This is the first Newsletter and we are going to try to keep it short, but there are some important issues so do click on the links and find out what is going on. We intend to produce a longer newsletter at the end of the season where a report on the European WWOOF conference and the UK WWOOF meetings will also be included. So any contributions to the newsletter - WWOOFer stories and Host stories alike - will be much appreciated!!!
In the beginnning........
After being asked to set up WWOOF Ireland by WWOOF Independents and other WWOOF groups worldwide, I initially sent out a message to the existing WWOOF Independent hosts in October last year with several proposals for how the new WWOOF Ireland should be formulated. I had been very fortunate to be contacted by Peter Clarke earlier in the year and to have him on board to design and manage the website, so I want to say a big thank you to him for all the hard work and for creating such a wonderful and easy to use site – many of you have commented on that!
We have had quite a lot of positive feedback about the site and the organisation of WWOOF in Ireland and have been working behind the scenes to put some of your suggestions and the initial proposals into place.
Progress on proposals......
Two of the initial proposals have transpired, we do have some hosts in Northern Ireland (although not all of them have completed their details on the site yet!) and we have just implemented a 'feedback' system on the site. Some of the hosts have been helping with a test run of this, thank you for your help.
This is for WWOOFers to feedback on hosts, and we have investigated having a feedback for hosts on WWOOFers, but as most WWOOFers are only with us for one season, it has been decided that there is little point. What we do want to encourage though, is contact from hosts if there are problems with WWOOFers, or if they are so exceptional that you would like them to know you think so more publicly!!
We do have a complaints procedure in operation, and this is based around the WWOOFer commitment and the WWOOF host commitment (these are available on the 'How to be a...' page). So far very few complaints, especially considering how many WWOOFers we have on our list! But please, any problems do get in touch, don't keep it to yourself.
The next step........
With the number of WWOOFers we now have on the site we have been kept very busy, and so my plans for a consultation process with hosts has gone on hold until things quieten down for the winter! So come the shorter days I will be contacting people to try to arrange visits and meetings so that everyone can contribute to the way forward and we can make more personal contact between hosts, something I know several of you have thought is a good idea.
In the meantime we are trying to stimulate more members in areas where they are very sparse, and will keep you posted regarding this.
In all so far WWOOF Ireland is being a tremendous success, we want to thank everyone for their supportive comments and for using the forum and the noticeboard on the website. Now that we have a feedback system, WWOOFers are encouraged to use that and do keep us informed as to how your WWOOFing experiences as hosts and WWOOFers are going!
Annie WWOOF Ireland team