The Hatching of – Bars, Veg and Things Unknown

So we woke up this morning to a grey, dank, overcast day. It was raining, as it does in all the best stories, and we knew that this was decision time. After getting the morning paper we drove up to the allotments for the meeting.

We had a quick prayer in the car to ask that God would ensure that I didn’t lose my temper and that Dith wouldn’t waffle on interminably. God was also asked to settle the minds of anyone who opposed our idea and left everything up to Him to sort out; after all we felt that He was the one that would make sure that this would succeed. Then we went to the meeting.

The rain seemed to have kept most of the committee away. We were met by the secretary who we had met last week and 2 other men; it was felt that we should wait a while longer but no else turned up. So we explained what we wanted to do. We allayed any fears regarding insurance and health and safety problems. One asked that we made sure that no weedkiller encroached on any other plot and he was very happy when we said that we believed in organic process rather than chemical.

So, as of tomorrow afternoon, we will be the proud renters of our first plot. Sustaining Life now has a home.

Many thanks to everyone who has wished us well over the last week. Your texts and verbal utterances have been a great help to us both. Now we have to begin planning for the work to begin and for the formation of a committee.

Dith went to collect the key for the plot yesterday afternoon.

We have been told that we will have to attend a committee meeting of the Allotment Association on Sunday morning. There has been an objection to our use of the plot for our project. It seems that when they have tried to do this sort of thing before one member has always objected and garnered enough support to block such a proposal.

We’re told that the meeting should be a formality as there should be sufficient support to get it through on this occasion. One of the things we need to do is to reassure the other members that we will not be bringing "undesirable" elements onto the site, or setting it up as a target for them.

We have decided that we will therefore restrict this plot to the local MIND users and, possibly, local youth as well. Whatever happens we do not want to alienate or upset current users by our actions.

We’d therefore ask that you pray for guidance on what we need to say and for God to remove any barriers that may stand in our way.

We visited the site today and rented a plot.

Just so you know

In the hope that Practical Help Man is reading this blog, I would like to say a big online THANKS to him. References to PHM have been deliberately vague to date, partly due to not wishing to either scare him off or alternatively make him feel obliged to committing himself to this. Having met him for a quick bite to eat and a chat on Thursday, I think the liklihood of either happening is significantly reduced.

Our lunchtime discussion helped to clarify for me what he is willing, and able, to offer. I hope that it made things a little clearer for him, too. One of the most valuable contributions he made that day was his readiness to visit each of the three possible allotment sites in the area. Given that PHM has around 7 years of experience of managing his own allotment, his insights and advice into the suitabiltiy of each site was very helpful. In fact, the site Jeff and I had mostly focused on to date is looking to be the least viable of the three. The most promising one is now due a visit from me this Sun – maybe this door (padlocked gate?) will open now!

PHM man has also suggested a visit to a project in Newport called ‘Growing Space’, which has the same general aims. The hope is that by visiting them we may be able to glean information for best practice and avoid unnecssary repetition or competition.

We are also most grateful for the SuperSwede and the MegaMarrow that PHM gave us!

Dith

I have discovered that things never stand still when you are thinking of starting something new. There is always something that needs to be done, information that needs to be found and lessons to be learnt from others.

Today I have been downloading information on how to decide what sort of group you intend to set up. There are three kinds:

1. Unincorporated Association
2. Charitable Trust
3. Charitable Company

The accepted wisdom is that for a project likes ours that you start at 1 and move onto 3 as time goes by. In view of the initial project idea we have this looks like the way to move forward, especially as we own no land and have no mountain of money to start with.

One of the things that we’ll need to start thinking about soon is establishing a management committee and writing a constitution. Without these we can’t open a bank account or think of approaching fund holders. This also has its problems. We still need to get hold of the local allotment secretary as well so that we can make a practical start. We have already had an offer of practical help from someone and Dith should be meeting him tomorrow.

Things are moving slowly. Hopefully we’ll be in a position to secure a plot (or 2) and start doing all the other things that will need to be done before we start.

We were unable to meet the allotment secretary last week-end so are hoping to catch up with him tomorrow (Sun 14th Oct), around 1pm. If you are reading this before that time, please pray for a sucessful outcome. As Jeff said in the previous post, we really need to secure a plot or two before we can move forward in any real way.

I have had a couple more chance meetings with people who may end up playing a key part in this venture. One person has expressed an interest in helping with the practicalities and another may well be a source of referrals. We are endeavouring to keep in touch with them as the whole thing inches forward.

So, as I said, please be praying for us in this. Thanks.

Dith

We’re hoping to meet the allotment manager this weekend. We know that they have 2 plots available and we’re hoping that we’ll be able to secure these. It will be good if we can explain our aim to him and to obtain his agreement to move forward.

From what Dith has told me this site are very organised and outward looking. This will hopefully be a meeting of minds for the way forward. I know that there have been other allotment sites in the country that have set up plots as educational projects to teach people how to grow and manage a plot of their own.

We also have to begin moving forward and setting everything else up. However without a plot we can’t begin to work and so we’re a bit of a catch 22 situation at the moment. Still we have to begin somewhere so setting up the bank accounts etc are a priority if we want to move forward. After all: no bank account, no where to put funding; no business, then no way to secure funding.

With me moving jobs and reducing my income then we can’t continue to fund everything ourselves. Therefore the more we do now then the easier it will be.

RESEARCH
- Have spoken to the serectary of a local allotment organisation and it is looking hopeful. The allotment site has facilities, including a shop and a toilet, and there are possibly two vacant plots available.
Target: We need to make time to visit the site and discuss things further.
- Spoke on the telephone to a staff member of the local Christian organisation that houses and supports ex-offenders. The leadership appeared very busy this past month, so Jeff and I decided that it would be a good idea to postpone the attempt to meet them until things have had a chance to calm down.
Target: I will phone the organisation again this month.

SUPPORT
- Project name decided upon thanks to Chas and Rain, and the website domain name has been registered (see entry of 11.09.07).
Targets: (a) Once the allotment site has been secured, send out the initial prayer support e-mails with details of the project.
(b) Begin to set up the website in order to increase publicity.

FUNDRAISING
- A little further research has been done into available funding.
Target: More enquiries need to be made, both online and looking into local government sources.

As always, please be praying into the progress of these things. Thanks.

Dith

RESEARCH
- Have spoken to the serectary of a local allotment organisation and it is looking hopeful. The allotment site has facilities, including a shop and a toilet, and there are possibly two vacant plots available.
Target: We need to make time to visit the site and discuss things further.
- Spoke on the telephone to a staff member of the local Christian organisation that houses and supports ex-offenders. The leadership appeared very busy this past month, so Jeff and I decided that it would be a good idea to postpone the attempt to meet them until things have had a chance to calm down.
Target: I will phone the organisation again this month.

SUPPORT
- Project name decided upon thanks to Chas and Rain, and the website domain name has been registered (see entry of 11.09.07).
Targets: (a) Once the allotment site has been secured, send out the initial prayer support e-mails with details of the project.
(b) Begin to set up the website in order to increase publicity.

FUNDRAISING
- A little further research has been done into available funding.
Target: More enquiries need to be made, both online and looking into local government sources.

As always, please be praying into the progress of these things. Thanks.

Dith