Chapter Five – Rose
ROSE
The Committee
“ H ow did it go, Rose?” George asked the moment I stepped into Hanbury Church’s second building that doubled as the village hall and the home of the Sunday School.
“Bloody hell, George, let her close the door before you start barking at her,” Paula Barker, the allotment secretary, said. “Come and sit down, dear.”
I ran my fingers through my wavy hair and dropped into my seat at the head of the table, slapping the envelope down in front of my spot.
Nine pairs of eyes were focused firmly on me, and I pressed my lips together as I surveyed my fellow committee members.
Colin Smith, the Deputy Chair; Paula, the allotment secretary; Lisa Evans, the society secretary; Richard Wright, the treasurer; and the other members of the committee, George ‘Schlong’ Hathaway, Craig Green, Alan Walker, Leah Taylor, and Deborah Thompson.
The ten of us made up the not-so-formidable Hanbury Allotments Committee.
All right, so they were the unformidable ones.
I was the one everyone feared, and that was fine by me. My reputation for being the resident weirdo preceded me anyway, and I was of the opinion that a little fear was healthy.
If the British Empire could be founded on fear, so could my dictatorship over the vegetable beds of the village of Hanbury.
“Do you want the bad news or the good news first?” I asked, surveying the expressions of my fellow members.
“That sounds like a trick question,” Leah said, fiddling with her wristwatch. She was the only other member of the committee who was under forty, and together, we were paving the way to bring some modern touches to the site.
That’s what we told ourselves, anyway.
“Hang on.” Richard dug into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. “Let’s flip a coin.”
“Heads for good, tails for bad. Flip it, Rich, flip it,” Deb said, shooting him a double thumbs up across the table.
Richard flipped the coin, and it flew right over his shoulder, skittering across the floor with a few clinks before settling some twelve feet away from us. “Oh, dear,” he said flatly. “Perhaps I was a bit too enthusiastic.”
“Just a little bit,” I said as Leah got up to fetch the coin. “What’s the damage?”
“Tails.” She carefully plucked it from the floor and showed the upwards face to us. “Bad news first.”
“Blast it,” George grumbled.
“Okay, well.” I flattened both my hands against the envelope. “The bad news is that even though the contract has just under four years left on it, there is a break clause. That’s what the new duke is using, and it’s perfectly fine in the eyes of the law.”
Lisa pressed her hands to her cheeks. “How is that possible?”
“He has to make a reasonable effort to find a new home for the allotments, whether it be his land or elsewhere,” I answered. “That’s part of the break.”
“What constitutes a reasonable effort?” Colin asked, narrowing his dark eyes. “We probably all have a different definition of ‘reasonable’ if asked.”
“That’s the tough part. Of course, ‘reasonable’ isn’t defined.
In the event a new location can’t be found, he must provide adequate financial compensation to the committee.
He also must provide individual compensation to the plot holders for any personal losses in the form of planter beds, seeds, crops, fruit trees and bushes, things like that.
The minor bit of good news there is that things like the value of trees is measured at their current size, not the size to repurchase and replant.
So those little six-quid trees we all filled our plots with five years ago are worth considerably more now. ”
“Fat lot of good compensation will do us without a site to spend it on.” Craig folded his arms across his chest. “There’s no need for a committee if there are no allotments. Without a definition of ‘reasonable,’ how do both parties agree that the duke’s estate has made a true effort?”
“Contracts like these rely on the power of the other party,” Paula said, adjusting her glasses.
“It was never an issue with the late duke because we all knew Rupert would never shut down the allotments, much less in the growing season, but it’s a clause designed to be in their favour.
If we disagree, we’d have to take the young duke to court, and he likely knows we don’t have the funds for something so ridiculous. ”
“That’s exactly what the lawyer said.” I sighed, reaching up to tie my hair in a loose knot on top of my head. “In other words, unless the man changes his mind, there’s nothing we can do about it. We can’t legally stop him from shutting down the site.”
Everyone’s expressions dropped as the reality of my words sunk in, and the mood in the room dulled significantly.
That was saying something.
It was hardly a disco in here to begin with.
I mean, it was a room used to primarily teach children about the bible. It was basically a mini church, and I wasn’t sure discos happened in churches. God didn’t strike me as much of a party animal, although Jesus was pretty wild with that whole water into wine trick.
