Garnock Valley Allotment Association

GARNOCK VALLEY ALLOTMENT ASSOCIATION

COMMITTEE MEETING Thursday 13 September 2012, GVAA site, Kilbirnie

Present: (IC) Irvin Clifford, Chair

(AR) Audrey Ritchie, Treasurer

(JB) Secretary

(CMacD) Cath MacDonald, Membership Secretary

(AF) Alan Frew, Fundraiser

(MM) Michael Martin

(DG) Dick Graham

Apologies: Carol Martin

Distribution: as above. cc (JD) Jon Davies, Webmaster

Item Action Due date 1 Chair IC welcomed members to the meeting. Apologies- as above 2 Minutes of last meeting were accepted by AR and seconded by AF 3 Matters arising: - EGM to present new Tenancy agreement to members. JB asked for current lease to finalise the Agreement with respect to keeping of livestock. MM clarified that it is GVAA which has permission and not individual members. AR provided a copy of the Lease to JB but it is missing page 14. MM to provide this page to JB. It was agreed that MM Asap committee members could hold a copy of the Lease, the Secretary or membership Secretary can be approached by members if they need access to see the document. - JB to inform NAC of the change in Chair person JB Asap 4 i) Financial position: ii) Treasurer AR advised the bank balance stands at £8482.15. £7250.87 is committed spend from funding leaving £1231.28 balance. 4.1 iii) Petty cash is still not balanced. Monies are outstanding for pallets and manure from this season. Emails are to be sent to 2 members for £10 JB 20/09/12 payments and £20 payment from 1 lapsed member is to be written off and the plot reclaimed. ( J Cohacher) 4.2 iv) New window glass and metal bars are expected next week for the window damaged in the last break-in. 4.3 v) It was agreed to change the bank signatures for IC as Chair and add JB as Secretary to give 3 including AR Treasurer. AR will get the forms from AR 20/09/12 the bank. 5 No updates at present. AF proposed we look for new project ideas over the closed season to request funding for next year. 5.1 AR suggested a work group to look at feasibility of obtaining water from the golf course, David Wright and Sandy Fotheringham were suggested due to their experience in this area.

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COMMITTEE MEETING 5.2 AR raised the question of using bonded resin for the area around the raised IC 20/09/12 beds. IC agreed to look into costs from Barr. 5.3 Drainage for the site? JB will write to Auchencruive College regarding the JB 27/09/12 chance of having a student to work on a joint project. IC will talk to M McConnell at Community Council meeting to see if she has information IC 17/09/12 about the existing drainage on the site. 5.4 CMacD has costs for brushcutters for Nov application to CDGS. 6 Membership update: CMacD advised that we have 5 new members. 46 known members and 35 plots taken. CMacD will ask Tony Curdy to confirm CMacD 27/09/12 he has given up his plot. Keys still need to be returned by lapsed members. CMacD asked JB to return the poster with the logos on it. JB asap 7 Update on outstanding jobs. 7.1 FENCING: MM had a verbal estimate of £4200 from McVay to complete the boundary fence including repair of the broken part, although it does not include the post/wire along the golf course side. MM advised all our purchased timber has now been delivered. M Hood had given verbal estimate for complete fencing including post/wire and damage repair at £3995. Thomson still to quote. IC had estimates from Hay & Anderson of £4800 for wooden fencing, M&J £4820 + VAT, and Gibson(?) Galston of £4920 for 100m of wire fence. Discussion followed about possible discrepancies in the amount of wood and fencing materials that we are currently holding and that there was insufficient to complete the whole boundary. AR expressed the importance of having comparable quotes from 3 suppliers to satisfy the funders that we are obtaining best value as it seemed that suppliers were being asked to estimate for differing jobs. It was stressed that we are running out of time to get this work completed and that we must ascertain what materials we actually hold and therefore what fencework can be completed over the coming weeks. There followed discussion about having the suppliers quote for all the remaining work ie including the building of raised beds. Comparisons will be made with buying direct at the next meeting and a decision made at that MM 27/09/12 time. AR asked JB to find info about economy outdoor noticeboards within JB 27/09/12 our budget. Also some discussed was getting plaque to commemorate the oak tree. JB 27/09/12 7.2 BOTTOM PATH : It was agreed that we would need a digger to scrape out the lines of the path and also to loosen the blaize so that we can barrow and spread it on the volunteer day 23 Sept. After discussion it was agreed that we should lay shuttering along one side of the path to create a tidy edge. MM stated we have the materials to do this. MM offered to get 3 MM asap quotes for digger costs. 7.3 VOLUNTEER DAY JOBS: Bottom path-Lay shuttering to edge, barrowing and spreading blaize Painting Strimming Replace/repair top path shuttering Remove weeds from carpark and spread remaining chips Tidy up compound Drainage in compound to be addressed

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COMMITTEE MEETING Dig out drain at bottom of slate path Fill in trench in compound Brace and post to be put in to strengthen main gate. 8 AOB a) worm cast offer- donor has been on holiday Joyce will follow up. JB 27/09/12

b) Request from Spiers Care Home for advice on planting- MM has visited- done. JB 27/09/12 IC 27/09/12 c) Offer of strawberry plants for communal area- not at this time

d) More manure before winter? IC offered to check costs for moving “free manure” to site. Suggestions put forward to have both horse and cattle manure?

e) MM provided a list of items which have gone missing from the site in recent months and puts a value on them at around £500. Members were concerned about this. JB said she had previously informed members to return any items they had borrowed from the container but nothing had materialised.

f) MM informed that Eglinton Growers have been broken into and tools, rotavators, strimmers stolen. Members expressed concern about this and it was agreed that all existing security arrangements on the container and portacabin must be used to make sure we are in compliance with our insurance policy requirements, especially going into the closed season where there will be less activity on the site. All members should be reminded to challenge strangers on the site whilst considering and maintaining their own safety and security..

9 Date of next meeting:Thursday 27 Sept 6.30pm. Off site? 10 IC thanked members for their contribution. Meeting closed 9.00pm

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