EMEYF Communications Committee

Churchtown Friends Meeting House, Dublin

4-6 March 2005

Present: Paul Sladen, Anneke Spreij, Marielke Nieuwerth, Rachel Bryers.

CC05.01 Welcome

We are pleased to be together again in Dublin, and look forward to having the inspiration and guidance to help us this weekend. We congratulate Anja Nuttin and James O'Regan on their new jobs, which have prevented them being here.

CC05.02 Treasurer's Report

We have heard from Marielke Nieuwerth the status of the 2004 accounts. The UK accounts have been examined by Brian Taylor, and the Brussels accounts have been examined by Xavier Verhaeghe up to 04.12.04. Once our new Secretary has arrived in Brussels we will ask Xavier to examine the accounts to 31.12.04, and will ask Pieter Ketner to examine the consolidated accounts. We approve these examiners of the accounts. There are a number of reasons for the healthy state of the 2004 accounts. Many of the organisations donating money to us have increased their donations, and we have received some back payments from some. The Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust grant has been very welcome. Some items budgeted to be spent in 2004 will be carried over to 2005 and we will clarify the 2005 budget later. We remind people claiming expenses that the claim should be made promptly, preferably at the meeting concerned or within six months, and certainly before the end of the year.

CC05.03 Spring Gathering 2005

We have heard that the Planning Group for Spring Gathering 2005 are concerned that only a small number of participants are expected. We gather that they worked hard on publicity, although it may help in future years to have the application form ready earlier. We have agreed that, if the income from participants does not cover costs for this year's Spring Gathering, the shortfall will be covered by EMEYF funds. If the Russian Young Friend who hopes to attend gets a visa, we agree to cover his travel and participation costs. We will continue to remind people that they can ask for financial help. Anneke Spreij is preparing draft guidelines for future Spring Gathering Planning Groups, and will include some of the financial issues we have discussed. We are confident that Spring Gathering 2005 will be an enjoyable event and send our best wishes to the Planning Group in their final preparations.

CC05.04 Future Spring Gatherings

We have discussed some of the issues surrounding Spring Gathering organisation. For the past few years, numbers of participants have been falling. We wonder whether a change in the dates, length or format of Spring Gathering might better suit the needs of Young Friends in Europe and the Middle East. Anneke and Rachel will draft questionnaires to send out to National Contact People and some Yearly Meetings, to find out some information which might help us to plan future gatherings. We will also ask for feedback through the EMEYF email list.

CC05.05 Outreach

We have discussed the need to involve new generations of Young Friends in EMEYF, and to reach out to others not currently involved. We will attempt to send representatives to a number of Yearly Meetings in 2005. We will try also to maintain or establish contact with Young Friends where no Yearly Meeting exists, and with established Young Friends groups.

We recognise the need to explicitly include the update of mailing lists in the Secretary's job description. Contact lists for participants at all gatherings should be sent to the Secretary to be added to email and postal mailing lists. We feel that this approach is more reliable and inclusive. Information on how to unsubscribe will be regularly distributed to allow those who wish to to remove themselves from the list.

We will ask the Secretary to forward copies of the Outreach leaflet to the World Gathering of Young Friends event, the Quaker Youth Pilgrimage, QCEA and QUNO study tours, and other national Young Friends events, including British and Irish Junior Yearly Meetings, Irish 18+ gathering, German Young Friends gathering, and Russian Young Friends summer gathering.

We feel the need to involve National Contact People more actively in EMEYF. The questionnaire about Spring Gatherings will be an opportunity to ask National Contact People how they see their role, and how they might be more involved. We would remind National Contact People that it is useful for them to let EMEYF know who will take over from them when they retire.

We have agreed that it would be useful to write to all Yearly Meetings annually after Annual Meeting, including the Outreach leaflet and dates for Spring Gathering and Annual Meeting. We will ask the Secretary to do this. Anneke will write to all Yearly Meetings this year.

CC05.06 Dina van Dalfsen legacy

We have discussed the possibility of running a volunteer project on a peace and reconciliation theme in Croatia. We have agreed to discuss with Sue Dixon from Quaker Voluntary Action this idea, and also the possibilities of projects in other countries where there are Young Friends. Options will include using EMEYF funds to subsidise travel and Catchpool funds to subsidise speakers, in addition to the Dina van Dalfsen legacy. Rachel will speak to Sue Dixon and we will bring suggestions to Annual Meeting.

CC05.07 EMEYF Secretary

Our previous Secretary, Sarah Davies, left QCEA during December 2004. Unfortunately, due to visa problems, our new Secretary, Adrian Arroyo has been unable so far to start work at QCEA. If he is able to enter Belgium, Adrian will hopefully be able to start soon after the end of March 2005. We have discussed the implications for EMEYF. Other QCEA staff have access to the Brussels bank account and we will ask them to make any outstanding payments. Articles for the Annual Booklet will be collected by Rachel Bryers, and forwarded to QCEA when ready. If Adrian is unable to enter Belgium, we ask that one of the other QCEA Programme Assistants takes on responsibility for EMEYF. We thank Robin Bloomfield and Martina Weitsch for their help in the meantime, and expect the Secretary's work to be satisfactorily completed with only a small delay.

