Welcome to Ambleside Allotments Association (AAA)

Learn about the Association and how it works

What is the Ambleside Allotments Association and what's it for?

The drive to create allotment sites in Ambleside has come from local residents and the Ambleside Allotments Association (AAA) is the body that has been set up to help make that happen. In addition once allotment sites exist it will be the AAA's responsibility to administer legal, insurance and financial things on the allotment sites. By having a formally constituted group it means that leases can be signed with landowners, rules can be drawn up for allotment holders, money can be held in bank accounts, grants applied for etc Indeed the group was successful in securing a £250 grant from the Cumbria County Council's Neighbourhood Forum to help with start-up costs.

The group is run by an elected Steering Committee made up of volunteers. These are the enthusiastic people who have contacted possible landlords, talked to useful people elsewhere in the area, publicised the intention to get allotments in Ambleside, taken the names of those interested, communicated progress and done a whole host of other things too. Being a paid-up member of the AAA allows you to influence AAA's policy, vote at the AGM and helps financially to support the work of the volunteers who give their time free to do all the jobs needed to drive this important community initiative.

What does its constitution say?

The latest Constitution was approved at the AGM held on Monday 10th October 2011; to see a copy of our formal constitution click on this constitution link to read it, it will open in a pdf.

How can I find out what's happening within the Association itself?

The Steering Group meets on a regular basis and writes minutes. Click on the link below to see the minutes of the last meeting; if you would like to see earlier minutes please contact us and we will be happy to provide them. The Chair's Report prepared for the 2011 AGM is available here, opens as a pdf in a new window.

Click here for minutes of last Steering Group Committee Meeting, it will open as a pdf in a new window.

Getting in touch with the AAA

Individual members of the Allotments groups are available to answer your questions, please feel free to contact us; for practical reasons it is best to e-mail us in the first instance. Our contact information is shown on the Contact Us page, click on this Contact Us link to go to that page.

Being a member of the AAA

Membership of the association is open to those wishing to have an allotment and to anyone who wants to support us in this important community initiative.

The annual membership fee, as set at the AGM, is £5 for an Individual and £10 for a Family (two adults at same address). The membership year runs from the date of one AGM until the date of the next AGM and a membership card will be given and updated each year a subscription is paid. Once you are a paid-up member of the Association you can become an allotment holder with the Ambleside Allotment Association. If you would like to join, click here for our Membership Form.

Unfortunately our Members-only group website which has been available to us since last summer is not going to be around as we go forward. It was provided free of charge by groupsite.com but it has unfortunately changed its policy and now charges for the services we previously enjoyed for free. As such it sadly is not possible to continue with the group site we had with its blog, on-line discussions, video embedding, RSS feeds from other interesting sites etc . It is a shame as it is likely to have been a valuable asset as allotment plots finally got underway in Ambleside. The members' area link has been removed from this site and time allowing the web editor will see what can be done to make up for it by posting links or useful videos on this site instead.

www.amblesideallotments.org.uk

This site was last updated Sunday November 20, 2011