I hope your allotments are all doing well, despite the dry weather. The cold, wet winter now seems a dim and distant memory, after these rainless weeks since March and the frosts in late May. Certainly it has been another challenging year weather-wise !
As we approach the last quarter of our year I would like to encourage everyone to think about getting involved with the Association. I hope that those of you who have been to one of our events (the evening event, the fruit care practical session, the wildlife event or the BBQ) or benefitted from the membership card discounts will see the value of being in the Association and be prepared to get more involved next year.
I’m sure everyone will be keen to see the allotments improve and their impact in the town increase. Two key activities for the future and which are covered in more detail in separate articles are…
- Organising a flower and produce show, and
- Planning for a communal hut on site
However, none of these activities can occur without a few volunteers to help out. In these days of limited public funding we cannot rely on any sums of money from the council, and clearly will need to make every opportunity we can to apply for awards and lottery funding.
As we move towards our AGM in October I hope some of you will be prepared to sit on the committee, or even stand for one of the official positions. The AGM is an important meeting when you can ask the committee what the membership fees have been spent on and suggest ideas for the coming year. In accordance with the constitution, the posts of chairman, secretary and treasurer will be re-confirmed (or elected if any post is contested). Speaking personally, I am happy to stand down from the chairman's position if there is anyone with more time on their hands who would like to take on this role. We will send more details of the venue and procedures for making nominations in September.
Finally I would like to thanks Julia Wass, who has had to stand down from the committee for personal reasons, for all her help over the past year. In particular it was Julia's hard work that led to the expansion of the number of outlets offering us discounts, from one at the start of the year to six now. Thanks Julia!
In the meantime, have a great summer and I hope to see as many of you as possible at the produce show in September.
Richard Weightman
Chairman, HRAA
