Bouncing in to Spring with a whole lot of news

The newsletter sums it up! What a week of news, and what a lot of dates to put in your diaries...
Look out for follow-up information on many of these events.
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Look forward to seeing you soon! 

AGM Tulip Talk

We were treated to a wonderful talk by Teresa Clements of the Wakefield and North of England Tulip Society at our AGM yesterday evening. She covered so much ground from the heritage of English tulips and the history of the Society, to tulip cultivation and their presentation at shows - in empty beer bottles! It was an informative delight and was well received by all present, who can now happily distinguish between a feather and a flame, or between an English and a Dutch variety.

Group of English florist's tulips
Image from the website of Wakefield and North of England Tulip Society

The Society is holding its 178th Annual Tulip Show, on Saturday 11th May. At Primrose Hall, Horbury, Wakefield, WF4 6EG, from 2.30pm until 4.00pm. Sure to be a worthwhile visit.

If you would like to know more about the Society you can visit their website at http://www.tulipsociety.co.uk/

Notice of AGM 2013

We're pleased to announce details of our forthcoming 2013 AGM 
Date: Wednesday 20th March
Venue: Southlands Methodist Church Hall, Southlands Road 
Time: 7.30pm ending by 9.00pm 

Please put this date in your diary, we're keen to see as many members as possible. This is your chance to hear from the committee and share your views and ideas. More details concerning the guest speaker and the agenda will follow.

2011 AGM

A full house at Southlands Methodist Church Hall

Around 45 members attended this year's AGM.  There was praise all round from the chair, Graham Sanderson and an impressive and sound financial picture from the treasurer, Mike Oldfield (although Mike was unable to attend Graham presented his figures).  5 new committee members were elected, 7 people stood again and 4 people stepped down.  There were no changes to the constitution.

The AGM business was followed by an informative and entertaining talk by Scarcroft bee keeper, Hugh MacPherson.  Hugh's had had various trials and tribulations with his bees since starting a few years ago and the main aim of his talk seemed to be to discourage anyone else from keeping bees, but he presented this argument in such an engaging and interesting way that I am not sure he will have achieved his goal.

 

Hugh's Hives in the snow

Meet the 2011 Committee

Here is the 2011 Scarcroft and District Allotment and Amateur Gardeners' Association Committee.
This year we welcome five new members - Luke Bevan, Katy Brierley, Gill Wignall, Adrian Clayton & Sarah Austin.

That makes 8 from Scarcroft, 4 from Hob Moor and 2 from Hospital Fields.

AGM 2011

The Scarcroft and District Allotment Association Annual General Meeting will be held at 7:30pm on Wednesday 16th March 2011 in Room 2 (upstairs) at Southlands Methodist Church,  Southlands Rd.

AGENDA

1. Welcome
2. Apologies for absence
3. Minutes of the AGM held on 17th March 2010
4. Chair’s report
5. Treasurer’s report
6. Proposals for changes to the constitution
7. Election of the committee
8. Andrenalin Gardening - Bees on Allotments - a talk by Hugh MacPherson

There will also be a seed swop, held before the meeting starts.  Please bring any seeds that you would like to swop carefully labelled.

Please come along and put your name down if you want to join the committee and / or work in the allotment shop.  New volunteers are very welcome.

See you there.

Hugh's beehives in the snow

AGM minutes 2010

Scarcroft & District Allotment and Amateur Gardeners’ Association

Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on 17 March 2010

Southlands Methodist Church, Southlands Road, York.

1. The meeting was chaired by Graham Sanderson and attended by 30 members. Also attending were PCSO’s Rachel Shaw and Mike Holden. Apologies from Chris Adam, Hilary Moxon, Christine Staples, Geoff Baker, Judith Ward and Patrick Cairns.

2. After the correction of Caroline Bush’s name, which appeared as Caroline Snell in item 2, Minutes from the last AGM were accepted as a correct record, proposed by Claire Pickard and seconded by Tina Funnell.

