Page 61 - ALG Issue 3 2020

London
London
Moving on...
It seems quite some time ago now, but Karen Kenny’s polite but not-to- be-ignored “I’m resigning” triggered the usual furtive glances and the even more usual prolonged silence broken only by a reluctant pianissimo “I’ll
do it” from myself. Karen did invite
me to the Management Committee meetings before that year’s AGM in Birmingham and that was so useful
as a familiarisation exercise. And now at the end of my time as a Regional Representative, there is a learning curve to acknowledge and learn from.
I am still allotment gardening, and, as long as I am physically and mentally able to do so, I will continue. The practical, social and health benefits remain undimmed. In the present covid-19 times, there has been an immediate impact on waiting lists and compost availability that might just be the smallest precursors of what socially and economically our current travails will bring in the longer term.
So, what have I learnt? Or think I have learnt. Perhaps above all the value of being part of an organisation unrelated to my previous work but in which I might have been able to make some use of the habits and dispositions from that working life. Seven years down the line, I find myself the longest continuously serving Regional Representative on
the Management Committee although that has covered both the Eastern and London Regions and Neil Dixon, who goes back further, is on his second stint as South West Regional Rep. I have
Welcome to our new members... Landowner
7 Individual Memberships
REPRESENTATIVE
Mr Jeff Barber
39 Seagry Road, London E11 2NH
020 8530 2842 jbarber.nas@gmail.com
MENTOR
Grant Smith
London
0845 478 6351 grantsmith.nas@gmail.com
many memories to hold, many people to thank and some only to remember now. Colin Nickerson who, as Eastern Region Representative, brought uncommon common sense to Eastern Region meetings as did Darren Fazackerly
to the Essex County Body with his uncompromising integrity and that most haunting memory of him warmed by
a blanket at the Bath AGM with Karen Kenny, who had driven him to and from Bath, on one side of him and me on
the other and with just two weeks to live. But all the officers within Essex and the Eastern Region from 2005 onwards did help so much in setting the tone for the London Region. Within the London Region, my thanks are to all the Committee members over the past three years in what is still an evolving region. If I may, I would like to single out Grant Smith for all his thoughtfulness and wisdom. He has been involved
with the NAS since 2013 as Regional Mentor so we share many, possibly different, memories of events over that time. And of course, most importantly to thank all the NAS staff. Liz McInally and Karen Maher, who have known the organisation over many years and through many changes, Lisa Fox and Tyler Harris as the newest additions, both providing essential services, Sonia Gallagher bringing vital skills
to the office and much besides. On a more personal level I do wish to thank Liz Bunting and Di Appleyard for their patience and tolerance of my foibles and all their support and work over the least seven years.
MENTOR
Paula Owen
London
07838 344408 powen.nas@gmail.com
I have many memories to hold, many people to thank and some only to remember now
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The early difficulties in 2013 and 2014 now seem more remote but were one of the important learning experiences for all of us there. The thread of continuity that Tony Heeson provided was so valuable both in terms of limiting the harms but also in overseeing the items that needed to be put in place to provide more resilience and robustness. In retrospect it seems that we were all trying to get the National Allotment Society to have in place the same types of documentation and processes that other membership organisations had.
I think that now there is a freer and more positively constructive exchange of views within the Management Committee. That is never a final and finished product but one that will always need working at.
For both the London Region and the National Allotment Society, there is quite a large in-tray of unfinished business. It can be addressed now I feel and to the benefit of all NAS members. All the usual caveats of due diligence and duty of care for the welfare of the society and its members need to apply and be seen to apply. It will also need fresh inputs from new minds and faces and it is time to move on. My successor comes from a very different background and his perspectives will be invaluable. I will still do what I can but wish you all a "Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage.”
Keep going. Keep growing.
Jeff Barber
Socially distanced yoga on a London plot
Thanks to one of our plotholders, who
is a yoga teacher, we have had two early morning yoga sessions on our site now. It was glorious; early morning shade and serenaded by the birds! Social distancing limited the numbers to four.
Joan McConn, Kingston
Allotment and Leisure Gardener 61