MINUTES OF THE AGM OF THE LYTHAM St ANNES TWINNING
ASSOCIATION HELD AT ST MARGARET’S CHURCH
PARISH ROOMS, ST ANNES
ON 3RD MAY 2016
DRAFT
Present:Tony Ford, Ralph Hepworth, Adrienne Hepworth, John Regan, Joyce Regan, Georgie Coleshaw, Angela Jacques, Linda Page, Gordon Halliwell, Werner Conn, Craig Harris, Carlla Harris, Coral Smith, Alan Cantor, Gillian Cantor, Robert Fielder,
Laura Harrison and Bill Bissett.
1. Welcome. The Chairman of the Association, Tony Ford, welcomed members and thanked them for attending the meeting.
2. Apologies. Apologies were received from Pat Page, Roy Winter, Barbara McDougall, Annette Ford, Dorte Ravenscroft, Bob Lee and Gary Bagot.
3. Minutes of the last Annual General Meeting. These were approved as accurate.
4. Matters Arising from the AGM of 2015 (items not covered on the agenda). There were no matters arising.
5. Chairman’s Report. Tony Ford advised members that, due to recent health problems, he was stepping down as Chairman. An abridged version of his report is attached.as a separate document.
6. Treasurer’s Report. Tony Ford circulated copies of the Association accounts from 1st Aug 2014 to 31s March 2015 and 1st April 2015 to 31st March 2016. (Copiesattached). He had taken over the accounts from Roy Winter half way through 2014. Both accounts required approval. There were queries from members about bank charges of £70 in the accounts up to 31 March 2015. The charges were for returnedcheques due to incorrect signatures. The committee felt that the signatures were correct.These have now been validated. The accounts were approved by members.
7. Election of Officers.
Acting Chair: Georgie Coleshaw, (volunteer) seconded by Alan Cantor.
Vice Chair: Nomination of Ralph Hepworth, proposed by Tony Ford seconded by Joyce
Regan.
Secretary: Nomination of Joyce Regan, seconded by Coral Smith.
Treasurer: Nomination of John Regan, seconded by Ralph Hepworth.
8. Election of Committee Members
Minute Secretary: Joyce Regan will continue in this role.
Coral Smith and Laura Harrison were appointed to the Committee.
Twin Town Links: Although he is retiring as Chairman, Tony Ford saidhe was still
keen to assist in the development of a twinning link with a town in France.
9. Increase in Subscriptions. The Committee asked that the annual subscription fee of £7 be increased to £8 from the 1st April 2017.Additionally,any donations to the Twinning Association were always welcome. The request was approved.
10. Members’ Commitment to Events. Tony Ford had briefly discussed the lack of commitment from members to events in his Chairman’s Report. .He said it may be that some people only want to be members and not have a social side to membership. However, raising money from events helped the association to host people from another country. Carol Lanyon queried the reason for holding most events on a Friday rather than a weekend. It was
explained that it was more expensive to hire venues at weekend. Gordon Halliwell suggested
that members could meet at a local hotel for a late breakfast or a coffee morning with
members paying for their own refreshments. He said it was also possible to get free tickets to
shows at Blackpool Sixth Form College. Cheese and wine parties and BBQs were also
mentioned. Alan Cantor said he would raise this issue at the coming meeting of the French Circle AGM. Perhaps a joint get-together could be arranged. Committee members will
discuss these suggestions at the next committee meeting and also discuss rearranging
the talk on the Kinder Transport by Werner Conn which was cancelled last year.
11. Update on possible twinning with a French Town.Tony Ford advised members that efforts to move forward with twinning with Caudry were frustratingly slow. Although they seem keen to develop sporting links with young people, trade fairs and linking in connection
with events of the First World War, he felt that the town may be pursuing links with others towns in the UK and keeping us on hold. Alan Cantor said he was visiting a friend,who lived nearby Caudry, the following week and would try and find out more information about this. He had a suspicion that Caudry was interested in othertowns as the port of Dover was too far away from Lytham St Annes.Alan was also asked if could find out if Caudry had a
youth council.
12. Any Other Business.
a. Visit to Werne in 2015. Gordon Halliwell said he was overwhelmed with the
hospitality of our German hosts on the visit last October and was taken out for meals
on two occasions. He queried why our schedule was so ‘time factored’ when we
hosted our Werne guests as he would like to take them out socially on his own. Tony
Ford explained that our German visitors only tend to come to LSA on civil occasions,
such as the 30th anniversary of twinning in July 2014 and they only stayed for a relatively
short period of time.
b. St Annes Carnival – 9/10 July 2016. Ralph Hepworth said the committee had bookeda table at the carnival last year but had had to cancel at the last minute due to lack
of support from members to ‘man’ the table during the weekend. He queried whether it
was worthwhile to hire a table this year. There was a general discussion about this and
whether the association should have a part in the parade. Werner Conn offered to drive
a car, decorated in German flags, in the parade if members could hand out twinning
literature whilst following the car. Laura Harrison also said she would enquire about
borrowing a jeep for the parade with the members of the youth council handing out
twinning literature. However, it was decided not to hire a table for the carnival.
Following this item, the meeting closed at 8.45pm.
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