Minutes of the committee meeting held via Zoom.

Wednesday 22^nd September 2021. The meeting started at 4pm.

1. Welcome and apologies for absence:

VORHANDEN: David Atkins (chairman) DA, Tom Winn (vice chairman)TW, Jacqui Ritter (Sekretär) JK, Peter Fry PF, Barbara Fry BF, Francis Knight FK, Catherine Atkins CA, Sally Holz SW, Kay Strain KS and Simon Carswell

ENTSCHULDIGUNGEN: Marina Richards and Paul Badman

2. Minutes of the meeting held on 25^th August 2021: DA checked that everyone had read the minutes from the previous meeting and by a show of hands it was agreed that they are a true record. Signing of the minutes will take place at a later date.

3. Matters Arising not on Agenda: None

4. Chairman’s Report: Welcome to parish councillor Simon Carswell.

Update from ND de Gravenchon re “Stars Plaque”: DA has spoken with Sharon in Gravenchon about the star plaque and she understands and is ok about it. She offered a replacement but DA thought that this was perhaps not the best idea as susceptible to vandalism if put outside the parish rooms and a bit too large to put inside. DA proposed to the committee that a framed picture of the plaque in France would be a nice and easier display for the parish council. PF und KS agreed and SW thought it would be a good representation of the plaque. DA will chat with Linda, the parish clerk, to discuss an appropriate size for a photo or print to be displayed inside.

5. Secretary’s Report: Lots of interest at the Merriman Park Fun Day and JK has sent an email with all the relevant twinning information to a lady who filled in a show of interest form, not heard back as yet. Great news that a family of four will be joining both the Gravenchon and Isny twinning. JK will send the information about the family to Sharon in Gravenchon and BF will send it to Veronica so as families can be found to twin with them.

6. Treasurer’s Report: Please see the financial report at the end of the minutes.

Current account balance £7653.95

Deposit account balance £8059.19

7. Membership & Member’s Welfare: DA Welcomed TW back, he said he is doing well.

8. Visits: It is still too soon for anyone to say yes or no to dates or visits

9. Fundraising and Events: Please see FK’s Merriman Park Fun Day report at the end of the minutes

BF thanked FK for the amount of work he put into it. DA reported that many stalls ran out of stock and that is was the most successful Merriman Park Fun Day to date. He liked that once we had sold out of bottles the information board was re positioned at the front of the stall and this looked very good and still drew people to the stall. DA thanked David Brunt for taking on all the lions items for him. Simon Carswell said that it was such a fantastic day and the best one yet. The benefit it gives to so many organisation in street, not only the Merriman Park fund raiser group. BF said how lovely it was to meet up with people again. She said to Simon how important it is to have these events for the community spirit. Simon agreed and will feed that back to the parish council.

The date has been set for the 3 ^rd sept for next year’s event. There will be no Christmas Cracker.

10. Webseite & Facebook : PF reported that he has put the August Minutes onto the Website. JK has put on FB lots of photos from the Merriman Park Fun Day and some videos.

11. Publicity: DA asked KS to contact her friend at the paper to get an idea of the size and amount of words for the article. Then DA und JK will put something together.

12. Lotterie: Congratulations to the winners of the September lottery draw. TW and Kay Winn drew the winning lottery numbers during the zoom meeting. TW und KS have got together and everything is set up for KS to take over when TW stands down from it

1^st Prize no.5 Claire Axten

2^nd Prize no.16 Helen Phillips

3 ^rd Prize no.50 Kay Winn

13. Annual General Meeting – Wednesday 20^th Oktober 2021 at 7pm

The committee had been sent a link to a hybrid meeting that DA had attended so as they could see how it sounded on Zoom. Everyone agreed that it looked and sounded good and it was agreed to go ahead with the hybrid of both a physical and zoom meeting for our AGM. The Crispin Community Centre, 4 Leigh Rd, Street BA16 0HA has been booked from 6.15pm to give the committee time to set up and the meeting will start at 7pm. DA stated that they have a Wi-Fi which is efficient and easy to use. SW, KS und CA volunteered to do teas, coffees and biscuits.

Plans for 2022 is on the AGM agenda which will give members a chance to voice their opinions. JK asked if DA could prepare a diary like before of dates when schools here, in Gravenchon and Isny are on school holidays to give everyone an idea of when the visits could possibly take place. Isny have shown interest in visiting us in the first week of Aug. BF will contact Veronica to get an update and JK will contact Sharon to see how confident they are about us visiting them next year. We can then feed this information back to the members at the AGM.

DA stated that the financial report might not be ready in time to go out with the 2^nd calling notice as stated in the constitution but will probably be sent separately. Members will be able to vote by email and on the night. TW stated that he wont be standing again for Vice Chairman.

14. AOB: SW asked about the bric a brac. DA stated that we need some new items if we are

going to hold another one. If anyone has any bric a brac donations please let a committee member know. As the weather changes we can let people know on the day if necessary through WhatsApp if a stall won’t be going ahead. SW is happy to bring this up at the AGM in AOB as she thought it would be a nice idea to do one around Christmas time.

DA asked for feeling about meeting up for the November committee meeting. TW said things are very uncertain at the moment and DA suggested that perhaps a hybrid meeting would be suitable but we would need to think about an appropriate venue and this can be discussed nearer the time.

15. Chairman’s Closing Remarks: DA thanked everyone for attending the meeting. Special

thanks to Simon for attending and both Simon and Andy Leafe, our contacts for the Parish Council, have been invited to the AGM.

Meeting Closed at 4.45pm

Date of next committee meeting: Wednesday 24^th November at 7.30pm

VENUE TO BE ARRANGED

Minutes of the committee meeting held via Zoom.