That was one that would come in handy right about now.
“What’s the good news, then?” Colin asked after a moment of sombre silence.
“Good news might be a stretch,” I said. “But Mr Lee discovered that they were using the eviction timeframe of the previous contract, not the new one.”
Deb jerked her head around. “What does that mean?”
“It means we have three months until the closure comes into effect, not two. It seems the late duke considered the growth of the allotments and how many sheds and greenhouses we now have compared to in the past. It’d take us much longer to move the semi-permanent structures than it would have even ten years ago, so he adjusted the notice period to reflect that.
” I tapped my fingers against the envelope.
“It’s not much, but it’s an extra month or so we have to try to fight this. ”
Lisa eyed me excitedly. “So, we are fighting it?”
“Of course, we are. The allotments are the heart of our community. I’m not going to let that rotten ratbastard stroll into our village and rip out the soul of our home just to fill his already stuffed pockets.”
Alan snorted. “That’s the spirit, Rose.”
“What do we do, then? Changing his mind is going to be difficult. Has he signed the contract with the developer yet?” Richard asked. “If so, that’ll render any protests of ours moot.”
“I don’t know,” I said honestly. “I need to meet with the duke regarding the notice period, so I’ll find out more then. Other than that, I’m not sure where we should begin with protesting the closure.”
Leah held up her hand. “I have a friend who recently moved to work for a local news station in Exeter. She might not be able to televise a report, but she could help us with media coverage. Maybe put us in contact with someone who could help locally.”
“Ooh!” Craig clapped his hands together.
“Now that you mention it, Leah, I did read a story similar to our situation a while back. I don’t remember the nitty-gritty details, but the landowner was a member of the aristocracy, and he was closing the allotments for a similar reason.
When the residents protested, he raised the fees until nobody could afford them. ”
“Eviction by stealth.” Richard shook his head. “How underhanded.”
“Exactly. The locals went to the media, and he was forced to back down.”
“What happened?” Deb asked.
“I believe the local council purchased the land from him and kept the site open,” Craig said.
I wrinkled up my nose. “I would prefer not to rely on those useless farts at the town council if we can help it.”
“It was the local authority rather than a small town council.” Craig paused. “But I’m not sure that’s such an upgrade, either.”
It was not, if we judged those shills by how many potholes there were and how much our council tax went up each year. God only knew where that money was going, because it wasn’t on the bloody potholes.
Did I have a vendetta against potholes?
The real question here was why somebody wouldn’t.
“Is it possible to raise funds to purchase the land on behalf of the committee?” Alan asked. “If the locals came together, surely we could offer for the land ourselves.”
I looked at Colin. “Mr Estate Agent?”
“Retired estate agent,” he corrected me, pulling his lips into a thin line.
“Without knowing what the housing developer is offering, it would be very hard for us to know if we could counter it. Needless to say, land is not as cheap as one would think, especially agricultural land. It could be, and likely is, far beyond our means. We would have to pay cash, and I doubt we could do that.”
Richard slowly nodded. “I, too, have my doubts about the possibility of being able to raise the capital needed to purchase the land. A friend of mine recently sold four acres to the neighbouring farm and it was upwards seventy-five thousand pounds, and that land wasn’t nearly as valuable as the plot we occupy. ”
We all stared at him.
Seventy-five grand?
Holy shit.
“Well, fuck,” Leah said.
“Well, fuck, indeed,” George followed up.
There was really nothing else to add to such succinct responses to the situation.
Everyone offered slow, gentle nods of their head in agreement, and we were back to the heavy, sombre atmosphere of before.
“Well, for now, let’s see where we stand after I meet with Mr de Havilland,” I said, taking the folder Colin was pushing towards me.
“I think it would be good to begin exploring our options with the media, though. Leah, can I ask you to take the lead on that if it won’t take too much time away from your kids? ”
She winked and shot me a thumbs up. “I’m counting on it doing just that. Their dad can deal with their teenage bickering for once.”
“That’s the spirit, dear,” Lisa said, bobbing her head. “Personally, I used to hide in the wardrobe with a bottle of liquor while they fought until one of them beat the other down and they were forced to admit defeat.”
Yup.