With his friends Robert Hahnloser and Erich Peyer, Philippe Mottu was a founder of the Conference Centre for Moral Re-Armament (now Initiatives of Change) which opened at Caux in 1946. He will be remembered as one in a long line of Genevese who have taken initiatives extending far beyond Switzerland.

The last of six conferences at the Initiatives of Change centre in Caux, above Montreux, the ‘Trust and Integrity in the Global Economy’ conference, closed today.

It was a musical odyssey around the world. The veteran country and western group the Colwell Brothers from California, now in their seventies, had last performed in Caux, Switzerland, in 1961. Their first visit to the 'home for the world', as the Initiatives of Change centre in Caux was described, had been in 1953. Now they were back, with composer, pianist and xylophone player Herbie Allen, to give a barnstorming performance before a packed international audience in Caux's main hall on 14 August.