Dear LAA Members
Thank you for bearing with us while we settled into our new roles as trustees following Deb and Tim’s thorough and very supportive handover in the autumn.
At our first trustee meeting in September 2025, it was agreed that Penny and Michael would be joint chairs, Michael would be treasurer, Angela would be site manager and Jo would be plot and membership secretary.
Before they stepped back, Deb and Tim helped us make the changes to the CIO constitution regarding trustee elections, as discussed at the last AGM. Under the changes, all trustees must retire from office at the AGM and members will then vote on who will stand, or re-stand, as a trustee.
After getting up to speed with the paperwork, these are some of the key things we have been working on so far this year:
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Getting quotes and plans to provide accessible access and storage to the Trading Hut following the successful awarding of a £5700 grant from Southwark Council’s neighbourhood grant scheme.
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Organising a fruit tree pruning day and sending out email advice - beautifully crafted by Angela - to try and curb pests and disease across the allotments
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Welcoming a number of new plotholders to the allotments in recent months
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Organising a Spring Clean Up Day in April
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Supporting the Christmas fundraiser in Lettsom Gardens, with particular thanks to Katherine for organising this
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Updating the LAA website
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Taking part in the Open Gardens weekend on 14 June
Thank you to everyone who has helped out at all these events and for continuing to play your part in the care and maintenance of our lovely allotments.
If anyone has suggestions for other things that need doing in 2026/27, please do not hesitate to raise them at the AGM on Thursday 11 June.
Many thanks
Penny, Michael, Jo and Angela
LETTSOM ALLOTMENTS ASSOCIATION ANNUAL ACCOUNTS Year ending 31st December 2025
’ Treasurer s Report.
We started 2025 with a cash balance of £10,368.09
Income
Our regular income in 2025 was £1,319 from plot rents. We also raised £585 from the Christmas Carol concert held in 2024 - this didn’t include an additional £500 which doesn’t appear in the accounts as it was donated directly to St Christopher’s Hospice.
The Open Gardens Day was also a significant fund raiser. This allowed us to make donations to the Read Easy Charity and additionally honey was sold in aid of SDCAS.
Finally, we received a grant of £5K from Southwark Council to build a new trading hut.
Expenditure
The largest expenses of the year were for the new trading hut and the new storage shed. Combined, this came to approximately £10K with about half funded by the grant from Southwark Council and half covered by ourselves.
The usual regular expenses of water, rent to Southwark, insurance and memberships came to about £1,500. Then there were various other miscellaneous expenses such as hogging for the paths, paying for rubbish clearance and the cost of hiring the hall in the Dog Kennel Hill Adventure Playground for our AGM.
The closing bank balance at the end of 2025 was still a healthy £5,639.59
LETTSOM ALLOTMENTS ASSOCIATION ANNUAL ACCOUNTS Year ending 31st December 2025
| £ | £ | |
|---|---|---|
| Income | ||
| Grant from Southwark for TradingHut | £5,000.00 | |
| Plot rent | £1,319.50 | |
| Open Gardens | £1,037.78 | |
| Carol Concert in 2024 | £585.75 | |
| Waitinglist donations | £50.00 | |
| £7,993.03 | ||
| Expenditure | ||
| New Tradinghut | £8,845.50 | |
| New storage shed | £1,073.68 | |
| Water | £630.23 | |
| Insurance and Membership | £531.00 | |
| Southwark Rent | £392.00 | |
| Donation to SDCAS | £357.50 | |
| Donation to Read EasyCharity | £254.45 | |
| Rubbish clearance | £298.00 | |
| Hogging | £164.68 | |
| AGM Hall rental | £50.00 | |
| Miscellaneous | £124.49 | |
| £12,721.53 | ||
| Income minus Expediture | -£4,728.50 | |
| Balance Carried forward from 2024 | £10,368.09 | |
| Balance at end of 2025 | £5,639.59 |