Topic: Done with the committee after 15 years

[BarriedaleNick]

Stood down today with immediate effect!  Quite liberating if it weren't for the circumstances.
For years we have had an ongoing debate about hoses.  We have no rule against the use of them but we technically shouldn't use them as our agreement with the the water company is for dip tanks (although it doesn't say we can't use hoses!) - so it is a bit of a grey area.  We are currently un-metered which is odd around here but they have never approached us about it..  For some reason the Chair is petrified of having to go on a meter..

So to a certain extent it has been a nod and a wink affair with most people not using them anyway.

The chair has always had a "thing" about it and bangs on about it at every AGM but when we suggested proposing a rule about it he differed.  Even when pressed by members for clear guidance it has been a nudge nudge don't use them wink wink affair... 

This has been going on for years.

So last week he noted a plane above the site and concluded it was a survey plane and started issuing warnings by email.  Then he spotted a water van outside the site and seems to have lost the plot.  Not only has he sent out warning emails to everyone without committee approval he suddenly decided to go on to everyones plot and remove any hoses that were in sight.  So after several very long weeks in the trenches of IT hell, I pop down to the plot for a bit of peace and quiet and I am greeted by angry members wanting to know what the emails were about and where there hoses were.  I found them piled up in the site hut - he had hidden them under a tarp.  Not only that but he had gone round to the taps and wiped them all with mud so they looked unused.  So folks are asking me why the committee is applying mud to taps and if the chair has gone nuts.   Taps that we are supposed to be using to wash regularly due to covid.  It's insane.
So I chucked in the towel - I was due to go at the AGM but we never had one but I decided there and then that I couldn't support the Chair anymore - I think lock down has got to him.
Sorry for the rant - needed to let off steam!

[Deb P]

Their loss I would suggest.  I'm sure this phenomenon is not localised to just your site.......but you can now enjoy your plot unmolested by other plotholders coming to complain about the latest mad plan your Chairperson has come up with and implemented without any discussion with other Committee members, so win win really!

[ancellsfarmer]

Thats the joy of committees, one can vote with ones' feet.
Regarding the 'spy plane', 'somebody' has been using the quiet airspace/clear weather of the past few weeks  to 'map' much of the UK.About 6 aircraft have been involved. Often flying in from Europe. No conspiracy theories ,please.
Its ,allegedly ,for Ordnance Survey, not Thames Water.
See if you can spot them on Flightradar24.com or
https://tar1090.adsbexchange.com/?icao=406763&lat=51.448&lon=-0.192&zoom=9.0&showTrace=2020-04-27

[Tee Gee]

I watched a documentary the other night about 'Ordnance Survey' where now in this computerised age they are currently making their maps in 3D

It was very impressive what I saw!

 It was amazing to watch, particularly in 'Towns' where landmarks such as the Churches, Town Hall etc were in 3D

I saw it as an advancement on 'Google Maps'


Just imagine in future when my wife navigates for me at least she will see 'recognisable landmarks' so hopefully we do not get lost as often as she reads from an iPad rather than a fold up map.

Next thing it will be....Do I turn left or right here Alexa!

[picman]

I stood down as association treasurer / construction manager 4 years ago, and I have had to watch the site gradually decline , financially and regarding its horticultural practices, most of my attempts to get some kind of  'progress ' have been demed as meddling . The committee ignore the constitution, make rules without any votes, and seem to be running the site for the benefit of the committee members. I seem to remember this is what happened on the site 20 or so years ago when a clique of plot holders ran it as they wanted regardless! . I guess this is what happens to committees ?.     

[Glencroft]

Similar here, but we put in a string of formal complaints to the Community Benefit Society. The offending Chair was kicked off as a co-opted director of the CBS and has now been kicked off as Chair of the allotment. By the end of October she'll be gone from the allotment leaving behind her 2 self-appointed overgrown plots, her 2 self-appointed voting rights and her multiple 'floating' proxy votes that were used for voting on anything she saw fit. These kind of people really are the scourge of our communities