Minutes of the OPEN Meeting of the Paignton Home Garden & Allotment Society held at the RAOB Club, Paignton on Monday 3 August 2020

Present: Libby Luke, Flis Cotton, Gary Buckingham, Andrew Bibbings, Joe Wallis, Phil Moore, Alan Smith, Lynne Gibson, Jackie Green, Christine Guiver.

The chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting.

1.    Apologies: Stefan Philpott, Melanie Philpott, Pat Marriott, Jodi White, Liz Barnes.

2.    Minutes of the previous meetings in February and March were taken as read and approved.

3.    Matters arising from the minutes:

• Oakleigh Noticeboard has now been put in place
• Seeds from Kings – Melanie (27b LP) has requested seed catalogues from Kings and has asked that these be distributed by the site reps. A poster will be put on noticeboards and ordering instructions will be included with order sheets. Payment is to be made with the order and handed to a site rep, to ultimately be passed to Melanie.
• There will now not be any Bees sited on any site as this could not be arranged.

4.    Correspondence:

• Requests for plots have all been added to waiting list. The waiting list is at its’ longest ever with over 90 names (LP very slow moving). This was discussed and it was decided that the Society must tighten up on dirty plot letters and write to plotholders who are clearly not cultivating or tidying their plots. This is in the hope of weeding out (no pun intended) those who are not committed.

5.    Chairman’s Report:

• Chairman not present

6.    Vice Chairman’s Report:

• 15b Oakleigh has erected another shed on his plot so there is now a large summer house, decking area and a shed on a relatively small plot. In addition, the wooden fence is far too high and shades the surrounding plot. It was discussed and the Sec has been asked to write to the plot holder requesting that within the next 28 days, he lower the fence to no more than 4ft high and also remove one shed as the plot has been over-developed. If this is not done, it will be done by the Society.

7. Treasurer’s Report:

• Treasurer not present – no figures supplied

8.    Sites:

• Derrell Road
  • Matting for DR path to be held over until winter.
  • Letter 1:
    • 3b
    • 14a
    • 15
• Oakleigh
  • Letter 1:
    • 7b (no work)
    • 9b 
    • 10 (bottom half)
    • 13b
    • 33b
    • 41a - storage again
  • 15b - letter re: reducing fences and removing a shed
  • 42a - confirm they can keep plot
• Lower Penns
  • Christine will be dealing with the trees after lockdown. 
  • Letters:
    • 7 
    • 14b - ask if she would like to drop ¼ plot
  • 25b - has had wheelbarrow stolen. 2 have now been taken from the site. Please be vigilant for strangers on the site.

9.    AOB:

• Webmaster confirmed there is a live Facebook page for PHGAS – www.facebook.com/PHGAS/ and a link at the bottom of the web page
• Alan Smith asked that he be allowed to buy more chicken pellets as we have run out. This was agreed and he will order a pallet, to be sold across the sites.
• Use of the Society strimmer was brought up as it had been replaced into storage after use by someone, with the wire damaged once again. It was decided that the expensive equipment would not now be lent out as the cost of repair was too great. Each site would have a designated person to strim plots – please speak to a site rep if you want your paths to be strimmed.
• Hon VP reported that he had paid a cheque to the Society for £25.50 (number 668) and this had not yet been paid in to his bank. He was a little concerned about this and asked Sec to check with the Treasurer if it had been banked.
• The ‘swap box’ on Oakleigh had been working well and Lynne Gibson requested that plotholders continue to use it. Lower Penns had a similar, but informal arrangement whereby swaps were left inside the gate by the noticeboard. This was also very successful.
• In an effort to be environmentally friendly, Lynne asked if plotholders could please use water from their water butts wherever possible, rather than taps/hoses. If water bills have risen significantly this year, we run the risk of having to increase subs to cover the increased bills. 
• Sec is to ask the Treasurer to check bills.

10.    Date of next committee meeting:

• To be held on Monday 7 September at 7.30 pm at the RAOB Club.

Meeting closed at 7:45pm.