CSRECL's 22nd AGM coincided with the conclusion of the Connecting Communities Project, a Home-Office funded project (under the Community Networks Programme).

The Project Dissemination, which preceded the AGM, reviewed and shared the findings of the Community Development work done since 2004 with inputs from various Minority Ethnic Community members and Agency Representatives involved in the project. There was also an opportunity for delegates present to participate in discussion groups, looking at the 'role of young people in race equality'. After the discussion findings were shared and reviewed, the session was concluded with a speech from Ali Jarvis, the Head of the CRE Scotland.

Speakers at the AGM included the Director of Norwich & Norfolk Racial Equality Council (NNREC), Anne Matin, who spoke emotionally about the work of the Racial Equality movement; her speech, entitled 'Critical Times', considered the future of racial equality work and how this may be affected by imminent institutional and bureacratic changes on the horizon.

We were also honoured to play host to Mrs Gee Walker and Dominique Walker, the mother and sister of the late Anthony Walker, a young Liverpudlian who was brutally murdered in 2005 because he was black. The Walkers have now founded the Anthony Walker Foundation to tackle racism within their home of Liverpool as well as the rest of the UK. Although having to deal with the grief and shock of Anthony's murder, Gee has spoken her heartfelt wish that forgiveness and working together play a vital key in rebuilding lives shattered by racism. The Walkers' speeches were heartfelt and moving for all present.