In the year under review, social activities made up the lion’s share, constituting 27 per cent of all activities staged. Educational activities were a close second with 25.6 per cent, and cultural activities were third with 18.5 per cent.

No activities held in 2003 could be classified as therapeutic, and only one political activity was held.

Participation in local council activities increased by 22.9 per cent between 2002 and 2003, from 62,345 to 76,653. Social and cultural activities were the activities with the highest turnout rates, 34.2 and 36.7

per cent of the total amount

respectively.

Although educational activities accounted for 25.6 per cent of the total activities organised, the turnout was rather poor, with only 8.1 per cent of the total attributed to such events. Political activities were the least popular, with a 0.1 per cent turnout.

Of the 68 local councils, around 70 per cent mounted various exhibitions in 2003, for a total of 101 exhibitions.

This represents an increase of 32.9 per cent over the previous year.

The most popular were painting exhibitions (47.5 per cent), followed by craftwork (26.7 per cent). Ceramic exhibitions were the least popular with four per cent.

Other exhibitions – Christmas, transport, horticulture, old

computers and toys – also made up four per cent.

In 2003, full-time staff employed with local councils – including voluntary staff – increased from 506 in 2002 to 611, a rise of about 20 per cent. Part-time employment decreased by 14.9 per cent.

Female staff, both full-time and part-time, accounted for around 40 per cent of the total staff employed with local councils last year.

The largest number of staff employed – excluding voluntary workers – was administrative staff. These accounted for 31.3 per cent of full-time and 14.3 per cent of part-time personnel, or 27.8 per cent of the total number of employees.