We started the year with our traditional New Year’s Reception in the Wirtschaftsclub in Düsseldorf. While we relished a delicious three-course meal two guests provided us with highly interesting and informative presentations. Dr Yolanda Schottenfeld-Naor gave us a lecture on the role of women in medicine, from a century ago to the present day. She was followed by the Chief Physician of the Clinic for Paediatric Surgery and Trauma at the Florence Nightingale Hospital in Kaiserswerth, with a lecture on “The Treatment of Children from War and Crisis Zones” as well as on the Emergency Fund established to support this purpose.