The 37th Annual Congress of AVEF, held at CID, Deauville, Normandy, October 22-24th 2009

As always this year`s AVEF annual conference was friendly and informative. The vast majority of scientific material was presented in French by francophones but there were a few invited foreign speakers which included WEVA Past Presidents Bailey and Leadon. The meeting was held in the Centre International de Deauville which is a modern complex just on the beach in the elegant Normandy town of Deauville.

As WEVA President I was allowed the opportunity of addressing their General Assembly and presented a brief slide show of WEVA`s current activities including a trailer for the next Congress in Hyderabad, India, in 2011.

AVEF continues to be one of WEVA`s greatest supporters and I hope to be able to attend again next year when the meeting will be held in Bordeaux. I believe that it is essential for us to maintain the closest possible relationship with our major national associations to ensure their continued support which is so necessary for WEVA to remain effective.

I am very grateful to the kindness of the AVEF Comite d`Organisation and in particular to its President, Jean-Yves Gauchot, Vice-president, Richard Corde and to Anne Courouce who was chairwoman of the Comite Scientifique.

Tim Greet