Thinking about TLSARL as It is and as It Could Be
by Elizabeth CampbellLately I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about where we are at TLSARL as an organisation. Others have been doing that, too – one of the comments at the Reunion was that we need to get more younger members.
It was a Past President that made this comment, and she is so very right! But I’m not sure that her proposed solution of purchasing memberships for sons, daughters, nieces, nephews and grandchildren is a solution at all. It merely boosts the membership numbers. It might serve a purpose in introducing descendants to their history, true. And that is a starting point!
I think, though, that the reason there is more grey (and hidden grey) hair among us than natural tints is that we are not engaging the minds and hearts below more youthful coiffures. The real solution to getting more young people as members lies in finding ways of engaging them in their history.
First of all, I guess, we need to make them aware that they have a history. Then we need to show them that that history is interesting, and has had a major role in making them who they are today. And in giving them that enviable hair colour…. Then we need to show them how they can be involved in preserving and growing that knowledge so that, in another 200 years time, their descendants will know more about them than we know about our ancestors of 200 years ago. After all, we are interesting people, too, aren’t we? I am! The people I met (and re-met) at the Reunion are, too! <TOOT TOOT>
Let’s start thinking about that. Let’s start looking at what engages youth today, and how we can throw ourselves into their paths. Let’s start looking at what we do now and how we could modify our association to be more appealing to youth, while maintaining a thriving older group of members, too. Changing doesn’t mean losing what we have, but rather adding to it in a positive and healthy manner.
And lets think about what we mean by ‘young members’. At the AGM, when the Newsletter was indicated as the medium through which we engage young members, I gasped, “But our Newsletter isn’t geared toward children at all!” The response was that ‘young’ meant teens and up – mostly up. I was thinking How do I add a Children’s Page without increasing the page-count and increasing the postage rate and…. Because ‘young’ MUST mean children. It’s in childhood that we form our interests, likes and dislikes….
Tags: Annual General Meeting, Annual Reunion, engaging youth in TLSARL, planning, Planning Ahead
