Angelman New Zealand - Conference Report
Conference “Building Partnerships” 2nd National Conference.
Wellington New Zealand March 6-8, 2009.

I was fortunate to be able to participate and I congratulate those whose energy and effort went into organising this conference. The venue – Brentwood Hotel, specialising in conferences - was ideal for our AS families.

Ten families were represented, from Auckland to Christchurch, plus many carers. The welcome reception on Friday night gave us the chance to meet new people, as well as renew previous contacts. The food was magnificent, which it was throughout the whole conference - I am sure we all put on weight!

On Saturday, in the welcome, Mark Weaver read out the letter of good will for the NZ Conference from Anne Funke, the President of the Australian Association.

The rest of Saturday consisted of invited talks on many topics. These covered One Families’ Journey (Venessa Hagenson Rice), Family Financial Issues (Darryl Geary), Transition into Adulthood (Anne McKegg), Genetics (Dr. Kate Neas, Clinical Geneticist in Wellington), Family Trusts (Paul Jerrom, Trusts on Line), Educational Partnerships (Peter Coker, Christchurch), Epilepsy (Judith Brown, Epilepsy New Zealand), and I gave a talk on factors to consider in setting up a Research AS Clinic in New Zealand.

The children’s outing on Saturday, to the Te Papa Museum, was a huge success, and they then joined in the dinner on Saturday night.

The AGM was held on Sunday morning, during which a new committee was elected, dates were set for the next AS NZ conference (likely October 2010) and short and long term goals for the Association were mooted.

Ellie Smith
Patron ASA
Patron Angelman NZ.