European Board of Directors has met in Cavtat/Croatia

Cavtat.preview (1).jpg

This year’s Board of Directors (BOD) meeting of the European Branch of the International Life Saving Federation was held once again in Cavtat, close to Dubrovnik in Croatia from April 18th to 20th. The last BOD-meeting in Croatia took place in 2001; last year’s BOD-meeting took place in Belgrade, Serbia and in 2009, the BOD will meet in Cyprus. Great thanks have to be given to our Croatian Full Member for all preparatory work before and the efforts and hospitality during the meeting.


This year’s Board of Directors (BOD) meeting of the European Branch of the International Life Saving Federation was held once again in Cavtat, close to Dubrovnik in Croatia from April 18th to 20th. The last BOD-meeting in Croatia took place in 2001; last year’s BOD-meeting took place in Belgrade, Serbia and in 2009, the BOD will meet in Cyprus. Great thanks have to be given to our Croatian Full Member for all preparatory work before and the efforts and hospitality during the meeting.

The President Dr. Klaus Wilkens (Germany), the Vice Presidents Bertil Werner (Sweden), Frank Nolan (Ireland) and Jerzy Telak (Poland) as well as the Secretary General Dr. Dirk Bissinger (Germany) and the present Directors and Observers from all over Europe could run an efficient and productive meeting, including the preparation of this year’s General Assembly later this year in Berlin (Germany). Observers from Bosnia-Herzegowina, Montenegro and Slovenia took the chance for personal meetings with the President and Board Members.

After the Commission Meeting in January this year, each Commission presented an activity report resulting in several applications from Education, Rescue, Sport and Management and Administration Commission where discussed and decided to enhance the work and mission of ILSE: The Education Commission chaired by Gerald Innerwinkler (Austria) continues to harmonise training and education throughout Europe, e.g. towing techniques, the Rescue Commission chaired by Martin O’Sullivan (Ireland) is enhancing the Risk Assessment system for a higher level of Beach Safety after the good experiences in the last years and discussed a standardised approach for training of Lifeguards, the Sport Commission chaired by Bob Dekkers (The Netherlands) organised upcoming events like 2009 European Lifesaving Championships and European Junior Lifesaving Championships whereas the Management and Administration Commission led by Di Standley (United Kingdom) presented several applications to help young and smaller Associations to become completely self-sustainable.

Furthermore some amendments to the Bye-laws were proposed to be implemented at the General Assembly in Berlin and the Development Advisor of ILSE, Helmut Stöhr (Germany) presented the successful projects and measures which took place in 2007 and also informed on running projects and courses to be held in 2008. Altogether, much work was done to promote Water Safety in Europe!

The official meeting was finalised by a wonderful dinner with traditional Croation food on Saturday evening, followed by a visit to the beautiful town centre of Dubrovnik on Sunday.