Due to personal reasons and increased work commitments after 13 years on the BHAF committee and 7 years as Chairman I have decided to take a sabbatical. I will be standing back from my role for the time being but I will remain as an advisor to the committee. I am not ruling out a return to being an active committee member but I need a break from what had become a fairly demanding unpaid part time job.
Thankfully this year we have a committee of motivated and highly competent people who are willing to take on and share the workload so BHAF is in safe hands going forward. As well as myself, Hannes Froelich (Treasurer for 10 years) is also standing back from his role and I’d like to take this opportunity to thank him for his work on managing BHAF finances.
I became involved with the committee at the time of the Allotment Strategy which was finalised in 2014. It was a 10-year strategy whose aim was to protect, rejuvenate and democratise our allotments. As you probably know, sadly many of the aims of strategy failed to materialise despite our best efforts. We instead saw the service decline over the period and in 2024 we held an AGM entitled ‘Is the allotment service broken?’ This meeting was attended by senior council officers and councillors and seems to have marked a change in the management of the service.
Councillors Tim Rowkins, Alan Robins and Mitchie Alexander and the management personnel led by Chenine Bhathena and Mike Harris do seem to be making a difference. A new allotments manager Victor Kit was employed and his excellent work has started to make long needed improvements. Victor understands the need for allotment community cohesion. The council also employed a second allotment officer Gemma Ward and she is also helping pull the service back into shape.
We all know the Council is under severe financial pressure. The Council, BHAF, Allotment Associations and Plot Holders working together in partnership is the only way forward. Importantly the new council team agree with this and are allowing more volunteer grass roots energy and autonomy to finally come through after being stifled for many years. The quarterly Allotment Oversight Board meetings between BHAF and the Council are a very welcome forum for airing concerns and getting commitments on improving the service.
There are still many challenges but it feels as if the decline has been halted and we are hopeful that improvements will soon be much more evident to plot holders. I hope the council chooses to keep Victor and Gemma on, (they are currently on temporary contracts) as without them I’m afraid the decline will set in again.
I personally need to recharge my batteries before returning to the frontline. I will spend more time for a while actually growing food which is what I got an allotment for in the first place! Here is the list of current committee members and officers.
Co-Convenors – Daron Nunes, Matt Williams
Treasurer – Hannes Froehlich (temp)
Secretary – Gabriella Harman
Project Manager - Hilary Standing
Media + Publicity - Liz Wakefield
Development Fund Co-ordinator - Matt Williams
Site Rep and Plot Holder Liaison - Sandra Midgley
Sandra Pointel
Ronnie Mair
Gemma Rollo
Advisor to committee - Mark Carroll
We are always looking for new and enthusiastic members to join us. Please get in touch if you are interested in joining the committee or standing for election at the next AGM.
Mark Carroll for BHAF Committee
