SLEAFORD AND DISTRICT TWINNING ASSOCIATION

MINUTES OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

9TH MARCH 2009

The President called the meeting to order and welcomed members to this Annual General Meeting. He thanked the Secretary and the committee members for their hard work during the year and made brief comments about the events of 2008. In particular he mentioned the recent visit of runners from Fredersdorf-Vogelsdorf to compete in the Sleaford Half Marathon, a visit hosted and supported by Sleaford Striders.

The President then opened the proceedings of the meeting, explaining that the Chairman, Mrs Fay Cooper, had offered her resignation with immediate effect in January, but will remain a member of the Association.

Apologies for absence: Fay and Geoff Cooper

Minutes of the 2008 AGM were accepted as a true record. (Proposed S. Jeannin, seconded D. Suiter)

The Committee Report (below) was equally accepted as a true account.

This year Sleaford celebrates 10 years of twinning with Marquette-lez-Lille and the twinning committee hopes that the full council will give an unreserved go-ahead to a further twinning with Fredersdorf-Vogelsdorf in the very near future.

Activities with Marquette-lez-Lille have continued at a healthy level. Junior football and rugby teams played in tournaments in Marquette in the spring of 2008 and there were twinning visits in both directions. In May we entertained the Marquettois again for the second weekend of Sleaford Live ’08 – or rather their two bands entertained us, with gigs at Ewerby and at the football club and a “slot” in the Mayor’s concert in St Denys Church. As a result of this, links with the Sleaford Concert Band were renewed and we hope they will travel to France for the 10th anniversary celebrations in October 2009.

There has been a good deal of behind the scenes activity over the past few months to bring a twinning with Fredersdorf-Vogelsdorf nearer. As it is towns which twin, rather than the twinning associations, Manfred Jagnow and I have both faced our respective councils to explain the links we have already made and what the advantages of twinning might be. The German town has made its decision and our Town Council will hopefully do so on Wednesday.

As well as working to promote the official link, the twinning association has acted as the intermediary for a number of sporting and cultural initiatives. Such exchanges form the backbone of any vibrant twinning. As a result, the junior footballers are travelling to Marquette again over Easter, 4 German runners took part in the Sleaford Half Marathon, Striders members are going to Fredersdorf-Vogelsdorf in May to run in the Europalauf and various penfriends have been matched up.

Following contacts made through our agency in November 2007 an e-mail correspondence has been begun at Year 8 level between Kesteven and Sleaford High School and the secondary school in Fredersdorf-Vogelsdorf, and association members supported the staff of Our Lady of Good Counsel School who ran a very successful Bastille Day event to launch the teaching of French in their school. Contacts have also been established between teachers from the New Life Pre-School in Sleaford and the Kindergarten in Fredersdorf-Vogelsdorf.

A sub group of the Twinning Association has now been formed to strengthen education links and it will work in 2009 to plan a high profile language/culture event with primary teachers for local primary pupils.

In this year of celebration, various exchanges are planned to bring citizens of Sleaford, Marquette-lez-Lille and Fredersdorf-Vogelsdorf together.

May 8th – 10th: one French band and one German band will visit Sleaford to take part in Sleaford Live. Friday evening gig at Sleaford Football Club and Saturday evening gig at Ewerby Reading Rooms.

July 4th-5th: Sommerfest in Fredersdorf-Vogelsdorf. Kesteven Morris have been invited to dance, but may well have to refuse the invitation because of other commitments. 20 members are invited.

(September 25th – 27th: a celebration of 10 years of twinning in Sleaford. Ideally we would like to sign a new twinning with Fredersdorf-Vogelsdorf during this same weekend. The French and Germans are holding this date free at present and we need to formalize the planning soon.)

October 24th- 26th: a celebration of 10 year of twinning in Marquette-lez-Lille. I have asked if we may take the Sleaford Concert Band, but haven’t yet had a reply about this.

There will of course also be a programme of social/fund raising events in the course of 2009, including more foreign films at The Hub.

Finance: In the absence of a treasurer, one of the elected Auditors, Peter Wheeldon, explained that the Secretary had now prepared the accounts for audit to his satisfaction and he had arranged a meeting with Trevor to carry out the full audit. The interim accounts were presented and were provisionally accepted. Fully audited accounts will be presented at the next committee meeting. (Proposed D. Suiter, seconded S. Jeannin)

Election of Officers:

ChairSheila Wheeldon

Vice ChairRosemary Segebarth

SecretaryJan Mathieson

TreasurerPeter Wheeldon

Election of Committee Members:

Shirley Woods, Stephan Jeannin, David Suiter, Russ Mathieson

Sue Utley and Helga Barr have 1 more year to serve as committee members.

Paul McCallum has 2 years left to serve as a committee member.

Auditors:

Mac Seamer and Trevor

Any Other Business:

The Mayor asked for clarification of his position as the representative of the Town Council and was referred to the constitution of the Association which makes it clear that he is nominated by the Town Council and has full membership of the committee except that he has no voting rights.

David Suiter proposed a vote of thanks to Derek Tomlinson and Stan Blackbourn for their hard work and continuing support for the Twinning Association.

Rosemary Segebarth proposed a vote of thanks for Sheila Wheeldon.

The meeting closed at 8.27 pm.