WELLINGTON FIELDS!
Hixon Allotments Association
 

Hixon Allotments A.G.M. - 7th June 2014

· Meeting opened at 12.05 by Colin Hutchinson.
17 tenants were there, enough to form a quorum. A run through of the agenda was given.
· Colin Hutchinson read out his Chairperson’s report in which the issue of the drive and dangerous state of the derelict building were raised to be discussed later in the meeting.
· Karen Appleton gave a breakdown of the accounts for the financial year ending 31/4/14. (See attached accounts and relevant report.) 
The accounts were approved and adopted, proposed by Colin Hutchinson and seconded by Dave Jones.
· Karen Appleton gave the secretary’s report covering the major issues discussed at the committee meeting (see attached report for full details).

Entrance
The major issues regarding the entrance were outlined as per the secretary’s report.

Questions
Kath Hopcroft asked if the 3rd party using the entrance were liable for costs. KA said she was unsure of the tenancy agreement between them & John Martin.
George Collyer said it was in HPC’s interest to get the drive repaired before a car was damaged. CH said it’s a situation which needs a peaceful resolution.
Phil Overton mentioned concerns about a people getting hurt.
Kath Hopcroft asked if WFA had personal injury insurance. KA said HPC advised that WFA didn’t need it as they had. Dave Jones mentioned the difficulties in having 2 insurance policies covering the same thing.
The costs for the different specifications were read out, concrete or asphalt, & KA passed round the drawing Sue McKewan had drawn.
Sue McKeown said there was some delay around the time that allotments were being set up signed & this led to confusion and the agreement with John Martin wasn’t signed until 2012
Kath Hopcroft asked if it were costs that were the barrier to getting the repair done, Colin Hutchinson said so, but with regard to the letter from HPC dated 2nd June 2014, it is about who pays for the repair. WFA has always said they would advance some money to help with repairs, KA said that this has always been the situation and minuted as such. HPC thought we would give them some. 
Paul Hopcroft said we couldn’t rely on minutes & there needs to be formal communication. KA said that hadn’t been necessary until recently. 
Colin Hutchinson asked everyone what they wanted to do next.
Orson Blewitt suggested a meeting was set up with John Martin, representatives from HPC and WFA to discuss ways forward.
Nigel Baxter suggested there was little point in discussing the matter in general terms in this forum without the whole facts.

Election of Officials

Chair
Colin Hutchinson stood down as chair. Karen Appleton read out a proposal nominating Dave Jones for chair from Jane Garner, seconded by Chris Hall. Dave Jones was voted in unanimously.

Secretary
Karen Appleton; proposed Michelle Creese Ellin, seconded Orson Blewitt
No other candidates, Karen Appleton elected as secretary

Treasurer
Karen Appleton; proposed Joy Ashford, seconded Dave Jones
No other candidates, Karen Appleton elected as treasurer.

Committee
The present committee of:
Michelle Creese Ellin
Chris Hall
Joy Ashford
Alan Hartley
Rose Jones
Jason Johns
Nigel Baxter
put themselves forward for nomination as committee members.
As there are more places than candidates it was decided to vote them in en bloc. There was no objection to this and Orson Blewitt proposed this & George Colyer seconded the proposal.

Colin Hutchinson stood down & handed over to Dave Jones as the new chair. 

A.O.B.
Plots
Sue McKewan asked how the waiting list worked and asked if priority was given to new plot holders, . Karen Appleton explained that it’s a chronological list and there was no system for prioritising anyone. Sue McKeown was concerned about the number of plots the committee members had, but Karen Appleton explained that WFA had spare plots until March & the committee members, because they are keen and enthusiastic have gained extra plots through the normal waiting list procedure, and taken on plots rather than see them lie fallow & grow weeds.
Since the advert went in the Compass we now have a waiting list of 5. Clarification was given over new plots, all plot holders to be resident in the parish, ¼ plots only offered so as many new people get one as possible, but can put their names down on the waiting list.

Advance notice of A.G.M. minutes.
Jim Carmichael complained that the Agenda for the A.G.M. were not distributed 14 days prior to the meeting. Karen Appleton apologised & said that computer problems were the issue, but said that she had emailed the items to him on request.
He also mentioned that the changes made to the constitution at last year’s A.G.M. have not been altered on the web page, but it was explained that they were on a pdf file & couldn’t be altered electronically, only manually. Karen Appleton said she would try & resolve this issue.
Dave Jones Closed the meeting.