My third year as Great Britain’s representative on the European Forum was the first in which I did not have the responsibility of chairing the committee. I have passed on the gavel to Elisabeth Stärner from Sweden who is doing a brilliant job. We had already had a virtual meeting via Skype before we met together.
Our meeting took place in Rastede, Germany – a small, very pretty town somewhere between Bremen and Hamburg. Daniela von Essen, our German representative, had kindly organised accommodation for each of the members, as well as the location of our meeting.
Back row: Ria Logtenberg (The Netherlands), Daniela von Essen (Germany)
Middle row: Terttu-Triin Tomusk (Estonia), Helga Magnea Steinsson (Iceland), Elisabeth Stärner (Sweden – Chair), Iida Hyvönen (Finland)
Front row: Barbara Carlsen (Norway), Kathrin Hodgson (Great Britain)
The journey was long but interesting; I flew from Gatwick to Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, and caught a train from there to Groningen in the Netherlands. What an amazing way to access the station platforms from the airport – each had a lift from within the airport to the required platform – I’ve never seen anything like it – how efficient! In Groningen, I was met by Ria Logtenberg, the Dutch member, and we completed the trip in her car – a further hour or so. The weather was glorious – dry and crisp – and we arrived on time and, certainly in my case, quite refreshed.
Our new Regional Director, Ingibjörg Jónasdóttir, joined us for the meeting. We gathered together in Daniela’s home for a meal and to begin work on what was an extensive agenda. We discussed the nominations for the European Achievement Award in preparation for a more thorough look and decision the following day. There were not nominations from all of the European countries, and it was suggested that all new State Presidents should be reminded of the deadline, during their training, for nominations by 15th October of even numbered years.
The bulk of our work took place on the Saturday at Sportforum VfL, Rastede. It was a very long day, but we made good progress and the most important information to report includes the following:
The next meeting of the Forum Committee will take place on the weekend of 1-3 November in Tallinn.
Kathrin Hodgson (European Forum Member)