Annual General Meeting Committee Report January 2020
A Greener Garden
Dear Residents,
It seems no time at all since I was writing the last annual report and yet so much has happened in the garden in the last 12 months. As usual this report aims to summarise the key events and decisions and to look forward to what is planned for the coming year.
I thought I would take this opportunity to announce my intention to stand down as Chair and to leave the Garden Committee in January 2021. Having joined the Committee as Secretary in 2013 (having done 5 years as Secretary on the Blenheim/Elgin Garden!) and as Chair since 2017, I feel it is time to hand on the baton. Others may have more energy and ideas from which the garden would benefit. I am incredibly grateful for the help and support of the Committee and in order for there to be a seamless handover, it would be good if the Committee was to expand by one or two. So, as usual at this time of year, we are putting out an appeal for new Committee members. The garden doesn’t run itself and for those of you who have never served on the Committee I can thoroughly recommend it as a way of meeting your neighbours and having some say in the way things are done - as well as “doing your bit”.
On the subject of the Committee I would like to say a special thanks this year to my fellow Committee members. It has felt as though the “stuff to be done” has been evenly spread around. I am extremely grateful for their continued and continuing support, as well as to those people who are not on the Committee, but who regularly lend a hand.
A reminder that the AGM is taking place at 7pm on Monday 20th January, at 105 Elgin Crescent. Please do come (the meeting will start promptly) - we welcome your views on what we have done well, what we could do better and what perhaps we’ve failed to do at all.
As usual the accounts for 2018-19 (the last full financial year) will be available. At the AGM we will be proposing an increase of the precept by 3% - to cover the rising costs of materials and also for Paul our gardener.
Parties and Taking Part
No one could have failed to notice that this year the summer party was back - more ambitious and more inclusive than ever. For that we have to thank Amanda Waggott and Julia Heath (many others of course, but they were the prime movers and undertook a huge amount of work ). For the first time funding came from donations, with a suggested family donation of £500. Money was raised from 25 families, including some who generously donated even though they were unable to attend. As a result £11,400 was raised and the Rockstars themed day was open to all. In addition to the evening event (this year self-catering), and the traditional races and tug-of-war (which was badly served by the rope breaking several times - we have a new one in the pipeline), there were many new stalls and attractions. The free bar and late night DJing from Annika Heath all made for a memorable evening. It is estimated that well over 400 people came to the evening party, with some 313 dining under the stars.
The enormous success of the day was down to meticulous planning and a great deal of hard work. For that reason it has been decided to take a break next year with a view to running it again in 2021. Although no final decision has been taken a garden picnic, possibly linked to camping night, has been proposed instead. Given the amount of work involved in the day I think this is sensible, unless a new team feels like taking up the challenge.
As before we opened the gardens in June for Open Gardens, again overseen by Hugo Heath with tremendous support from Annika. Over 700 adults and 40 children visited the garden (and much loved tea-room) and the volunteers on the day reported back that ours is by far the most popular garden. Next year we are proposing opening from 10 - 5, to give people more time to enjoy our garden on this one day of the year.
Despite horrendous weather the fireworks went ahead and many people came out to enjoy both the bonfire and the pyrotechnics. As a Committee we have to take the insurance and health and safety issues extremely seriously and this year we again had first-aiders on hand. Thanks again to Amanda Waggott, Julia Heath and Esmeralda Montgomery. As we have found ourselves increasingly reliant on the same few individuals, we have decided that next year we will employ St John’s Ambulance to look after the first-aid side of things. My thanks to the Committee members who braved the rain on Saturday to set up the event and who spent Sunday clearing up and in particular to Mike Staveley who continues to work so hard for this event, despite no longer being on the Committee. This year we organised for the turf where the bonfire had been to be replaced immediately, so no-one had to spend the winter looking at burnt lawn. In total the fireworks made a small profit which has been invested back into the gardens, to cover the additional work we have had to do on trees.
The other big communal event this year was the reintroduction of leaf raking, which happened the day after the fireworks. After the rain of Saturday I was hugely relieved by the mild weather and sunshine, which many people responded to by coming out and helping. In under two hours, to the sounds of Ella Fitzgerald, cheerful conversations and bolstered by croissants, all the bags were filled. Although it was a tad disappointing to see the leaves still coming off the trees the following day, the message from Paul was that it made a huge difference to his workload. Speaking personally I loved the chance have a day in the gardens surrounded by happy, busy people. I hope this can be an annual event. Thank you to everyone who took part. And to those people who object to leaf blowers, but weren’t able to make it this year, we look forward to seeing you next time.
Greener Gardens
2018 saw enormous changes to the gardens in particular to the two central beds - the replanting of which signified the last structural changes as set out in the Longterm Planting Plan. At the AGM it was agreed these beds should be allowed to mature before work started on the “triangles” - in effect we decided to pause for a year. In fact planning, planting and regeneration seemed to go up a gear! At our first Committee meeting it was decided that the next big initiative should be a green one. Ideas on wilding, bird boxes, greener delivery of material, reduction of pesticides and leaf-blowers, bug motels and bee hotels, planting for pollinators, composting, etc, etc. abounded. We asked around to see if anyone would be willing to join the Committee and take on responsibility for delivering a greener garden, but we still have a vacancy.
