BHAF AGM 2023 invitation

You are invited to our AGM

Thursday 20th April 7.00pm
The Brighthelm Centre, North Road, Brighton

New nominations to the Committee can be seen below

Along with the usual AGM business our theme this year is

Allotments in the Community

The City’s allotment sites are buzzing with community outreach initiatives – from improving nutrition and food security, providing support to people, reaching out to underserved communities to increasing bio-diversity.  We have asked a few of these groups to come and tell us a little about their work. So please come and hear them talk about their projects and answer your questions.

We will hear from these groups who are all based on the city’s allotments;

• Brighton and Hove Organic Gardening Group BHOGG
• Nature through Nurture
• Earthworks by The Martlets
• Plot 22
• Whitehawk Community Food Project
• Band of Brothers
• Moulsecoomb Nature Site

Details of Current Committee Members who are standing again can be seen here.

We will be putting forward these new nominations for the committee for election at the AGM;

Viv Woodcock-Downey
Nominator: Hilary Standing (Keston)
Seconder: BIll Parslow (Lower Roedale)

Hello, my name is Viv Woodcock-Downey and I am a Site Rep at Lower Roedale Allotments along with Bill Parslow. I am a passionate allotment gardener, and I have rented allotments from local churches and local authorities for most of my adult life. As a Site Rep, I am aware of the joy that tending an allotment can bring to people’s lives, and also of the frustrations associated with weather, difficult neighbours, untended plots, overgrown trees, vandalism and theft – to name but a few!

I am very keen to take on the secretarial role to the Committee of BHAF as I have considerable experience of the secretarial role on committees. I believe I can bring a great deal of difference to the committee organisation.

I very much enjoy voluntary roles and I am currently the Vice President (Operations) of a large global charity in a voluntary capacity.

Liz Wakefield
Nominator: Mark Carroll (Roedale Valley)
Seconder: Russ Howarth (Roedale Valley)

I have a plot at Roedale Valley which I took on as a wasteland four years ago, having previously been a co-worker at another plot there. I’m slowly but surely improving it over time, with a primary focus on growing veg. I can’t imagine life without an allotment and being there is good for my soul! I’m sure the veg is better for my family too than mass-grown stuff.

My day job is marketing consultancy and I also work for local youth homeless charity Sussex Nightstop.

I’m a newcomer to the committee, here to support the website and social media, so if you have any ideas for content you’d like to see, please get in touch!

Matt Williams
Nominator: Mark Carroll (Roedale Valley)
Seconder: Maude Casey (Moulsecoomb)

I have worked an allotment in Brighton since 20010, first at Whitehawk Hill and now on the Moulescoomb site where I have had a plot for 3 years. I grow using organics and no-dig principles. My working life has been almost entirely in the voluntary sector.

Rebecca Luff
Nominator: Hilary Standing (Keston)
Seconder: Christine Zaniewicka (Keston)

I’ve had an allotment for a couple of years and enjoy the never ending project it has become!
I’d love to spend some time working with people who want to help improve the experience of plot holders and their communities.

I’m a manager, coach, facilitator, problem-solver and lifelong-learner, who is deeply motivated to enable social and environmental change through my work. I’ve extensive experience of developing people, businesses, events and projects, working with individuals, and through organisations and funding bodies.

I’ve led social enterprises and co-founded a community-owned social business here in Brighton, demonstrating my commitment to citizen-led change and doing things differently.

My approach is practical, empathetic, collaborative and strategic. Where ever I can, I find ways to make work fun and enjoyable.

Gabriella Harman
Nominator: Hilary Standing (Keston)
Seconder: Francis Quail  (North Neville)

Professionally, I am a cosmetic scientist working in the regulatory & technical field of the industry, but my passion lies in horticulture, genetics and the natural world, and dozens of little related interests between them. From a young age I have been fascinated by plants and a keen gardener, but the art of allotmenteering is a different beast altogether. Having access to this small patch of land has not only provided me with an opportunity to enjoy delicious food, but also to practice and hone some essential food-growing experience in the face of numerous, unrelenting assaults of nature!

My primary focus is local, small-scale organic food/seed production, overlapping that with plant breeding and participating in conservation efforts for dozens of endangered vegetable varieties. Society is rightly conscious of the massive global habitat destruction in the wake of unsustainable agricultural practices, but the great and lesser-acknowledged irony is that the biodiversity of our cultivated species (both edible and ornamental) has undergone devastating genetic erosion in the past century. What little is left remains under threat.
One of the best ways to mitigate these issues is for growers on all scales (including allotmenteers) to take up a role as stewards and amateur breeders – to keep growing, reselecting and improving their favourite sorts of varieties in our changing climate without relying on corporate seed sources.

Over the few years I have been at North Nevill I have volunteered as a grower for the Heritage Seed Library, trialled and catalogued at least 250 different varieties of peas and beans, and saved the seed of tomatoes, peppers, lettuces, beetroot, and Asian greens. I’m particularly interested in old English garden peas, all types of sweet peas, and the exquisite crops and food ways of the Appalachian region, particularly their resilience and potential to adapt to the modern climate of southern England.