Topic: Allotment Committees

[busy_lizzie]

Downhearted and disgruntled. >:(   Been to the committee meeting tonight and were my terrific ideas about developing a Web Site for our Association (which I would organise)and Celebrating National Allotments Week by having an Open Day, met with enthusiasm and overwhelming support?  :( A big No to either.  Sometimes wonder why I am on the committee.

I am afraid  a lot of our committee members are so negative and not prepared to try anything new. They said what would be the point of havindg a Web Site? and they couldn't understand why we would want to have an Open Day when we have a waiting list for members.   I sometimes wonder why I bother coming up with any ideas. Feeling out of sorts tonight. Any body out there who has a positive go ahead committee?    :'( busy_lizzie

[Roy Bham UK]

 :( Sounds like you have the Doom & Gloom Brigade on your lottie. Don't let em get you down, or maybe they're not into this cyber stuff ???

[djbrenton]

W've now got a really go ahead committee. Apparently meetings used to be basically the secretary rushing in and making a report and the treasurer saying how much money was in the bank. There would then generally be some bitching about someone or other and that was that. Since the change of management there's a fresh wave of enthusiasm. The first thing we did was to set some targets for the year ( all of which have been met alrady ) and since then we've introduced short/medium and long term plans which include Open Days, creating disabled plots, installing toilets and electricity and organising social events. Realistically, the chair and secretary tend to set the tone. Our current chairman used to be the 'voice in the wilderness' like you, and is loving being able to get things done now. The funny thing is that some of the committee members who we used to think of as dead wood or ultra conservative have now shown themselves to be really helpful and imaginative. Many of our ideas are met with ' Great! I came up with that a few years ago but no-one was iterested. Let's do it!'
All I can suggest is, try and get more proactive management which the committee may then follow.

[teresa]

Is it the fear of things changing? they dont want to try anything new.

The Open Day is a great idea later on in the year when the lotties are in full swing .
get some school children to see how vedge etc is grown perhaps you could contact the local school this they may go for and perhaps one for parents and children on a weekend and admission could go to local hospice or the church etc this they may go for?
You could still do the website as your on the committee dont think you would need permission would you?
Dont give up on your ideas thats is why you were voted onto the commette.

[wardy]

Many of the old guys just don't have the energy to be enthusiastic, and what energy they do have is put into growing their veggies  :)  We only have an Association of 3 and 1 is ill so we can't expect them to do much.  They aren't really into open day but they'll do a barby (no veg on it though).  So one or two other plotties are doing something to help.  We're asking the composting team from the council to come and do demos and give away freebies (hopefully), there'll be teas and cakes, hopefully a raffle, allotment tours, shredder demo (if they can get it going).  We're having it in July as last year it was in May and hardly any veg ready.  So we want lots of veg on show to encourage people to take up the hobby.  We thinking about making placards for vacant plots or just flying some ballons to mark them.  We're doing best allotment and some other categories which we've not sorted out yet.  Veggie carving and such like  ;D

[busy_lizzie]

Thanks for all your comments. DJ your Committee sounds like heaven to me, I want to be on it.  :D  Teresa, would love to do all you suggest and have already made similar suggestions to no avail.  Think I have come to the conclusion that our Society is a very dyed in the wool traditional one, and I have come into it with ideas totally out of step with the dominant majority. They just don't want to create any sort of community spirit. So I have made my mind up to resign (after thinking things over half the night)  and will get back to my plot and dig instead of struggling with the committee.  thanks for all your support.   :( busy_lizzie

[wardy]

Busy Lizzi       oh knickers to the old so and so's  >:(  Have your own open day!  They'd be dead jealous when they saw what a lovely time you were having ;D   Yeh, it seems some folk are like us - they don't want to spread the lotty message.  You'd have thought though as your committee that what they're expected to do.  Why else are they there?  It's a pity you can't get some like-minded plotters on the committee as well and boot the lazy ones off.  Good luck  :)

[Derek]

There are three sites in the Borough which form an Association of sorts affiliated to NASALG...this means that only a small proportion of allotment holders from each of the sites are members.

On my particular site there is no committee, no interest in forming one, turned down self management a couple of years ago. They moan individually so nothing happens...sad as its a great site.

The Council are pretty easy going but trying to get things done on the site is almost impossible...no cash. As we don't have a committee, constition etc. we cannot apply for grants.

I guess apathy rules!

