Richard West (Chairman)

Chris White

Trading Shed Roofs

Nothing further has progressed with the shed roofs.  Janet Cloke offered to ask one of her friends to provide an estimate to remove and dispose of the roofs as he has contacts with the asbestos industry.

Parish Council Partnership Evening

Chris & Janet Lucas will attended the Parish Council Partnership event this year.

Bank Account Signatures

Steve Brown is to be added to the signatures.  Janet Cloke will investigate the possibility of having a bank card for the society so that she can use the automatic tills as at present she always has to queue for the one manned till.  Richard offered to try to help if she had no luck with this matter.

This is the end of my fourth year as Chairman of OBAGS.

We managed to get representatives from OBAGS attending the council allotment inspections on all three occasions, this has proved very beneficial and the council is finding our presence a great help.   Thanks Janet, Jenny and Chris for their help in the inspections.

I would like to thank all volunteers who helped in the shop and for all who helped with the shed tidy weekend in April.   

Again we did not manage to organise any visits this year although e-mails were sent out to all members it appears that there is no real call for these events at present.

Again we must thank all who donated plants and helped with the plant sale this year.  It was a far better day than last year.

Unfortunately we had to cancel the picnic in July due to bad weather.  It was not possible to plan an alternate day later in the year.

Thanks to all committee members who have worked together to keep the society and the shop running so smoothly again this year.   

Russell has resigned as Trading Secretary,  Steve Brown has agreed to take over this post and I would like to thank him for stepping in at short notice.  

The annual shop helpers dinner was held in early November, fourteen of us had a very pleasant evening at the Bolton Arms.

Sadly we lost one of our ex committee members this year,  Vivienne Upton was secretary for a year a few years ago.  Vivienne will be missed by all who knew her.

A total of 73 members joined or renewed for the 2015 season,  a decrease of 7 from the 2014 membership.  The 73 members included 10 who took advantage of our special deal and joined during September – December 2014. (Four have joined so far for the 2016 season since September 2015).  Reconciliation between the number of application forms filled in or updated and the number of membership cards showed no discrepancy  – 80 were printed and 7 remained at the end of the season. – Very well done to all concerned!

It is important that shop volunteers remain vigilant in ensuring that customers hold a current membership card before finalising sales if we are to improve on our current membership levels.

None given as Russell has resigned and Steve Brown has only just started as his replacement.

Ed reported that the seed order went very smoothly this year,  
The orders were again returned just in time for early November trading date,
The seed order made £127.28 profit this year.

Shed Inspection  20 March
Shed Tidy Weekend  9 & 10 April
Plant Sale   15 May
Social Sunday   24 July
Harvest Home Dinner  28 October

Basingstoke Allotments

Basingstoke allotments have a site on the www.basingstoke.gov.uk/allotments page and we have a link to this site from our web site.  On this site is hosted the local Basingstoke allotment magazine and there is now a link to this as well.

OBAGS are now linked from this site.

There is a local society detailed on the allotment information site. Richard is waiting for details of their next meeting and we will try to get representatives from OBAGS to this meeting.

Richard West agreed to continue as Chairman.

Tony Stoney agreed to continue as Vice Chairman.

Janet Cloke agreed to stay on as Treasurer.
Tony Stoney will continue as Publicity Officer.
Chris Hall will continue as Membership Sec.
Steve Brown was elected as the new Trading Sec.
Tony Hall will stay on as WebMaster.
Edouard Juon agreed to continue as Seed Sale Org.
Janet Lucas agreed to continue to be our Council representative.
Maurice Bates
Aileen Brown

The Society’s accounts show an improvement this year compared to the last financial year, with an overall increase in the bank account balance.   This was much needed after the losses sustained in 2013/2014.   There is no surprise that in the current economic climate the interest received in the Society’s business saver account remains very low with only £3.49 being accumulated in interest this year!

The correct completion of sales sheets is still of some concern,  with at many times inaccuracies although there has been a general improvement than sometimes seen in previous years.   Unfortunately some totalling up is at times incorrect e.g. membership fees are being added into sales of stock.   Additionally new memberships and renewals have sometimes been added into the sales sheets.   
When collecting the hut bag, can duty members please let me know if they will not be returning the bag directly after the huts close.

Banking remains a problem,  due to increasing reliance on ATM machines, which is not conducive to non-profit organisations, which do not have bank cards.   Even if the society changes its bank I do not think that this will improve since many banks are closing their smaller branches and going over to self-service systems.

The plant sale held in May was successful and raised £352.28, which was an increase of £75.68 compared to last year.  Thank you to everyone who donated plants to make this event such a success for the society.

In preparation for the AGM I would like to recommend that the society continues to purchase public liability and buildings insurance from the RHS.   I believe that the price offered is good value at £180 in total.   Using the RHS for insurance allows society members to borrow the discounted entry card for garden visits.   If you are planning a visit to an RHS garden and would like to borrow the discount card please contact me by e-mail.  Please remember that the discount card only gives access to the RHS gardens and not events such as the RHS Chelsea and Hampton Court Flower shows.

Finally if you are interested in visiting the RHS Chelsea or Hampton Court Flower shows please register your interest via the Survey Monkey link that was sent to all members.  If at least 20 members are interested in buying tickets to visit either of these flower shows on the same day then we can obtain tickets at discounted prices.

The subs to the National association are increasing from £2.25 to £3.00 this year,  we only have to join the association to get access to the seed order scheme.   Janet will contact the RHS to see if they have a similar scheme that they run.  If this is the case then it was agreed that we will discontinue our affiliation with the National association.

Tony Stoney has again had great success getting copy into both the Basinga and Chineham Chat every month.

The purpose of the website is to inform and entertain its membership and interested parties at large.  The content has remained largely static this year.

Accordingly the webmaster would welcome contributions from members particularly in the following areas:

 Articles or notes on horticultural and related subjects.

 Reports on gardens, shows or events visited,  perhaps with pictures.

 Tried and tested recipes that are based on allotment, garden or wild produce.

 News items.

 Addresses of interesting and informative websites for our links page.

I would like to stress again the importance of ensuring that the email box on the member application form is filled in correctly,  and to update any changes in email addresses at renewal.   Our global email facility is now the most important conduit in keeping members apprised of forthcoming events, particularly in view of our affiliation with the RHS.

In the current year 86% of the membership provided an email address.

Membership Subs Income
Shop Trading profit
Plant sale
Seed order profit
Trading profit

AGM Notes for 2007 & 2008

AGM Notes for 2009

AGM Minutes for 2010

AGM Minutes for 2011

AGM Minutes for 2012

AGM Minutes for 2013

AGM Minutes for 2016

AGM Minutes for 2015

AGM Minutes for 2014