3rd Annual Conference, 27th September 2003

This years conference, which incidentally, was my first completed with great success. I did not know what to expect from it, or whether I would find it any use. As it turns out, however, I found it both informative, and of practical benefit.

What surprised me the most, was the amount of people who turned up for it. While I was expecting maybe 80 or so, without actually having carried out a head count, I would estimate that the figure was in the low hundreds.

Even more surprising though, is the split between men and women. Conservatively, I would estimate that the women accounted for perhaps 70% of the audience. This, I did not expect, and from the few that I spoke to, it would seem that most were there supporting their husbands/boyfriends/fathers/sons etc.

As to the speakers, without exception, they all spoke at great length about their particular area of expertise, be it from the judicial perspective, the parliamentary perspective, ot the journalistic perspective. All seemed to be well informed and researched, and what is more, every one of them appeared to be truly concerned about the level of false accusations that abound in today's "therapeutic society". (I make no claim to this terminology, it was used during the debate by members of the conference).

So my overall impressions are that a good day was had by all, we were entertained by well thought out and presented speeches, and some lively debate. I would recommend anyone to go to the next conference, whether they are directly affected by the subject or not. My only worry is, that so successfull will the campaign to have wrongs righted become, that the conference may well outgrow the venue. In some ways, I hope that does become the case, as the more people on board, the better.

Over the coming days, I hope to get a transcript, albeit a shortened one, of the conference contents for those who could not make it this year. I will hopefully include all the salient points. So please bare with me while this process is undertaken.

Mark Newby, from The Historical Abuse Appeal Panel gave a  speech which  can be seen ---> HERE

Speech fron Ivan Geffen, Falsely accused because he dared stand up to 'the establishment?' ---> HERE

Unfortunately, the speech by Claire Curtis-Thomas MP had no notes, Claire has been kind enough to give her permission to allow the addition to the site of a letter that she origionally drafted for FACTION, December 2003 edition. To view it, click HERE <-----