Hardy Plant Society

Vacancies

Vice Chairman

The role of Vice Chairman of the Society is to deputise for the Chairman. So what does that involve? “The role of the Chairman is to ensure that the affairs of the Society are run efficiently and according to its constitution, having regard to its status as a charity, in accordance with policy as determined by Trustees, and taking account of the wishes of its members.”

This involves chairing meetings of the Trustees of the Society, working with the other officers of the Society and the Administrator as well as keeping in touch with groups and the wider membership.

The election for both roles is annual with a convention for the chairman to serve a three year term

Vivienne, our current chairman, will be delighted to talk to anyone who thinks they might be interested in the role. Please remember that talking it over does not mean that you are offering to do the job. You can contact her by email or by phoning her on 01386 830789.

Although the society has historically used the term "chairman", the post is open to all members of the HPS.

Publicity Opportunities - Update 3

We are on the way to setting up a small team of enthusiastic HPS members to help revamp the Society's publicity! If you face incomprehension or get asked 'What do they do?' when you mention HPS, you understand the problem. We need to sharpen the society's image and ensure the gardening world knows all about us. If you've ever said 'I could do better than that' when faced with lacklustre publicity for an event, or if you have ideas for raising our profile, then come and help put us on the horticultural map.

The publicity machine is working! We have had interest from several national newspapers and one interview that is likely to feature fairly soon. Lots more opportunities to come. However we are still in need of a co-ordinator – someone who can link together the different aspects of helping to make the Society a “household name”. Can you help?

Please help others get the enjoyment you experience in taking part in our activities. If you can help or know another member who could, please contact Vivienne McGhee (Chairman). Her phone number and other contact details are in the HPS Newsletter. Alternatively, contact the admin office on 01386 710317 or use the Contact Us form on this website.
Please remember that talking it over does not mean that you are offering to do the job.

Membership Working Group

Have you ever thought – “If only the Society did ..... it would grow and grow.....”?
The Society has a Membership Working Group. The purpose of this group is to think of ways to retain and recruit members, and to turn these ideas into actions either within the Group or in conjunction with others. Membership of the Group is open to anyone with ideas.

If you can help or know another member who could, please contact Vivienne McGhee (Chairman). Her phone number and other contact details are in the HPS Newsletter. Alternatively, contact the admin office on 01386 710317 or use the Contact Us form on this website.
Please remember that talking it over does not mean that you are offering to do the job.

Website Design

If you think that this website lacks the necessary pizzazz to attract new, younger, web literate members then why not send us your ideas? You don't need to create a web page. A drawing of your proposed home page will be just fine.

The home page is the first significant page that users will come to when accessing the website. It must contain the HPS logo and should be in Arial font. Remember that the content will change frequently. The HPS is particularly keen to attract members in the 30 to 50 year age group and the website should be targeted at these.

Please feel free to discuss your ideas with HPS Webmaster or post them him at the address given in the HPS Newsletter.

Facebook / Twitter

Could you operate an official Hardy Plant Society Facebook account or a Twitter feed? If you have the time and knowledge to help us bring the Society into the 21st century then we would very much like to hear from you.

Email the HPS Webmaster or contact him using the details in the Newsletter if you want more information.

Volunteering

The HPS is totally reliant on volunteers. Without them, neither the national society nor the groups would exist.

Volunteers are people just like you, who lead otherwise busy lives and who have other interests but they are able to find an hour or more, each week, to help us. So, the next time that you see a vacancy advertised or you hear a call for volunteers, why not have a chat and find out what they are looking for. Talking it over does not mean that you are offering to do the job. Ask yourself how you could help. Can you change the job to suit what you can do? Can you do a part of the job or share with someone else? Remember that most people are more than happy to help their replacements to get to grips with the job.

Could you write for our website?

Why not share your enthusiasm for gardening by writing for our website. You don't need to know anything about the Internet or websites. Just send us the text (and any photographs to accompany the text) as we will format it. Obviously, we would prefer to have long articles but we are also happy to accept pieces as short as 150 words. (For comparison, a full page of text in the HPS journal would be about 500 words and a typical page in the journal is about 250 words plus half a page of photographs, titles etc.)

A regular column would be fantastic but we also welcome occasional and individual pieces. The only constraint is that the words and photographs must be your own work or you must have permission to use them.

If you are interested, please email webpages@hardy-plant.org.uk
Please remember that talking it over does not mean that you are offering to do the job.
The HPS does not commit itself to publishing all submitted articles and reserves the right to edit those that it does publish.