Our membership is ageing. I have been involved with Friendship Force for 22 years. When I first joined our children were 9 and 10. There weren't the opportunities for travel then, the cost has come down so much. Some of our members aren't really up to the long hauls and we aren't getting as many younger members coming through. I can understand it. My daughter is 30 now and I know what a busy, stressful life she has. It just isn't possible for people to participate as much as they used to.
The Friendship Force Organisation, the head quarters of which are in Atlanta, Georgia. Started with President Carter and Jim Callahan saying wouldn't it be nice if everyone could be friends and start this exchange programme. Newcastle and Derbyshire have a club that has been established 25 years and Cardiff has had one for 22. The first exchange that I went on was to Pennsylvania. In those days, because we had a large membership we used to charter a flight. There were people from Cardiff, Newcastle and Shannon (Ireland) on this flight and I can remember President Carter's daughter, Amy, was on our flight returning from Newcastle. Nowadays we don't have the membership to charter a flight so we have to just go on the ordinary flights. The idea of the group is that you don't do anything special for your visitors other than welcome them. It is for them to experience your lifestyle and to see how things are done in other countries. Love and kindness are after all the same in any language.
People loved coming to Cardiff. The Norwegians that came to us in 1982 loved Cardiff. They liked the shops, although I don't know what they would think of it now because I think Cardiff has got a lot dirtier. There are also a lot of buildings that don't seem to fit in- I wonder what the town planners are up to. Cardiff is one Higglty Pigglty mess.