Derek

[wardy]

Derek   Our allotments have been in a couple of recent issues of the NSALG mag!  They got funding for a large shed to use as a shop.  It's great!  One of the drawbacks of getting funding though is the flaming paperwork that comes afterwards.  We're forever filling returns in that it's become a bind. They want to collect stats about who benefits from the grant and exact details of users eg their sex and ethnicity and who used the facility and when and what hours of the day.  It just goes on and on.  So think before you apply for funding  ;D

[moonbells]

Busy Lizzie -
I made a similar offer a couple of years ago at the AGM for my allotment's tenants.  My point was that if they wanted young folk to take on plots, they should talk the right language and that's the language of the web these days.  Previously all publicity was paper in the local library.
One of the councillors took my email and got back to me, and after a few months batting text about I put up some pages for our sites and how folk could get hold of a plot. I have just updated it with PDFs of the allotment newsletters and this year's dates of shows/meetings etc.

It can work.  It's findable with Google now. I have no idea if anyone has found it via that route but at least it's there.

Has any of your committee heard of PR? Just because you have a waiting list doesn't mean that the community shouldn't hear what you're about: it might just ensure the lotties' long term survival. Are you a council lottie?  If you are, then you need to do an open day in order to show folk where some of their council tax is going...  public accountability and all that. 

Good luck

moonbells

[busy_lizzie]

Thanks for your encouragment Moonbells.  We are self-managed and our site is on private land, not really suitable for house building  purposes fortunately.  I think the local authority is the custodian for the private owner but no council tax, I believe is used to support it.  The committee argues that a lot of our members are not computer literate, but I think certain elements in the committee are fearful of computers and that may be part of the problem, although I am not talking about aged men here.  I think they are just stuck in their ways and not prepared to try anything new.   

  We do have a growing number of new younger people and family oriented people coming onto the Site, and I think woman have become the largest proportions on our waiting list and the number of e-mail addresses now noted must prove that quite a few have internet access.  The men with the power though can't see any need to promote ourselves and can't imagine  why we would want a web page.  I was looked at as if I was mad and deranged.  I think they are afraid of losing some sort of privacy if we are open to public scrutiny.

Wondered if I could do an unofficial one though.  Don't know the legality of that.  ??? busy_lizzie

[newchangeling]

What a bunch of miserable wet blankets they are!

I don't think there's any reason why you couldn't have a web site of your lottie and just happen to mention where it is...  That way you also have the freedom to do whatever you want with it and what you think will work.  You could let some of the others know about the site when it's up and running so they can see how good it is.

Of course, you'd also have to pay for it yourself - don't know if that's a problem for you.

Best of luck with it.  Don't let the b******s get you down!

Clare

[wardy]

I think for some association blokes and lotty holders there is no world beyond their plots so they don't really want people coming in and upsetting things and coercing them into getting involved in the wider community. All they want's a quiet life  :)

[Shoyu]

The website is a great idea. I'm finding it so hard to find local allotments on the web. The council website come up with no matches. There is reference to a local horticultural society but no website or contact details. Methinks I'm going to have to do it the old fashioned way and look in the phone book!

[moonbells]

The website is a great idea. I'm finding it so hard to find local allotments on the web. The council website come up with no matches. There is reference to a local horticultural society but no website or contact details. Methinks I'm going to have to do it the old fashioned way and look in the phone book!

What area are you in, roughly? I'm sure that someone here would be local to you and able to tell you about plots!

moonbells

[Shoyu]

West Lancashire, whose website has just had some kind of best council website award, obviously no one was looking for an allotment!

[Marianne]

I envy you all - I was told by the council last week that because I live "outside the area", I cannot have an allotment...  :'( :(

So I will have to do with my tiny garden... Never mind.

[wardy]

If I wanted an allotment I would push til I got one.  There are loads which are empty and the council can't be a r s e d to go and look so just say there are none available and you can either put up with it or go out and pick yourself one. Then go to the council and say "look, this one is empty, I want it"  Or just resign yourself to not getting one.  I know which I would choose  ;D ;D

[slugcatcher]

West Lancashire, whose website has just had some kind of best council website award, obviously no one was looking for an allotment!

what part of West lancashire are you in.
I am in Preston and you can get information on allotments from the Parks Department of the council.

Pm me if you want

Ron

[wardy]

Our allotment committee bloke told some of us up the plots yesterday that there were no plots available.  This was as a tractor was ploughing up and down over literally acres of them, hedge rows gone, the lot!  This is not just one part of the site either, they've done it on about four parts because there have been so few takers.  I do think though that we ought to be able to reclaim one or two from the total being ploughed up if people are waiting.  Isn;t that the whole point of allotments?

The areas being ploughed up are for food production apparently.  I bet it will be mono culture with acres of cabbages!