We have 120 bags of compost / grow bags coming on Wednesday 7th June between 11.30am and 12.30. A few extra pairs of hands would be appreciated if you are planning to be on the allotments on Wednesday. – Jackie
Chris Skinner on allotments 23 and 24 situated on the main area after the crossroads on the left has the following for sale to anyone interested.
DAXARA TRAILER, 3ft OR (900 mm ) WIDE APPROX 3ft 8in OR 1100mm LONG APPROX . THIS IS A TIPPER TRAILER , AND YOU CAN TAKE OFF THE BACK TAIL GATE. IT HAS A COVER, BUT THE ELASTIC BANDING HAS SLIGHTLY STRETCHED. TO BUY THIS NEW IT WOULD COST OVER £200. I AM LOOKING FOR A PRICE OF AROUND £75 . GRAB YOURSELF A BARGAIN. CONTACT CHRIS ON 07480633272 OR SEE ME IN MY ALLOTMENT MOST DAYS. THANK YOU.
Posted in Sales | Leave a Comment »
For the information of all allotment holders on the main site. The pedestrian gate fitted alongside the new main gates has been fitted with a new lock, utilising your main gate key, and can now be used where vehicular access is not required. The pathway inside the gate has been laid with concrete to make access safer also. Please be aware of the scaffold pole set into the new concrete to hold back one of the main gates when in use. As with the main gates do not leave the pedestrian gate unlocked when unattended.
Posted in News, Notices, Services | Leave a Comment »
We offered to put on communal bonfires to help individuals get rid of non or hard to compost materials. Disappointingly even after the notice put out on March 20th the day after the AGM, when this was discussed, some still thought that it was appropriate to put plastics, carpets, a table, sheets of metal, insulating material and wheelbarrow loads of soil, brick debris and vegetable matter on the pile to be burned.
This is not appropriate! Some of the rubbish put on the fires lately are health hazards to the person firing the bonfire, never mind the potential environmental damage.
Until further notice there will be no communal bonfire on the main car park. So do not put waste matter there anticipating someone else will get rid of it.
There should be little cause to burn anything through the summer months most garden produce can and should be composted. Hedges especially privet will compost and no one should be cutting that for the next two months because of nesting birds. The recycling centre at Lenton Lane also takes green waste for free.
The recycling bay was set up to be an exchange of useful things between gardeners not a lazy person’s dumping ground. Beer cans, empty bin liners, bricks and party hats are not at all useful to the greater majority here, they are also things that may put your tenancy at risk if the owners are discovered! Take your rubbish home don’t expect other people to get rid of it. If the rubbish continues the bays will stop.
A small few of us have to deal with this abuse, to take the rubbish off site, to check the fires are safe and worst of all to set these fires, without benefit to themselves in fact quite the contrary. It’s a shame that a few people are willing to abuse a service that could be a benefit to all.
If this causes individuals a problem please don’t hesitate to contact me and come and have a chat.
A big thank you to Eddie Scothern for his generosity in offering to use his privately paid for skip to get rid of the carpets and other rubbish and helping to clear up.
Jackie Medcalf
Secreatry.
Posted in Events, Notices, Services | Leave a Comment »
Very shortly we will be visited by an Asbestos removal firm, they are coming to do an assessment of our problem and give a quote for the removal of our stock pile.
If you have any asbestos pieces left on your garden will you either take it yourselves to the pile outside Steve Yorke’s garden or contact me urgently to come and have a look at it.
It is really important that we get rid of this stuff once and for all so please check your gardens as a matter of urgency and get back to me. Please pass the word around to others who may not be aware of this.
Thank you
Jackie
At the Annual General Meeting held on Sunday 19th March it was agreed that the only fires allowed on the allotments would be those set on burning Sundays.
The practice of small brazier fires or similar allowed to burn at any time will now cease. This is being done to reduce the risk of complaints and air pollution.
