Nedanstående är en text avsedd för publicering i bulletin nr 6 i Villach.
Några tillägg:
Antalet registrerade (med betalning) är nu uppe i 98.
De som registrerar sig kan om de vill göra ett frivilligt
bidrag till Masataka Saijos medverkan under EM 2008
(eftersom han nu är pensionerad ger inte Nihon Kiin
längre fullt stöd) och han är så populär att ungefär hälften
av dem som registrerar sig skänker en hundring var.
Det är alltså omkring 5000 kr inne i Saijofonden redan.
Onlineregistreringen bör av allt att döma komma upp mycket
snart, pel jobbar med det. Det skulle ju vara lite ojuste mot de
förhandsanmälda om det mest populära boendet säljs ut
redan under Villach, utan att de förhandsanmälda också fått
chansen att anmäla sig tidigt. Men bortsett från lägenheterna i
Classic Leksand verkar det inte vara någon överhängande
fara att något blir utsålt så snabbt.
Formuleringarna om hur hjälpsamma och konstruktiva
folk är i Leksand syftar, förutom på kommunfullmäktiges
ordförande också på bl.a. kocken på Folkhögskolan,
rektorn på Åkeröskolan, kocken på Gästis restaurangskola,
den datoransvarige på Leksands Gymnasium mfl.
Mycket lovande tror jag är ideerna om att ha vissa sidoevenemang på Folkhögskolan, även med grillpartyn, viltbuffé, nationella festkvällar osv. På Åkeröskolan finns inte bara fina övernattningsmöjligheter, av allt att döma går det också att ordna ungdomsaktiviteter mm i samarbete med rektorn där, och det kan hända att många skolungdomar och deras föräldrar kan hjälpa till med ett antal saker under EM.
mvh
H.
The European Go Congress in Leksand 2008: a status report as of July 2007
Henric Bergsåker and Leif Pettersson
The 52nd European Go Congress will take place in Leksand, Sweden, July 26th – August 9th 2008. The site selection was a long process, which ended happily about a year ago in the choice of Leksand, by Lake Siljan, a pleasant little town in a characteristic part of Sweden, about 3h by car or train from Stockholm. Leksand is well known to nearly 300 players from all over Europe who have already participated in the Leksand Open tournament, which is organised every year since 2001. Nice aspects about Leksand as a congress site are that it is beautifully situated and offers plenty of opportunities for tourism, relaxing vacation and side activities in the surrounding area. The town council has been very helpful and will welcome this event heartily. For instance, we are going have lots of space at our disposal in a couple of schools and other premises belonging to the town. Much of this is enthusiasm is due to the fact that go actually fits well in to the cultural profile of Leksand: the town is twinned with Japanese Tubetsu (Hokkaido) and has an intensive exchange program with Japan, including frequent visits, yearly Japan days in Leksand, teaching of Japanese language in Leksand secondary school, a Japanese garden in Leksand and so on. A Japanese company is also established in nearby Insjön and is already sponsoring the Leksand tournament since many years. So, Leksand wants to build on the Japanese connection during EGC 2008. Obviously we will be wanting to arrange some special things in honour of the Chinese and Korean guests next year as well.
Since last year a lot has been achieved and many important aspects of the organisation are already well in hand. We have recruited a very competent team of organisers, at the moment around 30 people, including a number of experienced Germans, who were involved in the organising of the 2000 EGC in Strausberg. We have made reservations of attractive accommodation at different price levels which can be booked trough us, EGC organisers, with a capacity of more than 600 sleeping places. Additionally, participants who bring their own cars have a very large choice of nice accommodation in the area if they search themselves. In particular there is a wide selection of nice cottages, in group as well as private houses, provided that reservations are made early (have a look at http://www.siljan.se ). We think that we have found good solutions for economic meals and for indoor and outdoor space for social activities. A website with some info has been up for about a year now, but since a few weeks a new site with much more information, maps, photos etc. is up at http://egc2008.eu . To make it convenient to register we are going to allow easy online payment with credit card or bank transfer at the EGC website. Unfortunately the technicalities are not quite ready for that yet, but the online registration will be working very soon. Meanwhile we have been collecting both pre-registrations and proper registrations during the Villach congress. More than 80 people are already fully registered for EGC 2008 and some 150 more pre-registered.
Of course many preparations and much fun work remains for the coming year. Actually we have discovered that local people in Leksand are very helpful, interested and constructive about this project. Preliminary plans for various nice side events are developing, the congress schedule is taking on concrete form and so on. For sure there will be rapid go, pairgo and a nice computer event. Another idea that is being pursued is to have a more or less scientific conference on go history during EGC 2008, a number of potential participants, a university department and possible sponsors have expressed interest. We think that Leksand 2008 will be attractive for families, so we want to provide good facilities for them.
We have not found any new international main sponsor yet, but we have good local support. As we are eager to see Saijo sensei in Leksand 2008, we have started a collection to contribute to the expences, participants can optionally make a small contribution to Saijos participation.