2002 was a year which saw a number of changes for the Group. The most significant of these was the announcement by NERC of the withdrawal of their funding for the Group at the end of the 2002-03 financial year. Alternative routes of funding through NERC were explored; but as they would have only provided a temporary fix, they were not pursued. Subsequently the Group has managed to obtain some financial support from the Food Standards Agency and the Environment Agency, to whom we are very grateful.

The annual meeting of the group was a joint one with CAPER (our sister organisation for Air Pollution specialists). It was held at the University of Leeds over three days (9 - 11 April). The local organiser was Prof. Mike Ashmore of CAPER, and we much appreciate his efforts on our behalf. As well as the innovation of holding a joint meeting, it also represented a change of timing (previous meetings had been held in September each year). Generally the response to the joint meeting was very positive and future joint meetings were suggested perhaps every two or three years providing that there was a common theme of interest to both parties. At the Leeds meeting, some sessions were joint ones and others were held in parallel, and this arrangement was felt to satisfy the requirements of the two groups. The guest CAPER/COGER lecturer was John Garland who spoke on the topic: "Studies of deposition for radioactive and non-radioactive compounds: lessons for the two research communities". One disadvantage of switching to an April meeting in 2002 was the fact that the previous meeting had been held only six months before, and the numbers of members attending was slightly down on previous years.