A Suggestion(Members join in citywise chapters)

[jdashraf]

AoA. I must congratulate the pioneers, admins and senior members of this forum for helping ppl like me help develop very healthy hobby of gardening, that too free of cost (:)).. I have one suggestion to make, that is, while "Gardening Pakistan" is one family, and will always remain, Why don't we have City Chapters (like Lahore chapter, Karachi chapter, Islamabad/Rawalpindi chapter, etc) established and functional like any other groups, organizations, societies,etc have them.
Advantages of Chapters There are many; some of them are:-
1. Members of that chapters can have monthly or quarterly meetings to share every/any thing about gardening
2. They can jointly organize flower show, etc no matter how small it is
3. Some senior members can offer coaching classes or lectures for new members on gardening as per their convenience
4. Chapter member can call/invite other members to show his garden, plants, flowers
5. Chapter members can visit some flower show or some garden in the town collectively as a group
6. Members can share seeds, plants, flowers, etc among each other as per their wish..
The most important objective is to learn from each other by taking advice in one to one meeting..
Way Forward: If you guys agree on this then we can have chapter groups on this forum(site admin should be able to help) and members from that city can join that chapter..
It is important to highlight that we ll remain as member of one family that is "Gardening Pakistan" and it is only under the umbrella of "Gardening Pakistan" that we ll have chapters. Discussions in one chapter will be/should be visible to all, like these are visible, presently..
House is open for discussion, please...

[Tahir Khan]

That is a good idea Ashraf sb... Lets see what others have to say

[M Farooq]

Dear Ashraf sahab, it is a nice idea. You can see yourself- what is the number of active members? Probably less than 10. I know there are many readers out here but less participants. I guess this is normal. Mashallah there are generous members have have taken control of financial matters, whose names you see in orange. Probably we should work on increasing online population and participation. Once it matures, then we can make chapters.

Regards.

[Farhan Ahmed]

@Ashraf Sb.............Very thoughtful, nicely composed and infact a very good suggestion if it materializes. However, i would say that Farooq Sb stole my opinion on the issue. Unless people are active on virtual groups, how can they be active on practical groups. This calls for more participation by all members.

We are trying whatever we can like seed bank, photo competition, valuable Books and seed purchases etc

For the City wise groups to be more active(at least virtually) i would request Admins for grant of additional permissions to Mods, if possible. Then i will be able to assess if something can be done.

Members are already arranged in a group city wise. Like Karachi members are already listed in group called Karachi. However the fact is that this grouping does not have value in terms of activity or anything else on forum discussions etc.

We do have informal groups, like Lahorites are carrying out almost all the activities that you listed. The reason is we have more active members from Lahore. Its just the matter of mobilizing people atleast from big cities such as Rawalpindi & Karachi to start with.

Its a very good idea, if some member visits a garden of fellow member and showcase that garden on the forum, like what was his experience.

[hassan167]

sir very nice idea.bahi is kay sath sath kuch asi class bi honi chahy jiss main seed lagana aur garfting kay baray kuch bataya jay.aur yeh sirf senior member ki help se ho sakta hai.

[jdashraf]

Dear Ashraf sahab, it is a nice idea. You can see yourself- what is the number of active members? Probably less than 10. I know there are many readers out here but less participants. I guess this is normal. Mashallah there are generous members have have taken control of financial matters, whose names you see in orange. Probably we should work on increasing online population and participation. Once it matures, then we can make chapters.

Regards.

Farooq Sb, I agree that there are more readers than active participants but it will remain constant with or without chapters.. In my opinion we can start with chapters thing and gradually and slowly it should mature.. No doubt senior members have been very kind and generous to take control of financial requirements of maintaining and hosting this website, having chapters should further strengthen the forum than otherwise. Moreover, having chapters should facilitate in increasing the online population and participation as the chapters gatherings and activities will attract more people around who are not frequent users of internet and thus this forum.

[Farhan Ahmed]

Members........please file here for your nomination & participation in city wise chapters.....

Lets keep it broad initially........

Karachi Chapter
Islamabad/Rawalpindi Chapter
Lahore Chapter
Peshawar Chapter

Though i am located a little far but i will try to be part of Islamabad chapter.

[jdashraf]

@Ashraf Sb.............Very thoughtful, nicely composed and infact a very good suggestion if it materializes. However, i would say that Farooq Sb stole my opinion on the issue. Unless people are active on virtual groups, how can they be active on practical groups. This calls for more participation by all members.

We are trying whatever we can like seed bank, photo competition, valuable Books and seed purchases etc

For the City wise groups to be more active(at least virtually) i would request Admins for grant of additional permissions to Mods, if possible. Then i will be able to assess if something can be done.

Members are already arranged in a group city wise. Like Karachi members are already listed in group called Karachi. However the fact is that this grouping does not have value in terms of activity or anything else on forum discussions etc.

We do have informal groups, like Lahorites are carrying out almost all the activities that you listed. The reason is we have more active members from Lahore. Its just the matter of mobilizing people atleast from big cities such as Rawalpindi & Karachi to start with.

Its a very good idea, if some member visits a garden of fellow member and showcase that garden on the forum, like what was his experience.

Farhan bro. Thx for detailed analysis of my suggestion..
For Forum Admins: can we have facility like initiating Events and invite forum members (chapter members to be exact..) on this forum page with dates and times, like we have it on facebook?? that will be very interesting and useful, isn't it? One thing we have to understand is that having chapters is more beneficial to novice/new gardeners than to senior members in terms of learning,etc.. But senior members or more learned gardeners should take pride in helping and guiding novice gardeners, which they are already doing online, anyway... I see more benefits than demerits in this suggestion...

[Farhan Ahmed]

@Jdashraf......i suggest that when we have a list of members for each chapter then the members of that chapter elect their president/organizer themselves, that elected president and the members of that chapter will be responsible for organizing events and other modalities.

[jdashraf]

Members........please file here for your nomination & participation in city wise chapters.....

Lets keep it broad initially........

Karachi Chapter
Islamabad/Rawalpindi Chapter
Lahore Chapter
Peshawar Chapter

Though i am located a little far but i will try to be part of Islamabad chapter.

Please count me in Islamabad /Rawalpindi Chapter ..
Also I volunteer to host first ever meeting of Islamabad/Rawalpindi Chapter over a cup of tea at my place or any other place, if we, some how, manage to proceed with the chapters idea..