Annual General Meeting of the Paignton Home Garden & Allotment Society held at the ROAB Club, New Street, Paignton on Monday 3 October 2016 at 7.30pm

Present: Joe Wallis, Keith & Jane Parker, Flis Cotton, Liz Barnes, Alan Smith, Gary Buckingham, Charlie Jarvis, Jacqueline Green, Christine Guiver, Colin Waymouth, Pat Messenger, Pat Marriott, Barry &Sandra Luscombe, S Philpott.

Hon Vice President, Joe Wallis welcomed everyone to the meeting.

1.    Apologies: Philip Moore, Lin Cane, Kay Mason, Elaine Care.

2.    Minutes of last AGM held on Monday 5 October 2015 were read, agreed and signed.

3.    Correspondence:

• Applications to join the waiting list.

4.    Chairman’s Report:

• Chairman reported that it had not been a bad growing year – he had had the best crop of carrots ever!
• The Society had bought a batch of top dressing and Tuckers seeds for sale to plotholders. Tuckers seeds seem to work very well in our soil.
• The break in on DR in September had been reported to the police. 2 strimmers had been stolen. Unfortunately there had been another break in last Saturday night and the solar lamp attached to a shed had been taken.
• The Society must get on with clearing the hedge in the corner of the DR site – please can we have volunteers to help with this? (email sec. or see Keith on the DR site).
• New leases – these were still in the hands of the Council – there appeared to be one sticking point. Secretary agreed to email the Council to ask for a progress report.
• The Chairman reported that he had looked at other allotment sites and felt that ours were relatively untidy overall in comparison. We discussed that our 1, 2, 3, warning letters should be tightened up and that plotholders would not be given so much grace to bring their plots up to scratch in the next year. Tenancy agreements would be terminated sooner in future in an effort to tidy the sites. We discussed that possibly the 1 month between letters 1, 2, and 3 was too long, but as there had been no notice of motion to change, this could not be altered. The letters had been set up by PHGAS when we took over running the sites from the Council, so at least there was now a system in place. It was agreed that all new plotholders should be told that work is required to maintain the plots in the winter and not just from March onwards. Sec agreed to mention this when letting plots.
• The Hon Vice President mentioned that the maximum split between veg/flowers was 75/25.
• It was proposed that the committee take a firmer hand with the letters each month and this was seconded.
• The Chairman thanked the committee for their efforts over the past year.

5.    Treasurer’s Report:

• Income:
  • Rent/membership: £3,856.00
  • Bank interest: £1.69
  • Chicken pellets: £715.00
  • Sub-total: £4,572.69
• Expenditure:
  • Refunds: £23.00
  • S W Water: £885.02
  • Stationery/postage: £208.42
  • Shop: £1,178.01
  • Subs: £899.34
  • Maintenance: £619.69
  • Fuel (for mower/strimmer): £10.40
  • Sub-total: £3,823.88
• Surplus for year: £748.81
• Monies in bank:
  • Current account: £136.47
  • Deposit account: £3,321.16
  • Cash in hand: £18.97
  • Total: £3,476.60
• The asset register had been updated with a deduction of 20% from last year to cover depreciation.
• It was proposed that the treasurers report be accepted and this was seconded.

6.    Motions and Proposals:

• None

7.    2017 Election of Officers:

• No resignations so all current officers were proposed / seconded / agreed en bloc.
• (a) Chairman: Keith Parker
• (b) Vice Chairman: Alan Smith
• (c) Secretary: Flis Cotton
• (d) Treasurer: Jane Parker
• (e) Web Master: Leigh Burns
• (f) Wildlife Officer: Jacqueline Green
• (g) Fundraising Officer: (none)
• (h) Site Reps (3 for each site):
  • DR: Pat Messenger, Jacqueline Green, Charlie Jarvis
    
  • Oakleigh: Gary Buckingham, Pat Marriott, Liz Barnes
  • LP: Phillip Moore, Colin Weymouth, Christine Guiver
• Charlie Jarvis offered to become a committee member on Derrell Road and this was proposed and seconded.

8.    Representatives on Other Organisations:

• National Vegetable Society – Joe Wallis. He agreed to report to PHGAS on NVS matters although the meetings did often clash with his other duties. Joe reported that he had judged 6 shows last year.

9.    Closing Comments and Forthcoming Events:

• Hon VP thanked all the committee for their efforts over the past year.
• Joe had judged all the plots this year by RHS rules and was thus a little stricter than usual.
• There had been no veg show this year due to an inclement weather forecast.

10.    Any Other Business:

• Joe had left a letter with the landlord, requesting the use of the RAOB club for the next year. The bank holidays in 2017 would be January and May, when the meetings would be on Tuesday.

11.    Next Annual General Meeting:

• Monday 2 October 2017 at 7.30pm at the ROAB Club.

12. Next committee meeting:

• Monday 7 November 2016 at 7.30pm

Meeting closed at 8.10pm.