Wednesday 25^th August 2021. Das Treffen begann um 7.30 pm.

1. Welcome and apologies for absence:

VORHANDEN: David Atkins (chairman) DA, Jacqui Ritter (Sekretär) JK, Peter Fry PF, Barbara Fry BF, Francis Knight FK, Catherine Atkins CA, Sally Holz SW, Kay Strain KS

ENTSCHULDIGUNGEN: Tom Winn, Marina Richards, Paul Badman

2. Minutes of the meeting held on 28th July 2021: DA checked that everyone had read the minutes from the previous meeting and it was agreed that they are a true record. Signing of the minutes will take place at a later date.

3. Matters Arising not on Agenda: None

4. Chairman’s Report:

The new plaque is in place by the twinning tree in Merriman Park. Thank you to the 7 members that attended plus Peter Cole who placed the stake. The tree is looking really good.

The twinning plaque from outside Grinters is now fixed to the wall outside the Parish Rooms, thank you to PF.

The plaque of stars from Gravenchon had been damaged during the refurbishment of the Parish rooms last year. We only found this out when The Parish Council were asked where the plaque was this year. They stated that the plaque had been damaged beyond repair and so they had disposed of it. There have been exchanges of emails and the Parish Council have sent a letter to the mayor of Gravenchon to apologise. DA had hoped to see the letter first and for it to be sent to Sharon and not the Mayor. DA has tried to contact Sharon, but she is currently away from home.

5. Secretary’s Report:

A lady from Catcott has contacted Street Twinning through email which she had obtained from our Website. Her son went on a school trip to Gravenchon with Catcott school in 2019 and became good friends with a French boy. Sadly, they had lost contact and so she asked if there was a way we could help her track him down. JK contacted Sharon who is now on the search for the French boy. The lady also showed interest in twinning, and they are a family of 4. JK has forwarded all the relevant twinning information to her.

6. Treasurer’s Report: David Mozely has kindly donated his lottery winnings to the association.

Please see the financial report at the end of the minutes.

Current account balance £7357.06

Deposit account balance £8059.12

7. Membership & Member’s Welfare: Tom Winn was admitted to hospital last week and is still there. He is in good spirits and will hopefully be home soon. DA will send a get will soon card from the association.

8. Update on visits 2021:

Isny Zoom: PF, BF und SW all reported that this event went very well. There was a good number of members from both Isny and Street that took part and it was lovely to see everyone.

9. Future Fundraising and Events:

1. Bric a Brac: PF said that it was a very good day, and they took more money than they had expected. BF said that it was a lovely sociable atmosphere and members had enjoyed helping on the stall. SW suggested that we do another one. DA reported that we do have some stock left but perhaps we need some more really good items for a stall.

b) Merriman Park Fun Day : DA confirmed that we have the extra space for another gazebo. There has been a good number of empties and full bottles of wine donated but more are still needed to make this event a success. FK, DA, CA und JK had got together to look at the bric a brac stock to decide whether it would be worth doing a tombola on the day. It was decided that we didn’t have the appropriate items for this to work. With the extra gazebo there will now be room to do a Play Your Cards Right game which will be kindly lent to us by the Lions Club. David Brunt has kindly offered to lend us his gazebo and we will be borrowing the Lions Club gazebo as well.

FK proposed to the Association to buy a display board so as we can have this along with information on a table next to Play Your Cards Right. We will be doing presentations at schools when the time is right and so a display board would be very good to have for future fundraisers and promotional events such as Discover Your Community. FK has looked for appropriately sized boards with 3 panels so as to display photos of places we have travelled to in Isny, France and England. Each panel is 90 x 60 and the total cost would be £115. FK sent a photo to the Committee WhatsApp group so as they could discuss it further. PF thought this would be a good idea. DA said it was a good idea and suggested the money could come from the Parish Council Grant as this was intended to use for the promotion of Street Twinning. FK proposed and it was carried by the rest of the Committee.

FK asked SW if she could go to the scrap store to obtain some wrapping paper for the bottles which she is happy to do. Wrapping will take place on Wed 1^st Sept from 7.30pm at the Knights house. The water will be re-wrapped at the back of the gazebo as we go. FK would like a team each hour with at least one person with the Sum Up App so as people can pay contactless. Another email will go out asking for help. The weather is looking good for the event.

10. Webseite & Facebook: JK has posted about Merriman Park Fun Day and also posted photos of the Street plaque, Isny Zoom and Bric a Brac. PF has updated the coronavirus statement on the Website.

11. Publicity: KS has spoken with her friend who has a new local paper. He is happy to put in a report from the Twinning. SW said that she knows him and said he likes nostalgia and JK said that she has old photos which could be sent along with new ones. DA und JK will put something together.

12. Lotterie: Congratulations to the winners of the August lottery draw. The numbers were drawn by Kay Winn and her neighbour as Tom is unwell.

1^st Prize no.58 Tina Della Valle

2^nd Prize no.24 Avril Berry

3 ^rd Prize no.75 Sam Richards

13. Annual General Meeting:

DA proposed the fourth Wed in October for the AGM which is the 27^th. It was traditionally held on a Wed but in recent times it has been on a Saturday. BF pointed out that this is half term and so a new date of Wed 20^th October at 7.00pm was agreed by the Committee. There followed a discussion whether it should be face to face or by Zoom. SW und JK felt happy for an actual meeting. DA said that the meeting needs to be inclusive and so to physically meet would be preferable but to also enable people to join by Zoom if they are not yet ready for social interaction. DA will try to do a Zoom when he attends a meeting next week at the Crispin Community Centre. It was suggested to hold our AGM at either the Crispin Community Centre or the United Reform Church. FK pointed out that the fans at the Church are very noisy and this would be a problem if members were trying to hear a Zoom meeting. DA asked if the Community Centre is preferable rather than Crispin Hall and FK proposed the Community Centre and seconded by BF. FK stated that this is only 8 weeks away and there is a time scale to sending out emails. JK is happy to send out the appropriate emails in the time scale. BF stated that a lot of groups and events are starting again in September and so hopefully by October people will be happy to meet up again.

