Ollardale’s Zoom concludes with a charity boon

Web-based conferencing for Ollardale co-operative members.

The 20th annual general meeting of the Ollardale farming co-operative was held via web-based conference tool, Zoom.

And members and directors were able to provide charitable donations of £500 to the Northern Ireland Air Ambulance and a further £500 to Kilcreggan Urban Farm, Carrickfergus.

Johnny Coleman, chairman of the Newtownabbey-based organisation, welcomed those in virtual attendance including fellow directors, society secretary Heather Patterson and assistant secretary Irene Agnew.

Irene, in particular, was thanked for her devoted service to the society since 2009 on the occasion of her stepping down with Naomi McLean taking over the role.

James Gage, an accountant with Johnston Kennedy, was also thanked for his work on behalf of the society.

Heather outlined the accounts for the year ended 2019 in which £3.4million of goods were purchased by the 96 members.

Another successful year of trading was detailed with members benefitting from purchasing discounts, loyalty rewards and substantial bonuses.

The main products purchased, it was reported, were animal feed, fertiliser, detergents, dosing stuffs, sprays and fuel.

Three of the directors, retiring by rotation, were re-elected for a further three years, namely William Patterson, John Ferguson and Ian Bell.

Due to current circumstances of Covid-19, a guest speaker was not in attendance at this year’s proceedings

Members concluded by passing on their good wishes to each other for health and safety at this challenging time. They hope for a return to more traditional proceedings in the future.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper whenever you are able to do so.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspaper when you can safely.

You can also enjoy unlimited access to the best news from across Northern Ireland and the UK by subscribing to newsletter.co.uk

With a digital subscription, you can read more than five articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Visit https://www.newsletter.co.uk/subscriptions now to sign up.