Brockwell Park Community Greenhouses

AGM held at 2pm on 1 October 2017 at the Upper Greenhouse

Attendance:  24 members

  1. Beth set out the agenda and said the floor would be opened for questions at the end of the meeting.
  2. All members and trustees present introduced themselves briefly.
  3. Last year’s minutes were approved.
  4. Review of the year. Kate gave a report on the year, highlighting the following:
  • Education – the team is working well together, had had a lot of publicity and tied their offering into the National Curriculum. Natural play kitchen, Story Stompers, Sunday morning workshops for adults.
  • Partnerships with several schools, filmmakers, corporate volunteers, the British Refugee Council, Queen’s Gallery and Young Vic.
  • Wassailing, May fete, biodiversity, community, sustainability, governance.

 

Sincere thanks were expressed to all staff, volunteers and trustees.

 

  1. Accounts – Rosie gave a high level overview. The accounts are looking healthy at year end. The Quickbooks system has increased transparency and freed up staff time.  Beth proposed that the accounts be approved by members (although not required by the constitution); they were approved by a majority vote.

 

Retirement and re-appointment of trustees

 

  1. Beth confirmed that Martin Lewis, Rosie Love and Katie Styles were standing down as a trustees and thanked them all on behalf of the board. Rosie will remain as treasurer until we find a replacement.

 

None of the members present wanted to stand as a trustee.  The existing trustees who wish to be reappointed gave a brief introduction.  All were re-elected (Beth, Antonia, Liz, Lucie, Chris, Derek, Linsey).

Linsey Macdonald was confirmed as Company Secretary.

  1. Beth stood down as Co-Chair and was replaced by Chris. Ant will continue as Co-Chair. The changes were approved by majority vote. Beth said we would be looking to add new trustees with suitable skills and volunteers should let the trustees know of anyone suitable.

 

AOB

 

  1. Paul proposed a “thanksgiving” party for all staff and volunteers.
  2. Diane asked that decision-making processes should be restructured. Beth said meetings  have been tricky to co-ordinate this year due to unavoidable staff absences, but a protocol is in place for decision-making on site.  Ant pointed out that some projects have a long gestation so may have been addressed at a garden meeting some months or even years ago.  All volunteers are encouraged to come forward with potential projects.  Kate will report to garden meetings in future with the report she prepares for the trustee meetings.  Any urgent/emergency matters go only via trustees.
  3. Doug proposed a vote of thanks to Kate for pushing Lambeth to finally get the sheds fixed.
  4. Jocelyn asked how tough the current fundraising climate is. Chris said we have a good story to tell and we are reasonably confident about future funding. Liz said that winning awards does help with fundraising.
  5. Lucie asked everyone to remember that people are every bit as important as plants and we should all support each other. Any differences should be resolved as early as possible. If any volunteers ever have any issues to raise, staff and volunteers are available.
  6. Supper club – some issues were raised about the disruption this caused.  Ant said there would be a general wash-up session on this in due course.