The 2004 Conference was held on Tuesday, November 23. at the Tudor Hotel, Alexander Street, Airdrie.

SAFE HANDS Following the successful June 2004 launch of a one year community health campaign in the local North Lanarkshire area, called Safe Hands, the theme of this year's Moira Anderson Foundation conference was 'Ordinary People making an Extraordinary DIfference'. As well as Scots close to home who place anti-violence programmes -to keep our young people safe in our communities high on the agenda through all sorts of initiatives- other high profile speakers made an impact. Guests included former nursery nurse Lisa Potts, the only UK female holder of the George Medal for bravery (for her remarkable heroism in fighting off an attacker with a machete at the nursery where she worked in Wolverhampton). Another speaker was the amazing Sarah Payne, whose book "A Mother's Story" relates her fight to have her daughter's tragic murder remembered as a watershed case in the UK's history of child protection. She called for a Sarah's Law similar to the USA's Megan's Law, allowing local communities to be alerted to the presence of sex offenders released into their midst. Both of these inspirational women joined others, including the mother of Mark Cummings, (murdered in a Glasgow tower block) to lead a conference on child protection that highlighted the Moira Anderson Safe Hands Campaign, a community health initiative that echoes the message of the Scottish Executive: "It's everyone's business to make sure I'm all right." Healthy commmunities are ones where everyone can feel safer, particularly the most vulnerable of our citizens, and through our training programmes MAF aims to spread the word. Several very successful workshops were held in August for those who have substantial contact with children and young people.