Topic: allotment secretary.

[pennsylvannia planters]

Hi,
Can anybody give me an idea as to what the secretary of an allotment association actually does in his/her job.?
Thanks,
John.

[saddad]

Everything.... (I'm only the Treasurer...)  ;)

[Squash64]

This is what I do, can't speak for other secretarys -


Arrange for people who want a plot to visit first, show them round, add names to waiting list.

Inspect plots regularly.  Contact those whose plots look neglected to find out reason.  Sometimes persuade people to give up half of their plot.

Act as peacemaker sometimes.

When plots become vacant, allocate to someone on the waiting list.  Phone/email them and show them the plot.

Do all the paperwork when someone new takes a plot.  Collect the rent, send paperwork to Council.

Show visitors and groups around the site.  Make refreshments for them afterwards.

Contact local newspapers with details and photos of events.

Run the website.  Take photos, add to website, update website regularly.

Produce, print and laminate notices for the notice boards.  Keep notice boards up to date.

Produce a newsletter twice a year and distribute to plotholders.

Send regular emails of allotment news to our email group of about 55+ people.

Make sure there is always tea, coffee, sugar, bread and margarine in the kitchen. 

Wash up, clean fridge.

Keep the pavilion clean and tidy.

Feed the allotment cats!

Attend monthly committee meetings and take the minutes.  Print the minutes.

Attend Self-Management meetings at Council House.
 
There might be more but I just can't think at the moment.

Just one more thing....... I love being the secretary!

[elvis2003]

hi john,it prob varies from site to site,but at our site,i do pretty much everything.in a nutshell,i manage the site. duties include managing the waiing list,showing new plot holders around,organizing skips,council visits,wood chip deliveries. sending out rent alerts,contracts. do all the fundraising by my self,help neighbouring sites as and where i can.notify our plotholders of events,such as open days. call meetings,attend city wide meetings. liase with the council,arrange plot inspections.all printing and correspondence. listen to any moans and try to deal with them. help new plotholders to find their feet,arrange social events.
our treasurer however handles all monies brilliantly.
why do you ask,are you thinking of taking it on?

[elvis2003]

i forgot,run the website,take and publish the minutes at meetings,and,like squash,thoroughly enjoy it ,just cos i like giving something back

[pennsylvannia planters]

Thanks everyone.
Squash64, how did you find the time  to reply to my post? ;D ;D

[Squash64]

Thanks everyone.
Squash64, how did you find the time  to reply to my post? ;D ;D

  ;D  ;D  ;D

(Hope we haven't put you off being secretary, if that's what you were thinking of doing?)

[lavenderlux]

If you were thinking of becoming secretary of your site and the list of duties looks too much, you could always do what we've done and appoint a 'minutes secretary/field warden' who would look after some of these duties for you;  this is what we've done on our site, and as minutes secretary/fieldwarden I work closely with our field secretary and:  take minutes at committee meetings and agm's, write and circulate our quarterly newsletter to plot holders, those on our waiting list and our supporters - sending out by email where possible and printing and producing labels for those which need hand delivering, produce notice board notices, run the website, liaison with our schools groups who visit regularly, housekeeping for our field shed (buy biscuits, coffee, tea, squash etc and keep it tidy), ensuring toilet is kept clean and topping up supplies when necessary, liaison by email with various people, ie Council over repairs, with our woodchip tree surgeons re deliveries (our field secretary doesn't have a computer), designing personalise cards to send to our plot holders who are unwell - and lots more.

A lot would depend on how active your site is or you want it to be; when we reformed our field committee in 2004 after many years without one and our site being neglected and only an old concrete garage as a field building, there wasn't much 'admin' to do - but we've grown enormously in what we do - we have open days and socials events for plot holders, raised money for field buildings, a 16x10 field shed in 2004, a machinery shed of the same size in 2006, compost toilet in 2009 - and also in 2009 made a grant application to put up a 20ftx20ft new field shed (it went up last week and we were moving in over the weekend and today), which will also be used by our school visitors as part of their allotment visit activities.

[saddad]

Thanks everyone.
Squash64, how did you find the time  to reply to my post? ;D ;D

She gets up very early....  ;D

[tonybloke]

I would reply, but a bit busy at ther moment !!
(seriously, secretaries do most of the work, as in any organisation)
Tony,  (General Secretary, Great Yarmouth & Gorleston Allotment Association Ltd).

[flowerofshona2007]

It depends on your committee !
We have a membership secretary, a site manager and asst, a web master a treasurer and a great comittee so as secretary i deal with any letters, take the minutes of the meetings, sort out the AGM's do and risk assesments for the shows we attend, sort out the insurance for the site and go to the federation meetings.
I also run the show and the BBQ we have each year.
Does not help that im married to the Chairman  ;D    ;D

[Trevor_D]

Yes, all of the above! (I normally get one of the Committee members to take the minutes, but I write them up; we used to have a Minuting Secretary who could do shorthand, but she moved out of the area.) And our Newsletter is also done by a very talented lady, even though the chairman, Treasurer and I usually end up writing bits for it.

But we're an independent site, which means that I'm officially the person responsible for everything. I have to fill in the annual FSA return, be the chief applicant for grants - even if someone else does a lot of the work - and liaise with our landlords and other authorities like the police, fire brigade, planning department and so on. To say nothing of local councillors, residents'  association, local schools and the Borough's allotments association and officer. My allotment e-mail address and mobile number are on the gates, so I'm the point of first contact for anyone wanting to get in touch with the site. And ditto with any queries or problems from the members.

And you have to have a total overview of the entire site, what goes on and what needs doing.

And I'm married to the Chairman as well! (She refuses to be referred to as "Chair" - they get sat on!)

[Borlotti]

It's a family affair. (Feel a song coming on).  Well done to all of you.  Only one person wanted to be site Sec. and he works hard, gets his allotment free I believe but he has certainly got things moving with checking out overgrown sites, splitting sites and showing new people round  (help, better get weeding mine) and getting compost delivered by the Council, so thanks to him and the other people that do work. Not many people remember to say thank you but are quick to complain, ie the compost was delivered in the wrong place, they had to walk further to get it, but we never had free compost before!!!. Good luck.

[Trevor_D]

Forgot to say:

I don't do plot inspections - three of the Committee do those. I haven't given them a brief, and don't even know the exact time they do them. They just report back to the Committee and tell me what sort of approach I need to take.

And a couple of guys see to the plumbing. (I'd be a disaster with that!) I don't do machinery either. And a couple of the others master-mind the hedge-cutting. (We've got a 100-year-old hedge along the road frontage.) And another chap gets us regular supplies of pallets. And we've got a brilliant Treasurer, but unfortunately he's opting out next year for health reasons.

And at our last working party session, we had three dozen plot-holders and families turning up over a weekend. But, as Secretary, it's my job to mastermind all of this and make sure it all happens. It's hard work - but very rewarding.