Saturday 21st June at Meadow Road Allotments
Saturday 5th July at Court Lane Allotments at Court Lane Allotments
BDAC is planning to run some short (2 hour) workshops for allotment associations this summer. They will be run by Becky Coley from Birmingham Community Matters (BCM – https://www.birminghamcommunitymatters.org.uk/) and another member of their staff. BCM is an organisation which supports and advises small community organisations in Birmingham, and the workshop will also have input from members of BDAC’s Working Group on Management of Sites and Associations (MOSA).
These workshops are aimed at people on sites where it is a struggle to persuade plotholders to get involved in association committees and help to manage and improve the sites. This is a common problem across the city, but perhaps more common on smaller sites – or ones where there are few plotholders and/or limited numbers of people with time to spare on site management. On every site rents have to be collected, site issues handled, problems like security and plot boundaries sorted, rules enforced – even on the smallest site. It’s a daunting task trying to ensure that everything is done effectively and fairly, with few resources to back you up, so no wonder people are reluctant to volunteer!
I’m writing to you as someone who is either already involved on a committee – or maybe is a Secretary, Chair, or Treasurer – OR maybe you are plotholder who is concerned about the management of the site and would like to contribute to ‘making things happen’! Individuals are where it starts and anyone on a site can make a big difference if they put some time into working with other plotholders to improve the way things are handled.
If you are interested in coming along to a workshop which will help you look at what can be done to develop your association and committee, please get in touch. We are hoping that more than one will come from each site, which will make it easier to follow things up after the workshop, but if it’s only you, that’s okay too. But do ask around to see if anyone else would like to attend – and that includes new people or people who have not shown any interest so far. The workshops are also an opportunity to share experiences with people in similar situations and compare notes on common problems. We find that often people get the best tips from those that have ‘been there, done that, worn the teashirt’!
There are two venues and dates, so pick the one which suits you best from the point of view of travel time and location. Both are Saturdays, one is in North Birmingham and one in South Birmingham. Ideally if two or more people can come from each site, it will help you make any changes on your site after the workshop – which will be practical and start from where you are at, your experience. Fill the form in for each person.
Please phone on 07812 248447 (my phone) or 07861 144674 (BDAC phone) if you’d like to know more or ask any questions – for example about other topics for workshops such as money management, roles of Association officers, fundraising or we can put you in touch with another association that has experience of things you’d like to try.
Please copy and paste the form below and return via email.
Booking form for Association Workshops June/July 2025
Name……………
Association/Site…………………..
Mobile number………………….
Email address……………………
Are you already involved in your Association and its Committee? Yes/No
If yes, what is your role (if any)? …………………
If no, what’s the main reasons for not getting involved to date and what would make a difference?
……………
Please tick/cross any of the following topics which you would like covered in the workshop
· Having a constitution which is a useful guide to how we should operate
· Making meetings work
· Sharing the workload/responsibilities in managing a site
· How to get people involved and communications with plotholders
· Anything else?
…………………………………………………………………………………
I wish to book for the workshop on Saturday 21st June at Meadow Road Allotments, Harborne B17 8DB
OR
I wish to book for the workshop on Saturday 5th July at Court Lane Allotments at Court Lane Allotments, Erdington B23 8RP
If there isn’t a place on my first choice of workshop, I am available to attend on the alternative date/venue
PLEASE RETURN TO Hester Blewitt at training@bdacallotments.co.uk by 7th June