@ last! RHS will use the term ‘email’, 43 years late

AS AN organisation with a 218-year history, the Royal Horticultural Society does not like to rush into things. But the leading gardens charity has finally decided to bow to progress and officially recognise the term ‘email’.

The organisers of the Chelsea Flower Show are planning to update the charter and bylaws that govern their work to include the word – more than 40 years after it was first coined.

The formal document, which was last amended in February 2021, uses the term ‘electronic communication’ as one of the ways members can officially submit important notices.

But in a letter sent to its 500,000 members, RHS president Keith Weed said it was time to update the language and make the document easier to understand. Other proposed changes will allow annual general meetings to take place virtually, and for electronic signatures to be accepted.

Electronic mail has its roots in the 1960s, and the first use of the word ‘email’ found by the Oxford English Dictionary was in 1979 – although editors believe it is older than that.

Changes to the document governing the RHS will be considered at its AGM in June. Members have until April 3 to make their views known, either by post… or email.