PLUS
Encyclopedia : P : PL : PLU : PLUS
PLUS is the new name for the UK Organisation known until recently as Eighteen Plus. It is a social, sporting and leisure organisation for 18 to 35 year olds which is run by its members for its members. The national organisation is known as the National Federation of Plus Areas, which comprises six Areas - East Anglia, London & South East, North Thames & Chiltern, Southern, Midlands, and Northern Area. The Areas themselves comprise countless local groups. There are currently more than 600 members nationwide.
History
1934 - a report on the leisure time activities of the 14-18 age range, who were unemployed, happened to spot the high rate of unemployment in the 18-21 range.The History of 18 Plus, http://www.18plus.org.uk/history/history.htm1935 - the Carnegie Trust decided to spend £2000 on a three-year enquiry into the lives of these men.ibid.
1939 - the report of the Carnegie Trust's enquiry - entitled Disinherited Youth was published. One of the recommendations of the report was that mixed clubs should be set up to cater for them and that members should have a chance to plan their own activities.ibid.
1940 - Having read the report, the National Association of Girls' Clubs and the British Association of Residential Settlements decided, in December 1940, to try and set up some '18 Plus' groups and a council was formed. The inaugural chairman was one Dr John Nicholson.ibid.
1947 - At Dr Nicholson's instance, the national chairmanship was taken up by an Eighteen Plus member instead of one of the founding trustees. Since then the organisation has been run by its own members. Also in 1947, the Carnegie Trust granted the fledgling organisation £1500 to enable the appointment of a full-time organiser.ibid.
1954 - An Eighteen Plus group was formed in South London. From this point on, there was a marked expansion in the organisation. Prior to this, Eighteen Plus had mainly been a debating society and nothing else. It was also at about this time that group programmes started changing. However, from this time on, evenings became more informative than educational. Debates still played their part in a programme but items such as mock trials, quizzes, panel games and socials appeared more and more frequently.ibid.
1969 - the Federation reached (what was then) a peak of almost 8000 members and 180 Groups.ibid.
1979 - by now the Federation had purchased its own headquarters. It had approximately 10000 members in 250 groups. This turned out to be something of a high-water mark. Previously, 18 Plus had been one of the suppliers of social events such as dances, discos etc for young people. However, the growth of commercial ventures such as night-clubs meant that 18 Plus found itself in competition. Inevitably membership numbers started to decline.
1984 - the number of members had by now declined to 7000, although the number of groups was 242.ibid.
Recent Developments
Between 1984 and 2006, although there was much innovation in the quality of 18 Plus events, there was still a shrinking in the total number of members of the organisation. This shrinkage eventually reached the point where the annual operating costs exceeded the total income from its members. There was a powerful movement for restructuring of the Federation, which was finally fulfilled in 2006. The organisation adopted a new constitution, based upon the idea that the Areas would be responsible for the day to day running, and organising major events. At the same time, the name was changed to "PLUS", in order to facilitate a new marketing campaign, and measures were taken to make use of the internet as a marketing tool.PLUS Today
Total membership appears to have stabilised at around 600, and appears to be increasing once more. This would appear to be the result of the canny use of internet marketing. PLUS runs a number of greatly attended events such as annual national holidays in Hunstanton and Weston-Super-Mare, as well as numerous other local events on a weekly basis.External links
- [The website of the National Federation of Plus Areas]
- [The website of Thurrock Plus]
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.