Allotment Associations and the internet...

[salome2001]

I would be interested in hearing peoples' experience of how internet/ email / social media savvy their allotment associations are.

Ours is, how shall we say.... vintage. The website has just been taken in hand onto a blog site, having not been updated since 2004's rents. There is no email communication (in fact, the communication to plotholder level is so bad that I didn;t know when the AGM was, despite being expected to attend it as Minutes Secretary)

My lottie neighbour and I have been musing about how to get some sort of email newsletter up and running (last time she suggested this to a Committee member in the Trading Shop she got verbally abused for it)

So.... are there any success stories we could look to? Any experiences of how things have been improved in grapes' Associations?

(Have looked at Hotwells and District Allotment Association's site- not too far from us: they have not only a webmaster but also a dedicated Newsletter position!!!)

[chris]

Ours don't even have an internet/email presence. Theres no interest from them either, but 99% of the plot holders are of the older generation, who probably aren't interested in all that sort of thing and would just rather catch up in person

[salome2001]

I do realise that I am asking a somewhat biased cohort, given that people on this forum are on the net!

[chris]

AP has (had? - in process of re-doing) an allotment site, he'd be a good chap to gain some insight from..

[Ananke]

Our committee have recently started sending all information by email (and putting copies on the notice board at the gate for those who don't have access to the internet). It's fab, we now get minutes of meetings and info on local events etc straight to our inbox. I definately feel more informed these days whereas before we had no idea what was going on.

They are also having a website designed, I had a sneak preview today and it's looking great.

[bearded bloke]

AP has (had? - in process of re-doing) an allotment site, he'd be a good chap to gain some insight from..

Also talk to Bin's (Binley100) her allotment association has a website & a facebook page

[binley100]

Also talk to Bin's (Binley100) her allotment association has a website & a facebook page

That'll be me then .......yup as BB says we have both , we have one of our plot holders as a webmaster and also our Secretary set up the FB page . Not every plot holder has or want to have e-mail but we do take e-mail addresses where possible and also post notices on the various boards around the site .
Everyone also knows that there is a site meeting on the first Sat of the month so it is down to them to choose whether to attend or not .
Our website is Welcome | London Road Allotment Association if you fancy having a look and on FB you have to search for London Rd Allotments Coventry

[Snadger]

When I was Hon Sec they didn't even have a list of names or addresses or phone numbers of plot holders, never mind email addresses.
I sorted that for them but its all went pete tong lately!

[ladylottie]

When I was Hon Sec they didn't even have a list of names or addresses or phone numbers of plot holders, never mind email addresses.
I sorted that for them but its all went pete tong lately!

Yes, it's the same on my site - since the AGM last month we have all been asked to provide our names, addresses and phone numbers. They had a problem contacting a plot holder who wasn't keeping the plot up to scratch (hadn't seen him for months) - no one knew how to get hold of him!

So as for websites - you're having a laugh aren't you And although I'm classed as one of the "older generation", I am computer literate (could put up a website if needed) and do use my computer every day which is more can be said for some on our site.

In any case, we all know that the shop is open every Sunday morning or we can just ask the keyholders to open up whenever we want something. Anything we might need to discuss we just go along and chat to the committee - they're always on site. (I think some of them live there) So really, for us, what's the need of all the extra work of a website?

[rustylady]

When I was Hon Sec they didn't even have a list of names or addresses or phone numbers of plot holders, never mind email addresses.
I sorted that for them but its all went pete tong lately!

Ours is the same as yours Snadger

[donnakebab]

Ours don't even have an internet/email presence. Theres no interest from them either, but 99% of the plot holders are of the older generation, who probably aren't interested in all that sort of thing and would just rather catch up in person

I think it's pretty much the same on my site although the site manager / secretary or what ever he is does have all of our email addresses so that if he needs to get in touch with us he can. It saves on postage. Whether we all actually have email addresses is another question.

I do spend a bit of time chatting to certain fellow plot holders when I'm down there and we do have a notice board by the gates. It would be nice if we had a website but I'm guessing we don't have a member with the necessary skills able to invest the effort, or we do but they do it all week at work and like to get away from it which is fair enough.

[Aberdeenplotter]

Yes we have a website and the ability to provide an email facility for our members. Microsoft, sods that they are, are pulling the plug on their webhosting at the end of this month though which is a shame.

To be honest, our website was set up with the intention of making information available, not just to our members, but to any other Scottish local authority allotment tenants.

It's been very interesting watching the stats and the search criteria used by folks trying to get information.

It's worth noting that there are an awful lot of older folks on allotments who may not be and have no wish to be computer literate so a website should be supplementary to anything else in place and not a direct replacement.

[Two_Sheds]

"what's the internet?"

[Aberdeenplotter]

see you oldies :::::::::::::runs:::::::::::::::::

[Two_Sheds]

^ not me, the rest of 'em ! If you utter the words "internet" they all scurry off back to their sheds (probably to arm themselves with pitchforks).

What they do (because they've always done it) is keep everything written down on the back of an envelope, tucked in a drawer in the shed. Then, someone will say to me "it was mentioned at the meeting" and I'll say "what meeting?" and I'll be told "it was on the noticeboard" (which means the usual gang talked about it all over a cuppa without inviting people whose views might differ from the majority's).

Now, the noticeboard is 2ft x 2ft, plastered in rules & regulations. Anything new put in isn't easy to spot unless you know it's there. Nobody but the secretary reads the noticeboard every day, and that's only when she knows something new is going in there.

Curiously, I've never had a letter to my home about any AGM, in 4 years, although we're supposed to get them. If you query it, you're told it was "lost in the post, we did send it".

An email pinging into my inbox: now that's how I know things are happening. I'd love a facebook page, so people who don't talk to each other could start to, and could look over each other's plot photos and growing methods. Alas, that's not how things are done "round ere".