Page 58 - ALG Issue 2 2015

South East
The recent rise in membership fees has once again prompted some members
to query what you get for your money.
I would like to take this opportunity to assure you that the rise was necessary
to cover costs. The Society has listened to members and will continue to work to develop the membership offer, expand its wider work and keep members informed about it!
When the Society was formed many moons ago, it was envisaged that it would take the form of a pyramid with a national identity. It should work as a form of insurance, to preserve, protect and promote the allotment
for a central body to be maintained that can lobby central government, employ specialist legal and horticultural advisors, manage membership, negotiate for benefits and produce resources such
as the magazine. However, the Society
is its members as much as it is the central body of staff and team of regional representatives. Its future relies on people who care about allotments in the regions becoming involved and active.
If the Regional Representative, who is
a volunteer, is supported by the regional membership in this way, they have a clearer idea of the concerns of regional members.
This means the Regional Representatives can add a much more informed
voice to discussions at Head Office and information can also flow back out to local associations and individual members. The members involved can also see where their money is going. For any groups setting
up as Federations, which then feed in to a Regional panel, there is the opportunity for a percentage of your subscriptions to be returned to the group (not individual sites) for use to the benefit and promotion around the region of the National Society.
Would you like your voice to be heard? Would you be interested in setting up a county federation? If you are, please get in touch with myself, Steve Clements.
movement. It would be
made up of sites and
societies grouping together
to make Federations
(pooling ideas, helping
solve local issues and
speaking with one voice
when consulting with local
authorities and landlords).
Each Federation would send
a representative to the Regional panel with a report from their Federations and air them with others. The Federations would also promote the National Society around the region, using the knowledge gained
to advise the Regional Representative on their take of the way forward. It would even ask them to raise issues/points at National Allotment Society board meetings.
This structure means that there is funding
Would you like your voice to be heard?
Southern
The Southern Region has been rather quiet lately and the Regional Committee are actively looking at raising our profile. Following
the resignation of Kay Powell as Regional Representative,
the Regional Committee have unanimously nominated Jenny Crawford to this position. Jenny lives in Basingstoke with her husband and three cats. She believes passionately in growing your own food along organic principles ‘one of the great privileges of being an allotment holder is sitting down for dinner of a plate full of food which you have nurtured from seed to
News from across the Region.
Ron Le Marechal, Chairman of the Basingstoke Allotment and Leisure Gardeners Association (BALGA) reports that:
Finally, after fourteen years of campaigning by Basingstoke Allotment & Leisure Gardeners Association, which began when the site was earmarked for housing development, the disused allotment site at South View is to be returned to allotment use. It will probably be the middle to late summer before the Council are in a position to
begin letting the plots.
The Council have confirmed that the planning
application for the access track and boundary fence associated with the proposed allotments has been approved subject to various minor conditions. It
is the Council’s intention to get these discharged
as soon as possible. A fencing contractor has been appointed and the work is planned to commence in early April, subject to delivery of the fencing materials from his suppliers. The fencing works will take several weeks. Once the fencing is completed a ground works contractor will then
table, knowing that it is not full of chemicals and has not travelled the world to get to you.’ When
not planning, sowing and weeding her allotment Jenny is keen on all things yarn related – spinning, weaving and dyeing her own yarn to knit or weave. This year she is planning to start a dyers garden and promises to let us have photos of her progress. If you have any queries regarding your allotment
or need any help, please do not hesitate to get in touch with Jenny.
the disused allotment site at South View is to be returned to allotment use
The Southern Region Committee is now busy
planning events and meetings for the coming year. The AGM is planned for late May 2015 in a venue in the centre of the region
– details will be sent to all societies, individual members and life members in the region as soon as details are finalised. It is envisaged that seminars will be held in the coming year across the region and the Committee would like your views on subjects that these should cover, for example allotment law, self-management or insurance for allotments.
enter the fenced area to commence works setting out the access road, parking facilities and other infrastructure. This is likely to last for approximately two months or so. Landscaping works along the outside of the fenced boundary will follow during the autumn/winter months, thereby ensuring the planting is given every opportunity to successfully establish.
Jenny Crawford
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