FESAC Board members, national delegates and observers met in the Wellington Room at the Royal Armouries on Friday 4 June for the Annual Conference. Chairman Stephen Petroni opened the meeting and thanked this year’s British hosts and in particular fellow board member Ken Hocking who organised the event. The Board members went through an extensive agenda after approving the Minutes of the previous conference that was held in Terni, Italy. Following a discussion addressing FESAC’s growth, set-up and plans for 2010/2011, the Board proceeded to hear the country delegates reports on the current situation in their respective countries. A report was also read regarding Article 10 of the UN Protocol that the EU’s JLS wants to transpose into a Regulation and which could have an adverse effect on firearms kept for collection purposes. At the end of the meeting the Board re-elected Stephen Petroni as Chairman, Albrecht Simon and Deputy Chairman, Hanny Spruijt as Secretary and Pit Kaiser as Treasurer. The day was concluded with a pleasant dinner on board a canal boat.

On Saturday 6 June participants were treated to a series of lectures at the Royal Armouries:
“The End of Armour” by Thom Richardson, Armouries staff
“The Birmingham Gun Trade” by Professor David Williams, Loughborough University,
“The Development of the Machine Gun” by Stewart Taylor, Member of HBSA
“The Royal Armouries” by Graham Rimer, Academic Head, Royal Armouries

These were followed by a tour of the Armouries during which participants could appreciate the exquisite exhibits and the methods used to display them. The day came to a fitting end with a banquet in the museum and an address by the Chairman, Graham Rimer and Ken Hocking.

FESAC launched its brochure  on Friday March 26, when a copy of the German language version was presented  to Dr. jur. Hans Scholzen, President of the VDW (Verband Fur Waffentechnik und –geschichte) at the IWB, the International Arms Fair in Sinsheim, Germany, by FESAC Chairman Stephen Petroni and Secretary Hanny Spruijt. The brochure has been printed in four languages: English, German, French and Italian. Copies have been distributed to the various members countries.

FESAC’s participation in the Sinsheim fair met with significant success and the fair organisers have kindly invited the Foundation to participate in the next edition of the fair on 9-10 April 2011.  FESAC’s presence in the fair is now set to be an annual feature in Sinsheim and plans are underway to organise activities aimed at both FESAC members and regular visitors to the fair.

FESAC represents a focal point for European arms collector societies that have, as their main objective, the encouragement, guidance and proper regulation of their members’ interest in collecting, preserving and researching arms.  The Foundation recognises private collectors’ significant contribution to the preservation and study of our common European heritage – hence its commitment to support their activity, which it considers to be complimentary to the obligations of the curators of existing national collections. After all, many great public collections owe their origin to accumulations by knowledgeable private collectors.