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Hi
Long email, sorry
Our allotments are run by the council and it was always difficult to find out the structure of on site management, eventually found out there were just two blokes in charge. One of them has just celebrated his 90th birthday, the other is in his late 70's.
They seemed to do very little, shop meant to be open every Sunday and it was if you could find one of them to acutally open the shed and if you actually wanted anything they sold, other than that it was difficult to see what they did.
Now, I've found out they've stepped down, one because of his age, the other because of a terminally ill wife. I've also been told that they've handed over to three other men, one a long-term allotment holder, the other two new ones. This was done two weeks ago, don't even know their names.
My beef is that when I was talking to one of the originals and he was saying that there was no interest in helping them out, I offered to get involved but was told that anyone on the committee would have to be able to manhandle the yearly compost delivery and I wasn't able to due to bad back.
We were not informed in advance of the changes, not invited to take part and apart from gossip, there has been no official notification.
Can this be done? Are there not rules and regulations? I would have loved to put my name forward but have not been given the chance to do so.
I am a bit suspicious of this handover in any case, again from other allotment holders I've heard that there is a rotivator and other tools bought from allotment funds which are not offered out to allotment holders other than the "old guard". There is also a very large greenhouse which again was purchased on allotment funds. We are supposedly allowed to put some things in there and "they will be looked after for us" but it's always locked and if you don't go up there the exact time the keyholders are there it can be weeks before you'd be able to get at the greenhouse. I've also been told, gossip again, that one of the originals is giving up one of his four allotments but expects to keep the greenhouse as he currently does, ie most of it contains his stuff.
Also apparently there is over £3,000 in alloment funds and when one of the new men was asked what would be done with it was told "we could have a coach trip to Spalding, or something". This is when we have no deliveries of manure or bark chippings (just piles of unusable soot that one chimney sweep is allowed to dump inside the gate), no loo, no proper shop (most of contents seem pre 1960) and no community organisation at all, no area for the increasing number of children and no nature area. People give up allotments and are not chased up so they can be uncultivated for over two years - it has all made me very cross but can I - should I - challenge the current situation?
Sue
Long email, sorry
Our allotments are run by the council and it was always difficult to find out the structure of on site management, eventually found out there were just two blokes in charge. One of them has just celebrated his 90th birthday, the other is in his late 70's.
They seemed to do very little, shop meant to be open every Sunday and it was if you could find one of them to acutally open the shed and if you actually wanted anything they sold, other than that it was difficult to see what they did.
Now, I've found out they've stepped down, one because of his age, the other because of a terminally ill wife. I've also been told that they've handed over to three other men, one a long-term allotment holder, the other two new ones. This was done two weeks ago, don't even know their names.
My beef is that when I was talking to one of the originals and he was saying that there was no interest in helping them out, I offered to get involved but was told that anyone on the committee would have to be able to manhandle the yearly compost delivery and I wasn't able to due to bad back.
We were not informed in advance of the changes, not invited to take part and apart from gossip, there has been no official notification.
Can this be done? Are there not rules and regulations? I would have loved to put my name forward but have not been given the chance to do so.
I am a bit suspicious of this handover in any case, again from other allotment holders I've heard that there is a rotivator and other tools bought from allotment funds which are not offered out to allotment holders other than the "old guard". There is also a very large greenhouse which again was purchased on allotment funds. We are supposedly allowed to put some things in there and "they will be looked after for us" but it's always locked and if you don't go up there the exact time the keyholders are there it can be weeks before you'd be able to get at the greenhouse. I've also been told, gossip again, that one of the originals is giving up one of his four allotments but expects to keep the greenhouse as he currently does, ie most of it contains his stuff.
Also apparently there is over £3,000 in alloment funds and when one of the new men was asked what would be done with it was told "we could have a coach trip to Spalding, or something". This is when we have no deliveries of manure or bark chippings (just piles of unusable soot that one chimney sweep is allowed to dump inside the gate), no loo, no proper shop (most of contents seem pre 1960) and no community organisation at all, no area for the increasing number of children and no nature area. People give up allotments and are not chased up so they can be uncultivated for over two years - it has all made me very cross but can I - should I - challenge the current situation?
Sue
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