[Radio Wrangler]

People's attitudes to hobbies and interests have been changing. People in the younger age groups are less likely to take a long-term interest. They try things and move on to other things. What may be a lifetime's interest to us is a passing novelty to most of them. It looks like channel-hopping through life.

There are some interests with seemingly no problem in attracting younger members.

I have another hobby. It uses technology much older than vintage radios and it still has a steady influx of young people. I'm a horse rider.

All over Britain, there are riding clubs and branches of the pony pony club. This isn't something confined to the South East corner or near major conurbations. Clubs are organising meetings, shows, tuition. There's usually something on most weekends throughout spring, summer, autumn, wherever you are.

On top of this, there are commercial riding schools all over the place. People who don't own their own horses can go and ride by the hour. There are holiday firms offering horse-back breaks in scenic areas.

As you drive around, notice the number of fields with horses in them. This is a very old interest and it's thriving. It grew a lot along with the growth in leisure time and disposable income through the sixties, seventies and eighties. It boomed, but it hasn't unboomed.

It isn't just kids, at a friend's riding school there are plenty of young and middle-aged adults taking it up as well as a gang in their sixties and seventies.

This isn't an easy hobby to take up. It's reputed to be very expensive. If you ride at a school, figure on £25-30 per hour. If you go the whole hog figure in the cost of a smallholding versus your current house and add in a 4x4 and trailer or a 7.5 tonner, then there's feed, vet bills etc.

Pre-war tellies and high-end boutique hifi look cheap now?

But there are more obstacles. When you start riding, it's scary. You're not really in control and you're stressing rarely used muscles. It's uncomfortable. It takes a fair amount of practice before you start to feel comfortable both mentally and physically. Kids don't think of danger. Adults read that it's rated (RoSPA) the second most dangerous sport or pastime in the UK. That ought to put their age group off, but it doesn't. It takes positive effort and serious perseverance to get going.

Schools push kids into football, running, athletics, cricket, hockey. Not riding.

It happens because horses and are cute and friendly. They're big enough and strong enough to be very intimidating, but they're friendly. People of all ages are attracted to pets. Look at the occasional threads on here about new cats and the anguish of losing one.

Horses are visible. You see them out and about. You see them being ridden and the riders must enjoy it, or you wouldn't see them riding.

Restoring radios, doing amateur radio etc are done in private, out of the public view. They're not things Joe Public will stumble across. If they do think of it, it looks too technical to many.
Having a private museum seems much odder than sitting atop a powerful animal.

Aviation is a technical hobby. Famously expensive, famously demanding on skill and knowledge. No shortage of young people wanting to do it.

In terms of vintage electronics, I find that my old radios don't grab much attention. The new all-singing all-dancing Icom gets more of a look, but it's the sound from the hifi which rivets them. In this age of shrinking speakers in tiddy little sound-bars, just what can be done has the surprise factor.

Just changing a name won't have any more effect than rearranging the deck chairs on the titanic. What's needed are some large steel plates and a welder!

David