Allotment Comittee Advice please

[Alison]

All in it was a pain in hte butt but we now hope to be able to help move the plots in the right direction.

Your enthusiasm is great but please remember that the "right direction" for you isn't necessarily what everybody else wants and in that case it's the "wrong direction".

[leonmc0708]

Your enthusiasm is great but please remember that the "right direction" for you isn't necessarily what everybody else wants and in that case it's the "wrong direction".

Alison - nothing to do with whats right for me, if I am honest then I would rather not have bothered and just kept meself to meself on my plots.

There was a general malaise and reluctance for anyone to help anyone else, little or no community spirit and no get together of plot holders for any kind of social element other than hte poorly attended AGM.

There is a right direction for everyone and that's together in the same direction.

Just no idea on the direction yet !!

[Alison]

Alison - nothing to do with whats right for me, if I am honest then I would rather not have bothered and just kept meself to meself on my plots.

There was a general malaise and reluctance for anyone to help anyone else, little or no community spirit and no get together of plot holders for any kind of social element other than hte poorly attended AGM.

There is a right direction for everyone and that's together in the same direction.

Just no idea on the direction yet !!

You see that's the point, I have no interest whatsoever for any organised events at the Lottie and would be unhappy about contributing towards it. It is not the right direction for me at all and I know I'm not unique in this. I find the social levels at my site of just a quick chat and informal swap with the other plot holders to be perfect. I go to the plot to garden and grow not to socialise, I simply don't have the time, it's not a case of malaise, I'm just quite happy with things as they are and if we had somebody at our site saying what we should be doing it would run the risk of being very annoying and would potentially reduce the wonderful peace and quiet we currently have. Somebody else might really yearn for communal BBQs and working parties on a shared orchard, that direction is totally opposite to what I want, we're not all the same and therefore it really is important to tread carefully and appreciate we are all different - that's basically what I meant by my previous comment about what's right for you, hope it now makes more sense.


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[andy_j]

Hi Leon, how's it going with the committee stuff ? Ive just been put onto this thread as im going through the same. Loved your letter to the committee....thought it was pretty spot on and will hopefully doing something similar.

Would you do it again or try a different angle if you could ?

Regards

Andy

[leonmc0708]

Hi Leon, how's it going with the committee stuff ? Ive just been put onto this thread as im going through the same. Loved your letter to the committee....thought it was pretty spot on and will hopefully doing something similar.

Would you do it again or try a different angle if you could ?

Regards

Andy

Andy

Yeah do it again as its at least invigorated both members of the committee and plot holders and has resulted in good efforts.

I have been cracking on and lighting fires under all committee members to get them to moving and its going well, slowly slowly etc but we have some good chats and have inititated a newsletter and had some plot holders submit pieces.

I did a load of research and will gladly send links if you need em

[Samurailord]

No matter what you do, there will always be someone who disagrees with you - 'You can't please all of the people all of the time'

My personal opinion is that attendance at at least one 'working day' should be mandatory for all plotholders otherwise you get the same old faces turning up to help, while everyone else sits back and expects the paths to be kept clear, communal areas mown and tidied for them, and all the other jobs necessary to keep a site clear and fresh completed as if by magic.

The only exceptions to this should be new plotholders who, let's face it, normally have more than enough to do in getting their own plots up and running.

I don't expect everyone to want to join in with the allotment barbeque if they dont want to, nor do I expect everyone to want to socialise away from the plot, but I want to give those who do an opportunity to do so.

I believe that a plot should be very much a social thing, where you can work hard to grow your crops, but when the work is done for the day it should also be a place where you can sit and share a meal and a drink or two with your friends and family (all the better if you have grown most of what you are eating).

I appreciate that for some this is exactly the opposite of what they want, and I don't for a minute want to force this point of view upon them, but equally I don't want their opinion on how to run a plot forced on me!

Andy

[andy_j]

Andy

Yeah do it again as its at least invigorated both members of the committee and plot holders and has resulted in good efforts.

I have been cracking on and lighting fires under all committee members to get them to moving and its going well, slowly slowly etc but we have some good chats and have inititated a newsletter and had some plot holders submit pieces.

I did a load of research and will gladly send links if you need em

That's fantastic news mate,

Any links you have would be very very helpful.

Our plight is starting to gain a bit of momentum. We've had some issues with a serious water leak....the committee have known about the leak since winter and have only just decided to do something about it.

as a result, we have no water. However, our committee have agreed to turn it on between 10 and 12 on Wednesday mornings and 10 and 12 Saturdays. Our committee are all retired, in their 70's and have known each other for years.

So us peasants who have to work for a living...including Saturday mornings, can't get access to the water to fill our water butts up.

many plot holders are fuming, not only that the water is on when everyone is at work but the fact that it's taken so long to do anything about the leak.

Our treasurer wont put rents up because he doesn't like having any excess cash.

It's all getting a bit silly.

[Alison]

So us peasants who have to work for a living...including Saturday mornings, can't get access to the water to fill our water butts up.

Why don't you fill your butts up with rainwater anyway, much better than using treated tap water . We have no choice anyway as no running water but I can harvest loads off my shed and polytunnel even from quite a short rain storm.


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[andy_j]

Probably Alison, because many plot holders don't have sheds and, we've had no significant rainfall for about 3 weeks down south !!!!! It's a busy time...seeds need watering, newly planted stuff needs watering and despite some torrential rain over the past 24 hours (at last), I still needed to water my newly planted runners today with a can !!!!