WEST MILLS ALLOTMENTS SOCIETY

          Friday  23rd April - Meeting, Quiz Night and Raffle

 West Mills Allotments Society Inaugural meeting and AGM Thursday 18th February 2010
AceSpace, Newbury

Present: Susan Millington, Poly Pereria,  Alex Hall,  Esme Zarins and George Russell
Plus 14 other West Mills Allotment Holders


Minutes


Brainstorm

Susan and Poly addressed the meeting and everyone present was invited to brainstorm ideas for the direction the Society could take: See notes below.


Nominations and Voting

George invited those present to nominate and vote for a new Committee and the result of voting was as follows:

Co-chair:Susan Millington 07958 574524 millington.susan@gmail.com
Co-chair: Poly Pereira    07989 510883
Secretary: Esme Zarins  01635 32420  esme@zarins.me.uk
Treasurer: Sarah Coffey 01635 45543  sarahcoffey@hotmail.co.uk
Social Sec.: Alex Hall    07905 590214 alex@acespacenewbury.com
Fundraising : Teressa Bune 01635 582194 teressa.bune@gmail.com
Growing in Community Working Group Rep: Susan Millington

Feedback from Small Groups

a) Social
Christmas party, barbeque,  Bonfire Burn-up, Talks

Fundraising
Jumble sale, auction of promises, selling produce, plant sale (fee for tables), stall at farmers market (and more)

b) Organic Growing and Wildlife

Bulk buying eg fleece
Top tips
Avoid damaging chemicals
Wildlife refuges
Manure/ mushroom compost - can we have a discreet area?  George Russell agreed to this.
Noticeboard

c) Co-operative

Seed sharing - provide water to keep seedlings going.
Working party - communal projects eg wildlife areas
                            plots need looking after occaisionally
                            spring clearup
                            skip

Bulk buying - fencing /seeds
Noticeboard to offer seeds
Mentoring - using e-mails?



AOB

George Russell has offered to put a post box on his allotment for membership forms.  He went on to say that now that a Society has been formed, we can apply for improved security measures and a new noticeboard.  Also relating to security he reported that the police have a lot of stolen property unclaimed, could be items missing from the allotment?  He has a security marking pen if any allotment holder would like to use it. 

Sarah Coffey reported that  £26.00 taken in membership fees during the meeting.

Susan Millington reported that the Alzheimers Society is asking for out of date seed for their 'Gardening for the Brain' project - please pass any spare seed to Poly Pereira.

Alex has started a web page for the Society;   ACESPACENEWBURY.com under community groups pages.


Diary

Tuesday 23rd March - Tennants Meeting 7 pm at  Town Hall.This is solely for West Mills allotment holders, so should be a good opportunity to raise issues relating to our site and wider points as necessary.  They have requested questions to be submitted in writing 5 working days before the meeting, ie by Tue 16 March.  More details are on signs on the gates of the allotments.
Thursday 25th March - WMAS Committee meeting 7.30 pm at Ace Space.
Friday  23rd April - Meeting, Quiz Night and Raffle