SOUTH HARPENDEN ALLOTMENT & GARDENS SOCIETY

MINUTES OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

HELD ON 24 MAY 2017
AT THE TED ALLEN ROOM, ALLOTMENT CENTRE, DARK LANE, HARPENDEN

PRESENT - Committee members: Carole Pamphlett, Roger M. Glanville, Ralph Martin, Roger
Gillett, Keith Davison, Chris Wilson, Keith Rowland, Jim Machin, Jenny Stevenson, Mike Cobley,
Marcia Dorey, Nic Hale, Hazel Upton, Roger Dorey, John Myers.

SOCIETY MEMBERS: Svetlana Emelianova (CL), Jon Grundy (CL), David Ebbels, (Assoc.),
Malcolm McReath (AB), Graham Hulme (PH), Brian Cooper (PH), Patrick Fisher (AB), Irene
Boogerman (PH), Jane Keech (PH), Michael Hughes (OR), Peter Loveland (SA).

H.T.C.: No-one from HTC was available to attend.

APOLOGIES: Chris Overton, Albert Callaewert, Rod Cooley.

CHAIR: Lin Norman (pre elections) Mike Cobley (post elections)

The Chair welcomed all those attending and asked if there were any matters under AOB that
members wished to raise in which case the Chair was happy to deal with them at the beginning of
the meeting.

No matters were raised.

RMG apologised to the meeting for the confusion over the start time of the meeting.

Minutes of the 2016 AGM

2016 AGM Minutes were presented to the meeting and agreed to be an accurate
record of the meeting.
Proposed by KR, seconded by CW. Approved.
(Action RMG/RC)

1. Matters arising from Minutes

RMG referred to the action point in the 2016 Minutes where RMG had been required to
upload a copy of the Minutes to the website as .pdf file and re-issue as part of papers.
RMG apologised that this had not been actioned and assured the meeting it would be
for the 2018 AGM. (Action RMG)

Consideration to accept payment of Rent by Direct Debit: CP confirmed the Committee

had considered this option but found that more sophisticated software would be
required. As a result, this will not be offered although plot holders can pay online as
now. The Chair asked the meeting to accept this situation.

Return of Machinery in Winter Storage. This had been altered for 2017 and the Chair
told the meeting there had been a marked improvement following changes to the
arrangements adopted for the last winter. The Chair explained the company servicing
the machinery now serviced machines and submitted invoices throughout the winter
instead of leaving the entire process to the end.

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2. Proposed amendments to the Society Rules

RMG explained to the meeting that following a recent Court case brought by a plot holder
against the Trustees a full review of the Rules had again been carried out to learn lessons
from the event surrounding the proceedings.

Following advice from a consultant with legal experience and discussions with HTC a
number of changes were proposed for acceptance by members (See schedule Proposed
Amendments to Society Rules). RMG clarified that many small changes; grammar etc had
been shown in Red and RMG asked that the meeting accept these and concentrate on the
primary changes put forward.

Further RMG advised that the Society had been advised to introduce an appeal process
and a further draft framework covering this process was also included. EHGC had been
approached to act as an independent adjudicator but they had declined. Harpenden
Garden Club had also been contacted but at the time of the meeting no response had been
received.

David Ebbels commented that in his view the membership of HGC was declining and
therefore thought the Society should be cautious about involving them.

Graham Hulme raised the alternative of simply asking both parties to put their case in
writing and at the next AGM the appeal would be heard. The Chair expressed concern
about the time factor and GH made the point by the time notices had been processed and
discussion held it should not prove a problem. GH agreed a Special General Meeting could
be convened as a timelier alternative.

Further GH recommended allowing the Committee to be given further time to make

changes which the meeting would approve in draft form with a commitment to publish the
new set of Rules on the website in 28 days.

