Committee meeting June 13th minutes
PRESENT: J.Hodges, A. Redfern, P. Jones, J. Mills, J.Pile , J.Carter-Bown, M. Hubball. D. Bonner, C Jones
Meeting opened at: 7.30pm
1.CHAIRMAN’S OPENING ADDRESS
Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting
2. APOLOGIES
A. Linnecor
3. MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING
Read and agreed
Election of Officers
Chairman- Jason Hodges
Site Manager/ Secretary- Allan Redfern
Treasurer- Mike Hubball
Agreed to serve for a further 12 months.
4. MATTERS ARISING FROM PREVIOUS MEETING
Storeshed roof- this is ongoing- suggestion that we get in touch with Bernie ( Allotment Officer) from BCC to find out which company is used by the city in these cases.
Potholes- Mike has emailed Sutton Town Council about this problem…..still no reply.
Way Out sign- Paul and Colin have already made a hole for the gate bolt which seems successful.
Tree behind Sharon and Eileen’s plots- Ash tree- this will cost £500 and Hill Allotment can have the chippings. Agreed by Committee. Will need to check on any preservation order.
5. CHAIRMAN’S REPORT
Thanks to Mike for sorting out the website, to Anne for organising tree pollarding and Eileen and Dennis for the bedding plants.
Margi’s garden is now planted up and some tubs and window boxes.
A watering rota will be created if required.
6. SECRETARY’S REPORT
Progress regarding plots.
Plot 25a. This plot remains as ‘ to require attention from the registered plot holder’ Goods still remain on site to be collected by the plotholder and final ‘hand back’ needs to be completed.
We have received information that plot Plot 20 will become vacant at the end of this season. This plot has been in the hands of one family for as long as anyone can remember . It has always been a ‘Show Plot’ This is a big event in the history of our site. We thank the current plotholder for his dedicated attention and effort on this plot.
Tomorrow I am meeting a prospective new addition to the waiting list in the morning. This is to show them the site and facilities we offer.
In the afternoon I am meeting the next name on the waiting list to offer them a plot.
A quote has been received for work on the trees troubling two plots at the top of the site . The affected house holder has been informed and agrees to the work to be carried out. The resulting wood will be shredded and made available to our plotholders .
This concludes my report.
7. TREASURERS REPORT
Management/Maintenance account.
The current balance of this account is £2823.74. The increase is because the Council have paid us 1/2 of our annual budget allowance, together with the rent collection commission. This totalled £865.39
This comprises £187.96 water, £179.55 for repairs, £35.65 rat eradication, £19.45 cleaning, £41.57 grounds maintenance and £401.21 rent collection commission.
I will transfer the rent commisssion to our main account and send the cleaning money to the Social Club for toilet cleaning.
Main Account
Current balance is £6247.74 (May 30th)
May shed sales were £740.85. The ytd sales are £1107.10
We had a store-shed delivery costing £543.42 during May.
The plant sale has produced £370 so far. A tremendous result for everyone concerned - particularly the kind person that donated the wisteria plant.
Website costs. As you are aware the website was down for a couple of weeks recently. This was due to the hosting company changing the hosting details. One of the changes is that they now charge us for the security certificate. This was free previously. I seems that web browsers have stepped up security and you can't open a web page unless it has the necessary certificate. I don't fully understand this but the bottom line is that we have to renew our certificate each year at a cost of £49.99 - I got a discount on the first year's payment that brought it down to £29.99.
In addition, they have increased the hosting charge from £62 biennially to £71.88 annually.
Also, we have to renew the website name at a cost of £15.90 bienially. This means our annual cost will be about £130. I can look around to see if we can get it cheaper, but I suspect not.
The question this raises is do we want to spend this money? My feeling is that the website is a valuable asset and that we should continue with it despite these increases.
As you know I have transfered most of our money into a commercial, interest paying, savings account. They informed me last week that the interest rate will be reduced to 1% shortly. No surprise really: it means that the interest paid in the coming year will be about £60 - unless they reduce it again of course.
Last week, after discussion with John, I bought 4 new folding tables for the shows. They cost just over £30 each.
As you know, there have recently been discussions regarding the size of our bank balance and what we should do about it. I would like to raise this issue under aob at the end of the meeting.
That is the end of my report.
8. SITE MAINTENANCE
Water meter reading for May-1738 cubic meters….taken 13.6.24…+20 on previous reading.
Roadway hole complete in readiness for Exit sign on gate.
There have been deliveries to the storeshed.
Anne’s IBC now in place with the help of Laurence Bonner
9. PLOT MONITORING SUB COMMITTEE REPORT
Another monitoring walk around needs to be organised. There are still a few problems which need active monitoring.
10. SHED SCHEDULE
N/A Committee members to fly their red flag when on their plot. May be useful to have up to date list of plotholders in the shed.
11. SHOW SUB COMMITTEE AND COMPETITIONS
Plant sale went well- £ 370 raised and there are still some donated plants outside the shed for sale. Thanks to everyone who donated or helped.
Show- Geoff and Suzanne Cross are organising fresh posters to advertise forthcoming events ( refreshing to have plotholders involvement). John will in the mean time put up relevant information needed for the Early Show.
There is one more Committee meeting before the Early Show.
12. SITE REPORT/HEALTH AND SAFETY
Potholes- referred to earlier. Discuss this problem at the next Social Club Committee meeting as their patrons are also affected by this.
13. MANAGEMENT COMMITTEESocial club- There have been complaints about plotholders using toilets and leaving them in a muddy state. It is important to remember to remove muddy footwear before entering the club. The flooring has only recently been renewed.
There is a free members evening 6th July….musical entertainment by the Neverlys. Free buffet. See Social Club homepage for further details.
14. AOB
As previously bought up at the AGM Mike talked about using some of money there is in the account. We have already bought some more fold up tables.
There are lots of ideas of how to use this money. It was decided :
Free to enter Early and late Shows.
Cash prize for best Flower in show- Early Show £20 voucher to spend in the store shed.
Cash prizes for best in Late Show flower and vegetable £20 voucher each to spend in store shed.
Front of plot/floral display - £20 store shed voucher
Other prizes to remain the same.
It was decided to increase the monetary amounts for incidentals :
Chairman- £50
Secretary/ Site Manager- £80
Treasurer- £50
Paul- £50
CLOSURE
Meeting closed at 9pm.
The next Committee Meeting will be held on 11th July 2024