Page 32 - ALG Issue 3 2016

AGM
Obituaries
David Gibbs – 1932 - 2015. National Allotment Society Publicity Of cer 1996 - 2007.
Geoffrey Anderson Kirby – 1926 – 2015. National Allotment Society Honorary Life Member and Honorary Life Vice President; he had also been a Regional Representative and Vice Chairman of the Management Board.
Standing Orders
Professor Ron Jones, Chair, presented the Standing Orders Committee Report and stated that they had met the required three times and drew delegates’ attention to points 5, 12, 13, 14 of the SO report.
Election of Tellers
Heather Jones Jim Earle Colin Smith Mick Camp
Chairman’s Report – Tony Heeson
My comments last year started with the very considerable changes we had experienced to the Management Committee. Whilst the current committee have continued to manage the Society as we
are elected to do, we are noticeably short of any local authority representatives. However, we do have plans in mind to improve this situation in the next few months. To continue on this theme, we also have a new Treasurer; David Morris is well known to the Management Committee and to many of you as he has previously served as Regional Representative for the North West. His nancial experience in his professional life makes him an exceptional choice for this position.
Unfortunately, during this time we have lost the services of Holly Clarke, our budding Legal Assistant as she decided to emigrate
to Australia and we all wish her well. Her replacement, Christian Kirkpatrick, started at the end of January this year and is already in a position to begin assisting Liz Bunting with some of the hundreds of legal queries we receive each month; no doubt some of you have already spoken to him.
This, of course, still leaves us understaffed by one person, but, if 32
our nancial position this year will support another member of staff, then we may be able to ll this position. This should help generally throughout Head Of ce and in particular, with speeding up the answer/reply time on enquiries from members, as I know this has been of concern for some time.
Work has continued this year on the Society’s Policy Documents, led by Dr Richard Wiltshire and ably assisted by Deborah Burn on
an Internship from Newcastle University, who many of you will know from her days with the Mentors. Many of the Policy Documents have been written, examined by various advisory bodies, considered by members and partner bodies before a nal document was produced. They are now available on the website, also via email and in hard copy. Work has also continued throughout the year on the rules re-write. The sub-committee has worked hard, sorting and evaluating comments; some would be incorporated whilst some others would have already been considered from a different source. The drafts then had to go out to members, partner organisations, and various bodies for their comments. What some members fail to realise is that if one person or region sends in a suggestion, there is a very good chance that someone else will send in a diametrically opposed view. When
all these views have been considered, we then have to consult our legal advisors, the Financial Conduct Authority and, of course, the Co-op UK, the movement to which we belong. Nothing is quite as straightforward as it seems, is it?!
Still, when the hard work is over and the new rules are accepted, it will all have been worthwhile and we will have a set of rules t for the 21st Century, and, with periodic review, should serve us well for many years.
May I close by thanking the whole of the Head Of ce staff; without their unstinting support we simply would not be able to operate and would not be the only organisation in the UK that can claim, correctly, to represent allotment gardeners and the allotment movement.
Acceptance of Report and Proceedings AGM 2015
Proposed by Neil Dixon, seconded by Steve Clements.
No matters arising