BAILDON HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

7pm – MONDAY 9th DECEMBER 2024

OLD GLEN HOUSE, BAILDON

Attendees:
Louise Mallinson, Neal Parry, Charlotte Martin, Dale Holgate, Peter Laws,
Julie Laws, Jan Studzinski, Claire Bray, Susan Kean, Michael Webster,
Moira Webster, Andrew Gregory, Jackie Gregory, Mandy Glover, Rick Nottidge, Wendy Forde, Lisa Egan, Andrew Egan, Barbara Downes, Imogen Hewitt, Catherine Dunne, Lesley Hall, Elaine Wright, Dawn Tinsley, Jon Roughton, Paul Scott, Robin Weedon, Sharon Burrows and Councillor Dave Shaw (Baildon Town Council Representatitve)

1. Welcome by President, Jan Studzinski
   Jan welcomed everyone to the meeting and thanked them for attending, lovely to see so many people! He thanked everyone for persevering in what had been a strange growing year and highlighted the impressive quality of produce people had managed to enter in the show despite the tough conditions!

   Jan announced that he would be standing down as President. He thanked the volunteers in the society and there was a round of applause and thanks. He appealed for additional people to come forward and volunteer, especially in the busy Springtime when extra help in the shops on both sites is most welcome. Highlighted it as a great way to meet your plot neighbours.

Jan then went on to elect a Chair for the meeting, Neal Parry. A vote was taken,
and this was agreed.

Neal took over and presented Jan with a gift from the Committee (an engraved tankard). Neal wished Jan a happy retirement and on behalf of everyone passed on our thanks and appreciation for all the help over the years. Before becoming President Jan had been an Allotment Officer and Chair of the committee.

Jon Roughton was then put forward as the new President of the Committee, proposed by Louise Mallinson and seconded by Sharon Burrows. Jan handed over the Presidents medal to Jon and wished him all the best!

2. Election of Chair
   Jon Roughton and Louise Mallinson were joint chairs for part of 2024. Jon stepped down in August and Neal Parry agreed to take over the role.
   Agreed roles for 2025 Neal Parry – Chair, Louise Mallinson – Vice Chair.

3. Apologies for absence
   Bill Heaps, Doug Stewart and Chris Dearnley.

4. Minutes of 2023 AGM
   These had been sent to members prior to the meeting. No questions raised. Approved by Neal Parry and seconded by Peter Laws.

5. Matters arising
   To be covered in AOB.

6. Chair’s Annual Report
   This was sent out prior to the meeting and Neal and Louise talked through it at the AGM:

• The BHS Annual Show was a huge success and seems to get better each year. Many thanks to Dawn and her excellent team for running the show.

• We currently have around 200 members of the Society consisting of 45 non-plot holder members, 50 at Thompson Lane and 100 at Charlestown allotments. The waiting lists on both sites are quite short.

• After the resignation in the summer of Dawn Tinsley and Jon Roughton, two committee members from Charlestown bravely stepped in to fill their shoes. Big thanks to Neal Parry and Peter Laws. Your hard work is much appreciated. Dawn has kindly agreed to carry on running the Show for the future and to still work as a volunteer.

• We are sad to say farewell to Jan Studzinski who is stepping down as President. A new President will be appointed at the AGM.

• A trip to Harlow Carr was planned to take place but this had to be abandoned as there were only 17 people interested so not enough to fill a coach. Claire, our Secretary, will try again to organise a similar trip next year.

• We held a Best Allotment Competition where plots were inspected in June and August and we had some very deserving winners from both sites who won vouchers for our allotment shops. Winners: Thompson Lane – First – Karen Bye -Plot 20N; Second – Jill and Doug Stewart – Plot 5; Third – Chris Dearnley – Plot 11 E/W.  Charlestown – First – Richard Butler/Mandy Maher; Second – Dawn Tinsley; Third – Lesley Hall.  Congratulations to all. 

• Our newsletter has been very well received over the last few years but since Dawn left the committee, nobody else has come forward to take over. However, Robin, our Publicity Officer, has kindly offered to set up a BHS Blog in the New Year where people can log in and read our articles and we can add new articles.

• At both sites we continue to have problems with rats, squirrels and pigeons and at T/L we have even had a badger digging up our paths!!

• All smallholders who keep hens have been asked to register their birds with DEFRA and a record is being kept of these plot holders. This will help with any future outbreaks of Bird Flu.

• Our shops continue to be very successful and we are very grateful to the volunteers who help to run them.