14. AOB: PF suggested Zoom for the September meeting and DA agreed. DA said that he can’t attend the 22^nd Sept at 7.30pm and probably neither could Tom Winn. A new time of 4pm on the 22^nd Sept was agreed by the Committee for the next meeting.

1. Chairman’s Closing Remarks: DA thanked everyone for attending the meeting.

Meeting Closed at 8.45pm

Date of next meeting: Wednesday 22^nd September at 4pm

To be held via Zoom.

Minutes of the committee meeting held via Zoom.

Wednesday 28th July 2021. Das Treffen begann um 7.30 pm.

1. Welcome and apologies for absence:

VORHANDEN: David Atkins (chairman) DA, Tom Winn (vice chairman)TW, Marina Richards (treasurer) MR, Jacqui Ritter (Sekretär) JK, Peter Fry PF, Barbara Fry BF, Francis Knight FK, Catherine Atkins CA, Paul Badman PB, Kay Strain KS

ENTSCHULDIGUNGEN: Sally Wood

2. Minutes of the meeting held on 23 ^rd Juni 2021: DA checked that everyone had read the minutes from the previous meeting and it was agreed that they are a true record. Signing of the minutes will take place at a later date.

3. Matters Arising not on Agenda: None

4. Chairman’s Report: Peter Cole will be available to place the new plaque for the Merriman Park twinning tree very soon. DA has thanked Grinters for having the STA plaque on their wall and it has now been removed. PF und DA will arrange with Linda Ruff for it to be attached to the wall outside the Parish Rooms.

Gabbie Butler has decided to step down from the committee due to family commitments, we thank her for all her help over the years. She has said she will be very happy to continue to support and help at fundraising events. If any of our members would like to join the committee or find out more, please contact one of the committee members.

5. Secretary’s Report: Nothing to report

6. Treasurer’s Report: Please see the financial report at the end of the minutes.

Current account balance £7341.05

Deposit account balance £8059.05

MR stated there will be a £10 float for the bric a brac and asks if this could be kept along with the money box ready for future events. DA agreed and will hold onto the float. MR was unable to use the STA payment card for the donation to Oxfam and so will use her own and be reimbursed by the association. Jenny has informed DA that his reply reference the Street Parish Council grant will be forwarded onto the finance department. DA reported that he has purchased a card terminal for fundraising events. To use it people will need to download an App on their mobile phone, he will take it to the bric a brac stall tomorrow and try it out. It will then be arranged for some members to download the App on their phones ready for Merriman Park.

7. Membership & Member’s Welfare: Nothing to report

8. Visits: Isny Zoom: BF confirmed that this will take place on Thurs 29^th July and JK has circulated the link to all the Isny twinners. BF stated that some twinners have said they are unavailable this time so there will possibly be another in September.

9. Fundraising and Events:

1. Street Market Bric a Brac Thursday 29^th Juli: BF said there is a lot of bric a brac items and a rota has been compiled, thank you to everyone who has volunteered to help. DA has printed out the risk assessment and insurance document ready for Suzanne Sharp. FK said that he will bring the fliers and general info about twinning.

2. Merriman Park Fun Day Saturday 4^th September: DA has put in the application for the stall. FK offered to own the stall and stated there are 35 bottles of wine, he will send an email shortly to ask for empty bottles of wine with the screw tops on. Unfortunately there will be no trip to France this year to buy wine and so in the email it will include a request for donations. DA will check that the gazebo is available to use again.

10. Webseite & Facebook: Nothing to report on Facebook. DA will check the Covid statement on the Website and will update if necessary.

11. Publicity: Nothing to report

12. Lotterie: Congratulations to the winners of the July lottery draw. The numbers were drawn by Kay Winn and read out by TW during the zoom meeting. TW asked KS if she was still intending to take over the lottery and she stated she is happy to do this and they will get together shortly to hand things over.

1^st Prize no.4 Gill Davey

2^nd Prize no.49 David Mozley

3 ^rd Prize no.45 Catherine Atkins

13. AOB: TW said that he felt face to face meetings would need to be in a large space due to covid and felt it was too soon for him to attend such a meeting at this time. MR agreed that it is too soon for her also. PF said that zoom works very well and he is happy to carry on with meetings in this way. BF agreed and said there isn’t a lot to discuss in the meetings at the moment. CA agreed that whilst the meetings are so short it isn’t worth getting together, there would be a lower number of committee members available for face to face as some are still isolating and there wouldn’t be enough present to make decisions. TW proposed to keep it as zoom and it was agreed. DA stated that the Crispin Community Centre would be a place we could use in the future which is a reasonable sized room and enable social distancing and costs £15 an hour.

14. Chairman’s Closing Remarks: DA thanked everyone for their support and attending the meeting.

Meeting Closed at 8pm

Date of next meeting: Wednesday 25th August 2021 at 7.30pm

To be held via Zoom.

Minutes of the committee meeting held via Zoom.

Wednesday 23 ^rd Juni 2021. Das Treffen begann um 7.30 pm.

