Page 44 - ALG Issue 1 2016 No social share

Yorkshire
Yorkshire Allotments and Gardens Federation Annual General Meeting
Saturday 14th November 2015 dawned an overcast and rainy day; in fact several areas of Yorkshire were subject to
severe weather warnings and ooding. That, along with the dif culty of getting to and parking at the venue, probably contributed to the lower than usual turn out. However, those that did get to the venue, the Tramways Social Club in York city centre, for our 98th Annual General Meeting had a very good day and the Tramways staff welcomed those of us who arrived early with much appreciated cups of tea; it proved an excellent venue.
The meeting was opened by our Chairman, Mr Phil Gomersall, who after introducing our guests, Mr David Allison FNVS and Mrs Liz Bunting, BA (Hon.) Law, asked Mr Allison to take the oor. Mr Allison is the Chairman of the National Vegetable Society and he had brought along with him suf cient fruit and vegetables to ll a table more than 12 ft. long.
David then entertained,
informed and educated
us for the next hour or
more. He led us through
the preparation of soil/
growing medium,
propagation, in some
cases seed saving
and reproduction by
vegetable means, crop
protection and nally the harvesting of produce for the table or exhibition.
Mr Allison was most informative
about new varieties, show varieties and exhibition requirements. He offered items to taste during his talk and ended by asking members of his audience to help themselves to the produce he had been speaking about, from several types of tomato, apples, radish, two or three potato
varieties, several apples, beautiful Brussels sprouts, cabbages, cauli owers and just about everything that can be grown on an allotment. In fact, David has two allotments
mobile telephones, computer equipment, cycles, garden tools and even heavy plant and other equipment. The machine can be set on the integral keyboard and screen to mark any code, name, address or postcode. Darren proceeded to mark several garden forks and spades. The gathered members were most impressed and the Yorkshire Federation are to investigate such equipment further.
After lunch the meeting reconvened
and the business of the day commenced, with the usual reports from the Secretary and Treasurer. The committee of cers
were re-elected, as was the Regional Representative. With the business out of the way, we were then allowed to sit back and listen to Liz Bunting, our National Society Legal and Operations Manager. Mrs Bunting started with a brief overview of the Head Of ce staff, and continued with information on the Policy Documents being created by Dr Richard Wiltshire and Intern Deborah Burn. Several of these documents have now been out for consultation and are ready for the Management Committee to approve before the next AGM.
Liz mentioned Head Of ce involvement
in some of the shows we attend, beginning with the Edible Garden Show during March. She went on to comment on the Partner Alliances that are being formed with bodies such as the Pesticides Alliance, Natural England, Garden Organic, WRAS, Deluce Brown, Barnsdale Gardens, Co-op UK
and lately Kew Gardens, who are keen
to have our input in a project they are to run involving 12 to 16 year old students.
Liz also drew our attention to the latest Local Planning Development Consultation document she had just received which happened to be from Barnsley in Yorkshire. Liz is intending to contact our members in the area to advise groups to get involved with Local or Neighbourhood Plans. She also advocated registering sites as Assets of Community Value. Whilst not giving any particular protection, it does trigger a six month moratorium, giving the members
Mr Allison had brought along with him suf cient fruit and vegetables to ll a table more than 12 ft. long
on a privately owned site.
During his many years of involvement with the NVS, Mr Allison has been involved in the production of, and is editor of several books produced by them, some of which he brought for our
members to look at and purchase. The books were intended to encourage people to join in the world of exhibition growing and they appeared to be a great success with our members.
During the lunch break another guest Mr Darren Lovatt, the York City Allotments Of cer, gave a demonstration with his remarkable engraving machine. The machine can be set to mark items from
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