ENDPEACE - Phil Rimmer

I've now taken part in three of the International Conferences - in the Netherlands and Belgium as a participant and in the UK as a member of the organising committee. I've learned something new at each conference and always come away reinvigorated and with my enthusiasm, if not my body, refreshed.

As an international movement we are still young and small. In comparative terms none of our national groups is large, some are tiny. For these reasons the fact that each international conference actually takes place every two years is a small miracle. For these same reasons the conferences are an important part of our collective support system, and a constant re-affirmation that we are not alone.

However, these conferences are very expensive and involve an awful lot of hard work over a two year period - I can say this with a clear conscience because the other members of the group did most of the hard work. Once we've been to India and the USA most groups will have organised the conference - then it's back to Germany again? Cue mass fainting fit amongst our German friends! From this point onwards we ought to be aware of the pressure we are placing on the organising campaigns and be willing to move towards having conferences less often - once every three years?