Now let's not get too carried away. Even the Olympics is not yet being organised beyond 2008 ! Sure, the Irish Palatine Association is not yet committed to organise anything in 2009, but at least some of the committee have discussed it. The big challenge with any such venture is to find willing and competent people who can commit to spare hundreds of hours. The IPA does a great job with limited people and financial resources, but with its present team would struggle to mount such a big exercise. However, they have a lot of experience and contacts. Perhaps some representatives from the IPA and this List could start to bounce around ideas, either within a committee or in the kind of open forum that this List offers. I have expressed a willingness to be involved in the organisation of such a project (if I'm still around - and the odds are that I should be, for I will then be only 62). I have some experience at organising modest international gatherings for the Teskeys (with a lot of help from my wife Janice), so I hope I'm somewhere along the route towards competence. However, our biggest event, a 5 day gathering in Rathkeale worked only because of the fantastic support from the IPA folk who live there. I'm also hoping to practice with a 2004 IPA trip to the Pfalz. My own thoughts for 2009 are to relive the journey of our ancestors, starting in the Pfalz, down the Rhine to Rotterdam, across the North Sea to London, up to Chester and over the Irish sea to Dublin, and then on to Rathkeale. If we were to try to include North America, everything soon gets very dispersed, but I guess we could get as far as the St Lawrence. We need to keep bouncing ideas around and get a feel for the level of support for different options, as well as seeking the cooperation of willing and competent project managers and travel agents. Keep the ideas flowing. Ken McDonald 2 Greenfields, Stansted, Essex, CM24 8AH, England [email protected]