Summary of SHAGS Committee Reports for June 2022

Chairman’s Report (Mike Cobley)

The new Licence Agreement from HTC has been received and is ready for signing.
I have obtained a 10% discount for our members from Carpenters Nursery at
Sandridge. Members enrolled would get a Friends & Family loyalty card. Because of
GDPR we are not able to pass over our membership list, without individual permission
from each member. Alex has agreed to take over the final details co ordinating our
lists and Carpenters' database. The discount is applicable to all horticultural items,
excluding the cafe and the food department.

Reminder to site reps to carry out the inspection routine for neglected plots and incorporate
an H&S check, including the first aid kits and top up the sticking plasters.

Treasurer’s Report (Carole Pamphlett)

Our current bank balance stands at £25,362.50 which is down from last month as
we’ve spent lots of money. We paid £2,444.10 on new machinery, plus £65.76
machinery repairs. I’ve paid £1,368.24 to Castle Water, but their billing period take us
to October. I’ve also paid this year’s rates to St Albans Council which was £948.11
against last year’s figure of £824.45, as I’ve said before we receive a large discount of
£2,045.89 as we are a not-for-profit organisation.

At the start of this report I said our bank balance stands at £25,362.50, but we started
the year with £24,792.77, so the surplus for this year is £990.01, but we still have not
received our grant from HTC which is just over £3,000.00. They may be waiting for us
to sign the new licence agreement, which we hope to do shortly.

As always, I keep an eye on the shop finances. My next job will be to do the Year End
accounts for 2021 for both SHAGS and the shop, hopefully for the July committee
meeting but definitely for our AGM in August. But everything seems to take me so
much longer since my accident.

Sites:

Aldwickbury (AB) (Roger White/Tom Chichester-Miles/Hazel Upton/Richard Mottram)

No report received.

Churchfield (CH) (Keith Davison)

Most plot holders are working on their plots, cultivating and dealing with fruit. Paths
have been cut by three plot holders, who I am indebted to. Improvement letters are
to be sent to four plot holders.

Cross Lane (CL) (Stephan Barnard / Rosie Poyser)

No report received.
Harpenden Rise (HR) (Marcia & Roger Dorey)
No report received

Oakley Rd (OR) (Rod Cooley)

A cordless battery strimmer was delivered by Roger White to the OR site. Roger White
and Rod Cooley then cut down the excessive growth on plot 11, much of the OR
headland, and other grass areas using both the electric strimmer and the Mitox petrol
strimmer. The electric strimmer with the brush cutter attachment, and then just as a
strimmer, worked extremely well. After much strimming only a quarter of the battery
had been used. The brush cutter attachment sliced though thick stems and the
strimmer line was able to cut through young raspberry canes.

A plot holder found it to be very effective on his plot. One comment was that the
strimmer is very long and might not be suitable for shorter people.

The strimmer line quickly ran out and Roger White kindly bought new 2mm strimmer
line.

Meanwhile the original strimmer line was found to be broken inside the strimmer and
it has been restored.

More headland has now been strimmed with the cordless strimmer but it does not
seem to auto feed the line. More investigations required.

A tenant or tenant’s helper broke the Mitox petrol strimmer starter cord spring. This
was discovered by accident by Mike Hughes as the person who broke it did not report
it. Roger White is repairing it.

A plea has been made to OR plot holders to remove their personal tools from the
tool shed as, together with used loosely folded landscaping sheet, there is no room
in the shed to safely store the new strimmer. It has been explained to plot holders
that this is a safety problem. It is planned to try and secure the two OR petrol
strimmers and the cordless strimmer in the shed with chains and hooks. It has also
been explained to OR plot holders that the used landscaping sheeting and fleece in
the shed will be removed and dumped.

Many tenants are working hard on their plots with some plots looking outstanding. A
few plots are however looking untidy, mostly because of uncut grass on their plots,
paths and path edges. It is proving difficult to persuade some tenants to cut their
grass.

The combination locks and a chain for the two OR gates have installed and are
working very well. The combination locks, recommended by an OR plot holder, are
very good.

Plot holders at OR have been sent regular status reports about the site.
Piggottshill (PH) (Fraser Gordon/Mike Cobley/Geoff Bateman/
Syd Marvell/Rich Waight)
There are 7 plots that require formal letters, where no work has been carried out this
season. Over the holiday period 3 plots were strimmed on behalf of struggling plot
holders. There is one full plot and one half plot vacant at present.

The battery mower has been made available to our plot holders after demonstrations
at the beginning of the month. The mulching mower has also been made available for
members. Two older machines are ready for scrap, one with a broken deck, requiring
welding together the handles brackets and another where the engine is burning
oil. The new Weibang mower has been used for the first time and is a powerful
machine for the big grass cutting jobs.

The Jubilee party was a great success with 100+ plot holders and neighbours using the
driveway off Piggottshill Lane on Saturday as they were unable to hold a street
party. No problems and the site was left tidy. A few residents made enquiries about
plots, so we may get a few new members and hopefully less complaints.

A shop delivery driver hit the gates and the concrete post has cracked. HTC Rangers
were quick to get the gates to close properly, but the post remains to be replaced.

Rachel & Steve (PH88) have volunteered to help as site reps.

Sibley Ave (SA) (Peter & Helen Loveland)

No problems at Sibley Avenue except that Plot 5 is now completely overgrown. Being
unable to start the strimmer, it will stay overgrown until someone kindly does that for
us.

Topstreet Way (TW) (John Myres)

No report received.

Letting’s Secretary Report (Alex Davis & Jim Machin)

Lettings
Lettings have eased off over the month (in comparison to last month). A few more vacant
plots have been taken up; we are now down to 4.5 vacant plots across all our sites.
There are still available plots at Cross Lane, Oakley Road, Piggotshill, and Sibley Avenue.
The waiting lists are now well down to practically zero for all sites apart from Harpenden
Rise. The HR waiting list continues to rise; despite my efforts to dissuade people from
waiting several years!

The other sites with waiting lists are usually people who have asked to go ‘on hold’ for
various reasons, or plot holders looking for a particular plot.
AOB
No further update on Duke of Edinburgh community work placements, such as in the Shop.

Machinery Manager’s report (Roger White)

No report received.

Shop (Mike Cobley)

Sales continue, with big demands for compost, manure, growbags and slug pellets. 8'
bamboo canes are also in great demand.

The last few remaining seed potatoes are now on offer for free.

Disappointingly, no firm applications have been made for the Shop Manager
role. One plot holder has offered to help but he is in France as often as he is in
Harpenden, and another person offered, with no shop experience and only could be
available on Wednesdays.

Communications and Webmaster Report (Rod Cooley)

The table of officers and site reps has been updated on the website using a new table
provided by Gill Hicks.

The minutes of the May 2022 committee meeting were put on the society website.

Shop updates were sent to all members.

The S.H.A.G.S. Covid policy will be reviewed and might be removed after discussions with
the trustees.