                             £5,144.32
• Expenditure
  • BBQ                                            £154.85
  • S W Water                                 £1,011.48
  • Stationery/postage                  £42.12
  • Shop                                           £1,374.31
  • Subs                                            £1,009.39
  • Maintenance                             £1,218.43
  • Assets                                         £379.00
  • Fuel (for mower/strimmer)    £17.83
• Deficit for the year:                          -£63.09
• Monies in the bank:
  • Current account                        £175.81                                                            
  • Deposit account                       £3,374.52                                                       
  • Cash in hand                             £10.37
  • Total:                                           £3,560.70

• The asset register was updated and a list of cheques written for the whole year was provided to the secretary. The Society assets were minimal and comprised mainly the mower and shop produce, which were both of benefit to all members. The Treasurer thanks the vice-chairman Alan Smith for the huge amount of time he spent in helping to organise and promote the shop.
• The Treasurer reported that she thought the seed shop had done fairly well as it had shown a profit of £33.24. She felt that the Society finances were looking healthy.
• The Hon Vice President thanked the Treasurer for her hard work over the year.
• It was proposed that the treasurer’s report be accepted and this was seconded.

6.    Motions and Proposals:

• None.

7.    2018 Election of Officers:

• Chairman: Alan Smith (proposed and seconded)
• Vice Chairman: (no proposals – vacant position)
• Secretary: Flis Cotton
• Treasurer: Jackie Yates (proposed and seconded)
• The Chairman proposed to re-elect the remaining committee members en-bloc - this was proposed and seconded.
• Web Master: Leigh Burns
• Wildlife Officer: Jacqueline Green
• Fundraising Officer: (none)
• Site Reps (3 for each site)
  • DR: Jacqueline Green & Kay Mason (+ 1 Vacant)
  • Oakleigh: Gary Buckingham, Pat Marriott, Liz Barnes
  • LP: Phillip Moore, Christine Guiver, Andrew Bibbings
• Volunteers for the vacant posts above would be gratefully received.

8.    Representatives on Other Organisations

• National Vegetable Society – Joe Wallis. He agreed to report to PHGAS on NVS matters.

 
9.    Any Other Business:

• A plotholder asked why the BBQ is not held on DR and it was felt that the space was better on Oakleigh.
• The Hon Vice President thanked the Committee for their work over the year and reported that he had judged a few events this year, with hopefully, more next year.
• He felt that generally produce had not been as good this year as it could have been and so PHGAS plotholders were no exception.
• He hoped we could have a BBQ and show again next year and offered to judge this if it could be held on a Sunday as he was busy every Saturday in August.
• He will write to the RAOB club once again to request the use of their facilities next year for meetings.
• Hon VP said he was very disappointed at the turnout for the AGM and felt that a lot more people could have attended, given the number of members in the Society.
• Pat Messenger wished to report that she felt that the Society had become a lot more efficient and friendly in recent years and she felt this was down to the work of the committee, to whom she offered her thanks.

 
10.    Date of next meeting:

• Annual General Meeting to be held Monday 7th October 2019 at 7.30pm at the RAOB Club.
• Committee Meeting to be held Monday 5th November 2018 at 7.30pm at the RAOB Club.

 
Meeting closed at 8:05pm.