Annual General Meeting
8.00 PM Wednesday 9th October, 2019
The Chiltern Room
Chinnor Village Centre, High Street, Chinnor
The Association will be holding its Annual General Meeting as above and you are cordially invited. This is your opportunity to have your say, both complimentary and critical and to discuss how you would like to see the Association develop over the coming years. So please make every effort to attend.
Agenda
Minutes of C.A.G.A. Annual General Meeting on 9th October 2019
Present: Ged Wells (Chairman); Stuart Harding (Treasurer); Diane Troye (Secretary)
The minutes of last year’s AGM were agreed as a true and correct record, proposed by Frans and seconded by Stuart. There were no matters arising. The Chairman welcomed Susan Ashdown a representative from Chinnor Parish Council to the AGM.
Attendance: 24 members approximately
Chairman’s Report:
Allotment Centre Road:
This is to be closed at the end of October or sooner if weather turns bad. All plot holders are reminded not to park along the road, it is to be used only for dropping off.
Plot 30 – Compost Heap
Some plot holders are still placing inappropriate items on the heap and on the bonfire. Please do not abuse this facility it only makes for more work and expense for the committee to sort out.
The Committee’s thanks go out to Allan Braun who took on the job of monitoring it and maintaining it, thanks to him the heap is now better organised.
Plot holders are reminded to comply with the rules of use and to take note of any notices placed on the heap.
Allotment Equipment
A range of equipment is available for plot holders to use. Plot holders are reminded that care should be exercised when using equipment supplied by CAGA, especially the large rotavator. Any damage upon return will need to be paid for by the user. All that is asked is the item be returned in a clean condition and a donation be made towards up keep and petrol.
Currently one of the lawn mowers is broken.
Working Parties:
Volunteer working parties are essential in maintaining the Allotment as a whole. Getting plot holders to volunteer has proved difficult with only a small band of usual plot holders coming forward. These have been run on a Saturday morning.
The working parties have been responsible for clearing rubbish from abandoned plots and a big thank you goes out to all those who gave up their time to do this. Plot holders are reminded of their responsibility to remove any rubbish from their plots and take to the tip.
To date the Committee has spent £1,000 in getting 3 plots back into use after they were left in very poor condition.
Annual Plot Judging:
This year’s judging went well. Next year it is proposed that plot holders wishing to partake in the competition should do so by an opt in method. Plot holders will be notified via email of this procedure nearer the time.
Annual Summer BBQ:
This took place on the 10th August and was successfully held in the D.C instead of the usual marquee following a storm warning from the Met Office.
New Boundary Fence:
A partial replacement of the boundary fence has taken place this year running along Cherry Tree Lane side of the allotment. This was funded by Chinnor Parish Council for which the Committee express their thanks.
In order to keep the fence in good condition both the Council and the Committee would advise all plot holders to maintain the 1 meter clearance path between the end of the plots and the fence. Any plot holders not abiding by this rule will be contacted and action taken to remove any items blocking the clearance path.
Questions From The Floor:
Q: A suggestion from the floor was made to run the volunteer working parties during the week instead of weekends as retired people have more time to volunteer during the week.
A: This will be considered by the committee going forward.
Treasurer’s Report:
Report given by Stuart Harding
Shop Income is down on 2018 at £4452.00.
Rent from Plot holders has seen an increase to £2,752.00 following Oct 2018 plot rent increase
Electricity and heating has seen a small increase due to utility price rises to £332
Total expenditure has increased to £5,837.00 up from £3909.00 in 2018
Total assets are good at £11,841.00
A new line entry in the accounts has been added called Allotment Up Keep which saw £1,244.00 being spent this year.
Stuart Harding has chosen to resign as treasurer and committee member wef October 2019. The chairman expressed a big thank you for all Stuart has done over his years of service which was seconded by Mike Ibbot.
Questions From The Floor:
None made
Shop Manager Report:
Due to absence of Shop Manager no report was given
Plot Letting Secretary Report & Website / Online Status Update:
Report given by Frans Lytzen.
Frans was pleased to report that there are currently no vacant plots and during the year 18/19 has let over 20 plots. There are now over 16 people on the waiting list.