1. Welcome and apologies for absence:

VORHANDEN: David Atkins (chairman) DA, Tom Winn (vice chairman) TW, Jacqui Ritter (Sekretär) JK, Peter Fry PF, Barbara Fry BF, Francis Knight FK, Catherine Atkins CA

ENTSCHULDIGUNGEN: Marina Richards, Claire Axten, Käfige Butler, Sally Holz, Paul Badman

2. Minutes of the meeting held on 26^th Mai 2021:

DA checked that everyone had read the minutes from the previous meeting and it was agreed that they are a true record. Signing of the minutes will take place at a later date.

3. Matters Arising not on Agenda:

Reg has said that he is happy for his Isny print to be displayed in the Street Parish rooms and will drop it over to them.

4. Chairman’s Report:

New plaque for tree in Merriman Park – date to place: No date for this as yet but should be within the next few weeks.

The Plaque outside Grinters has not been moved yet but DA will go into Grinters to let them know someone will be removing it very soon, he will thank them at the same time.

5. Secretary’s Report:

JK received an email from Jenny Marshfield the assistant clerk at Street Parish Council, asking her to share a survey targeted at Street residents about future grants. The committee will take a look at the survey and discuss before sending it to members.

6. Treasurer’s Report: Please see the financial report at the end of the minutes.

Current account balance £7399.79

Deposit account balance £8058.98

Grant Application to Street Parish Council 2022: A grant application form for 2022 has been received which needs to be in by Aug 2021. TW proposed that we should apply. BF agreed with the proviso that the trips in 2022 go ahead which are important after the last two years, if the trips aren’t able to go ahead then perhaps we shouldn’t take it. DA stated that the last grant was given to the association with the view of being able to give a bursary to new members visiting either France or Germany for the first time, this will hopefully be in 2022. TW und PF suggested applying for the grant on previous experience of what we would like to use the money for. TW suggested a provisional application as things are so uncertain at the moment. BF stated that perhaps we have not used the previous grant yet. DA felt that it would be difficult to justify applying for the grant. We have received a grant and not yet spent it and due to the circumstances we cannot be sure that we will spend it in 2022. The fact we have a large sum of money in the reserves account needs to be justified to ourselves before we can justify it to others. There has been a lot of change within the parish councillors in recent times and there is a lot more scrutiny in giving grants. FK seconded the motion to hold off applying for the grant as we have not spent the previous one and have reserves. DA will draft a reply and send it to the committee to read before sending.

7. Membership & Member’s Welfare:

DA has received an email from Claire Axten. She is standing down from the committee but will continue to twin. BF had spoken with Claire and can confirm that she will be very happy to still help with the smaller Isny committee when arranging exchanges. Gabbie Butler has also expressed that she is unable to attend committee meetings and DA will contact her to follow up.

We need at least a couple more members to join the committee. As stated in the constitution at least 8 committee members must be present at the meeting to be able to make decisions. If any of our members would be interested in joining the committee or finding out more please could you contact either DA or JK.

8. Visits:

Second Zoom with Isny: BF has emailed Isny with dates when DA is available and has proposed a zoom in July. She is waiting to hear back from Isny with dates they are available. BF has received an email from Isny as a paper would like to do a report on twinning and the covid situation. BF checked with the committee about things that should be included, suggestions from the committee were that schools and colleges are open and the Street market in now open again. JK gave some perspective from working in a local doctor’s surgery i.e.masks are still having to be worn and precautions taken with regards to the new variant. Lateral flow tests are available free of charge from pharmacies and a lot of people are getting their vaccines including a good uptake from the younger generation.

9. Fundraising and Events. 29^th July Street market stall booked:

DA asked for committee members views on whether we should go ahead with the market stall. FK said that if the market is open then yes, we should go ahead and TW seconded this motion. DA asked for a committee member to offer to own this as an email will need to be sent to members and a rota organised. Unfortunately no one felt able to organise this fundraiser. BF agreed to write the email to find out how many members would be able to help to see if it is viable to go ahead. FK stated that he has the tables for the event and offered to set up the gazebo which is usually borrowed from the Parish Council. CA stated that the very end stall outside the post office is a good spot for unloading and loading as you can drive easily to it.

Subsequent to the meeting BF agreed to “lead” the bric a brac stall subject to there being sufficient members to help on the stall and a location for unsold items to be stored or a suitable recipient found for them.

FK said that if Merriman goes ahead as planned, we need to start collecting screw top wine bottles. We have 35 bottles of wine in stock but no empty bottles. DA is unsure whether he can get wine from France in time this year. JK will send out an email requesting empty screw top wine bottles and donations of bottles of wine.

10. Webseite & Facebook:

Video from ND de Gravenchon: The video is now on the website. Sharon has emailed her thanks to everyone for making this possible with special thanks to Ben Atkins.

11. Publicity:

Update – Star Plaque from Street Parish Council: To be discussed at the next committee meeting.

12. Lotterie:

Congratulations to the winners of the June lottery draw. The numbers were drawn by Kay Winn and read out by TW during the zoom meeting.

1^st Prize no.30 Cameron Richards

2^nd Prize no.6 Kay Strain

3 ^rd Prize no.10 will be gifted to Oxfam

13. AOB: None

14. Chairman’s Closing Remarks: DA thanked everyone for attending the meeting. He is happy to continue with zoom for the July meeting, agreed by TW and the committee.

Meeting Closed at 8.20pm

Date of next meeting: Wednesday 28^th July at 7.30pm

To be held via Zoom.

Minutes of the committee meeting held via Zoom.

Wednesday 26^th Mai 2021. Das Treffen begann um 7.30 pm.