Thompson Lane – Louise Mallinson

• Work on the front fence and hedge was completed early in the year and there have been some very positive comments from passers by about how good it’s looking.
• Phase 1 of the rear boundary hedge was completed in October and Phase 2 will take place next year. This will make the allotment site much more secure and discourage break-ins. Many thanks to Mike and Richard for doing all the preparation work for this.

• Baildon Glen school replaced the fence between the school and the allotments over the October half term while the school was closed. This is a huge improvement and has allowed much more light onto the plots on the west side of the site. As they had to remove lots of hedging, we were pleased to see this taking place in autumn after all the young birds had fledged.

• For the second time, a school visit from Baildon Glen School children took place in early October. This was a huge success and the children were thrilled to learn about how vegetables grow as well as learn about the chickens and bees. They even took some vegetables back to school and made soup with them. They are very keen to visit again next year. We are very keen on encouraging the next generation of horticulturists!

• A survey took place at T/L about the use of weedkiller on the allotments and we were pleased to report that the majority of tenants who responded felt that there should be a complete ban. However, the committee agreed that as this would be difficult to police, for the time being we will just encourage people not to use use weedkillers and pesticides on their plots in order to protect our precious pollinators.

Charlestown – Neal Parry

• Work has been completed on the shed (next door to our shop).
• All recent work has been completed using Society funds and a grant from the Mechanics Institute.
• A work bench has been installed and it was originally planned that the Mens Shed group would use it however this has been shelved due to the fact that we have no mains electricity for power tools on the site.
• There are plans ongoing for basket weaving and flower arranging classes organised by Dawn Tinsley and Charlotte Martin and it is intended that these classes will be open to the general public.
• Hoyle Court school made visits to the site last year and children were given an introduction to gardening. There are no further visits planned at this time.
• Numerous visits have taken place by the Beavers and Brownies groups from St Aidens church in order to complete their gardening badges and it is anticipated that further visits will take place in 2025. 

Challenges facing us at this time…

1) Following some recent resignations there are now only 4 members from Charlestown on the committee and I am actively recruiting volunteers.

2) We had planned an open day at Charlestown in August of this year however despite requests for help to run this only three of us volunteered and a decision was made to cancel.

3) Baildon Town Council arranged for the front hedge to be cut however part of the frontage borders a car park opposite Shipley paint and there are trees growing over to our side therefore some negotiations will be required in order to rectify this.
A number of trees on the site need to be trimmed (one is a huge sycamore) and this will have an impact on our budget. 

Publicity – Robin Weedon

• Our website continues to offer all the information anyone requires to join or apply for an allotment. Highlighting rules and guidelines how to get the best out of your plot. It also features details of our Annual Show, yearly events and updates the committee makes at our monthly meetings. https://www.baildonhort.co.uk

• We have a dedicated Allotment Facebook page. This is a private page which you can request to join: ‘Baildon Allotments’
• We also have a more general Facebook page which is open to all. ‘Baildon Horticultural Society’
• Our Instagram page is a public page which can be followed by anyone. ‘baildonhorticulturalsociety’

• The society also manage two decommissioned BT telephones boxes in Baildon next to the Junction Pub and outside the Post Office which helps to promote the Society.

• We have recently stopped our monthly Newsletter which was run very successfully by Dawn who has now left the committee. We are considering options to replace this. One of which is looking at expanding the Baildon blog to include the type of content that appeared in our newsletters: https://admin921709.wixsite.com/baildonblog

• If you have any ideas regarding the direction of marketing of our society,
  or would like to have an article posted on our blog please contact us: admin@baildonhort.co.uk

Developments and aspirations for 2025

• To hold an open day on National Allotment Day.
• To provide talks and trips for our members if there is enough demand/interest and somebody to organise them.
• To provide an ‘On-Site’ Educational facility for all members at Charlestown.
• To increase the scope and participation in our annual show.
• To encourage all plot holders to maintain their own hedges and make sure their plots are at least 75% cultivated.
• To encourage all plot holders to have water butts, to reduce our huge water bills.
• To discourage all plot holders from using pesticides and herbicides to protect our pollinators.
• To continue to support Gardening and Horticulture in the Baildon area.

NB:  All the above will rely on recruiting more volunteers from each site to help out

The Current Committee

Neal Parry, Joint Chair – Charlestown; Louise Mallinson, Joint Chair – Thompson Lane; Sharon Burrows, Treasurer; Claire Bray, Secretary; Charlotte Martin and Peter Laws, Allotment Officers – Charlestown; Mike Webster, Allotment Officer –Thompson Lane; Robin Weedon, Publicity; Richard Nottidge, Membership Secretary; Dale Holgate, General.