Please take your responsibilities seriously where fires are concerned. Wherever possible compost or leave waste to rot naturally in your garden, or take it off site. Before you light a fire check on wind direction, is the smoke likely to cause a problem, are there already fires causing smoke on site, if so don’t light yours. Once a fire is burning DO NOT add wet materials to it as this is the greatest cause of smoke generation.
Communal fires will be provided but only if people stop abusing them. Over the last 3 or 4 months we have had plastics, aerosol containers, carpet tiles, wheelbarrow loads of soil and vegetable waste, insulating material and sometime during this last week a significant amount of carpet, including some that obviously had not been used on a garden put on communal fires. This incident is particularly galling after the number of skips we have had over the last year. I am prepared to issue formal warnings of risk of loss of tenancy to anyone putting us at risk of prosecution and more importantly putting those few who set these bonfires alight in risk of injury or health problems by not following guidelines and common sense.
The committee will reserve the right to announce a change in burning sunday times if there has been consecutively bad weather on previous burning sundays.
As a timely illustration of the problems fires cause us, after the meeting on Sunday we were informed that one of the local businesses had approached us informally concerned with the amount of ash on their property after burning day. If the problem persists they are prepared to make a formal complaint to the Council.
So think before you burn and wherever possible dont! Do not abuse communal bonfires or the recycling areas come to that and under no circumstances do you bring rubbish onto site from home or businesses to get rid of it.
Shed stove fires are allowed but again, dry wood only please.
Jackie Medcalf
Secretary OPFACIC
Posted in News, Notices | Leave a Comment »
PLEASE PRINT YOUR OWN COPY OF THIS ARTICLE IF YOU REQUIRE IT FOR THE AGM
AGENDA FOR ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING SUNDAY 19th MARCH 2017
10am. Tea and coffee available. Sign in.
10.30. Meeting start.
Chairmans Welcome
Minutes and matters arising from AGM and EGM 2016
Reminder of now formal Water Policy
Treasurer.
Financial report.
Secretary.
Annual Inspection new timing of and resulting actions.
Explanation of types of policies being written and why.
Sharing/ joint tenancy of allotments. Building in fairness.
Communication emails and web site.
Main Agenda Item.
Bonfires and brazier fires.
Election of Committee
Fun Day.
A.O.B and questions.
PLEASE PRINT YOUR OWN COPY OF THIS ARTICLE IF YOU REQUIRE IT FOR THE AGM
OLD PARK FARM ALLOTMENTS COMMUNIT INTEREST COMPANY
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING HELD ON SUNDAY 3rd APRIL 2016
PLEASE NOTE THESE MINUTES ARE A DRAFT UNTIL APPROVED AT THE NEXT AGM.
Present: Steve Yorke: Steve and Jackie Medcalf: Ronnie Gayle: Shaun Taylor: Chris Skinner: Guy Askadsky: Dave Kirkham: Peter Groves: Kay Graham: Robin Roberts: Paul Barron: Jane Bowden: Paul Sanders: Charles Dewa.
Apologies: Steve Williams. Perveen Hussain.
The meeting was opened by the Chairman, Steve Yorke, who welcomed those in attendance at the first AGM as a Community Interest Company.
The secretary Jackie Medcalf then read out the minutes from the AGM held on 15th march 2015.
Matters arising: The Health and Gardening research project results should be available by end of April, those taking part will be contacted.
Main Gate. A new gate had been ordered and would be fitted as soon as possible.
The minutes were proposed and seconded by Kay Graham and Ronnie Gayle as being an accurate account of the proceedings.
Chairman’s report:
Steve thanked in particular Steve Williams Peter and Kay for their huge contribution in sorting out the sheds and property that had been on Reg Elmer’s gardens. Thanks also to other committee members and gardeners who had helped unload the compost and contributed to the care of the communal areas.
