NEWCASTLE ALLOTMENTS WORKING GROUP MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 11TH AUGUST 2016 AT 6.30 PM AT THE CIVIC CENTRE

Present: Donald Robinson (in the Chair), Mark Todd (NAO), Sue Johnson (Treasurer), Mike Armstrong, Keiji Makino, Sean Thompson, Vanessa Robinson, Susan Pownall, Matty Hall, Paul Herbertson.

1 Apologies for Absence: Stuart Gilhespy, Bob Heyman, John Tucker, Keith Rogerson, Su Cumming, Angela Forster.

2 Minutes of last meeting. The minutes of the meeting held on 14th July 2016 were accepted as a true record.

3 Matters Arising Rent Concessions MT reported that the 15% rent concessions for the year 2014/15 amounted to £4430. 94. He anticipated the sum for 2015/16 to be £5442. 59 across the 66 City sites.

NAWG Website MT confirmed that the new website had gone live the day of the meeting and several members reported they had visited the site. Julie Herbertson’s in-house City Council IT team had provided authors with passwords and site secretaries had been asked if they wanted to link up and input information directly. SJ reported that in liaison with Jim Lowery and KR, she had secured final closure of the original Hart Internet website and had also closed the account. She was also liaising with KR on a financial payment to Ian Earnshaw for his initial work on the website.

Newcastle Allotments Centenary MH announced further celebrations that would come on stream in 2017. The celebrations of Newcastle City Allotments 100th Anniversary and the Centenary of WWI were the subject of an ongoing exhibition for which he was co-ordinating material. He also confirmed that Ian Johnson, the exhibition co-ordinator would be at the Annual Show in September.

Revised Buildings and Structures Guidance The matter was deferred for further discussion at the October meeting of the group.

Eco toilets MT reported that he had arranged the installation of an experimental eco toilet on St Anthony’s allotment site, Walker. Any site representatives interested in installing a similar facility on their allotments could view it at the St Anthony’s Open Day on 27th August.

Premier Allotments Fencing ST reported that Premier had sorted out some fencing for the plotholder concerned, so further assistance was no longer required.

4 Chairman’s Address The Chairman had circulated a document he wished to be included in the regional newsletter and also circulated to site secretaries to inform all plotholders of its content, with particular reference to levels of communication. SP had revised the content wording for ‘Dig This’ so that it read in a softer, more acceptable tone for editorial purposes. PH voiced the opinion that it was not relevant to Dig This but should head up the front page of the website in whichever format was agreed. MT agreed to circulate both versions for discussion at the next meeting in September. 5 2016 Allotment & Garden Fete. 24-25th September. MT outlined the arrangements to date, including set up on the Friday 23rd September, leading up to the staging of exhibits on the Saturday and the show being officially opened at 11am by the Lord Mayor, Cllr Hazel Stephenson on Sunday 25th September. He called for volunteers to set up tables etc from 11 am onwards on the Friday, help with stewarding during the exhibitors’ setting up on the Saturday and manning the stands on the Sunday. He also asked NAWG members to canvas all their allotment sites to get surplus produce to sell at the show. MA asked about parking facilities for NAWG personnel supporting the event. MT was looking into provisions for a cordoned off area for the Friday plus facilities via Richardson Road into Leazes Park for staging on the Saturday (staging limited to 40 mins, see attached map). He also reported that the St James’ Park underground car park was available at around 70 pence an hour or £3 all day on Sunday if people preferred to stay longer after staging and enjoy the activities .

SJ asked about the financial elements surrounding the show. Basically, the only NAWG income would come from the Tombola, Raffle and the sale of produce donated by sites. The remaining income would go into the Events Budget of Parks and Countryside Department to cover the costs of the event. She indicated that KR had tombola prizes surplus from last year. SJ offered to contact key suppliers for prizes for the raffle, which was welcomed by the meeting.

The park will host a full weekend of activities, including a family fun fair, circus skills, climbing wall, children crafts, market stalls, food outlets, gardening advice, honey bee demonstrations, live music and a whole lot more.

5 Budgets, Work and NAWG Funding. MT reported that there was still £34K left in the budgets to spend before the end of the financial year. The NAWG business account stood at £4,170.67 and the NAWG current account at £164.02.

Works in hand at present included a new gate for Woodlea Allotments; Walkergate Hospital needed a new wall; St Michaels needed some new fencing; St Anthony’s also needed some fence repairs.

There being no other business, the meeting closed at 7.45 pm.

Date of Next Meeting: Thursday, 8th September 2016 at 6.30 pm in Room 300, the Civic Centre.

SCP 15th August 2016.