Page 23 - ALG Issue 3 2024

AGM
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2024
INTRODUCTION
Jeff Barber, NAS Interim President
Jeff thanked all for attending the 2024 AGM held in Sheffield.
Clarity from Jeff was made on why
he was presenting as interim President and gave praise to Phil Gomersall for his work as President.
APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
create with colleagues many allotments show gardens, all with allotment related themes e.g. water harvesting, water extraction with solar power to name
but a few. Achieving gold awards for all the gardens created and all culminated
in creating the best show garden at the GreatYorkshire Show.We also created
a full-size wartime allotment indoors,
as the central feature of the Harrogate Spring Show. It didn’t stop there; we went onto creating an allotment show garden at Chelsea Flower Show which was awarded a silver medal. All gardens had backup material promoting the National Allotment Society.
All my activities afore mentioned, and there were other activities including many radio and television appearances, news articles in newspapers and magazines,
all promoting NAS. It has been a very satisfying and enjoyable experience,
and I have met many interesting
people, making many good friends and acquaintances on the way.
I have seen many changes over the years to the NAS as it has continued to modernise and improve beyond
all recognition from its former self, with so many positive initiatives now.
It still amazes me how all this has
been achieved with a mainly volunteer workforce and a most miniscule membership fee of £3. I pay around £95 annually to be a member of similar organisations with little more benefit than the NAS offers. It is high time the National Allotment Society’s true value was recognised by its membership.
I would appeal to the younger generations to get more involved; our organisation relies upon community minded volunteers. I appreciate with pressures of modern living it is becoming difficult to find people able to commit a great deal of time but every little helps.
I do hope some good decisions are made at this AGM, helping to make the NAS even stronger, influential, more connected, and more appealing.
It is crucial that you help and support the National Allotment Society to PROTECT, PROMOTE and PRESERVE our nations allotments for the benefit of our present and future generations. In
this day and age with all the pressures from developers and unscrupulous profiteering organisations, it is even more impor tant.
GOVERNANCE COMMITTEE REPORT
Keith Meakin
The Governance Committee’s role is to: • Ensure that all parts of the Society
operate within the law, the Nolan Principles of Public Life as set down in Section E of the Standards and Procedures and the Rules of the Society, and scrutinise the decisions of the Management Committee.
• Confirm that the agenda for the Annual General Meeting and any extraordinary general meeting held during the year is within these rules.
• Have effective oversight of the conduct of the annual general meeting as set out in Section D of the Standards and Procedures.
The Committee does not have any executive responsibilities.
Our members are elected from the wider membership, and the Society’s chair and vice-chair are also invited
to attend all its meetings. Our current members are: Mr Keith Meakin (Chair), Mr Wyn Marshall (Vice Chair), Mrs Libby Earle, Mr Alastair Watson and Mr Gareth Owen.
Following last year’s AGM, Paul Merryweather, our chair for several years, stepped down from the committee as he had completed his third and final term
as a member of the Committee. Keith thanked him for his valuable service to the Society.
To meet our remit, we routinely review minutes of the Management Committee and hence any decisions taken, and that correct procedures are being followed. We are now also reviewing financial returns and minutes from regions.
This gives us a good overview of the governance activities of the whole Society.
Over the last year, areas we have looked at include; how deputy regional representatives are elected in practice, and how regional bank balances are repor ted.
Libby Earle
Ray How
Harry James Mark Joynes Gillian Laurence
OBITUARIES
Jim More Rosemary Smith Colin Smith Tom Terrence
A minutes silence was held for Shirley Fleetwood.
PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS
Jeff referred the meeting to the address from Phil Gomersall the exiting president.
I have been actively promoting our wonderful organisation ever since I joined it 30 years ago.This has been done in numerous roles in various organisations from local sites representative, different roles within the Leeds Allotment Federation, as an Allotment Regeneration Initiative Mentor, various roles within the Yorkshire Allotment Federation (now NAS Yorkshire), President of the National Allotment Society, and finally the NAS Representative in the International Allotments Federation.
The vast majority of this promotion was through flower and agricultural shows, starting off with a table and information leaflets hanging from a garden cane structure behind, then this was upgraded to table and proper trellis’ to display information. Following on from this, a table plus information pull-up banners. All at various venues, community group meetings, City Farms, Humberside Airport, a good number of allotment sites and parks, local regional and national shows, at evening talks and at RHS gardens. All were usually decorated with some imaginative vegetable related feature, with a view to catching the public’s interest.
Whilst as the Publicity Officer with the Leeds Allotment Federation, I helped
Allotment and Leisure Gardener | Issue 3 2024 | 23