Lund: 5th October 2002

This year our meeting was hosted by Sweden, in the town of Lund.
The event was wonderfully organised by Nita Lorimer and her husband Stefan, and took place in a day centre which cares for, treats, and entertains children who are suffering from any kind of physical or mental impairment.
Before the meeting started, we were given a guided tour around this centre, followed by a talk from two of its administrators. This was all so enlightening that the majority of us present were both surprised and amazed, to witness such a wonderful spirit of care in the community, which is provided in Sweden as a basic human right.
The facilities provided by the Swedes for such children are a revelation to behold. The whole experience is no less than inspiring. Not only because of the national attitude towards the less able in society, which results in such a marvellous Welfare State, but also on a much more basic, grass-roots level, with the absolute professionalism and dedication of the teams of workers involved.
Sweden is renowned for having one of the highest tax rates in Europe, but surely, this is what taxes should be for? And out of this general sharing of the ‘burden’ has evolved a much more caring and nurturing society. A marvellous lesson to us all.

The meeting itself was well-attended, although we had to make-do without our Secretary Paul Pyck from Belgium, as he had a nasty accident just a few days previously, which prevented his attendance. He was sadly missed. However, we did have the opportunity to welcome a new member to the FEWS community, for Germany’s Horst Romm has joined us, and is already showing great enthusiasm to get active. 
We also had a change of representatives from Italy and Norway too. Jose-Luis Gotor from Italy, and Arne Fedje from Norway both joined us, and are most welcome.

Those present:
Jose Maria Delgado [Spain]
Jose-Luis Gotor [Italy]
Horst Romm [Germany]
Gabor Pogany [Hungary]
Arne Fedje [Norway]
Ann Breen [Ireland]
Nita Lorimer [Sweden]
Suzy Cooper Morgan [UK]
The main items on the Agenda were follow-up discussions and presentations on getting started as proactive charity. How to become a force to be reckoned with in the international community.

Topics:
Legal status
Research and scientific co-ordination
Fund-raising
Publicity and awareness
Publications
Communications/website
Camps and holidays
Membership and financial awareness

This meeting was extremely fruitful, with all member states having positive and useful contributions to make, and therefore we all came away with the feeling that we had made some real headway towards achieving some of our goals. See the Minutes of this meeting.

The next meeting is planned for 4th November 2003, in Budapest.

Suzy Cooper Morgan, Chairperson