Inagural General Meeting

Yep, we had our 1st general meeting last night in the Carrickfergus Civic centre. It was rather exciting, or am I just a wee bit geeky? We elected our full-time committee members so now we're official and can set up a bank account and everything. We already have some money in grants waiting for us but until last night we couldn't put it anywhere; I have a good feeling about the people we elected - things are going to get done now! There were so many ideas flying around, the people that took the time to come, really care. I was going to take a photo of everyone, but to be perfectly honest, I was deeply disappointed by the turn out - approx 40 people out of 96 plots? Not so good. I mean come on, this is our Association and at the very least, there was free cake.

It was all very professional feeling - we finalised the wording of constitution for instance. I've never been to an official meeting before and, wait for it....I spoke! I had had a terrible day at home - I've been honest up til now about things so I'm not going to stop - I was bulimic, had tremors, a migraine and a panic attack. But I was there because it means a lot to me, I just clenched those shaky legs and busied myself by taking notes. But when an issue was raised about disabled access and inclusion (another passion) I spoke out. It wasn't until I got home that another panic happened. I was listened to, I still can't believe it, little old me, my views taken seriously - it was a good moment.

I'm shocked also, that we made a profit on the Fun Day and that there is so much monetary funding out there for schemes like this. We also discussed very important issues such as security, fixing the flooding problem, insurance and obtaining manure deliveries. The council has given us compost, quite a lot, in the past, but it isn't the best quality and we all could do with some proper manure to add to it; remember these fields have been football pitches for over 60 years, they need a lot of TLC.

A major problem with the site is wind - I think I've mentioned this before. It was deemed a good idea to get the Woodland Trust involved in helping us pick the right sort of native hedgerow plants and trees to plant as windbreaks. We may even learn about laying hedges - see loads of great ideas. With tree week coming up soon as well, we need to do our bit....

I came home feeling better, personally and about the future of Eden Allotments. And I still can't believe I talked!