Old Park Farm Garden Holders Association

We are planning our first allotment working party for some time. This will follow the relevant government guidelines. People will be working in the open air and will be able to keep a safe distance from other volunteers. You will be able to decide what a safe distance is for you while respecting other people’s safe distance. Please come along to help, familiar and less familiar faces will all be welcomed

The Working Party will be between 10am and 1pm Saturday 4th July. We will meet in the main car park. There is lots to do, but one thing we can do is fill in potholes on the lanes with roadstone and then compact it. Other jobs to do include weeding and picking litter – there will be work for everyone who comes along.

I hope to see you there
Dave – Secretary

Read Full Post »

The following items are in stock at the shop, contact John Stooke or Dave Kirkham to arrange making a purchase.

• Mother Earth compost 60 Ltrs – £4.00
• 4 Plant Growbags. – £3.00
• Lime. – £4.30
• Fish blood and bone. – £12.00
• Growell Granular. – £18.00
• 8ft Bamboo canes. – £0.40

The shop will be open 5pm – 6:30pm each day this week. Please bring correct money. Also remember to adhere to social distancing guidelines when visiting the shop.

John Stooke
Chairman

Read Full Post »

Last weekend there were two intruders on the site. They were challenged and left the site without incident. I am not aware that any plot was broken into or anything stolen – let me know if you think your plot was broken into or if you think anything was stolen. It looks like we were lucky that time

Allotment sites will always be targeted by thieves. Site security is everyone’s responsibility

1. Make sure there is a lock your gates and lock it every time you leave the site.
2. Always lock the site gates.
3. Do not let anyone onto the site unless you know who they are, and they have a key to enter the site.
4. Keep your site gate key safe and inform the Secretary if it has been stolen.
5. Report any signs of break-in or theft to the Secretary, or if unavailable, to the Chairman.
6. If it is safe to do so, challenge people on the site if you think they should not be there.
7. Report theft or damage to the site to the police.
8. Take photos of any evidence of damage or intruders if you can.

Thank you for your help in keeping our site safe and secure.

Dave
Secretary

Read Full Post »

There will be a delivery of compost and growbags this coming Monday. 

John Stooke will be on site to accept delivery from 12 noon, if anyone would like to lend a hand please let him know. .

The delivery is a little later in the season than usual, this is due to the fact that there has been a national shortage, so rather than wait until the weekend to open the shop he is willing to open each evening this coming week between 5pm and 6:30pm.

A price list will be posted Monday.

Please remember to adhere to social distancing guidelines when visiting the shop.

Read Full Post »

Present: Jane Bowden, John Stooke, David Kirkham, Mark Robinson, Steve Williams Charles Dewa

Apologies: None

Minutes from 4th April (mini meeting) 2020: These were accepted. It was noted that there is no quorum stated in the constitution so this meeting of the officers was quorate.

Water: There has been a very large increase in the amount of water used. From 19.4. to 23.5 255 m cu were used costing £383. It seems that someone has left a tap flowing overnight. We have collected more than the usual water bill so should be ok to pay it, but it was agreed to monitor the situation and remind people about good water use.

Treasurer: Generally finances are ok. Mark has increased the water bill provision to £2000 given the usage. He proposed a £200 disbursement to the new Acting Chair to cover incidental costs but it was agreed to leave this till we can hold an AGM. (DK)

There is some concern that the stock in the ‘shop’ is slow moving although it shouldn’t run out of date and may well be sold once we can open the shop properly. Jane and John agreed to look at the possibility of opening for a one off sale in the near future.

Secretary: Dave outlined the options regarding the new lease (documents previously circulated). There are 3 possible options:

1. Stay on our current lease until 2025 when it runs out and accept the proposed link to Direct let associations which would mean a massive increase in rent
2. Accept the new lease by September
3. Reject the lease and ask to become a Direct let association.

It seems unlikely the /council would accept option 3. Option 1 will involve a massive increase in costs to tenants. Option 2 will involve a large increase in administration which is going to be difficult to carry. John and Jane agreed to do some work on the lease and to produce a consultation document to go to tenants. They also agreed to contact Mr Dymond at the Council to ask for a postponement of the September date for both the rent review and the new lease decision, given the number of new people running the Association. Dave had sent an e mail to the secretary of Whitemoor Allotments asking her to share experiences of the two allotment sites. He had also requested legal advice from the NAS (National Allotment Society) on the new lease.

Other issues:

1. plot holder had been given a verbal warning by email and letter as there had been no communication and no sign of any cultivation or maintenance having taken place.
2. We need to appoint new Trustees in order for the lease to be signed. Dave would find out about insurance for Trustees from the NAS.
3. It was suggested that Vanessa might be able to find out what benefits the NAS offer to tenants and to advertise these. DK to check with her.

