Membership

In the last year we have received applications to join EFTRE from organisations in Belgium, the Czech Republic, Italy, Northern Ireland and Scotland. We are in discussion with organisations in Denmark, Ireland and Romania. Some of these represent a significant extension of the type and geographical range of member bodies. We are investigating the possibility of establishing contacts in Portugal, Luxembourg, Greece and Turkey as well as in further countries in Central and Eastern Europe.

We have begun the process of invoicing member bodies for the annual fees as we agreed in Edinburgh.

Legal status

We have investigated the best and easiest way to register EFTRE as a body with legal status. This registration is being established in the Netherlands where our bank account is held.

Brochure

We are grateful to the Dutch RE Teachers' Association for again offering to finance the design and printing of a revised EFTRE brochure. Hans Fijn van Draat is currently working on the design of this. It will be sent to Board members when it is ready.

Conferences

Our review of the Edinburgh conference was extremely positive both as a conference and in its contribution to the growth of EFTRE, which was very significant. We are very grateful to John Stevenson and Agnes Mullen along with the rest of the Scottish team for all the hard work they put into making the conference such a success. The financial outcome was very positive largely through the undercharging of the conference centre!

The original hope that the 2004 conference will be held in the Netherlands has not proved possible, so this meeting of the Board needs to consider urgently an alternative option.

Website

We are again very grateful to Paul Hopkins for the lively and extensive website that he maintains for EFTRE. Its continued relevance depends upon keeping it up to date, particularly in the national reports that Board members are asked to write annually. There is now a new and improved URL:

www.eftre.org - Please publicise this widely in your organisations and publications.

CoGREE activities

The contacts with the other European organisations with an interest in the links between religion and school that make up CoGREE [the Coordinating Group for RE in Europe] have taken up much of our time this year. The policy of working together towards a common understanding about RE, while accepting what is distinctive about each organisation, is bearing fruit. The Consultation held in Vienna in May was a great success; six members of the EFTRE Exec were present. A separate report will be made on this. The publication of the Reader as part of the consultation process has provided a very useful resource. A CDRom with all the proceedings of the conference is in production; its contents will also be put on the CoGREE website [www.cogree.com].

The possibility of a joint conference for all the organisations involved in CoGREE is being investigated to be held possibly in 2005.

Jeremy Taylor - September 2002