SPRINGFIELD - During the WCF congress in Springfield the Committee of Delegates met on three separate occasions. On the agenda were the minutes of the meetings in Mechelen and Leuven, as well as the reports of the secretary and the different committees. The treasurer presented the financial report and the budget for the next two years.

WORLD LIST OF CARILLONS
In 2000, all members of the national guilds received a Worldlist of Carillons, which included details of the carillons of the countries represented in the WCF and an address list of the carillonneurs. It was decided that, despite the high costs, this list would be updated every two years. Moreover, it will be expanded to include the carillons of all countries and thus become a true world list. Also, travelling carillons will be added.

WCF BULLETIN
Compliments were conveyed to Liesbeth Janssens, chair of the Editorial Board, for producing a WCF Bulletin both in 1998 and 1999. Geoff Armitage, Adrian Gebruers and Michel Goddefroy helped with the translations. A better layout improved the appearance of the Bulletin. The contents included news from each country, a campanological article, new publications of sheet music, books and CD¹s, and a calendar of upcoming events. There was a suggestion that the Bulletin be printed in future, but the Committee felt that the circulation was still too small for that. Each year 350 Dutch, 650 English and 200 French copies are produced. All members of the Committee of Delegates were asked to ensure that a copy of all magazines and newsletters published by their guilds is sent to the editor of the WCF Bulletin.

KEYBOARD COMMITTEE
Bob van Wely is currently chair of the Keyboard Committee. Unfortunately, the ergonomic research at the University of Leuven couldn¹t be continued due to lack of funds. Luckily, a new keyboard designed by Richard Strauss was presented during the congress. It is a compromise between the European and American standards: the new keyboard has an American pedalboard but the distance between all keys is as in the European standard. Van Wely is to invite interested individuals to participate in the Keyboard Committee. The plan is to do research on the new keyboard and report back with the results. It is probably useful to compare the measurements of the different recently built keyboards. However, the manner of playing is even more important than the measurements of a keyboard. A good comparison between keyboards is theoretically only possible when these are connected to the same bells.

CONGRESS GUIDELINES
The Committee of Delegates decided to set up a committee to produce a manual on how to organise a world congress. There would appear to be a great need for such guidelines. It is the local national guild who organises a congress, though the actual organisation can in fact be contracted out. Wylie Crawford, Karel Keldermans, Geert Stubbe and Alfred Lesecq are the members of the committee.

NEW MEMBER
A carillon association has been founded in Poland which is seeking membership of the WCF. The formal request for membership and a copy of the association's statutes were presented before the meeting. Poland has one carillon, in Gdansk. There will soon be a second carillon, and in the near future even more in two other major locations. The Committee of Delegates accepted the Polish association's request to become a member, subject to certain conditions. The Committee of Delegates authorised the Executive Committee to evaluate, later in the year, if these conditions had been met, in order to confirm the membership.

CONGRESS 2002
The 2002 World Congress takes place in Cobh (Ireland). There were two candidates for the organisation of the 2004 congress: Oslo and Gdansk. Vegar Sandholt made a presentation for Oslo and Gert Oldenbeuving for Gdansk. After a secret ballot, Oslo was chosen by a small majority. Therefore, the 2004 Congress will be organised in Oslo by the NSCK.

INTERVAL BETWEEN CONGRESSES
The Committee of Delegates also voted on a proposal to extend the interval between world congresses from two to three years. There were different arguments for and against. After a vote, the majority decided to keep the interval to two years.

HOME PAGE
The home page of the WCF is taking shape. It was designed by a professional. Secretary Hylke Banning supplied all information in three languages. For an organisation such as the WCF, a webpage is very important, because it is a source of information which is easily accessible throughout the world.

COMPOSITION EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
To conclude, there were some changes to the Executive Committee. Peter Langberg stepped down after many years of service. On behalf of the WCF, president Adrian Gebruers thanked him for his dedication, wisdom and experience. In addition, notification was received of Noël Reynders' wish to resign from the Executive Committee. The Committee of Delegates re-elected Andreas Friedrich and Hylke Banning, while Geert Stubbe (Belgium) and Ann-Kirstine Christiansen (Denmark) were elected new members of the Executive Committee.