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Personal experiences which have influenced the lives and opinions of those involved in social care.

Extensive involvement in European social care has been something of a life changing experience for me. I came across social care outside the UK by accident some 20 years ago when a last minute invitation to act as rapporteur at a European conference on volunteers in social services resulted in a splendid week in a wine growing area near Geneva. It was a lively event - the French participants stormed out half way through for "ideological" reasons - and I learned to my naive surprise that other countries often did things differently and better than we did in the UK.

Subsequent experiences have strengthened my early interest in social care throughout Europe. There was the excitement of being involved in Spain in the early days of the post-Franco democracy, a country largely denied social services under the fascist regime. At an old people's day centre in Barcelona an elderly gentleman explained to me with great pride and emotion how he was at last able to associate freely with his friends - previously forbidden. The holistic approach to day centres for older people in Spain is impressive, with their mixture of services and rich cultural life. They seem good places to meet regularly with your mates. The Spanish word jubliada for pensioner conveys a more positive view of retirement.

During a week at a campus for older people in the former Yugoslavia in the 1980s I was impressed by both the range of facilities, such as shops and a cinema, and the living and care provision in one place for all levels of capability and dependence. In the UK we still tend to shunt older people from one area to another as their dependency level increases.

I also attended one of the first social work conferences in Russia after the collapse of communism and became caught up in a Machiavellian struggle in Moscow for control of this fledgling profession. The head of the college that had previously trained young communist party leaders wisely wanted to change tack and asked me to fax our social work syllabus on my return to the UK. I heard nothing more from him.

Working at the University of Kent has enabled me to develop my interest in European social care. Ten years ago we established a European Institute of Social Services (EISS) to help social care providers and their users benefit from greater European integration - including the countries of former communist Europe. This work now includes publications, arranging study visits and designing multi-national social care projects. From an almost accidental beginning in Geneva 20 years ago, I have had a (mostly) very enjoyable working life, made long-term friends in other countries and made some contribution to what is now becoming the rapid Europeanisation of social care.

Brian Munday is a former director of the European Institute of Social Services, University of Kent.