Page 9 - Simply Veg Issue 4 2018

I have had a couple of responses to my comments in the Kelvin’s Thoughts page in the last issue. Two mention a similar theme about getting children involved and are printed below.
In Kelvins thoughts in the last issue you put forward some suggestions about finding a Chairman saying “Perhaps we should be radical and look outside of the NVS for a chairman. There is no need to do this but just make sure that the NVS Trustees are committed to the NVS and not NVS / RHS committee members.
Since joining the NVS my input has been very good, I have also tried to move the NVS forward with getting kids involved, (I was the midlands school rep) but felt that
I got nowhere. With the NVS leaving the involvement of kids up-to each branch
there is no co-ordinated approach. I asked the Malvern committee to get up to date
and let the kids enter a trug of vegetables
/ fruit / flowers, instead of a Sunflower!! In the end I had to organise it myself and got Neudorff as a sponsor and also loaned the trugs for the kids. We were put right out of the way at the bottom of the show, after I complained we were moved into the main tent the following year. When I asked why the NVS were reluctant to involve the kids in a trug competition the reply was we already do this at Shrewsbury. I have never been to that
show so I could not reply. When I looked into it this it appeared that were not keen on the competition for fear of upsetting the RHS. If we are to get more Children involved it needs both the NVS and RHS to work together.
At one of our midland branch committee meetings we had a gap for the midland branch rep and I volunteered. I loved it
while it lasted; getting involved in the edible garden show, BBC Gardeners World Live, Cardiff Spring Show, Malvern shows, writing Micks corner on the web site, write ups in simply veg, Midlands Branch sub editor
and Chairman of the West Mids D.A. I have met and made more new friends working on behalf of the NVS, but there are people stuck in their ways that won’t move with the times. If we are to continue as a National organisation we need people who are going to move the NVS forward.
Mick Poultney FNVS
I feel we need to get more publicity for the NVS and it’s a pity we could not organise a National school’s competition giving a gold, silver, and bronze award status for some
easy to grow vegetables. This would get children interested but also possible their parents which would be good for them and the NVS.
My second comment is that we do not seem to “target” the allotment associations (all aspects) and also the local area club shows where there are going to be many keen growers and exhibitors.
Jim Symonds
Regarding Jim’s comment above I know some Branches have approached allotment associations and know the Northern Branch in particular have. Both David Metcalfe and Michael Osborne have done a lot in the Lancashire area, but possible more could be done in other Branches.
The Trustees and no doubt Branches
have looked at getting children involved and there is no doubt this is where the future of the NVS is as we need younger members
to replace the more mature and retiring members. I do not have the answer to this other than suggesting a National co-ordinator be appointed that could lead this forward. – Ed
Dear Kelvin,
Your article in the last issue ‘Kelvin’s Thoughts!’ raises some interesting points, notably ‘’Society and club membership
is not fashionable nowadays’’ which is
in particular a very true statement in the second decade of the 21st century.
It seems large numbers of people at present don’t feel the need to belong
to any structured form of club, society, religion, even family. Free information (and misinformation) about any topic under the sun is freely available on the internet. Social media has advantages in that you instantly communicate with people that you could never physically visit, but it isn’t a substitute for meeting people face to face at events. The main advantage of joining the society
for many people is receiving the magazine. While magazine sales in general are declining in face of competition from online media, for the foreseeable future there
will still be people who like to sit down
and read something on paper. In future magazines may increase in popularity again in the way that Vinyl records have begun to make a comeback among people who wish to look at an album cover and physically collect them.
Sometimes at car boot sales I pick up random publications from long ago. A ploy used in publishing in the 1970’s and 80’s to boost sales was the ‘celebrity’ columnist, for example the football magazine Shoot featured regular columns from famous players of the era ‘Kevin Keegan writes for you’. Another technique was if a hobby
had a nerdy or unfashionable public image, they would advertise the fact that they had a member who was the total opposite of the stereotype, for example the late Dick Emery the comedian, as president of the Airfix Modellers Club, wrote a column for some boy’s comics. Television made use
of the same idea when the Rock Guitarist Brian May began appearing on the ‘Sky At Night’ to prove the point that astronomy wasn’t just a pursuit for elderly intellectuals. It might be interesting to find out if there was anyone out there who was also well known in some other field to get involved as a columnist for Simply Vegetables. In order for it too work though, the person would have to have a genuine interest in the subject.
Michael Gordon
simplyvegetables 9