Page 29 - ALG Issue 3 2023

Annual General Meeting 2023
CHAIRMAN INTRODUCTION BY
TOM TERRENCE, CHAIRMAN OF THE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE
The Chairman explained the absence of the President, Phil Gomersall. He also outlined how the voting would take place with red cards.
WELCOME TO AGM BY PHIL GOMERSALL, NAS PRESIDENT – PRESENTED
BY JOHN IRWIN
Welcome one and all to the National Allotment Society Annual General Meeting at Leamington Spa. I hope you had a good journey here. You should find it interesting, educational, and hopefully enjoyable.
I have compiled quite an extensive President’s Foreword in your AGM booklet so I will try not to duplicate too much.
2022-2023 has seen the very encouraging development of many new allotment sites throughout the country. Since the employment of new staff, there has been the creation of the 21st Century Allotments in New Developments booklet which has been distributed to all major Planning Authorities and on demand by smaller authorities. This should keep allotments high profile and under consideration at all levels.
Our leaflets on Growing in Drought conditions and Water Harvesting are very appropriate at this time.
National Allotments Week isn’t too far off and this year’s theme is ‘Soil Health’ which can be quite a discussion topic and should raise a lot of interest.
We are hosting the International Allotment Federation Conference this year with representatives from most of the European Countries and again the topic will be soil
and both soil and planning are high on their countries’ agenda so it will be very appropriate.
“How do you make plants grow” (in my best Cornish accent), “the answer lies in the soil”.
Many smaller gardening organisations have not survived in these uncertain times and some of the larger membership organisations are struggling too. I repeat that I feel we are the envy of many of these organisations and, due to the hard work of volunteers and staff alike, our membership remains steady.
Keeping abreast of the times, the new database has been a real boon and improved technology has made economic savings and enabled the widening of our publicity to the general public.
At the risk of repeating myself, I must say that if your committee are not passing on the
information sent out from Head Office by email for all members, take measures to ensure you do and, don’t forget, you should also have the access code for the members section of the website; without these you are missing out on a lot of very useful information.
Flower shows are a great way to make plotholders aware of what we have to offer and get the general public interested. If your region is attending a show promoting the NAS, volunteer to help; it is great fun and very educational.
We took a stand up to Scotland and were welcomed with open arms and inundated with enquiries.
On a more serious note, listen carefully to the Finance Report; we are taking measures towards ethical banking.
Our organisation is a huge volunteer initiative and always has been. I thank everyone for your support, without it we would not be in the healthy position we are.
Thank you to all of you and our staff. ‘THE FUTURE IS GETTING BRIGHTER’. Phil Gomersall, President
KEYNOTE SPEAKER –
PROFESSOR DAVE GOULSON
Dave Goulson, a bee ecology specialist, is a Professor of Biology at the University of Sussex. He has authored several books, including “Bumblebees’’ and “A Sting in the Tale.” Goulson founded the Bumblebee Conservation Trust and has received numerous awards for his research and public engagement. He is also involved with organisations like Pesticide Action Network and the UK Wildlife Trusts.
Dave delivered an impactful keynote speech to our members, emphasising the importance of soil health and advocating for the advantages of incorporating wildlife into allotment plots.
CHAIRMAN COMMENTS
Last year was a very busy year; we did have some hot weather and the harvest on my plot of fruits and vegetables was very good. The only veg that did not do well was onions.
When speaking to other people as I have been on allotments, it seems like we all had a good year.
My year as Chairman with Paul Howgill as Deputy has been busy dealing with issues as they arise, with meetings at Corby and governance meetings etc. The staff at Corby
are a great bunch of people and they have helped me and supported me in my role as Chair so I would like to thank them for their support.
At the time of writing this, the West Midlands Team are working on requirements for the Malvern Spring Show and Gardeners World Live which is keeping us very busy and arranging volunteers for each day of the shows; this work is carried out by Karin Cartwright and is a great help to the region.
John McNab, Roger Cartwright and Colin Bedford are very busy notifying people and as always, the shows will be a great experience and we are looking forward to meeting members there and having a chat.
There have been many issues around allotments with some councils looking at a new lease etc. There will be a lot going on but we will be there to help.
The Management Committee are a hard- working group looking after their regions with their teams to help sort out the problems that occur. This is showing the need for training for committees on sites or through the webinars that have been produced by Head Office and therefore, I would like to thank the Management Committee for their help and support throughout the year.
I hope you all have a great 2023 crop-wise and have an abundance of produce.
Tom Terrence, Chair
APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
Phil Gomersall Colin Bedford Don Booth
OBITUARIES
Derek Cullen
Judith Hill Brian Rayner
Mick Merrill
ACCEPTANCE OF THE REPORT AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE AGM 2022 All members voted to accept (127).
GOVERNANCE COMMITTEE REPORT
The broader role of the Governance Committee is to ensure that the Rules, Regional Constitutions and Codes of Conduct of the Society are followed.
The Committee continues to monitor the progress of the changes and modernisation of the Regional Constitutions, Standards and Procedures and Codes of Conduct. This
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