1. Welcome and apologies for absence:

VORHANDEN: David Atkins (chairman) DA, Tom Winn (vice chairman)TW, Marina Richards (treasurer) MR, Jacqui Ritter (Sekretär) JK, Peter Fry PF, Barbara Fry BF, Francis Knight FK, Catherine Atkins CA, Kay Strain KS

ENTSCHULDIGUNGEN: Claire Axten, Käfige Butler, Sally Wood and Paul Badman

2. Minutes of the meeting held on 28^th April 2021: DA checked that everyone had read the minutes from the previous meeting and it was agreed that they are a true record. Signing of the minutes will take place at a later date.

3. Matters Arising not on Agenda: None

4. Chairman’s Report: Nothing to report

5. Secretary’s Report: Sharon had sent a video to JK to share on the Twinning Website. Unfortunately we did not get permission to include 3 photos of Brookside school children and so the video will need to be edited and the music resynced. Patrice who created the video is not available to edit it. JK asked is anyone knew how to do this.

DA will ask his son who may be able to do this for us.

6. Treasurer’s Report: MR stated that the financial report now reflects the membership payments being carried over. We have received the Parish Council grant of £1000. DA has acknowledged receipt with a reply to the Parish Council that Autumn will be the earliest we can use it to promote Twinning. When we are fully up and running again DA said the committee will be looking at the amount the association has in its reserves.

Please see the financial report at the end of the minutes.

Current account balance £7434.79

Deposit account balance £8058.92

7. Membership & Member’s Welfare: FK informed the committee that whilst in Merriman Park he had seen a bench in memory of William Berry. It is in a lovely position near to the twinning tree.

8. Visits:

Zoom with Gravenchon: Many members have said how much they enjoyed the evening. Sharon has given feedback from France that everyone thought it went really well, they enjoyed it and look forward to doing another one in the Autumn. JK has put photos of the event on Facebook.

Second Zoom with Isny: No reply from Veronica yet

FK reported that he had read information on GOV.UK about the proposed new rules for travelling to Europe. These include proof of accommodation, if you’re staying in a hotel then that’s easy but if it is at a private residence, such as when we twin, the host family need to apply for a statement from their local government stating their intention to host us – they then send a copy to us for us to show officials as we enter France. The proposed cost to them is 30 euros per family. The same will apply for going to Germany at a cost of 29 Euros per family.

Our passports will need to have at least 6 months of validity left for travel.

From mid to late 2022 we will also need to apply for an ETIAS. This is an EU wide initiative which is basically pre-checking individuals travelling to the EU for possible criminal records and terrorist activities! The cost to us will be 7 euros (under 18’s and over 70’s free) and an ETIAS will last 3 years or up to when your passport expires.

Up until Oct 2021 the French will be able to continue to use their identity cards to travel to England but after that they may need to get a passport.

Not all of this has been finalised yet but DA agreed that we will need to make sure that everyone travelling has the correct documentation and there will be extra administration for the mini committees when organising travel.

9. Fundraising and Events:

Pitch at Street’s Thursday Market – 29^th July requested. TW checked that this is in the school holidays which DA confirmed that it is. BF said that she knew of a village bric a brac that had been advertised on social media. There were suggestions of holding a bric a brac in a larger space where other people could also have stalls and would enable more money to be raised. A couple villages have held similar events where the gardens doing a stall are plotted on a map. To be discussed again.

10. Webseite & Facebook: JK stated that Germany have recently celebrated Mother and Fathers Days which she posted on Facebook. This had lots of likes from both sides of the water. Mother’s Day in France will be on 30^th May and JK will do a post for this.

PF has posted the minutes onto the Website and has archived older minutes. He hasn’t looked into possibly increasing the storage limit yet.

11. Publicity:

Update - Various plaques and items with Street Parish Council

DA suggested that it would be nice to have a get together in Merriman Park when the new plaque is set up by the tree.

The Parish Council have agreed for the twinning plaque outside of Grinters pet shop to be put onto the outside wall of the parish rooms. DA und PF will arrange this.

The Parish Council would like to put Reg Alfords Isny print in the Parish rooms. JK will contact Reg.

The twinning gifts are in a cabinet up the stairs in the newly furbished parish rooms.

The tapestry from the old library is hanging in one of the meeting rooms.

12. Lotterie: Congratulations to the winners of the May lottery draw. The numbers were drawn by Kay Winn and read out by TW during the zoom meeting.

1^st Prize no.26 David Atkins

2^nd Prize no.48 Martin Butler

3 ^rd Prize no.14 Claire Brunt

13. AOB: None

14. Chairman’s Closing Remarks: DA asked for the committees thoughts on having a face to face committee meeting in June. TW thought it was a little early and MR und PF agreed. DA will arrange the June committee zoom meeting with the hope to meet up in July but this will be reviewed again at the next meeting.

DA closed the meeting by thanking everyone for attending.

Meeting Closed at 8.06pm

Termin der nächsten Sitzung: Wednesday 23 ^rd June at 7.30pm

To be held via Zoom.

Minutes of the committee meeting held via Zoom.

Wednesday 28^th April 2021. Das Treffen begann um 7.30 pm.

1. Welcome and apologies for absence:

VORHANDEN: David Atkins (chairman) DA, Tom Winn (vice chairman)TW, Marina Richards (treasurer) MR, Jacqui Ritter (Sekretär) JK, Peter Fry PF, Barbara Fry BF, Francis Knight FK, Catherine Atkins CA, Sally Holz SW and David Brunt

ENTSCHULDIGUNGEN: Gabbie Butler, Paul Badman and Kay Strain

2. Minutes of the meeting held on 24^th März 2021:

DA checked that everyone had read the minutes from the previous meeting and it was agreed by a show of hands that they are a true record. Signing of the minutes will take place at a later date.

