About Us - History
History - the start - 1939 to 1954
The Association was formed in 1939 on the outbreak of the Second World War when the Government was urging everyone to "Dig for Victory", originally called "Dig for Britain". This was in the face of the likely threat of U-boat raids on cargo ships heading for British ports and carrying food. To fight the threat of likely threat of likely food supply shortages, the Government urged all those with land to turn it over to growing food.
Many home owners and public bodies dug up lawns and flower beds
and planted vegetables - potatoes, carrots, peas etc. - instead.
To help with this, Nottinghamshire County Council set up the
Nottinghamshire Schools Rural Studies Panel. Initially there were just 5
Members on the Panel, all drawn from schools. Through the war years
the Panel published leaflets, or Bulletins, which dealt with a wide variety
of subjects related to practical Rural Studies, from how to grow
potatoes to how to sex chickens! These Bulletins were published and
distributed around Nottinghamshire schools.
On 8 January 1940 the rationing of supplies of butter, bacon
and sugar was introduced in Britain, with most other foods
following soon afterwards. The "Dig for Victory" Campaign
helped to alleviate some of the effects of this rationing.
History - post war - 1954 to 2022
Rationing remained in place until 4 July 1954, 14 years
after it's introduction and 9 years after the end of the War!
With a steadily increasing supply of food volumes and
variety beginning to take place, the Rural Studies Panel
decided to change the emphasis of its work. It became regional, organising into four Branches - North, South, East and West. These groupings were within the renamed Nottinghamshire Rural Studies Association. Each Branch operated independently but there was an Annual Meeting to which Members of each Branch were invited. The original Panel Bulletin became a larger and more widely circulated Journal for the Association.
The Second issue of the Journal depicted a design for the 'tree of activities' which represented a structure of Rural Studies Education. A similar tree design became the logo of the newly formed Association. A formal Constitution was adopted.
In the 1960s the Association joined the National Association for Environmental Education and subsequently amended its name to the Nottinghamshire Association for Environmental Education. This name was retained until 2022, although more usually known in later years without the word 'Education' as the membership make-up had drastically changed.
In the early years membership was limited to those involved in Rural
Studies teaching in schools. A few schools established small farm
units, especially Dukeries Comprehensive School in Ollerton in the
north of the county. This was under the watchful eye of Jim Swindin
who, later in life, became Chairman of the North Branch.
Education never stands still and, gradually, the emphasis on Rural
Studies teaching highlighted by World War 2 faded, the number of
teachers of the subject dwindling as a consequence. Membership of
the Branches, mostly around 30 per branch, changed as well, with
fewer teachers and more members of the general public joining each of the Branches. By the end of the 20th Century the South and West Branches had ceased to exist due to dwindling membership. Following the Covid outbreak in 2020, and the restrictions imposed on meetings, the Eastern Branch also failed.
The Branch structure had lasted for 81 years! Milestones were marked - such as the Silver & Golden Jubilees of the Association as well as the 80th Anniversary.
(Thanks are due to Janice Culley-Oliver for much of the information above.)
2022 to the Present Day
Through the years up to the new millennium, the four groups continued to operate in the different regions of Nottinghamshire. There were several name changes to reflect the change of emphasis from school based to more general environmental matters. School teacher membership was also gradually diminishing and the four areas recruited members from the general public. By the beginning of the 2,000s the membership comprised mostly of the general public but total membership was rapidly declining. When the 80th anniversary was celebrated in 2019 there remained only the Northern Branch, centred around Retford, and the Eastern Branch, centred around Newark, still operating.
That left the Northern Branch as the sole remaining representative of the original 4 branches.
The Northern Branch Association now represented the whole original tree!
A new title for the Branch, dropping the words 'Northern Branch', - Nottinghamshire Environmental Association - was adopted and a new, more modern logo (as seen on these pages), which still incorporates an image of a tree to represent the original ethos of the Association, was designed and the original constitution was re-written to better represent the new situation and more modern times. These changes were debated and adopted in 2022 at the first Meeting, a picnic, following Covid.
The Association continues to modernise with the adoption of email and texting as the major methods of communication, with some 95% of Members now contacted in this way. We also now accept payment of Fees and for Visits online and are looking towards internet banking, with this website being another example of forward thinking. We, hopefully, will continue to 'move with the times'!