Other points GH queried was the wording on the draft change to Rule 5, recommending
that the term initial joining fee was deleted and a fee to cover disbursements introduced
instead, GH also suggested the introduction of a payment by instalments option, under
Rule 11 Officers an additional role of Site Representative should be included stating they
were appointed by the Committee for a specific term and under 7a the wording Cultivation
includes the preparation of the soil and thereafter the tending and harvesting of crops.

David Ebbels challenged the concept of payment by instalments in view of the small
amount involved, LN agreed and IB referred to the amount of admin time. Jane Keech
suggested if someone was unable to pay it be considered as an individual case.

JM suggested under 6 Arrears of Rental a clause be introduced to cover a rare case of

hardship unless otherwise agreed by the Committee.

The Chair thanked GH and others for their contributions and asked if the meeting was
content to accept the points made and that RMG would put them in a form of words and
upload to the website in 28 days. (Action RMG)

This proposal was accepted by the meeting in an unanimous vote.

3. Trustees Reports

3.1 Chairmans report Lin Norman

Refer to the document Trustee, Officer and Committee Reports for the full
Chairmans Report.
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 The Chair referred to the key points from her report and mentioned the support given to the
Society by HTC over the year and especially from the new Town clerk, Carl Cheevers.
however, changes were planned and a new agreement between HTC and the Society was
planned to review the management of all boundaries. The Society awaited further plans.

Neglected plots continued to be a problem and the Chair paid tribute the work of the Site
Reps in managing the situation on their respective sites.

The Chair thanked the Committee for their efforts during the year.

At this point Brian Cooper moved for a vote of thanks from the floor to LN for her efforts as
Chair over several years and for her leadership during the testing period while the court
proceedings were ongoing.

3.2 Secretary's report Roger M. Glanville

Refer to the document Trustee, Officer and Committee Reports for the full Secretarys
report.

The Secretary referred to the growing trend for polytunnels, a number sheds had been
approved and RMG referred to the community project that had been approved for
Southdown Methodist Pre-school to erect a larger structure to facilitate lessons for their
children.

RMG confirmed the Chair Lin Norman was standing down at this meeting and Mike Cobley
had offered himself for election, also Chris Overton was standing down from his Machinery
position but the main roles up for re-election were Site Reps with fewer Officers to be
elected.

Some new people were to be elected after co-option during the year but that vacancies
remained for a Machinery Mgr and Site Rep for Oakley Rd.

RMG also confirmed he would be standing down at the 2018 AGM.

Finally, RMG added on behalf of the Trustees, Committee and Site Reps thanks for the
work LN had done during her time as Chair. Her work had led the Society out of a difficult
period and she had presided over many initiatives to move the Society forward and improve
it.

3.3 Treasurer's report Carole Pamphlett

Refer to the document Trustee, Officer and Committee Reports for the full Treasurers
report and Year End Accounts for the year ending 31st December 2016.

The Treasurer summarised some of the detail in the schedules both for the Society and the
Shop and added that the Meeting was the occasion when the membership would agree and
approve the Year-end Accounts for which members had been supplied with advance
copies. In particular a considerable investment in new machinery had been undertaken
during the year.

CP confirmed the Committee had accepted the Accounts and they had been independently
reviewed by a competent person which saved the Society the fee of an outside auditor.

There were no questions and the meeting approved the Accounts as presented.

Proposed: Jim Machin Seconded: Keith Rowland

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 The Chair thanked CP for her work over the last year in managing the Societys finances so
thoroughly.

4 Officers Reports:

4.1 Database Mgr. / Letting Secretarys report Jim Machin

Refer to the document Trustee, Officer and Committee Reports for the full
Lettings/Database Secretarys report.

JM was able to inform the meeting that Lettings were down compared with the same point
last year; 36 vacancies in 2017 compared to 25 in 2016 which equated to a 92% let figure
compared to 95% in 2016.

The number of plot holders had fallen from 335 to 273. Associate membership had also
fallen from 101 in 2016 to 84 this year. JM suggested a drive to recruit new members.

Regarding the database a new process had been introduced allowing agreements to be
printed and emailed to Site Reps for processing.

