Following on from last week's debate on how to spark a gardening revolution, it seemed that the consensus of opinion was that the industry should be targeting the young.
That makes complete sense as harnessing that early age interest in all things natural, if it can stick, should hopefully lead to creating both the enthusiasts and industry members of the future.
This week I've heard of a couple of great examples of companies making efforts engage groups of young people.
Firstly an industry specific case came from Ransomes Jacobsen. The Ipswich based manufacturer had eleven children from Northgate High School in Ipswich visit their facility as part of their involvement in the Greenpower IET Formula 24 competition.
The Greenpower Education Trust sounds like a superb charitable organisation. It's aim is to inspire more young people to become engineers by presenting the engineering industry as an interesting and relevant career choice. Teams of students between the ages of 9 and 25 build and race their own electric powered race cars on top racing circuits such as Goodwood.
Jason King, a former apprentice at Ransomes Jacobsen and now Customer Care Director, invited the Northgate students to visit their European Head Office to see how the company introduces a new vehicle into the market.
The students spent time with Senior Engineer Rob Johns, who explained how a product is conceived - from the initial concept through to the design and manufacture of the completed product. They also heard from Matthew Went, HR Director, who discussed the Ransomes Jacobsen apprentice scheme and the opportunities that were available to them within a manufacturing environment.
Ransomes should be applauded for taking this initiative of introducing to these youngsters all the rewarding aspects that a career in engineering can offer. Hopefully it will have opened up new areas for future explorations which some them may not have considered, or even knew existed, before.
The other non-machinery scheme which I heard of is that Stewart Garden is preparing to distribute grow your own gardening kits to over 100 primary schools across the county as part of the Stewart Garden Schools Campaign 2016.
Running for the fourth year in a row, the campaign is open to school pupils aged 6-11 years and challenges schools to be creative with growing. A competition element of the scheme will see the winning school receive £1000 to spend at its local garden centre.
Again, such a clever initiative. They are tapping into the natural curiosity which children have with digging and growing, hopefully engendering a lifelong interest.
Obviously the tricky time when kids tend to get lost from working with their hands outdoors, is that secondary school age. But hopefully with companies like Ransomes, making contact with the schools to show young people the rewarding career options available, that tide can start to turn.