Nominations for Committee posts prior to the AGM

President – Jon Roughton

Chair – Neal Parry

Vice Chair – Louise Mallinson

Treasurer – Sharon Burrows (current)

Secretary – Claire Bray (current)

Publicity – Robin Weedon (current)

Membership Secretary – Richard Nottidge (current)

Health and Safety Officer – Peter Laws (current)
Allotment Officers (current) – Charlotte Martin, Peter Laws (Charlestown) and Mike Webster (Thompson Lane)

General – Dale Holgate (current)

Conclusion

We hope 2025 will be another successful year for our Society. Our profile continues to grow within the Baildon Community thanks to the hard work of our Committee and Volunteers at both sites. We hope we can continue to inspire the next generation of gardeners whatever their abilities.

7. Questions to the Chair
   1) What does being on the committee involve and how much time does it take up – this might put people off coming forward?

   Neal outlined official roles Vs general roles on the committee. Meetings are the second Monday of every month at 7pm, normally at The Bull’s Head in Baildon. Even if members do not have time to attend committee meetings and/or sit on the committee extra help at both sites with general tasks and in the sales huts is always needed. There is also the yearly call for volunteers to help out at the annual show. Please do come along to a meeting, ask in either of the sales huts, ask a member of the committee or email us with any questions info@baildonhort.co.uk or secretary@baildonhort.co.uk

8. Treasurer’s Report
   A report was tabled at the meeting by SB the treasurer which has been audited and signed off by Sarah Oddy an independent accountant.

BHS FY24 accounts showed a deficit of £2,169.

Partly due to £2,282 spent on wall repairs and grants received in the prior year not spent until this year to the value of £817.

Profit of £1,500 from this year’s successful show greatly helped to offset above expenditure.

Sharon reassured the room BHS is in a healthy financial position.

Sharon also thanked everyone on the committee plus Dawn and Catherine who have been extremely supportive and helpful throughout the year.

9. Rule Changes
   No rule changes proposed.

10. Rents & Membership fees for 2025
    No change to rents for the year ahead.
    under 100 sq yards £30
    100 – 200 sq yards £35
    over 200 sq yards £60
    Membership fee £5 (£7.50 for a family)

    It was noted that with the timing of the AGM and the requirement to confirm rent increases as part of this it is difficult to sign the management agreement with BTC each January, if a rent increase to cover council rent fees was required it would have to wait for a whole year. The Chair will discuss this with BTC to propose a date in the middle of the year when the management agreement might be signed. This would allow time to better plan and implement a rent increase if it were needed. Further updates will be available in out 2025 committee meeting minutes.

11. Election of Committee members
    President – Jon Roughton

Chair – Neal Parry

Vice Chair – Louise Mallinson

Treasurer – Sharon Burrows (current)

Secretary – Claire Bray (current)

Publicity – Robin Weedon (current)

Membership Secretary – Richard Nottidge (current)

Health and Safety Officer – Peter Laws (current)
Allotment Officers (current) – Charlotte Martin, Peter Laws (Charlestown) and Mike Webster (Thompson Lane)

General – Dale Holgate

Proposed by Jan Studzinski and seconded by Peter Laws. A vote was taken and this was agreed unanimously.

12. Honoraria
    Remains the same:
    £150 for Chair, Secretary, Show Secretary, Treasurer and Publicity Officer.

13. AOB

Neal introduced Councillor Dave Shaw to the room, he was attending the meeting on behalf of Baildon Town Council.

There had been a request from BTC to see BHS accounts. This has been refused but we have reassured BTC that BHS is financially stable.

Neal outlined the ongoing discussions with Baildon Town Council about the reserve funds held for the Allotments. BTC have proposed a freeze on allotment spending over the next two years so that reserve funds can be built up. BHS do not think this is necessary. At this time we are waiting for further information which breaks down how the reserves have been spent over the last 5 years to ensure everyone is agreed (BTS and BHS) that there is the correct amount of money in the reserve funds.

All at the meeting voted and agreed not to share BHS accounts at this time.

A meeting in January is arranged. Further updates will be available in our 2025 committee meeting minutes.

Louise thanked Neal for everything he has done and continues to do since taking over the role of Chair.

The meeting closed at 7.45pm.