Grundtvig Programme Meeting & Conference: 5 – 7 March 2010, London
The final meeting of the partners in the Grundtvig Learning Partnership, ‘Strategies for Voluntary Work in Europe’, was held in London.
This event saw the largest gathering of members of all partnership organizations, with a total of around 200 people coming together throughout the weekend. The participants encompassed teachers, learners, volunteers and observers from all across Europe and culminated in a series of sessions on Sunday with experts in many fields leading groups in a wide-ranging number of discussions.
The weekend commenced with a walking tour of the East End of London, focusing on the historical aspects of the immigration of Jews to England from the 11th century onwards.
In the afternoon time was spent discussing the partnership, including updates on the Best Practice projects and developments on working with volunteers within each group. The progress of both the website and the brochure were discussed, with decisions being made on how and where these items would be advanced.
This meeting was followed by a gathering on Friday night of all participants, with a talk by Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg on the future of the Jewish communities across Europe.
On Saturday, small and mainly informal groups consisting of partnership members discussed their involvement in the programme and talked about the benefits of taking part with their partners and others.
A large number of participants came to the sessions on Sunday, which aimed to encompass all aspects of the programme to date. These sessions featured: Dr David Cesarani, Professor at the University of London, who talked about anti-Semitism; Carolyn Bogush, Chair of Volunteer Development for Limmud, and Laura Marks, Founder of Mitzvah Day, who led a session on volunteering in the community; Hagai Segal, Academic and Political Analyst; Barbara Stern and Wanda Tepliski, Directors of Education at NNLS and Kehillat Aviv respectively; Judith Silver, Musician and Teacher, who works with both children and adults; and Rabbi Chaim Weiner, who spoke about developing communities.
Over 30 members of New North London and St Albans Masorti Synagogues worked together on a volunteer basis to both plan the conference and run all the actvities on the day itself. This conference was the largest gathering of the members of the Grundtvig Programme and the event itself was the highpoint in the two years of activity. Participants and volunteers ranged in age from 15 to 70 and all were extremely grateful to the EU Grundtvig Programme for the opportunity to be involved in this event.