3. Chair’s Report
The Association has had another successful year. For the improvements made to both the shop and the site we received a special community project award last year, which is proudly displayed in the site shop. There were several events last year; a Dawn Chorus Walk (thanks to Simon and Morwenna), a Scarcroft site tidy/litter pick and a get-together for members in The Golden Ball last November. This was a huge success; so much so that we’re having another one on April 30th. We are also seeking suggestions for a family event in the summer. Please let us know what you and your families would enjoy.

A real milestone for the association was the creation of our own blog, which is a real success. Our sincere thanks to Caroline Bush for setting this up. This shouldn’t simply be used as a notice board, we welcome questions, suggestions, gardening tips, photos – keep them coming in. This is another way to keep our allotment association alive!

Graham formally thanked Mike for transforming the shop. He has worked tirelessly, renovating the inside of the building itself, creating separate areas for storage and sales and working long hours to achieve this. Thanks to Mike also for keeping the association’s accounts, and of course to the ‘backbone’ of shop volunteers.

Thanks also to Judith and Sue, City of York Council, for their support during 2009, for helping with site walks etc. and of course the site secretaries. Currently 20 people are taken off the waiting list on the Scarcroft site every 6 months.

Membership last year totalled 205, currently have 148 paid up members, 70 at Scarcroft, 22 at Hospital fields, 4 at Hob Moor, 10 at other sites with the remainder being private gardeners. We’re optimistic that there will be an increase in membership this year. Don’t forget you can get 10% discount from Deans Garden Centre and Pextons on production of your membership card.

Sara informed the meeting that all but one of the nest boxes she had put up last year had been used. The boxes have been cleaned out and birds are already using some of them.

A member queried why we paid £79 last year to join the RHS, rather than for example Garden Organic. The decision was made at a committee meeting last year after we’d looked at a wide range of organisations and the RHS proved to be the best value. The £79 included the membership fee, plus ‘events’ insurance covering the lending of tools to association members, against injury during hedge care/site tidying etc. If you have a view on this or any suggestions regarding membership of other organisations, please put your comments on our blogsite.

4. Treasurer’s Report for 2009
The Profit and Loss account shows a net loss of £1,328.08 with a net asset level of -£200 on last year. However, this is offset by a significant increase in stock levels. Income from membership was £467.50 with shop sales up by 60%. We have decided the shop will no longer sell pesticides, both for financial and environmental reasons. A range of green manures will soon be available to buy and if we don’t stock the one you prefer, please get in touch with us and we will order it for you. In the coming spring/summer months, if there was a demand for it we would consider opening the shop mid-week during the evenings. Comments and suggestions welcome.
Members were reminded they must pay for chippings and manure. We have barely broken even from the last two deliveries, and on previous occasions we’ve made a loss.

5. Proposals for changes to the constitution
No proposals have been received.

6. Election of the committee
Tom Walters
Graham Sanderson
Mike Oldfield
Sara Robin
Caroline Bush
Linda James
Tina Funnell
Chris Whittaker
Heather Dawe
Laura Potts
Graham Lewis proposed that all should be elected onto the committee, seconded by Debbie Pendle.
The plot secretaries Claire Pickard, Malcolm Hainsworth and Chris Adam will be co-opted onto the committee.

7. Herbs for Health by Laura Potts. Laura gave a fascinating and insightful presentation on the aesthetic and medicinal properties derived from the herbs we all grow in our gardens, and treated the members to tastings of herbal teas, home-made elderflower cordial and a demonstration of herb-based ointments and salves. We all enjoyed it hugely. Thanks again Laura!