This is Frans’s second full year of taking on the role of Plot Letter.
Going forward there will be stronger enforcement of the rules towards those plot holders who allow their plots to fall in to a poor condition.
Plot inspections will be carried out by Brian Roebuck and reported to the committee accordingly.
It has been found that some new plot holders have struggled to get their plots into good working order due to lack of experience. For this reason Frans would like to run a Plot Mentoring Scheme where more experienced plot holders can pass on their knowledge. Anyone willing to become a mentor should contact Frans.
Frans will look again at the Plot Letting rules and will be requesting feedback where appropriate. New plot holders are now only being offered half size plots until they are experienced and eager enough to take on a full size plot.
Frans has been marketing the plots in his monthly newsletters, emails and on the website. It is therefore important that all email addresses are kept up to date so all plot holders need to inform Frans if their email address changes.
The website is now up and running and fully functional. It is the main means of marketing the Allotments with lots of information on there and attracting new plot holders. The Allotments are also on Google Maps.
Communication is best done by Email and Facebook. There is now a forum on Facebook for people to talk about their plot. It should be noted that Facebook should not be used as a means of running the allotment. It is there for people to share and add notes and tips about their produce growing experiences.
Emails will come directly from the Committee as opposed from an individual so all plot holders are asked to check their spam folders to make sure they are getting them.
Chinnor Pump is also used as a means of promoting the allotments.
The Future of the D.C Update:
The following report was given by Mike Ibbot
CAGA Distribution Centre Work Undertaken in 2019
Building Condition Report - Findings
If the building is to be retained the following is recommended:
Conclusion
Even with this work undertaken, the building is still a dated and ‘tired’ structure, far exceeding its shelf life, but most importantly it is of asbestos cement panelled construction.
The committee took the decision to explore the costs and associated requirements of a rebuild of the DC; this in turn prompted the need for an asbestos survey as part of the project (to replace the DC).
Asbestos Refurbishment Survey Findings
Conclusion
Asbestos Fibre Identification Survey Findings
Distribution Centre Rebuild project
The elements considered are:
Temporary Storage:
Demolition:
Rebuild:
There are a number of options:
This option is not favoured as it requires project management by Committee and working with numerous independent contractors.
Given the purpose to which it is used, the pre-owned seems at face value to be the most cost-effective route
The total project costs would therefore require a budget of some £67K excluding service/utility disconnection and re-connection.
Available funds stands are circa £21K, subject to approval from CPC
The decision remains to be made: renovate the existing DC using existing funds, or knock it down and build a new one, but this requires us to seek out some £46K of additional funding.
Election of Officers:
In the absence of new nominees the existing Chairman is duly re-elected. The position of Treasurer is vacant, it is hoped this will be filled by a committee member in due course. The position of Secretary is also vacant but Diane Troye has agreed to continue on as a temporary measure with the assistance of Stephen Colley stepping in as and when necessary.
New members have come forward to join the Committee, Peter Greenway and Rod Lavers are duly elected. The committee welcomes them onboard and looks forward to meeting them at forthcoming meetings.
The current committee is made up of Ged Wells, Diane Troye, David Shaw, Peter Bowler, Mike Ibbot, Frans Lytzen and Stephen Colley. The position of Shop Manager is currently vacant.
AOB:
Thanks are given to all those who helped out at the Summer BBQ and thanks to Ali for cooking the wonderful food once again.
The subject of Social Events was raised by the Chairman. Previously various events such as trips out were organised by the Association but sadly no longer done due to no one able to take on the responsibility of organising events.
It has also been previously raised from the floor to split the Annual BBQ day into 2 in order to allow for children to attend and be more involved. This needs to be looked into as do ways of raising funds and improving the social atmosphere for all plot holders to benefit from. This would be best done by someone who has an interest and commitment in organising social events. If anyone would like to come forward and take on this role they would they gratefully welcomed.
Jackie Gunn came forward and offered to organise a Pumpkin Event. This was welcomed by the Chairman and details will be made known to all plot holders once organised.
Meeting was then drawn to a close and was followed by refreshments.