Further to the previous communication, please find below the minutes from the AGM meeting held on the 7th March 2024. Staple Hill & District Allotments Ltd Minutes of the AGM 7th March 2024 at Downend Cricket Club  1 Welcome to the members and Conduct of Business. 2  Apologies for absence - Stephen Williams, Julie Rees Galey, John Lockwood, Peter Mumby. 3  Minutes of last AGM 24th March 2023 - Agreed and Signed by the Chair 4 Matters arising - NONE 5 Chair greeted the members and spoke about the pleasure of having the allotments and how well everything is going forward and thanked members for their help and cooperation. 6 Adam Hayward - Report regarding the Soundwell site. All plots rented. Camera installed. Water Station on its way but a lot of work required. Plot holders who struggle with their plots are helped by other members. Soundwell have a yearly barbeque which is well attended. 7 Linda Farley - Shop Report - Linda thanked the members for their support, particularly Andy Nash & John Lockwood for their help. It has been a very successful year with lots of different produce available in the shop, the sales of these brought a significant amount of money into the allotment funds and the plans for the year going forward are very promising. 8 Kevin Bowhay - Treasurer report - Kevin thanked Andy & Barbara for their support. He reported that the Allotment funds were in a healthy position having taken a few years to achieve this but we have spent a fair amount of money in the last year. He explained how this will be needed going forward and what money has been spent this past year and we have to allow for unexpected repairs around the sites including boundaries which are our responsibility. This included the Defibrator, for which we had a small grant from Downend & Bromley Heath Council to help with the cost. This is battery operated because there is no electricity on site so needs to be kept inside out of the cold. It will be installed shortly within the allotment toilet main door which is accessible using the allotment gate code. We have cameras on both sites using a donation from a generous plot holder. The road track of the Downend site has been repaired with new aggregate and if funds allow maybe later, the remaining area from the shop could be considered. Soundwell also needs some access road repairs which will also be considered but the Council may have to be involved in this case. The cost of water is increasing so a similar water arrangement to Soundwell will also be considered for Downend at some stage. Rents - No invoice system due to cost. Kevin explained that problems with SGC staff meant the lease has not been settled but we do have confirmation that it will be sorted in due course. Currently the situation will remain as it is. We do know the rent will probably increase in 2025 and it’s possible the pensioner discount will disappear. We need to ensure there is always sufficient money available to cover all necessary repairs on the sites and this includes site boundaries as per our current lease agreement with SGC. Kevin confirmed the lease runs for 14 years and it is assumed this will continue. There will be a small increase to the rent next year, each perch will cost £6.00 plus water which will not be increased this year. A water station will help keep the water rate down. There is an overdue rent to the council of £1933.58 caused by an incorrect original invoice from them from Sept. Despite even working out the discount for them we are still awaiting the new invoice which will be paid upon receipt. 9 There was a long discussion regarding the cost of rubbish collection. This applied to both sites, one plot holder suggested that each plot should be checked for rubbish on a regular basis but plot holders themselves could do this and report any rule breaking to the stewards. A lot of this rubbish is historic and currently we have better monitoring which has cut down the problem. A plot holder asked if the new development adjacent to the Downed site would affect our walls, it was confirmed that we think a fence would be put up by the company. A plot holder asked if it was possible to allow everyone to have access to the small service gate. It was explained that the gate was only available for access to enable delivery of compost, potatoes etc for the shop. It is also available to plot holders who are only able to walk a very short distance and have written confirmation to support this request. A plot holder reported that the small gate access needed a ramp or similar as currently the step down was difficult to manage. It was agreed by the committee that this should be looked at and organise any necessary improvements. A plot holder also questioned whether we could arrange a communal compost delivery to the Downend site. It was explained that because of the large area on that site, this idea would be difficult to monitor. A plot holder asked about the defibrillator, its access and how it works. This was explained by Kevin 10 Discussion for Site management - most of this has already being talked over but Kevin confirmed the website is proceeding and should be available shortly. 11 Election of officers and committee members. Downend Lead Steward Stephen Williams Support Stewards - Peter Mumby, Simon Eastwood, Honor White, Anna Dimes Soundwell Lead Steward Adam Hayward Support Steward - Carol Drewett Committee Chair Reg Bleaden Deputy Chair Barbara Julian Secretary Deborah Smith Treasurer Kevin Bowhay Shop Manager Linda Farley Independent Neil Harrison Lead Steward Downend Stephen Williams Lead Steward Soundwell Adam Hayward 12 Any Other Business A plot holder requested that committee names be made available to plot holders. It was confirmed that when we had a website, all this information was available but the website was infested with malware last year and had to be taken down. We are now in the process of setting up another website which should be ready shortly with all information. He also questioned the status of the allotment as a Limited Company and who were the directors, Kevin explained and offered to send details showing the link to this information. A plot holder questioned why we still pay £60 to the stewards yearly as well as free 10 perch plots. This has been an historic payment but it was generally agreed by the membership that these payments should now be stopped, it was also confirmed that the committee do not receive any renumeration for their work. If small costs arise because of necessary expenditure involving the allotment sites, these costs can be claimed from the Treasurer provided it has been approved and a receipt is produced. The meeting closed at 8.30pm