In mid-May the Executive Committee had the chance to meet in the Turku Christian Institute where our meeting will take place next year. The theme of the meeting will be “Living in the Borderlands”, reflecting the Finnish experience between and with both east and west.

Although it may seem a while off yet, we would like to invite you to think of applying already for the meeting. You can follow the link to the application form.

The location is excellent. Although only a few kilometres from Turku, it has a wood at the back, with a cross-country ski track, if there’s enough snow. The rooms are comfortable and all en-suite. The food is excellent and healthy. We were made to feel very welcome and at the moment we are the only group who will be in the place at that time. But even when we were there and it was full, it felt very spacious and quiet, and we will be able to eat in our own dining room.
There are lifts so no problems with stairs, and some rooms are on the ground floor. The total cost will be €250 for a single room and €200 per person for a double room. There are 36 single rooms and 14 doubles.

It is possible to fly into Turku from Helsinki, or from Copenhagen. However, it may prove much cheaper for you to fly just to Helsinki. If there is sufficient interest, we are ready to hire a bus to take you to and from Helsinki airport. However, please be aware that it takes at least two hours from Helsinki to Turku. On Wednesday 24th February we would need to leave the airport by 15:00, and the bus returning would not get to the airport on Monday 1st March until 10:00 (so probably no flights before 11:00 at the earliest). We expect the bus to be no more than €20 for a return ticket (€10 each way). One other possibility for flying, at least from the UK, is from Stansted to Tampere. Our friends in Tampere would be willing to meet people there and travel on with them by train or otherwise – again it’s about a two-hour journey to Turku.

If all that information hasn’t totally exhausted you, do please try and sign up for the meeting by the end of June. We are making sure that you as a member get the first opportunity.
At the end of June we will mail other people on our list to invite them to participate, but it would be good to know by that stage how many members we can expect. And take an initial look at any rate to see how you think you are likely to come, and let us know if you would like us to organise a coach.

We hope that you will be able to make it to the meeting. It promises to be another wonderful experience, and I know that, even if it’s cold outside, we will be assured of an extremely warm welcome from our friends in Finland, enough to brighten the greyest February day!

If you have any further questions, please contact me at secretary@sd-europe.org and I will do my best to help you.

Application form for the SD-Europe Meeting in 2010 in Turku.