The chairman asked that gardeners respected the recycling bin as agin we had people who were not respecting it properly and leaving rubbish, which then had to be cleared by others.
Treasurers report.
As Steve Williams was away the chairman read out the figures. We had a balance at that time of £5915 the rent bill and water bills were still to come out of that. We would not need to put up the water charges this year. It was important we kept some surplus for any emergency repairs. Steve gave a description of how the rent is worked out by the council and explained the rebate system. Our rent is currently 10 pence per sq mtr and we are still were not sure how much the rise would be this coming year, but, as agreed last year there would be the full rise in the October bill. The committee had decided to give an ex-gratia payment to Steve Williams for his brilliant efforts to offset some of the losses from getting rid of the rubbish from the derelict gardens by sales and to acknowledge the amount of time he had spent doing this.
Steve Williams had asked that he wished to round up the rent bills to the nearest whole pound as the amount of small change received made the banking process onerous.
This was carried by a unanimous show of hands show of hands.
Thought should also be given to moving the AGM to October.
Secretary report.
Jackie gave an overview of the progress made since the last agm and that we were now officially Old Park farm allotments Community Interest Company. This meant that we did not now need trustees to hold the lease from the council. However at the moment we still had not got an up to date lease due to the council not altering the trustees and amending the lease several years ago. The Council were happy with our new status and that there would be negotiations this year to find a new lease that suited both parties and to take on a management agreement which would give us back all of rent monies. Jackie went on to talk about again the huge amount of work taken to clear the derelict gardens by a few people, these had been the worst of several gardens recently vacated. Jackie spent some time addressing the meeting about the need for us all to be more aware about the materials stored on the gardens as illustrated by the chemicals and paint on show that still needed to be got rid of. It was not fair on those that had to clear gardens nor on the association when the gardens had been left in such a state that a new tenant could not take over and just garden the plot. People were storing things that should not be on the gardens, not taking responsibility for their actions and not taking responsibility for our environment. Domestic rubbish should not be left on site for others to clear. The new proposed lease and clarification of the rules of lease to new tenants were hopefully a step in the right direction. A new constitution would be needed and that would also include a section on caring for the environment. Jackie had every right, and would use it to check what people had on their gardens.
There had also been a feeling within the committee that not enough tenants were prepared to roll up their sleeves and help when needed. So we were looking at ways to enable a work group to be formed when a particular job needed doing, especially in times when something had occurred e.g storms. One suggestion was an appeal on the web site and on the gates, which had worked for the delivery of the compost. Everybody has a responsibility to keep the area around their gardens neat and tidy.
Steve yorke mentioned that we 5/6 trees that needed attention especially where overhanging boundary fences, this was the sort of work the committee had to undertake.
(PB) asked a question about where to put rubbish.
We could not have a collective bin as emptying it when then be a problem in itself. If a tenant could not remove it themselves then it should be left on the individual garden and deposited in a skip when provided. A particular problem should be reported and advice sort.
Asbestos should be put near to Steve Yorke’s garden for council collection.
ST requested a skip later in the annex.
Election of Committee.
The chairman stated that all but 2 of the committee had all put their names forward to stand again. Paul Sanders wished to step down due to work commitments. The committee was retained with no objections.
Proposed by Kay Graham and seconded by Charles Dewa.
Jane Bowden told the meeting that being on the committee was not an onerous task and Steve Yorke asked for any volunteers.
Annual Show.
This had been a great success last September and would be held again on Saturday 3rd September this year. Jackie stated however that the jury was out on repeating the bonfire night BBQ. Although those who attended enjoyed it that was obviously a lot of competition and the amount of organising involved for the amount of people that came was disproportionate.
AOB
No further matters were raised from the floor.
Peter and Kay were presented with gifts as a small token of our appreciation.
The Chairman closed the meeting at 11.35am.
Subsequently Paul Barron and Robin Roberts volunteered to come on the committee.
Old Park Farm Garden Holders Association 