The British Cactus and Succulent Society is made up completely of volunteers. We are all just plant enthusiasts, each helping out in different ways to keep our community going.
The Society is looking for new volunteers to help with the following tasks. Can you help? If so, please write to the Secretary. There is no remuneration involved I’m afraid, other than expenses where relevant, but you can help shape the future of the Society and it is (usually) fun! None of us work in isolation; we all work together.
Trustees
We are in desperate need of more Trustees, there being only 5 at the present time. Ideally there should be 9 to make individual workloads lighter. We currently meet monthly by zoom as the workload is heavy, so no travelling is required. If any member feels they would like to be involved in the successful running of the Society for its members please let us know.
Journals Librarian
The journals library consists of journal publications from cactus and succulent societies worldwide, dating back to the 1930s and even further in some cases. Some sets of hardbound books are also included. It is a fascinating collection − a succulentophile’s dream! The quantity amounts to around eight IKEA “Billy” bookcases.
The tasks involved in the library’s upkeep are minimal now that it is organised. The journals are sorted by publication and chronologically. The job involves placing new editions that are sent directly to the librarian into the appropriate boxes and scanning and emailing (or copying and posting) any pages/extracts that any researchers request; in practice this amounts to only two or three times a year.
The librarian can claim any expenses from the Society and also the Society can provide a small annual sum to cover storage and heating costs.
There is currently no digital material but the Society is hoping to develop this side of the library in due course.
If you have some spare floorspace and would like to take over the librarianship, please write to the Society’s Secretary, at .
Journal Advertising Officer
This role involves maintaining contact with current advertisers, including reciprocal advertisers, seeking new and updated adverts from them, and seeking new advertisers for plants and services of interest to BCSS Members. It also involves administration including receiving, banking and accounting for payments for advertisements, though most payments will be online. The position may also involve, by agreement, laying out advertisements in a format suitable for publication in CactusWorld. For further information and to express interest, please contact the CactusWorld Editor.
Events Officer
The Events Officer looks after the listings of meetings and events on the main BCSS website, as well as a small number of Branch websites, and helps the Marketing Officer with publicity for major events. They liaise with Branches, and take part in discussions of major BCSS events when these are in the planning stage. This role would suit someone who has some artistic or design flair and knows their way around WordPress.
Forum Administrator
The Society has a long-running online Forum, which has many thousands of posts and pictures going back 20 years or more. There are over a thousand active Forum members and it is a superb repository of information about our plants. We are in the early stages of moving to new software and a new server, and once we have this up and running we will need an Administrator to oversee the running of it, liaise with the Forum Moderators and the Marketing Officer, and be part of our team. It’s not an onerous task: the Administrator approves new Forum members, removes those that want to be removed, does occasional backups and a small amount of routine maintenance, keeps an eye on everything running smoothly, and makes announcements where required.
eNews Editorial Assistant
Our very popular free online newsletter, eNews, goes out to all corners of the world and is read by many more people than we have in our Membership. The Editor of eNews does a superb job but it is quite a lot of work. We need an Assistant to help with various tasks.
I.T. Committee Secretary
The I.T. Committee oversees all of the online activity of the Society, and at present a lot is happening to improve this. We need someone with a logical and organised frame of mind to help keep the cogs running, by acting as a liaison between the committee members, make sure everyone is working on the same page, organising quarterly Zoom meetings, and producing agendas and minutes. And of course, contributing to the discussions.
Shows Committee Members
The Shows Committee needs ideally three more members. There is a National Show coming up in 2026 and this needs careful planning and people to help are vital. Even if you do not have Judging experience, please considering offering to help.
Events Committee Members
A lesson that we learned from the National Plant Sale in 2024 is that the Society needs a dedicated team to oversee and organise Events which are not specifically Plant Shows. A brand new Events Committee has therefore been formed, but needs two more members. If you like organising events, please get in touch!
Website Content Editors
The BCSS Website presents an opportunity to develop new facilities for Members and we could do so much more with it. We are presently in the process of moving all of our online systems onto better and faster servers, and this will include improving the infrastructure and the bare bones of the website. We have new initiatives, but at present, nobody to run them! These include:
The History of the Society Timeline (would suit someone who enjoys researching and trawling through archives to find interesting information)
The News from the Scientists (would suit someone with a background in science, who can find papers in peer-reviewed journals that might be interesting for non-scientific members).
Cultivation Notes Assistant
The CactusWorld Editor is looking for an outgoing individual to contact plant growers in person, by email or via social media to source text and photos for the Cultivation Inserts that appear with each issue, and to maintain the corresponding Cultivation Notes pages on the website. This is an admin role and all editing of the material will be done by the CactusWorld team. Please write to the CactusWorld Editor for this position.
Regional Websites Organiser
Following the demise of the Zone system, Branches are now free to form “Regions” with whichever Branches that want to be associated together. We need someone with WordPress experience, and an outgoing nature, to take over the “Regions” website which is in production, and the websites created for each new Region, and make sure that the Regional Representatives can get help when they need it.
Deputy Shop Manager
Our web shop is very successful and sells a range of journals and books, seeds, and miscellaneous items. In order to reduce the workload as well as to expand the facilities offered, we need someone to help out with various tasks, and can take over the shop when needs be. This would suit someone with some retail experience and who has a basic knowledge of the way WordPress works.