SCAAweb - The Association

THE ASSOCIATION

GENERAL: St. Columbs Allotment Association is a non profit making voluntary organisation run by its members for the benefit of the entire membership. The Association provides services for its members in order to enhance their gardening experience at Allotment Gardens St. Columbs. The Association consists of members who are allotment holders at Allotment Gardens St. Columbs. It is the members of the Association who decide the policies of the organisation and entrust the day to day management to a committee elected by the membership at a general meeting. The committee manage the daily affairs of the Association on behalf of the membership and all decisions are made to the benefit of the members. Today the Association is run by a small Committee consisting of three officers being a Chairperson, Vice-Chair and Secretary. As the officers of the Committee regularly attend the allotment site they can keep members fully updated and listen to their views and suggestions on the ongoing work of the Association. The Association is governed by its Constitution (see section below) this sets out the Association's objects and lays down how the Association must be run.

CONSTITUTION:

1.TITLE: The name of the organisation shall be St. Columbs Allotment Association (S.C.A.A.) and shall be affiliated to The National Society of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners.

2.OBJECTS: The objects of the organisation shall be: to promote the interests of all members in gardening activities; to take joint action for the benefit of all members; to conduct negotiations with the local authority on behalf of members; to obtain a supply of seeds, fertilisers, tools and other horticulture equipment on behalf of members; to take action to protect members against damage, trespass and theft; arranging lectures, demonstrations, competitions and other social events; co-operating with other gardening associations in matters of mutual interest.

3.MEMBERSHIP: The Association shall consist of such persons whose applications for membership are approved by the Committee. The Committee may expel members who do not conform to the Constitution and decisions of the Association provided that they are given the opportunity to state their case. Any member aggrieved by the action of the Committee may appeal to the next General Meeting of the Association whose decision on the matter shall be final.

4.COMMITTEE: The affairs of the Association shall be conducted by a Committee of Management consisting of such officers as agreed at a General Meeting. Officers shall only be appointed at such a meeting if a Committee election is on the agenda. The Committee shall fill causal vacancies and the members so appointed shall hold office until the next Committee election.

5.FINANCE: All monies received shall wherever possible be paid into a bank account in the name of the Association. The Committee shall approve all payments, wherever possible in the form of a cheque signed by one of the three signatories. The financial year of the Association shall be from the first day of September to the last day of August.

6.MEETINGS: A General Meeting shall be the forum used for membership grievances, Committee elections and constitutional amendments. A Membership Meeting shall be the forum used for the discussion of all other issues. A General Meeting may be called at any time by the Committee or by not less than twenty five percent of the current membership of the Association stating in writing the precise business for discussion. A Membership Meeting may be called at any time the Committee. The Committee shall give members at least twenty-eight days notice of every meeting. Notice of such a meeting shall be in a way determined by the Committee. All meetings of the Association shall be conducted in accordance with accepted formal procedures for such meetings and no party-political or sectarian discussions shall take place.

7.INSPECTION OF BOOKS: Any member or persons having an interest in the funds of the Association may be allowed to inspect the books and records of the Association provided that such a request is in writing giving a valid reason.

8.DISSOLUTION: The Association may be dissolved by the consent of eighty five percent of all members testified by their signatures to a letter of dissolution. If on dissolution there remain any assets what-so-ever after the satisfaction of all debts and liabilities the same shall not be distributed among its members but given to an organisation with similar objects as the Association.

9.AMENDMENTS: No new article shall be made nor shall any articles herein contained be amended rescinded unless with the consent of eighty five percent of members at a General Meeting provided that at least twenty eight days notice has been given of the proposed new wording to amend or rescind any article.

10.ANY MATTERS NOT PROVIDED FOR: Any matters not provided for in this Constitution shall be dealt with by the Committee at their discretion and shall be reported to the next General Meeting of the Association.

SERVICES: The Association provides services to its members in line with its objectives as set out in the Association's Constitution. The services of the Association are provided in order to enhance allotment holders enjoyment of their gardening activities at St. Columbs. Below you will find listed many of the services provided by the Association members can find further information relating to some of these services in Members Information.

The Association provides a site hut for use by all members. The site hut provides reading material and gardening literature for members to find out information on there gardening queries. The site hut is used as the venue for all site meetings and can also be used by members to socialise while on the site and first aid facilities are available.

The Association provides members with the opportunity to purchase gardening sundries and equipment at prices where possible lower than available locally through its trading arm - SCAA Shop.

The Association runs the N.S.A.L.G / Kings seed scheme that provides members with top quality seed at discounted prices. The orders are taken at the end of the growing season for delivery before Christmas.