Read Full Post »

Please be aware that the Association has a water usage policy – see below or click link below

This water usage policy includes the actions that the Association may take if taps are left on when unattended. These actions includes issuing fines on tenants that if unpaid, may lead to tenants being given notice to quit – so it is important that you understand the consequences of leaving your tap running Please read it carefully

The timing of this notice may seem a little odd given that it has been raining recently, but the very dry weather that we had earlier in the year led to high water usage and the Association pays for water based on a water meter – it is not a flat charge So if we use more water, the Association pays more to our water supplier

Thank you to everyone who is collecting rainwater and storing it
It is encouraging that more people have started to collect water this year and it would be great if more people would collect more water rather than using the water from the taps This helps the Association by reducing our costs and ultimately means everyone pays less each year

Thanks for your help

Dave
Secretary
Old Park Farm Garden Holders Association

=============================================================

POLICY ON WATER USAGE ON SITE – Click This Link

This policy is designed to ensure that everyone is treated fairly if or when a gardener is responsible for a serious wastage of water. Water is a valuable commodity and our supply is metered, it can therefore be expensive to lose water both financially and environmentally.

It is expected that everyone is compliant with the following long standing rules.

1) Do not leave hose pipes attached to taps, even if you have a switch off valve attached to the nozzle. Always when you have finished turn off the tap and remove the hose pipe from the tap.
2) Do not leave the site whilst you have water running via sprinklers etc.
3) Please do not hog the water you do not have sole usage of any tap. Talk to
your neighbours.
4) Every gardener should aim to store rainwater in barrels. A barrel which you can fill with the hose near to your greenhouse for use of watering with a can is good policy. You the don’t always need a hose pipe for a small amount of watering.
5) Check and check again before you leave site that you have turned off the tap and removed your hose pipe.

At the extraordinary general meeting held on 3rd September 2016 it was agreed that the following sanctions would apply to those leaving the water running.

Incidents should be reported to the Secretary.

The secretary will speak and give a verbal warning to the gardener about further breaches. A written note will be kept.

If there is a second incident the Secretary will issue a written warning. Again a copy of this will be kept.

If there is a third incident in the same growing season a fine of £30 will be levied which will go towards the water bill. Along with a final warning to the gardener. A further transgression or non payment of fine may result in the immediate termination of the tenancy agreement.

The water bill accounts for a large part of our expenditure and your yearly rent bill.

Help us to keep costs down. Report leaks immediately to a member of the
committee.

Be vigilant, turn off a tap you find left on and report

=============================================================

Read Full Post »

Thank you for maintaining the hedges around your plots. The hedges keep growing and cutting them may not be the first job you want to do when you get some time to spend on your allotment.

When you do cut your hedges, please do your best to clear up any thorns that fall on the lanes around the site.I have been informed by a couple of tenants that they have had punctures in their tyres because there have been thorns on the lanes.

Thanks for your help in being considerate to other tenants
Regards

Dave
SecretaryOld Park Farm Garden Holders Association

Read Full Post »

Good evening all

Due to recent lockdown and social distancing rules it has not been possible to arrange the usual committee meetings, but recently we successfully held a meeting using the Zoom application. The minutes of that meeting will be posted as soon as I have them.

The main discussion was around the position we are in with the council and the proposed new lease/management agreement and in what direction we should go. We are currently drafting a letter asking the council to postpone the signing of a new lease for upto 12 months to enable us to thoroughly explore the implications of the options available, we are also seeking advice from the National Allotment Society and hope to hear back from them this week. The Association is in a slightly different position to some of the others in that a number of us are new to the roles that we have voluntarily undertaken and are still learning how the Association works as well as trying to understand the new lease position.
Should the council refuse our request for a postponement a decision would have to be made very soon, and as it is such a big decision it would have to go to a vote so in the very near future you will receive a written communication from the Association given to you on site or by post. It will outline the pro’s & con’s of each of the options we have available, please read carefully then tick the appropriate box for the option you vote for, it should then be returned via the Association post box. Should you have any queries regarding anything outlined please don’t hesitate to email me.

Jane Bowden and I have agreed that we will open the shop at the weekend, observing the social distancing guidelines, day/s and times to be confirmed, but at the moment getting hold of stock such as compost and growbags has been quite challenging as there is a national shortage of both. It seems that during the period of lockdown the population has taken to gardening. I have spoken to two suppliers that have advised that it may be two weeks before they can deliver to us. As soon as i have confirmation of stock being delivered i will post an update.

The installation of the new fence between the main gate and the railway gate is due to start on 4th of June and is expected to take a couple of days to complete.

Access to site via the railway gate this coming Saturday 6th will be restricted for a while as I will be taking down some trees/oversized hedges on the perimeter of Winifred’s plot, sorry for the inconvenience but they need to come down to keep within both the Association and Council guidelines regarding hedges.

That’s all for now, I will see you around on site, stay safe.

John Stooke

Chairman

Read Full Post »