3. Matters Arising not on Agenda: None

4. Chairman’s Report:

DA stated that it was felt that the association gave Trevor Skinner an appropriate send off and thanked all the members that attended. He sent a sympathy card and flowers on behalf of the association. Thank you to both BF und JK for contacting Isny and Gravenchon about Trevor’s passing.

5. Secretary’s Report: None

6. Treasurer’s Report:

The financial report was circulated before the meeting and it is attached to the end of the minutes. TW questioned the inclusion of the £50 payment to the accountant on the recent financial report. MR clarified that is was paid in Oct 2020 and so it will show in the 2021 expenditure.

FW asked if the membership fees should be split as some are donations and some will be carried over to next year’s membership fees. DA said this was a valid point from an accounting perspective. Some of the total isn’t this year’s income but will come into next year’s accounting. DA und MR will look at this and adjust the figures so it shows a true picture

Current account balance £6469.79

Deposit account balance £8058.85

7. Membership & Member’s Welfare:

David Brunt stated that membership appears to be lower than it used to be, still have the age old problem of local people not knowing we exist or what we do. He acknowledged that there is not much we can do at this current time but he felt there is no definitive description of what we do or stand for as an organisation. DA responded by saying that when we applied for the Parish Council grant it was partly so as we can produce a leaflet to give to people and schools but this will be done when the environment is suitable i.e. not during the pandemic. The website is currently being updated and does state what we do and why we exist but people do need to know we exist so as they look at the website. We are due to get the grant by the end of April and then we can move ahead with publicity.

8. Visits:

Zoom with Gravenchon: Both DA und JK are talking with Sharon to arrange this. Some have decided not to take part but people are still encouraged to join and listen with no pressure to talk. JK will wait for an update from Sharon before sending out an email to confirm families so as possible dates can be looked at.

Second Zoom with Isny: after we know what the Gravenchon Zoom date is then BF will contact Isny to arrange a date for the Isny Zoom.

9. Fundraising and Events:

Request pitch at Thursday Market in July? TW asked if there is any bric a brac? BF said yes there is and she proposed that we wait until the summer holidays as even though the market is picking up it isn’t busy at the moment. It was agreed that DA will send an email to ask for a pitch in a few months’ time.

Once things have calmed down DA suggested a get together, perhaps a picnic in the park so as people can meet up and socialise again in the fresh air. SW agreed this was a good idea.

David Brunt asked for update on Merriman Park. DA confirmed that it will go ahead as long as nothing changes in the upcoming months as to the pandemic. David Brunt proposed we have our stall there again and this was agreed.

10. Webseite & Facebook :

PF stated that he and DA have looked at the website and tidied it up. PF realised that we are well over our allowance of storage so we can either reduce or archive some items or pay for more space. There is now a Minute Archive section to click on which takes you to a link in google drive and some minutes have been moved over. If people become happy to click on the link then perhaps some photos can be moved there as well as it would be a shame to remove them as it is fun to reminisce. He asked if we could all take a look and give feedback to see if easy to use. DA thanked PF for what he has done and stated that he had taken a look and it is easy to use.

All the links are now updated and correct with the Gravenchon and Isny Websites.

JK stated that recently on the twinning Facebook page there was a memory from 4yrs ago when our tree was planted. She reposted it along with an updated photo of the tree and said that the tree looks very healthy with lots of buds on it.

11. Publicity:

Plaque by tree in Merriman Park: DA has not ordered this yet but has the stake ready to attach it which cost the association £5.

Plaque on wall of Grinters in High Street: DA took a look at it and photos were circulated. PF has offered help to refurbish it whether it can be done in situ or whether it needs to come off the wall, there won’t be any costs involved.

SW went to see the plaque and said that she had forgotten it was there as it is not in a very prominent position and easy to miss on the side of the building. David Brunt stated that originally it was on the front of Living Homes but when they refurbished they didn’t want it there and Grinters was the only place available and kind enough to allow it to be attached to their wall. It was suggested that the council offices could now be an option. DA offered to ask a parish councillor and David Brunt reminded us to thank Grinters for accommodating it for this time.

DA asked if anyone had known what had happened to the tiles that were made in Gravenchon and presented on a plaque to the Parish Council during their last visit to Street. DA offered to also ask about this and to find out what possible plans there are for them.

12. Lotterie:

Congratulations to the winners of the April lottery draw. The numbers were drawn by Kay Winn and read out by TW during the zoom meeting.

1^st Prize no.23 Peter Fry

2^nd Prize no.57 Danniela Della Valle

3 ^rd Prize no.4 Gill Davey

TW stated that he has emailed Kay Strain about the possibility of her taking over the lottery but had not heard back from Kay as yet.

13. AOB:

Reg Alford has said that he has a framed print 20x14in of the 18^th century Isny original presented to him when he travelled to Isny. He wonders if Street Twinning would like it, maybe to display with the other items given to the Parish Council or auction or raffle it. SW stated that she was given a similar one as a personal gift like Reg.

TW asked if the Parish Council still have all the items that were given to them by the twinning towns? DA suggested that perhaps it would be an idea to possibly offer the print to the parish council. He offered to ask about the print and the gifts when he speaks with the Parish Council about the plaque. This was agreed by the committee. David Brunt mentioned that a large tapestry from Gravenchon used to hang in the old library and wondered what had happened to it. He said that it was given to the Council many years ago and before his time with the association. DA is happy to ask about this as well.

14. Chairman’s Closing Remarks: DA thanked everyone for attending the meeting and for continuing to support the association. The May meeting might be the last virtual meeting and then DA is hoping that perhaps we might be able to meet in person.

