My early memories of CoScan by Lise Hodgson It has occurred to me that I am one of the longest active members of CoScan, and I thought it might be nice to put down a few memories of the early days. In the mid 1970s I was a member of the newly formed Northants AngloScandinavian Society. One of our committee members had heard of CoScan, so we became members shortly rwards. When we heard that they were afterwards. having their AGM in Birmingham, we decided that a few of us should go and see what it was all about. The AGM was held in an auditorium at Aston University, but we had trouble finding it, so arrived late. We quietly slipped into some seats in the back row and thought we had not been noticed, but when the person making his report when we entered had finished, the chairman asked us to come down to the front and introduce ourselves. Very embarrassing. Halfway through the morning we stopped for coffee and us newbies ne were very warmly welcomed. The first people I spoke to were Kari Moss Wright and a Danish lady called Karen. We certainly did not feel like outsiders. Next time I attended a conference, I was greeted like an old friend. The meetings in those days were formal and usually started with the secretary reading out the name of each society attending, and those present from that society standing up. Meetings were well attended. All conferences co were held
3
in the UK and it was customary that the chairman of the hosting society would become chairman of CoScan until the next AGM. During that first AGM in Birmingham I was asked the inevitable question: Would you consider becoming a member of the committee? At that time I had to decline as my son was still very young. The question was repeated at intervals over the years and I eventually did become a committee member and later secretary. I can’t remember all the destinations we went to and in what order, but one of the first full conferences I attended was in London. We stayed in student accommodation (as we did in those days) and the dinner was held at a very splendid private club in St. James’s. Jam At the AGM we discussed how to write CoScan, i.e. COSCAN, Coscan, CoScan etc. It was expected to be a short discussion, but somehow it ran on and on and on. In the end we had to break for lunch and then carry on with the AGM after lunch, resulting in the afternoon’s sightseeing being cancelled.