JM thanked the Site Reps for their co-operation over the last year when he was unable to
drive.

The Chair thanked JM for his efforts.

4.2 Distribution Manager Report Roger Gillett

Refer to the document Trustee, Officer and Committee Reports for the full
Lettings/Database Secretarys report.

RG thanked the membership for their support during the year and asked that more
members were encouraged to visit the Shop and make their purchases there since it
offered good value and supported the Society financially.

LN asked that thanks be passed to RG and all the helpers who keep the shop open every
Sunday morning and for all the other work behind the scenes to maintain this valuable
resource for the Society.

4.3 Machinery Managers Report Vacancy

No report available

4.4 Communications Officer / Webmaster Report Rod Cooley

Refer to the document Trustee, Officer and Committee Reports for the full
Communications Officers report.

In the absence on the evening of RC, RMG covered the main points from his report for the
meeting.

The Chair thanked RC for his efforts for maintaining the site given his other commitments.

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4.5 Newsletter Editors Report - David Ebbels

No report available

DE apologised to the meeting for not having submitted a written report and confirmed to the
meeting following the agreement the previous year after distribution difficulties with the
autumn edition it was decided the PlotSoFar paper-based newsletter would only be issued
once a year from now on.

This remaining issue is distributed at the rental payment weekend. The last issue was of
12 pages and costs levels had been maintained.

DE thanked members for their contributions and confirmed he would be standing down at
this meeting.

The Chair thanked DE for his efforts over many years in producing a varied and interesting
magazine for the Society.

5 Election of Officers and Committee for 2017/2018

Refer to document, Election of Members SHAGS AGM 24 May 2017.

Committee member resignations: Chris Overton (Machinery Mgr). David Ebbels (Newsletter
Editor).

The Secretary referred the meeting to the Election of Members schedule explaining that Officers
were elected for a two-year term and the positions shown in Red indicated the various
Trustees/Officers that were up for election at this meeting.

Lin Norman was standing down as Chair but had agreed to remain on the Committee as Deputy
Chair.

Mike Cobley was nominated for Chair and Irene Boogerman was nominated for Newsletter Editor.

During the year Marcia and Roger Dorey, Fraser Gordon and John Myers had been co-opted as
Site Reps and offered themselves for election.

Positions up for election amongst the Trustees at this AGM were the Chair and the Hon.
Treasurer.

Mike Cobley to be elected as Chair

Carole Pamphlett to be re-elected as Hon. Treasurer.

Committee Members due for election/re-election in 2017 and willing to stand for election:

Lin Norman Dep. Chair elected

Irene Boogerman Newsletter Editor elected
Roger Gillett Distribution Mgr re-elected
Chris Wilson Awards Officer re-elected

Site Reps
Hazel Upton Aldwickbury re-elected
Albert Callaewert Piggotshill re-elected

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Fraser Gordon Piggotshill elected
Chris Wilson Sibley Ave re-elected
John Myers Topstreet Way elected
Keith Davison Churchfield re-elected
Jenny Stevenson Cross Lane re-elected
Dominic Houlihan Cross Lane re-elected
Marcia Dorey Harpenden Rise elected
Roger Dorey Harpenden Rise elected

The Treasurer and Officers were proposed and seconded by members and duly elected at
this AGM by a unanimous vote.

Posts remaining vacant at this AGM;

Machinery Mgr
Site Rep. Oakley Rd.

6. Questions from Members

RMG informed the meeting he had received no written questions from members and invited
any further questions from those present of which there were none.

7 Any Other Business

GH referred back to the earlier discussions relating to Rule 7a (re cultivation

definition) and suggested additional wording cultivationshould be the sole
responsibility of the tenant. The meeting agreed this would be beneficial.

The Chair declared the meeting closed at 9.18.pm.

A bouquet of flowers and some Garden Vouchers were then presented to the outgoing Chair Lin
Norman in recognition of her service as Chair.

The next AGM will provisionally be held on Wednesday 23 May 2018 at 8pm in the Ted Allen
Room