Picture posting is enabled for all :)
It's no wonder they drop out. Perhaps we ought to be doing more to help & teach & encourage?
Trevor - what you are doing with the starter plots sounds interesting. I was thinking about how lucy I was to have a mum who a) had a garden and b) was a keen gardener. And I realise I must have learnt lots from her. Which gets me to my point - how do you learn if you don't have experience? I realise there are laods of TV programmes, books and now the internet, but its not the same as actually getting stuck in and digging, sowing seeds etc. So your starter scheme sounds practical to me. Good luck!
Allotment growing is not about strength or working hard or looking cool, it's all about skill, knowledge and an understanding about the environment being worked.
you find your own way
It's very often the people with jobs who find they can't cope with a plot, unfortunately. No need to penalise the ones with time and no money. Uncultivated plots need to be handled on a case by case basis. The unfortunate thing is that it takes a couple of years, or even more, to get rid of them.