Minutes of the OPEN Meeting of the Paignton Home Garden & Allotment Society held at the RAOB Club, Paignton on Monday 4th February 2019

Present: Alan Smith, Flis Cotton, Jackie Yates, Liz Barnes, Stefan Phillpott, Andrew Bibbings, Joe Wallis, Phil Moore, Pat Marriott, Jackie Green, Christine Guiver, Denise Harris, Jodie Harris, Jonty & Joyce Osborne-Lisle.

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting.

1.    Apologies: Kay Mason, Gary Buckingham.

2.    Minutes of the previous meeting were read and approved.

3.    Matters arising from the minutes:

• Man with van has attended the site and cleared all the rubbish from Oakleigh & Derrell.
• Disabled plot on DR – work is ongoing to clear this plot and dismantle the raised beds that are falling apart.
• Cleared DR Plot is almost ready to relet – it will need to be split into 2 x ½ plots.

4.    Correspondence:

• 5b Lower Penns has given notice to leave her plot due to family commitments.
• Email received in January from 20a LP confirming that she hopes to get back into working the plot. It was discussed and noted that no work had yet been done and sec was asked to send another letter.

5.    Chairman’s Report:

• Seeds had been delivered to Oakleigh today and would soon be available for sale by the Chairman. Alan will be at the shop on Oakleigh between 10-1 on Saturday mornings.
• Red onions, white onions and shallots have been bought and will be sold on a first come, first served basis. Fewer were bought than last year as we were left with loads, so they may go quickly. They will be good for planting in March.
• Also available at the shop is ground netting at £1 per metre length x 2 metre width.
• Chicken pellets and fertiliser also stocked – please ask Alan.
• The water pipe to the main tap on Derrell Road will probably need lagging to avoid a leak or burst in the cold weather.

6.    Vice Chairman’s Report:

• Nothing to report

7.    Treasurer’s Report:

• Monies in Bank
  
  • Deposit account - £1,326.38
  • Current account - £550.63
• Monies received - £81.00
• Cheques:
  • 100353  - G Buckingham (rodent course) - £120.00
  • 100356 - Leigh Burns (website) - £64.02
  • 100360 - Shield Insurance - £529.39
  • 100359 - Man with van (clearance DR and Oak) - £430.00
  • 100361 - NAS – membership subs - £474.00

8.    Sites:

• Derrell Road
  
  • No site inspection
    
  • SEE BELOW – PLEASE LEAVE MAIN GATE UNLOCKED WHEN ON SITE
• Oakleigh
  
  • No site inspection
• Lower Penns
  • 1A - letter
  • 20A - letter
  • 21A - letter

9.    AOB:

• Oakleigh Plotholders have requested permission to cut the hedge back by the entrance gate in order to improve access – agreed. If anyone would like to assist, please speak to Alan on plot 5.
  
• The need for an emergency committee was discussed. In case of an accident, would any plotholder agree to have their telephone number left on the noticeboard at each site, so they could be alerted to attend the relevant site in case of an emergency? If the number was not displayed at the site, could it be circulated to plotholders on their particular site for use in an emergency? In the light of a recent potentially serious accident on Derrell Road, it was considered that this may be a good idea – please email sec or contact us with your thoughts or if you would like to volunteer?
• Again, in the light of the above accident on Derrell Road, it was discussed that it was very important for emergency services to be able to access the sites.
  
• It was agreed that the main site gate should be left unlocked while plotholders were working on the site. Please could we use common sense and the last one to leave the site is to lock the gate behind them – this is a major health and safety issue – especially if the emergency services are unable to gain access if required!
  
• 2 Oakleigh plotholders have volunteered to hold a key to DR as they live close by and it was agreed that this would be a good idea. Further details to be provided in due course, but from now on, could all visitors to Derrell Road site please leave the gate open while they are on site.

10.    Date of next meeting:

• OPEN committee meeting to be held on Monday 4th March 2019 at 7.30pm at the RAOB Club. All welcome.

Meeting closed at 7:55pm.