I am chairman of the Solway & Hadrian Fuchsia Group based in Carlisle, and there have been many committee discussions on dwindling membership. How do we attract new members? Why are numbers declining? Why do people join such a society or group? Why are garden clubs more popular? Why is the average age of our members 55 plus? Our committee has 5 members over 70, 4 over 60 and 2 over 50.
There are many answers to each question - but the one thing that really sticks out is the absence of the next generation, those still at school. We need to get out and educate them at an early age, it is the next generation that will make the fuchsia show people of tomorrow. It was with these thoughts that our President Peter Howarth, a well know gardener on T.V. and Radio, has for a number of years been encouraging us to do something with local schools, to take fuchsias to the children and to get them interested at an early age. In 1998 we gave 30 fuchsias to a school near our show. We asked them to grow them on and to bring them along to our show and to enter in a special class. A letter of encouragement plus a few cultural hints went with each fuchsia. On show day only five plants were returned, this may seem a small number, but it was something to build upon for the future.

I became Chairman in November 1998 and I really wanted to keep this project going. Having given it a lot of thought I looked at what I could offer - growing, showing and teaching skills, a vast stock of fuchsias and a little spare time. The committee approved and so I went to find another school within our show catchment area. The first school was not interested and so, not to be beaten, another possible school was suggested and this time my offer was snapped up so quickly that I had hardly time to think! I hastily arranged a meeting at Kingmoor Junior School with the teachers - with a list of fuchsia topics, a few small plants, cuttings and a lemonade bottle. I gave an overview of what I wanted to achieve, the time span and number of visits that I would like. I made it clear  that the aim was for each child to have a plant of Snowcap in a 5" pot (sorry 13cm) to grow on at home and then to enter the special children's class at our annual show on 1st August. The enthusiasm from the teachers was unbelievable, as this was all going to fit in with the curriculum. There would be 55 children from two classes aged 8 and 9 years. Because of the numbers I would teach them in two groups for one hour each, plus a teabreak with the staff. We agreed the classroom layout as it is vital each child can clearly see what is happening; is there a school glasshouse (no), a garden or planters (yes), can the children plant hardy fuchsias in the garden (yes) and is there space in the classroom to keep pots of cuttings and plants that the children will grow (yes). We agreed four dates with three weeks between each visit. I then made a hasty retreat, minus the plants - yes, they went with the teachers.
At our January meeting I was given 52 rooted plug of Snowcap by Alan Porter of Porter's Fuchsias to grow on for our plant sale. I had decided that these plugs could be used in the project. Other items I needed were accumulated before my first visit - empty lemonade bottles, 6cm dwarf pots, peat, perlite, grit, labels, marker pens, cuttings and plants in their many different shapes and forms.

5^th MAY  I made my first school visit! I arrived with my Ford Galaxy full to capacity with plants and props - I must have looked like Santa Claus with an extra large black polythene sack of empty 2 litre lemonade bottles. The classroom was already laid out and the children still in assembly. I prepared my props keeping some of them out of sight to achieve a greater impact! With a buzz of excitement the room soon filled up with the first group. The atmosphere was electric, they were here not for Maths or English but a new topic that was going to be enjoyable, fun and practical. I was introduced as Mr. Coupland, but I allowed the children to call me Eric. I explained who I was and why I was at their school, and what I hope to achieve and what the end results could be! My first questions where "What is a fuchsia?" "From what or how do we grow fuchsias?" What does a fuchsia look like?" "What do we need to grow fuchsias in?" The enthusiasm was unbelievable - please, please choose me. I produced a six board of flowers, singles, semi-doubles and doubles, which were passed around so that the children could touch, look and feel. I then explained how to take cuttings and yes we can grow from seed! "What do we need to put these pot of cuttings in?" All the children were given an empty two litre lemonade bottle and shown how to convert it into a propagator we can use in the classroom. I then produced a seed tray of cuttings taken just a few days earlier, and asked the group is they could notice anything special about this tray of cuttings. It spelt ERIC in Thalias with all the rest planted with Jenny Sorenson. Over 200 cuttings which I promised to bring back!     continued on next page