The last weekend in January the board visited the conference place, Leuenberg, with the arranging committe and discussed the arrangements of the conference. The board also had a separate board meeting to prepare the upcoming AGM and discuss several other matters. Attached is a table with the status of the board’s work.

The board sees a need for "professionalizing" the Forum work and the "handover" of tasks / jobs within the organisation. We would like to ensure that new board members will get the information they need for doing their work. It is a waste of time and capacity when each new board member has to "invent the wheel" instead of continuing where the last one left off and learn from former experience. The same goes for the arranging committees of future conferences and for people taking on other jobs. Rosemary and Randi have tried to gather / work out / structure some material for this, and the board will meet in Basel already on the Tuesday before the conference to put together different portfolios for board members, AGM Chair persons and conference arranging committees. The portfolios are meant to be used as tools / handbooks to guide people who take on new tasks and are to be handed on when the job is done. We will also start gathering AGM-decisions which should be remembered for the future.

It’s been 20 years! Since the "Forum founders" met in Paris in 1982 with 16 people from 7 groups from 5 countries! We’ve grown to 32 groups from 13 countries. We’ve been to Strasbourg, Amsterdam, Antwerpen, Oslo, Frankfurt, London, Torino, Driebergen, Zurich, Höör, Bratislava, Toulouse, Wien, Edinburgh and Warsaw. Now it’s time for Basel! It is worth celebrating! The jubilee will be marked at the Friday service and reception "down town" and with a couple of short speaches "looking" backwards and forewards during the Saturday dinner.

Now the board would like to challenge you to help us mark the event: 20^th anniversary is called china anniversary, - which could give associations to the far East or simply to exquisite dinner equipment... ;-) Let your mind play freely with the thought. Maybe you come up with ideas for something small at the Country market on Thursday evening or during the Saturday partytime?!

Please, coordinate with the arranging committee in Basel (Ewald)! Maybe you will surprise yourselves and the rest of us!

Rosemary would like to remind you to pay your group‘s annual fee!

In January, Norwegian Finance Minister Per-Kristian Foss made history by becoming the first openly gay married man to lead a nation’s government, - being installed as Norway’s acting prime minister because both the prime minister and the foreign minister were travelling abroad!