CC05.08 Under 18s Policy

We have talked about some of the aspects which need to be included in an Under 18s Policy. We realise that this must cover both the participation of 16/17 year olds in gatherings, and the participation of adults bringing their young children. We have agreed that the format should be guidelines for Gatherings Planning Groups, with examples of the policies used in different countries. There should be the recommendation that Planning Groups research the national legal situation if required, and treat each case on an individual basis. Rachel Bryers will collate this information before Annual Meeting 2005.

CC05.09 Budget 2005

We have looked again at the budget for 2005. The budget for the Spring Gathering Planning Group meetings has been doubled, as the Planning Group for Spring Gathering 2005 did not claim their expenses in 2004 for their meeting. EMES has asked that, in view of their increased donation to EMEYF, we use the John Warder Fund only in exceptional circumstances, and instead usually fund participation in Spring Gathering from EMEYF funds. To reflect this, we have removed the budgeted income from the John Warder Fund, and instead increased our budget for Spring Gathering travel reimbursement to €1000. The budget for Communications Committee travel is decreased to €400 since fewer members of CC have been able to attend. We agree to give a one off donation of €2000 to the World Gathering of Young Friends from the reserves which have accumulated over recent years. We note that the full budget for National Contact People's travel to Annual Meeting was not spent in 2004, and we hope that we can encourage more National Contact People to attend Annual Meeting this year. The €1500 budgeted for outreach travel will be used to visit Yearly Meetings. We confirm that €150 is a realistic amount to cover attendance at the European Quaker Peace and Service Consultation.

CC05.10 Annual Report 2004

We have heard the EMEYF Annual Report 2004, which was written by Anneke Spreij. We thank Anneke for stepping in to write this informative report. The report will be printed in the EMES Annual Report 2004 and the EMEYF Annual Booklet 2004. We will also post the report on the email list.

CC05.11 Feedback from Annual Meeting 2004

After Annual Meeting 2004, we received a number of letters which raised issues about the running of the Annual Meeting weekend. The business took much longer than expected, and at times the agenda items were thought to be uninspiring or badly handled. We thank those who raised these concerns and made concrete suggestions as to constructive improvements that can be made. We agree that several aspects of Annual Meeting could have been better. We have had a brainstorm to collect suggestions for action to improve the business, spiritual, social, pastoral and practical aspects of Annual Meeting. We have discussed these in more depth and decided on action which will be tried at Annual Meeting 2005. A report of our considerations will be attached to these minutes. We affirm the value of Annual Meeting in the life of EMEYF. Our vision is that Annual Meeting is a fulfilling and inspiring experience for all who attend. We ask for the support of everyone in EMEYF as we try to realise this goal, and we recognise that we can only achieve it if we work collectively.

CC05.12 World Gathering of Young Friends

The World Gathering of Young Friends will take place in Lancaster, England, in August 2005, before our next EMEYF business session. We would therefore like to take this opportunity to send out greetings and our best wishes to the gathering, to the organisers, to the participants, and to all others who are involved. We are aware of the enormous challenges which still lie ahead, but are confident that the experience will be a powerful one for all those involved. We invite participants to join us at Annual Meeting this year, to share with us some of their feelings, thoughts, and what they have learnt from the experience. We look forward to this opportunity to hear from participants, and our thoughts and blessings are with those involved as August approaches.

CC05.13 Consolidating Treasurer

We have heard from James O'Regan that he is unable to fulfil the role of EMEYF Consolidating Treasurer due to other commitments. Marielke Nieuwerth, our previous treasurer, has been overseeing the accounts, and we thank her for her flexibility in continuing in this role. However, we see the necessity of finding a new Consolidating Treasurer as soon as possible. Therefore, we have considered people who may be willing to be nominated. We have been unable to contact anyone this weekend. In light of our deliberations, we will contact people who we have considered may be able to fulfil the role, and ask them to arrange with Marielke to take over as soon as possible. We will bring this nomination back to Annual Meeting, and ask Annual Meeting to consider confirming the appointment.

CC05.14 Annual Meeting 2005

Annual Meeting will be held at Quaker House, Brussels, from the 30th September to the 2nd October 2005. We encourage Young Friends from across Europe and the Middle East to attend. We hope that National Contact People will appoint alternative national representatives to attend, should they be unable to make it themselves. We look forward to a reinvigorated and inspiring weekend.

CC05.15 Closing Minute

We are grateful for the warm welcome offered to us by Friends from Churchtown Meeting, Dublin. We thank each other for what we feel has been a constructive weekend. We hope that we can apply some of the issues discussed to the life of EMEYF, and look forward to meeting again soon.

Rachel Bryers

Clerk