Clare Hunter
Clare learnt Esperanto by mistake in 2006 and was secretary of Junularo Esperantista Brita for three years, until she started feeling too old in April 2011.
In 2008 she became a trustee of the Esperanto Association of Britain and since last year's British Congress in Eastbourne has been acting as the organisation's treasurer. She is also treasurer of the related charity, NoJEF.
In her spare time, she works in Birmingham as a chartered accountant.
Ed Robertson
Ed took up Esperanto in 1989, seeing it as a neat idea to make it a bit easier for ordinary people from different language backgrounds to make friends and get to know one another.
Ed lives in Edinburgh and is editor of the Esperanto-Asocio de Skotlando's magazine Esperanto en Skotlando. He has organised two previous Scottish Esperanto congresses and was recently elected to the management committee of the Esperanto-Asocio de Britio.
In real life he writes software, and in his leisure time, when he's not enjoying himself at an Esperanto congress somewhere in the world, he's tending the weeds in his allotment.
Hugh Reid
After two earlier attempts Hugh finally learned Esperanto in 1985. He taught himself from the iconic Teach Yourself Esperanto book and at the time didn't know whether any other Esperantists existed or not.
The first actual Esperantists he met were David and Jean Bisset at an outing of the Glasgow and Clyde Valley groups. He was astonished by the level of communication possible with only the 900 words provided by Teach Yourself, little more than a read-through of the grammar, and never having spoken the language to another person.
Since then he has been an active member of first the Scottish Esperanto Federation and then the Scottish Esperanto Association. He has helped organise two Scottish Esperanto Congresses and two Joint Scottish/British Congresses, and organised the last five Study Weekends in Dunblane.
He is currently the president of the Scottish Esperanto Association and the secretary of the Glasgow Esperanto Society. He is also webmaster for the website of the Scottish Association.
He can do loads of other things too, but none of them are relevant here really.
Tim Owen
Tim is the Secretary of the Esperanto Association of Britain and of NoJEF, a charity which gives grants to young Britons to attend Esperanto events at home and abroad.
He leads the popular 'Drondo' discussion groups twice yearly at EAB's home at Wedgwood Memorial College and formerly taught beginners' classes at the Internacia Seminario, of which he was a member of the Strategy Team.
He lives in Nuneaton with Clare Hunter and their cats, Heidi Honeycoat and a precocious kitten called Pebbles Pepperpot.
Viv O'Dunne
Viv is the Office Manager of the Esperanto Association of Britain and will be responsible for handling all aspects of the conference administration. She will be your main point of contact and will assist you with any queries you may have. Viv has worked for EAB for ten years and this will be the eighth congress that she’s been involved with.
Viv lives near Esperanto House in Barlaston with her family, a hyperactive black Labrador, Elvis, and cute kitten, Mr Jinx. In her spare time she’s a medical community first-responder, editor of the village newsletter and a parish councillor.
Brian Barker
Brian is the Publicity Officer of Esperanto-Asocio de Britio and will be responsible for distributing press releases and setting up interviews with the media, both radio and television, on behalf of the conference.
He is an Esperanto veteran and learned the international language in 1962 – well before lernu.net made Esperanto accessible to everybody across the globe. Nationally he also maintains contacts with MPs, both in the Lords and the House of Commons, through the Esperanto Lobby; a presentation about the project Springboard2Languages, which introduced Esperanto into a group of primary schools to give children a taste of learning languages, is planned for 2012.
He lives in Tufnell Park London with his partner Francis, whom he thanks for his persistent encouragement and help.
