Minutes of the 98th AGM of Kettering Allotments held on 8 March 2016 at Corn Market Hall


Present: H Pope, J Pope, T Munt, S Munt, M Dickson, N Elson, B Nix, J Jacquest, J Jervis, G White, N Mitchell, D Johnson, J Burn, R Attwood, B Mitcheson, J Weed, Gilbert, K Gilbert, J Allenby, D Allenby, C Betholet-Wright, Kevin Crick, G Cherry, Dean Haylett, C Hulston.


Apologies: P Mullins, M Ozdemir


  1. Minutes of the 2015 AGM were accepted as a true record.

  2. The Secretary's report was presented.

  3. The audited accounts for 2015 were presented by the Treasurer, Mr Dai Johnson and discussed. Mr Johnson answered questions, noting that the water bill had increased by £100 compared with the previous year and measures were in place at Margaret Road to reverse this trend and encourage better water conservation, rain collection and reduce waste. A total of 4 skips had been hired during the year, one of which was paid for by an outgoing member who had been billed for the cost of clearing his plot of waste. Purchases included a scythe and water barrels for rain collection (thousand litre IBCs to be re-sold at cost to tenants so the money will eventually be returned to the account). Investments have increased very slightly due to low interest rates. The motion to accept the audited accounts was proposed by Tony Munt and seconded by George White and passed unanimously by all members present.

  4. Election of Officers. Russell Attwood is willing to continue as secretary and Mr Johnson is retiring as treasurer.. Mr John Burn was nominated as the new treasurer – proposed by John Weed, seconded by June Pope. The motion to elect Mr Burn and Mr Attwood as officers was passed unanimously by all members present.

  5. Election of Committee Members – Those committee members whose two-year term of office has ended were willing to stand for another term:- J Jervis, G white, N Mitchell, J Pope, H Pope, M Ozdemir, I Bickle, J Jacquest and M Dickson. D Johnson was also nominated to be a committee member. The motion proposed by B Mitcheson and seconded by S Munt was passed unanimously by all members present.

  6. New Constitution. Reasons for the need to update the constitution were summarised by the secretary. These include keeping up to date with current legislation on mutual societies and removing redundant clauses in the 2008 constitution (eg reference to Charity Commission when we have never been a charity). Also the 2008 constitution makes no reference to field stewards. It was noted that any change to the constitution requires a two-thirds majority. An amendment was proposed to re-word the word “members” to “representatives” in section 6 (General Committee) in order to distinguish between members of the society and elected committee representatives. Motion to adopt the amended new constitution was proposed by C Hulston and seconded by J Weed. It was passed unanimously by all members present, exceeding the two-thirds majority.

  7. New Rules. Reasons for needing to update our rules of tenancy were outlined by the secretary. Most of the problems dealt with by stewards and the committee in recent years were the result of unclear rules and a few antisocial members taking advantage of this situation. The committee had set up a sub-committee and devoted many hours of time to get the new rules right, checking with rules from other allotments (eg Northampton). The motion to adopt new rules was proposed by D Johnson and seconded by G Cherry; it was passed by a clear majority. The committee plans to get copies of the new rules and constitution printed and circulated so that they are available to all members.

  8. Auditors – agreed by all present to keep the same auditors – Haynes and Watts.

  9. Solicitors – agreed by all present to keep NSALG as our legal advisers.

  10. Next AGM – agreed to be the second Tuesday in March 2017 (14th March 2017)

  11. end of formalities


2016 kettering Allotments AGM minutes page 2


The meeting continued with a discussion between members and the following points and suggestions were made to be considered by the committee at its April meeting.


  1. Suggestion to apply for £500 grants from KBC for each of our four fields.

  2. Suggestion that there should be a members' forum online to share ideas and tips, items for sale etc.

  3. Suggestion that we have a campaign to get all members to number their plots with clearly visible signs.

  4. Suggestions made to improve the security at Margaret Road further (this remains an agenda item for the committee).

  5. A vote of thanks to the committee for all of its work.


End of meeting