8. Any Other Business

• Toni Bundell informed the meeting that she runs a rescue centre for hedgehogs and offered to teach anyone who is interested how to make their plot hedgehog friendly, and to set up feeding stations for them. Toni will post a blog on our website.
• Manure deliveries to the Albermarle Road end of the Scarcroft site. There has been an issue for some time that plot owners at the top end of the site have a long drag backwards and forwards to collect their manure, which is generally unloaded at the Scarcroft Road end. The inhibitors appear to be the narrow pathways which don’t allow access for the delivery vehicles and there isn’t really a suitable area at the top of the site to unload a large amount of manure. Graham suggested the plot holders near Albermarle Road get together and between them arrange for a private delivery, first identifying an area where it can be unloaded without causing blocking of the paths.

9. The meeting closed at 9pm.

AGM 2010

Around 30 people attended this year's AGM, including 2 members of our local constabulary PCSO Rachel Shaw and Mike Holden who were available before the meeting to take questions on crime on the sites and Cllr Tina Funnell and Cllr Julie Gunnell.  Graham Sanderson gave a charming chairman's address covering the best parts of the last year.  He also stepped in for Mike who was on holiday and presented the treasurers report.  Points of discussion included: why the committee had chosen to join the RHS and why it hadn't been brought to the AGM to approve (having asked Mike for more detail I can now confirm that the figure of £78? covers 2 years subscription and was principally motivated by the fact that membership gave us cheaper event insurance), having manure deliveries to other ends of the allotment site (apologies if I have missed anything off but I haven't seen the minutes yet). Then followed the election of the new committee and finally a very interesting presentation by Laura Potts on Herbs.  Laura, who had valiantly stepped in at the last minute, when our booked speaker had cancelled, covered ways in which a number of herbs (dandelion, comfrey, marigold, lemon balm, lemon verbena etc) could be used, their principle benefits and effects.  We then got to try various infusions, some delicious, others more fortifying, before closing the meeting around 9.    Thank you to everyone who turned up and supported this constitutional but still enjoyable event.

Graham, placed in shadow by the glare of Rachel and Mike's reflective jackets.

Laura's illustrated talk on Herbs for Health.

AGM 2010 - Wednesday 17th

The Annual General Meeting of the Scarcroft and District Allotment Association will be held this Wednesday, the 17th of March, in Room 2 (upstairs) at Southlands Methodist Church, Southlands Road at 7.30pm.  The room will be open from 7pm and the meeting will finish at 9pm.

The agenda is as follows:

1. Welcome
2. Apologies for absence
3. Minutes of the AGM held on 18th March 2009
4. Chair’s report
5. Treasurer’s report
6. Proposals for changes to the constitution
7. Election of the committee
8. A talk Herbs for Health by Laura Potts

Please note that Sarah Clark from Green Garden Herbs who was originally billed to do our talk cancelled this week, due to an invasion of rabbits at her nurseries (and bad weather) which has left her with no stock to sell or herbs to use as visual aids.  We are delighted that Laura Potts, a keen allotmenteer, Scarcroft plotholder for 25 years and author of 'A Small Herbal'  has agreed to step in and save the day.  You may wonder why we didn't ask Laura in the first place, well, I'm afraid I didn't know we had such an expert in our midst; otherwise I certainly would have asked her.  Laura recently did a demonstration on pruning soft fruit which was highly praised by those who attended it (see the post from Wed 3rd Feb 2010, you can find it by using the Blog archive on the right hand side).

Laura's short talk will be entitled Herbs for Health - using herbs at home and in the garden.  It will bring to us the tastes of fresh herb teas, the scents of last year's crops and tips on cultivation and uses.  There will be copies of Laura's booklet available to purchase on the night if anyone would like to do so.
Her talk promises to be an interesting and informative event.

We expect a member of the local police team to be available to talk to members before the meeting starts, so use this opportunity to raise any issues you have with them.

There is usually a group of members who go for a drink at the Swan on Bishopthorpe Road after the meeting.  All members are welcome to join us.

Please note that if you have not renewed your annual subscription you can do so on the night but please come slightly early so we can sort out the paperwork before the meeting starts.

See you there.

Caroline Bush