Meeting Closed at 8.22pm

Date of next meeting: Wednesday 26^th Mai 2021 at 7.30pm

To be held via Zoom.

Minutes of the committee meeting held via Zoom.

Wednesday 27^th Januar 2021. Das Treffen begann um 7.30 pm.

1. Welcome and apologies for absence:

VORHANDEN: David Atkins (chairman) DA, Tom Winn (vice chairman)TW, Marina Richards (treasurer) MR, Jacqui Ritter (Sekretär) JK, Peter Fry PF, Barbara Fry BF, Claire Axten Cl.A, Francis Knight FK, Catherine Atkins CA, Sally Holz SW, and Simon Carswell.

ENTSCHULDIGUNGEN: Trevor Skinner, Gabbie Butler and Kay Strain.

2. Minutes of the meeting held on 25^th November 2020: DA checked that everyone had read the minutes from the previous meeting and it was agreed that they are a true record. Signing of the minutes will take place at a later date.

3. Matters Arising not on Agenda: None

4. Chairman’s Report: The “Guidelines for event organisation” were circulated to committee members before the meeting. We will hopefully be able to put them to the test later in the year. Thank you to everyone who joined the zoom social on Wed 13^th Jan. It was lovely to see people there that aren’t committee members and to share some lock down stories and connect with each other again.

5. Secretary’s Report: Nothing to report

6. Treasurer’s Report: Nothing to report. DA will be banking the cheques. Please see the financial report at the end of the minutes.

Current account balance £6493.04

Deposit account balance £8058.72

7. Membership & Member’s Welfare: Sheila James had informed members of the committee that Trevor Skinner is unwell in hospital. SW informed the committee that Christine in Germany had contacted her to let us know that Jürgen is unwell. The committee send our best wishes to them all.

37 members have paid their membership so far and this includes a family with 2 under 18’s. This brings our total of membership to 39. This compares to 61 paid members last year plus 6 under 18’s.

The Well’s family are not re-joining twinning this year but they haven’t ruled out re-joining in the future. Doreen Nicolls has decided to step down from twinning after many, many years as a member. Susan Mackenzie has also decided to leave twinning, she had recently joined twinning and unfortunately never got to visit Gravenchon as she was due to visit for the first time in 2020, we wish them all well.

A discussion followed about membership payments and the views of the committee were;

Some members may have reduced income or other factors as to why they have not paid this year. There are still some outgoing costs but there is nothing happening for our members at the moment so why pay? It would be better to keep members rather than asking them to pay during these difficult times and then them deciding to leave. The Association values its members support and some members may wish to donate their membership fee to the association and pay again next year. Refunds were discussed. Payments could be carried over.

Cl.A proposed and TW agreed for JK to send out an email to all members to inform them of the decisions made by the committee;

All Members will be asked whether they would like to donate their membership payment this year to the association. Members who have paid can chose to donate or carry it forward to cover next year’s membership. Members who have not yet paid and do not wish to make a donation will still be seen as members and can wait until membership is due again in October 2021. There will be no refunds of membership already paid.

8. Update on visits 2021: Many members have emailed the twinning association giving their support to the decisions that have been made by Street, Gravenchon and Isny to postpone any trips and organisation until the current situation is clearer.

1. To ND de Gravenchon: DA has had discussions with Sharon and Dede and it was agreed to hold off deciding any dates for the moment. Discussions will continue. An update on France is that there has been a national curfew but schools are still open.

2. From Isny: They had February as a cut off time to make travel plans. The lockdown in Germany has been extended to mid-February and schools are closed. People are currently not allowed to travel from Germany for holidays.

BF will ask if Isny will still be looking at making a decision in February as we don’t want them to make the decision that they are happy to travel over but we have not yet contacted our members to see if they can host.

9. Future Fundraising and Events: It was agreed by all who took part in the zoom social evening that it was a very pleasant evening. It was suggested to advertise it more next time to try to encourage more non committee members to take part.

It was suggested that we hold another international zoom event as the Isny one had gone so well. DA has previously discussed this with Sharon in Gravenchon and it is work in progress to try and arrange this. Isny are keen for another zoom social to take place.

It was suggested that we organise something other than a zoom quiz and any ideas would be gratefully received.

We will look towards another zoom meeting in Feb or early March.

10. Webseite & Facebook: Nothing to report for Facebook.

JK stated that due to her request to email the monthly minutes to a family who recently left twinning, but who would like to stay in the loop, being declined last month by the committee it raised the question are we happy for the minutes to be on the Website for the general public to read? She expressed concern that there may be details that could be seen as inappropriate for public knowledge, especially member’s welfare. A discussion followed with the following thoughts;

With the minutes being on the Website anyone can access them, this enables supporters, such as the family JK mentioned, to see what’s happening each month i.e. fundraising events etc. without having to be sent the minutes by email. The minutes show intention for future visits enabling people to see when and where we are thinking of doing twinning exchanges. It is somewhere to look back at the minutes and forms a historical record. PF stated that at the moment he doesn’t include the financial figures and offered to redact any sensitive and personal information in the minutes before putting them on the Website. The minutes show that something is going on each month even through lockdown. If the minutes weren’t shown on the Website then it would be someone’s responsibility to update the Website each month which would be time consuming.

It was questioned whether or not the financial details should be included on the Website minutes. Views on this were;

It is a way of protection for the Association to be open about its finances.

The need for Street Twinning to have a Website was then discussed. Views on this were;

Not everyone has Facebook and if someone were to put Street and the word twinning into google or a similar search engine it would bring up our Website for anyone who is interested in Twinning. It gives transparency of the group and gives contact details and shows the group is still active.