The Association keeps in regular contact with the Council on behalf of its members to ensure the site is facilities are properly maintained and pass on any concerns of the allotment holders. The Association also works with the council to ensure that the site and its facilities are regularly serviced.

The Association keeps members informed of developments in the allotment and gardening world though its affiliations with the National Society of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners (N.S.A.L.G.) and the Royal Horticultural Society (R.H.S.).

HISTORY: The Association can trace its history back over two decades to the autumn of 1980. The catalyst that led to the formation of the first organisation at Allotment Gardens St. Columbs was the chance for allotment holders to save money by coming together to purchase seeds from a discounted seed scheme run by Suttons Seeds. In the autumn of 1980 an organisation was formed (without a written Constitution) by the allotment holders called Waterside Allotments to manage the seed scheme and a volunteer was asked to be the secretary to handle the paperwork.

As the years went by Waterside Allotments continued with is sole purpose of running the seed scheme, as one secretary left a new one would take over the work. In 1987 those running the seed scheme decided to change the name of the organisation to be the same as the name of the allotment site to avoid confusion with other allotments in the Waterside area at that time. The organisation name was changed from Waterside Allotments to St. Columbs Allotments.

St. Columbs Allotments continued running the seed scheme on behalf of the allotment holders of the site by this time the organisation consisted of one volunteer. In the summer of 1996 allotment holders where discussing matters to do with the running of the site and it became clear that what was needed was a channel to pass on their concerns to the council who ran the site. It was clear that it would take more than one volunteer to manage the process and that the organisation needed to be formally constituted in order to carry out these functions.

On the 5th November 1996 a meeting was held to formally constitute organisation. At the meeting a written Constitution was adopted for the organisation now to be known as St. Columbs Allotment Association. The allotment holders gathered at the meeting completed membership forms to become members of the new formally constituted Association. The members then elected a five person Committee to run the Association on their behalf and approved a proposal for the Association to affiliate to the National Society of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners. The meeting discussed many proposals to be carried out by the new Committee. The newly constituted Association made contact with the council to discuss matters about the site and together they agreed on actions to be taken.

The Association continued its work one thing that did change when the Association affiliated to the National Society of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners was that it adopted their seed scheme which proved more advantageous to members than the one provided by Suttons. Other changes where made in the Association that included minor amendments at Annual General Meetings to the Constitution and the number of officers on the Committee.

Attendances at Annual General Meetings began to steadily fall, despite efforts to accommodate members by moving venues and times. In the year 2000 an exercise was undertaken to find out what members where looking for from the Association and how it could best serve its members. The answer was that members wanted a more informal user friendly Association with the reduction of rigid formal procedures. These views where acted upon at the Annual General Meeting held on the 29th July 2000, a more informal Constitution was agreed and adopted. The Association now is no longer required to hold A.G.M.'s, it has a smaller Committee that regularly attend the allotment site so they can keep members fully updated and listen to their views and suggestions on the ongoing work of the Association.

Although the Committee is smaller many members of the Association now volunteer to help with projects being carried out by the Association. The new approach has led to members feeling more part of the Association and has led to an increase in the number of ideas and suggestions being considered by the Committee.

FINANCE: As a small voluntary organisation the Association does not have a high income level but as expenditure is low it does manage to meet its obligations leaving it with a small surplus every year since it was constituted. Unlike other allotment associations we do not ask our members to pay the Association any yearly membership fees. The issue of membership fees was discussed when the Association was formally constituted and the meeting decided that funding should not take the form of a standard yearly fee paid by all but it should be up to individual members to donate what they could to help Association funds. The Association does not receive any statutory funding from any public body.

A few years ago the Association started to run a gift catalogue, allowing members to purchase cards and gifts with some of the profits going towards the work of the Association. Over the years the gift catalogue has become the main source of funding for the Association and still is today.

The Association has very few assets of its own, its assets consists solely of a small selection of gardening equipment, first aid and fire fighting equipment. Although the Association does have a Site Hut at Allotment Gardens, St. Columbs this is not owned by the Association but is owned by a member who lets the Association use it for free.

The Association does not have a great deal of expenditure and has very few overheads. The main areas of expenditure would be postages and stationery, maintaining or replacing its equipment (both these costs are very low). The Association relies heavily on its members who do a lot of voluntary work that helps keep its running costs down to a minimum.

With expenditure of the Association being kept low and indeed as in most cases to a minimum it means that any income can be used to purchase new equipment for use by all members and that is what the Association is all about, benefiting its members.