Month: May 2017

After Saturday’s massively successful plant sale, with over £400 raised for the association, we are giving you a second bite at the broccoli.

On Sunday 28th May 2017 at 10:00am – 12:00pm, we will be selling the left over plants from the first sale. There will be bargains to be had so please pop down if you couldn’t make the first one, or you ran out of money!

Present: Tim Llewellyn; David King; Ian Douglas; Gary Reed; Sue Jones; Martin Pasek; Dan Phillips; Alex Brown; Jane Williams; Monica Nobrega; Roger Phillips; Sue Waring; Nick Morris; Gail Chester; Jana Harak; Dick Waters; Rhiannon Simmonds; plus eight other non-signers including Adrian Walsh and Alan Turner.

Guests: Gareth Holden and Lynn Lewis, Chair and Secretary CAHA.

Apologies: Wendy Gunter; Ray Edwards.

The meeting began at 10:30am.

Chairman’s Welcome. Tim thanked the Committee for all their work over the year. It was generally agreed that the site was looking in better shape than it was a year back. In particular, thanks to Ian Douglas for the plant sale, to Alex Brown for the website, to Sue Jones for plot letting, and to Dave King for Treasurer’s duties.

Treasurer’s report. Dave King handed out an account summary, and reported a healthy balance, with about £10,000 available to spend, not being earmarked. He broke down the “general” heading main items as purchase of Heras fencing for the pens, and tractor hire for clearing the car parks. There were no questions and the accounts were duly accepted. A copy of the report can be found here.

Election of officers. Secretary: Sue Jones was nominated by Tim Llewellyn, seconded by Alex Brown and carried. Treasurer: Wendy Gunter was nominated by Martin Pasek, seconded by Gary Reed and carried. The proposal to return the rest of the Committee was carried. Tim Llewellyn was re-elected as Chair, having been nominated by Dan Phillips and seconded by Gary Reed.

CAHA. Gareth Holden, Chair, and Llyn Lewis, Secretary, both gave interesting and informative speeches about the role of CAHA, and the relationship of sites to it. They reminded us that we are all members. Helpful advice on progressing Local Management was included, and the scope for CAHA taking on more of the Council’s present responsibilities was outlined. On July 29th there is to be a celebration for all Cardiff allotment holders. It will be a “safari supper” and barbecue, venue TBA. On July 16th there is to be an Open Day at Rhyd y Pennau, an Open Gardens Society site. All are welcome.

AOB. Ian Douglas urged all plotholders to come to the Committee with any ideas for improvements or requests that might come to them at any time.

Dick Waters asked, re the Local Management Agreement, whether PPAA was aiming to become totally self-managed. CAHA pointed out that at the present level (two) there is no responsibility for water infrastructure.

Dick also asked, in relation to CAHA’s proposed increase in responsibility for themselves, what would happen to title to the land in the various sites. We understood from Gareth, that the Council would retain the freehold, even if, say, subject to a lease in CAHA’s favour.

It was agreed that these were all matters for further discussion.

We were informed that CAHA is now incorporated, as a legal entity, with Limited Liability, which enables clarity in undertakings with the Council.

Adrian Walsh asked why CAHA wanted to take more control. The response was that there was some dissatisfaction with the Council’s handling of allotments, and that CAHA want to be a body to support all allotments in Cardiff, to protect the vulnerable ones, and to have better control of funding.

Tim thanked CAHA for attending.

Adrian asked why the Western Avenue gate was being closed on a Sunday morning, when the shop was open. The Committee re-iterated its position, which is stated on the PPAA website, in the notices on both notice boards, and on the signs on the gates. That is, that in the interests of site security, and in accordance with the terms of tenancy, no gate is ever left unlocked unattended.

There was no further business and the meeting closed at 11:10am.

We’ve added a few more articles and what not to the wildlife section, so please take a look. Whilst we understand every gardener has their own preferences on how they wish to garden, it would be benefical for everyone if we could encourage more wildlife into the allotment site, for everyone to enjoy and also to keep pest species in check.

Please let use know what you see around the site so we can keep a list of what’s present at PPAA.

A reminder that our annual plant sale is this Saturday morning at 10am in the polytunnel.

We have listed the plants we expect to have ready to plant out, below. We also have some seedlings that will become available over the next couple of weeks.

We hope to see you on Saturday

Present: Tim Llewellyn; Dave King; Ian Douglas; Alex Brown; Dan Phillips; Martin Pasek; Gary Reed; Wendy Gunter.

Apologies: Sue Jones; Ray Edwards.

New committee member. Tim welcomed Wendy to the PPAA committee as Treasurer-elect.

Secretary’s duties. Tim completed an inspection of the site up to the plot 76 row recently and provided Sue with details of those not being tended. Sue has raised the question of the onerous paper work involved with new tenants who fail to pursue their interest. We shall discuss further at next month’s meeting. This item will remain as a standing agenda item until further notice (AP Sue/all).

Website. Martin asked Alex to rename the blogs tab as noticeboard. (AP Alex).

Plot numbering. We have nearly completed the site numbering; those remaining to be completed asap please. (AP all).

Storage. Dave is looking into acquiring an eco friendly roof for our new container, and will report back. (AP Dave).

Hedge. We are looking to fill gaps in the hedge and Ian will obtain whips to take this task forward. A working party can then be organised to plant them. (AP Ian).

Area behind polytunnel. We are looking into clearing the debris behind the poly tunnel. Dave has arranged for a contractor to visit later this week to quote for the job. (AP Dave).

Asbestos/ brick sheds. Sue has joined the council-led brick shed project; next meeting set for May. Dan will help with the numbering of the sheds. (AP Sue/Dan).

Thank You. The committee would like to say a big thank you to Dave for his excellent work as treasurer, and committee member. He hopes to continue helping wherever he can.

Plant Sale. The sale is set for Saturday 13 May, with a 10am start. Volunteers will be needed to help set up the trestle tables, so if anyone is willing to help please let the committee know.

AGM. The date for the AGM is Sunday 14 May 2017 at 10.30am. Dave has finalised the 2016/17 accounts for presentation.

Health & Safety. The dying tree adjacent to the shop gate is causing concern. Martin alerted the council 9 months ago, and nothing has been done. Ian will escalate to his local councillor. (AP Ian).

Dumping garden waste. Martin raised the problem of plot holders located near the Western Ave end not using the community composting areas designed for this waste. We decided that the best course of action would be to increase the number of compost bins to better cover all areas of our site. The first task will be to acquire the necessary pallets – Ian and Dave will take this on. Then the committee will arrange a Sunday working party to set them up. (AP Ian/Dave).

Gate security. Wendy raised concern about security procedures as she has had to lock the Western Ave gate after it had been left open. Martin has prepared a notice to explain what should be done. The bottom line is – lock the gate at all times. Failure to do so infringes paragraph 11 of the tenancy agreement.

Petty theft. Every allotment site suffers a degree of petty theft. Experience has shown that good housekeeping (keeping tools out of sight or at home) helps to reduce opportune pilfering. However, if the gate is continually left open we are leaving ourselves more exposed to this kind of theft.

The committee would like to encourage greater involvement from plot holders in the running of the site. Not necessarily sitting on the committee but contributing to useful site projects such as rubbish clearance, filling pot holes, etc. Can those interested please contact your nearest committee member.

Date of next meeting – Tuesday 6 June, Butchers Arms, Canton.