AGM 2010

MINUTES OF THE BLANDFORD FORUM ALLOTMENT SOCIETY HELD ON MONDAY 27TH SEPTEMBER 2010 IN THE CORN EXCHANGE

The meeting was called to order at 7PM by the Chairman, who welcomed those the members present and read out the Agenda.

The Secretary then read the minutes of the 2009 AGM and these were accepted as a true record of the meeting.

The Secretary then reported on the actions from that meeting as follows:

The subjects of a Water Borehole, water collection and the Electricity Motion Detector had all been discussed with the Blandford Town Council Foreman Jon Goodenough. The conclusion was that although the ideas were good ones, the initial outlay and subsequent costs would exceed the capabilities of the Society funds and would not decrease the annual costs by any substantial amount. He also reported that at the annual meeting between the Committee and the Town Council, it had been agreed that incinerators could be used at Elizabeth Road, but only after 6PM and that they must be attended whilst in use, in order to prevent possible fire damage being caused by vandalism. The only other action from the previous minutes was the handover/takeover of the Treasurer's post between Mike Hewlett and Hilary Melrose. This had proceeded smoothly and Hilary was now happy in her post.

The Chairman then started his Annual Report by thanking the Committee for their hard work during the year and the Town Council for their co-operation. He mentioned that the Secretary had been hard at work trying to raise funds for Machinery and for Fencing at Elizabeth Rd and would be reporting on progress. He congratulated Marcia and Dave Miles and Saffron Gallagher for their organisation of a very successful Bar-B-Q and thanked all the volunteers who had helped to set up and clear up the site. He said that he had heard nothing but compliments about the event and hoped that everyone who attended had enjoyed themselves. He also expressed his thanks to Dave Dismore for volunteering to cut the grass every week and to Dave Buchan for his work on the Rabbit Fencing, saying how gratifying it was to have non-committee members of the Society volunteering for day to day duties and that he hoped it would continue in the future.

The Secretary then made his report. He mentioned that the Trading Store had a turnover of around £10,000 this year and that there was £2630 in stock which would not have to be purchased next year, with the funds benefiting from the Trading Store Membership fees which had come from smaller societies from as far afield as Stalbridge. He thanked the Society members for supporting the store and hoped that they were satisfied with the low prices the store had offered them. He also asked for members to volunteer to help out occasionally to relieve those who were there nearly every Saturday morning. He thanked the Committee for their hard work and reported that Tony Champion and Steve White had found it necessary to resign, due to work and family pressures and that one volunteer had put his name forward for election. He reported that the relationship with the Town Council remained extremely cooperative and he hoped that this would continue with the arrival of the new Town Clerk. He said that the NDDC expansion scheme on the land north of Lamperds Field did not appear to have made much progress, probably because of negotiations being still in progress and also the recession having put a strain on NDDC spending in the short term. He promised to keep in touch with the situation. He reported on his funds raising efforts to raise £10,000 for the equipment sharing scheme and for £3000 for protective fencing for the Elizabeth Rd site. These were both at the appraisal stage and he was keeping his fingers crossed for their success. He then gave his thanks to the Bar-B-Q event organisers and volunteer workers, to Saffron for her work on the Sunflower competition and to the judges of the Best Plot competitions. He announced that 2011 would be a competition free year, apart from the Best Plot competitions. He also announced a change in the Best Plot prize arrangements to better reflect the changes that had occurred with the increased number of smaller plots at Lamperds Field. There would be one prize for the best full plot, with a new Cup and 2nd and 3rd prizes for the smaller plots. The Elizabeth Rd competition would remain the same. Finally he reminded those present of the Kings Seed catalogues and the need to return them to Saffron with a cheque made to the Blandford Allotment Society, before the beginning of November.

The Treasurer reported on the state of the accounts for 2010. She said that expenditure exceeded income by around £20 this year, mainly due to the purchase of £380 worth of fencing materials for the Elizabeth Rd Fencing project, but that the financial situation was healthy. Copies of the accounts were circulated for discussion and queries answered to the satisfaction of the meeting.

The Committee elections then took place with the standing Committee being re-elected unanimously. Wayne Hamlet (the ex secretary of Blandford Camp Kitchen Gardens) had put his name forward for the Committee. He was proposed by John Derricot and seconded by Tim Farrow and the vote in favour was unanimous.

The Prize- giving was then carried out with the following results being announced:

Best Plot @ Lamperds Field - 1st Tony Chamion, 2nd Malcolm Fowler, 3rd Tim Farrow .

Best Plot @ Elizabeth RD - 1st Barry Gould, 2nd Terry Moses.

Sunflower Competion - Adult Section - Amanda Bibby, Child Section - Ella Ricketts

The prizes were handed over by Councillor Galpin, who took the opportunity to say how impressed he was with appearance of both Allotment sites and that he felt that the members should be proud of their new Committee which had done so much work to improve the performance and appearance of the Society. He felt that relations with the Town Council had never been better and hoped that this would continue.

During any other business, questions were raised concerning the future of Elizabeth Rd and the fencing work due to take place there. These were answered by the Committee Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer as well as input from Councillor Galpin.

Finally Mrs Buchan stated that she felt that the Society should be proud of their Committee, the work that they do and the way in which they make new members so welcome. She said that she had been introduced to other members and settled in so quickly that she and her husband find it a pleasure to be members of the Society. This was followed by a round of applause, for which the Chairman gave his thanks.

The meeting finished at 10 minutes past eight and the members present adjourned to drinks and nibbles, which lasted for at least an hour. One member later reported that she and her husband had wibble- wobbled their way home after drinking too much sherry''!

Dick Good

(Secretary)