Does Your Role Have a Goal

When I was a young thing my boss took me to the Groucho Club and asked me about my five year plan. Huh? Where did I want to be in five years. Did I want her job, or what? It was a very nice lunch but I didn't know what she was talking about.

A little more ambition would have been helpful. Now if there are ever any work perks I try to look beyond the venue and food but not the conversation: that is the important part. Driving 144 miles to spend an hour at Le Manoir Aux Quat' Saisons wasn't about the Zen-like effect of French luxury but to see what The English Garden magazine had to say about The English Garden Future Fund.

And it is a good story. A grateful reader left them "a considerable sum" in her will and the magazine is sharing it as a bursary every year. There will be up to £5,000 for somebody with a PLAN. An imaginative, horticultural idea. Have you got that?  

The winsome voice of Chris Beardshaw talks you through the Future Fund in this short film. Towards the end of the rhyming pentameters (yes it's a poem) you'll want to catch the lines about "goals" and "roles". It could be life-changing.

Entries are being accepted until the end of November.