Present:
Edward Kettlewell (ARDs 50+ Forum, U.K.), Margaret Kettlewell (ARDs 50+ Forum, U.K.), Tuula Ilvonen (Kiuruvesi, Finland), Ann Marie Homar (Belper 50+ Forum, U.K.), Jackie Cox (Belper 50+ Forum, U.K.), Mariana Rantala (Kiuruvesi, Finland), Leena Leskinen (Kiuruvesi, Finland), Leena Penttinen (Kiuruvesi, Finland), Szabor György (Debrecen, Hungary), Eva Naggné (Debrecen, Hungary), Legoza Judit (Debrecen, Hungary), Borsos Antalné (Debrecen, Hungary), Trevor Steed (ARDs 50+ Forum, U.K.), Jan Colombo (ARDs 50+ Forum U.K.), Mike Smith (Heanor 50+ Forum, U.K.), Ken Tucker (Heanor 50+ Forum, U.K.), Glenys Tucker (Heanor 50+ Forum, U.K.), Tracey Sims (Amber Valley CVS, Ripley, U.K.), Ridie Vos (Amersfoort, The Netherlands), Henri Braakenburg (Amersfoort, The Netherlands), Lenie Nebbeling (Amersfoort, The Netherlands), Coenraad van Baggum (Amersfoort, The Netherlands), Angela Quinn (Amber Valley CVS, Ripley, U.K.)

Agenda:
1.Opening and welcome: Angela Quinn of Amber Valley CVS welcomes all those present and then hands over the chair to Henri Braakenburg, Futeurope project coordinator.

2.Who is who?: Every person present (see above) briefly introduces her/himself.

3.Update report per group:
> Amber Valley, England (U.K.):
> Debrecen, Hungary:
> Kiuruvesi, Finland:
The group has had a meeting every week.
> Amersfoort, The Netherlands:
The group had six meetings since Debrecen. Topics that have been discussed were: evaluation of the Debrecen meeting in October, a lecture held by the chairman of the Amersfoort Advisory Council of the Elderly, the Finnish school system (paper sent by Seppo Kaikkonen, Kiuruvesi), lifelong learning (paper by Johan Riemersma, Amersfoort), the crises and its importance for work, education and retirement, physical training for seniors (request from Amber Valley), preview of the visit to Amber Valley, seniors who want to remain active in the working process (paper by Coenraad van Baggum, Amersfoort).
The chair was shared by the study circle participants: every meeting another group member prepared the agenda and chaired the discussion.
In November most group members participated in a local seminar on care, welfare and education for seniors in Amersfoort, organized by the city council. Two members were invited to join a meeting in Maastricht, organized by the National Agencies of U.K., Flanders (Belgium), Germany and the Netherlands on the new Grundtvig Senior Volunteers Exchange programme (SVP).

4.Website and forums: The website and the forums are meant as very important tools for communication for the study circle groups in between the exchange visits. The website is also the Futeurope ‘business card’ to the outside world. It is therefore important that these tools work without too many complications. Those who still face problems when they try to get logged in to the website should inform their local coordinator who in turn may contact the project coordinator or the webmaster directly. Some changes in the home page in order to simplify its use (less categories and headings) will be implemented by the webmaster in the near future.
All study circle groups are invited to intensify their use of the forum pages - both the national one and the general forum in English. One should send a message to the project coordinator if any problems occur.

5.Good practice guide and hand out: This publication is meant to serve as a guidebook for those outside Futeurope who would like to start up a study circle on their own and as a ‘book of reference’ for those who want to know more about Futeurope, its participants and its results. It will consist of three parts: Part I will be a methodical description of the Futeurope study circle, Part II will give a summary of topics that were discussed while in Part III one will find information about the Futeurope participants, the exchange visits and some relevant, short articles.
Trevor and Jan have already started building a framework in order to make a comparison between the four countries on various aspects of importance for senior citizens. Each local coordinator has received a copy of the framework on disc. Once completed the framework or table can be incorporated in the Part II of the guide book. To get all the data needed plus a text the local coordinators have each chosen two aspects to be further elaborated by the groups (this was done in the coordinators meeting):

FIN:
values and norms
health & wellbeing
HU:
mobility, transport for seniors
seniors as volunteers
NL:
retirement (age, conditions, allowances, etc.)
education & learning for/of senior citizens
UK:
housing for seniors
care & care provisions for seniors (family support, home help, care homes, nursery homes, etc.)

It is hoped that the groups agree with this division. Per aspect or theme 1 - 1,5 pages of text would be appropriate. This means that summaries rather than extensive papers are needed. At the end of Part II we will then insert the ’spreadsheet’ made by Trevor and Jan.
To fill in Part III a digital portrait picture plus a very brief CV will be welcomed from each study circle participant. Participants are also requested to briefly comment on their visits to the other study circles and to send in illustrative pictures.

6.The meeting in Amersfoort: The duration of the meeting will be three days (June 2 - June 6). The programme will consist of visits to some care institutions for seniors, a seniors housing community, some (short) lectures and a seminar on ‘education by and for senior citizens’ on Friday, June 5. Touristic elements will not be forgotten.
It is important that the organizers know how many persons from each study circle will join the meeting in Amersfoort soon and whether they would like to stay in private homes (with Amersfoort study circle members) or in a hotel. The local coordinators are requested to send this information to Amersfoort as soon as possible.
Intermezzo:
It was decided that item 7 was to be discussed in the afternoon at the The Glebe Community Centre (see underneath). The chairman therefore closed the morning session of the meeting at 11.15 hrs, with thanks to the local organizers and the care takers of the Church hall for their hospitality.

7.Discussion: The topic ‘Seniors who want to remain active in the working process’, a paper by Coenraad van Baggum, was discussed in the afternoon at the The Glebe Community Centre in Crich. To focus the discussion Coenraad had drawn up some theses. During the discussion, which was chaired by the project coordinator, it became apparent that not one answer would be satisfactory for all: there were different points of view, depending on country, position of the speaker, personal circumstances and experiences, thus leading to different conclusions or no conclusion at all.
It was therefore agreed that ‘(the age of) retirement’ will be one of the aspects which will be worked out in more detail for the guide book (see under 5 above).

8.Closure: The chairman closed the meeting around 16.15 hrs. with thanks to everyone for the contributions made to the discussion and to the other items on the agenda.

Amersfoort, April 2nd 2009 / Henri Braakenburg