Assisted by Mary-Lu Bakker we have installed a number of site/species specific bird boxes in the gardens, designed to support our existing population of great tits, blue tits, long tailed tits and goldfinches. Meanwhile Nicola Heywood has engaged with RBKC who are working on a Bee Super Highway in conjunction with the London Bee-Keepers Association. We already plant with these important pollinators in mind, but are looking at ways we can help bees at the start of the year when food sources are scarce. One way is the introduction of early spring bulbs. In December Paul planted 300 early crocuses and a similar number of Iris Reliculata, to help the queen bees at the start of the season. We have also, on behalf of the gardens, signed up to an annual subscription to the Butterfly Conservation Organisation and Nicola will be receiving regular updates as to what is best practice to support butterflies.
Unfortunately we also lost three trees this year - two large trees, the Ash outside Liddiard House, which had been on the critical list for 3 years and a Silver Lime between the shed and Ladbroke Grove, which unexpectedly died. The Ash has been replaced with a Zelkova Seratta, as recommended by RBKC, our tree surgeons and Paul and the Silver Lime will be replaced with the same tree. I returned from holiday to discover the winter flowering cherry, a tree we planted 10 years ago, had suddenly died - it was a shock as it had been showing no signs of ill health. This has been replaced with a Strawberry Tree - a specimen we have been wanting to introduce into the garden but for which we hadn’t had a site. We continue to monitor the health of all our trees and to remain vigilant for disease and infestation. One tree which is giving us cause for concern is the large Yew tree at the back of 81 Ladbroke Grove. We have had numerous experts look at it and all believe it will recover, through it has now had several “resting” phases.
Once again I have been struck by how much longer the flowering season has become and how much more wonderful foliage we have in the gardens. Many of the new plants have now reached the point where we are able to divide and spread them around the garden. Whilst in the coming years we will be able to spend less on new plants, we will need to keep increasing the gardening hours (and continue to support Paul with our labour) if we are to keep on top of the gardening.
Finances
The financial year ending April 2019 ended with a small surplus due to the money made on fireworks and, more significantly, from the filming which didn’t take place in the gardens. So, despite spending considerably more than had been
in the budget we were able to put an additional £3,218.45 aside on top of the £3,000 we had budgeted. In doing so we knew that we were likely to be hit with costs on trees that are very difficult to budget for. As it happens we have had to act sooner than expected in taking down the Ash (and Lime) and so we expect to have to dip back into reserves at the end of the year. Over the next two years we plan to balance the books.
In planning for next year it is the Committee’s recommendation that we raise the precept by 3%. That would raise an extra £1,650. Paul our gardener is raising his hourly rate, having not increased it last year. This seems very fair. We are also giving him a few hours extra each week in the garden. We are budgeting on spending less on new plants and more on gardening, to help nurture those that we have planted. We have slightly increased the infrastructure budget. Every year there are running repairs in the garden and as soon as we can in 2020 we need to repair some of the benches and redo gravel boards. As with this year we are not planning to put any additional funds into reserves.
Other News
The issue of drainage has again taken up Committee time, though this time the responsibility for sorting it out rests squarely with Thames Water. At the time of writing they are busy excavating a collapsed drain at the Ladbroke Grove end, which caused flooding on Lansdowne Road. I am very grateful to Gerard Cunningham for his time in helping to sort this out. As the job has slowly progressed the amount of damage revealed has increased, meaning that the completion date is still uncertain.
18/19 Act 19/20 Bud 20/21 Bud (+3%)
Gardening 32,729 36,345.60 39,034.20
Trees 5,016 5,000 5,000
Long-Term Plan 11,638 3,900 2,000
Garden Materials 2,368 2,900 2,800
Skips (donated) 500 1,080
Recycling Bags 302 400 400
Infrastructure 1,295 2,000 2,200
Garden Design 2,935 0 0
Water 576 2,000 1,000
Insurance 1,581 1,950 2,100
Misc 247 1,004.40 1,035.8
Reserves 6,218.45 0 0
Total 64,650 56,000 56,650
Other News
Dogs and security remain the two topics which have generated most email traffic. Regarding dogs the message is very consistent - dog owners need to remember that not everyone likes the sound of barking dogs and no one wants to step in dog poo or be threatened by an aggressive dog. Dogs on leads, all or part time, remains an option if dogs owners don’t respect the incredible freedom they have to walk their dogs in the garden. Gates left open and contractors with keys, are probably the biggest threat to security on the garden. Everyone knows the rules and again we rely on people respecting them. We changed the keys fairly recently and a key fob system is currently not an option as we don’t have electricity at the gates - if this is something people feel we need I would suggest we fund raise to pay for this.
One final word. The Committee exercises what power it has through cooperation and community spirit. No-one wants to see the Committee taking residents to court for breaching the bye-laws. And hopefully no-one is seriously thinking of suing the Committee - though sadly that’s a threat that is occasionally put out there - which is a bit depressing. And as I said last year if your neighbours dog is barking in their garden, please don’t call me.
The Committee
Juliet Wilkinson - Chair
Neil Weeks - Treasurer
Hugo Heath - Secretary/Special Events
Nicola Heywood - Gardens
Gerard Cunningham - Infrastructure
Peter Bailey - Dogs
Diary Dates
Sunday 7th June - Open Gardens
Saturday 7th November - Bonfire Night
Monday 18th January 2021 - AGM Make it stand out.
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