It was agreed by a show of hands to continue with the Website and to continue putting the minutes onto it. To empower PF to edit the minutes when appropriate and put the financial statement of the AGM onto the Website and the monthly bank balances.

DA will propose a draft of a new statement for the front page of the Website.

11. Publicity: DA sent a press release to the Basis magazine for the February/May addition.

12. Lotterie: TW will continue with the lottery until meetings resume as normal, then Kay Strain will take over. Response this year has been very good and thanks to everyone who has bought numbers. Last year 70 numbers were sold and this year 88, there are only 90 tiles so almost a full house!

It was agreed by the committee at this stage not to increase the prizes. It is a slow year for fundraising and it was agreed that the profit will be seen as fundraising for the association.

It was asked why people have not been informed of their numbers or received any kind of receipt. JK offered as membership secretary to send out individual receipts if TW gave her the information as she has all the members’ emails. She does not have emails for non-members though and MR asked if non-members win how does she pays them as she has no contact details for them. It was suggested that on the lottery form non-members could give the name of their contact within the twinning. TW assured the committee that payments do get to the right people as he knows who the contacts are.

It was agreed that when JK sends out the minutes in the email she will state that if people would like to know their lottery numbers or numbers for their friends and family, to please contact TW directly tom.winn@virgin.net.

It was suggested that in the future an email address would be helpful for anyone buying a lottery number. It was suggested that any changes wait until Kay takes it over.

Congratulations to the winners of the January lottery draw. During the zoom meeting winning numbers were drawn by Kay Winn and read out by TW.

1^st Prize no.71 Ben Atkins

2^nd Prize no.79 Shirley Gunter

3 ^rd Prize no.17 Kay Winn

13. AOB: None

14. Chairman’s Closing Remarks: DA thanked everyone for attending the zoom meeting and special thanks to Simon Carswell who is one of the Street Parish Council contacts to Street Twinning.

Meeting Closed at 8.59pm

Date of next meeting: Wednesday 24^th Februar at 7.30pm

To be held via Zoom.

Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held via Zoom.

Saturday 31^st Oktober 2020. Das Treffen begann um 2.30 pm.

 

1.      VORHANDEN: David (DA) and Catherine Atkins, Tom Winn, Marina Richards, Jacqui and Francis Knight, Peter and Barbara Fry, Claire Axten, Trevor Skinner, Sally Holz, David and Veronica Brunt, David and Hilary Mozley, Yvette Carver, Shirley Gunter, Gill Davey, Avril Berry and Mark Lewis.

 

ENTSCHULDIGUNGEN: Paul Badman, Tina and Tony Della Valle, Kay Winn and Jenny Lewis. Kay Strain sent a message during the meeting which was not picked up until after, stating she couldn’t hear us so unfortunately had to leave the meeting.

 

2.      Minuten and any matters arising of last AGM held on 23 ^rd  Oktober 2019:

DA welcomed everyone to the meeting and checked that they had read the minutes from the previous AGM and that they were a true record. Trevor proposed that the minutes were correct and Tom seconded. A unanimous wave of hands from members present showed we were all in agreement. No matters arising.

 

3.      Chairman’s Report: (A copy of the report was sent to all members in the week of the meeting)

David checked that everyone had received a copy of his report. In summary he said that the cancelled trips were very disappointing and even though Covid has still not been resolved, the future is bright and our lives will change into an alternative routine. People will be looking for new safe ways to travel which may encourage new members to twinning. We had sadly not been able to do our usual fundraising stalls this summer but we had raised £1200 last year. He thanked everyone for giving him the opportunity to be chairman, it was a sometimes difficult year with new challenges but he has enjoyed it.

Barbara Fry proposed the acceptance of the report and Marina Richards seconded. Agreed with a wave of hands from members.

 

4.      Treasurer’s report and presentation and acceptance of the annual accounts: (A copy of the accounts was sent to all members in the week of the meeting)

Marina presented the accounts for the financial year to 31^st August 2020 as checked by the accountant.

 

Current account balance £5,349.81

Reserve account balance £8,058.38

 

Sally proposed to agree the accounts and Catherine seconded and a wave of hands showed the members present were in agreement.

Marina proposed for membership to stay at £15, seconded by David Brunt and a wave of hands carried the motion.

DA thanked Marina for all her help especially after going through such a personally tough year.

 

5.      Changes to the Constitution: (The proposal was sent to all members along with the 1^st und 2^nd calling notices)

The committee proposed the following additions to item 7. MONEY AND ASSETS:

Sub-section n Discretionary Payments – Total unbudgeted expenditure of up to £100.00 in any month between Committee Meetings can be authorized by two of the Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer.

Sub-section o Direct Debit Card – The Treasurer is authorized to hold a Debit Card on behalf of and in the name of the Association to undertake payment of any approved expenditure.

 

Discretionary payments motion was seconded by David Mozley and carried by a wave of hands from members present.

Direct Debit Card motion was seconded by Gill Davey and carried by a wave of hands from members present.

Please find attached the updated Constitution.

 

6.      Voting to elect the Chairman:

DA asked if any members would like to request a ballot. No requests were received and so the voting by show of hands would proceed.

 

Once David had left the room Tom congratulated David Atkins on a good chairmanship over the past year and proposed to re-elect David as Chairman. Jacqui reported that no other nominations or votes against had been received by post of email and that the nominations she had received were in favour of David being re-elected.

Trevor seconded and the motion was carried by a wave of hands.

David re-entered the zoom meeting and was congratulated by Tom on being re-elected. David thanked the members and gave special thanks to Tom and appreciated his help and advice over the year.

David Atkins re-elected as Vorsitzende

 

7.      Voting to elect Vice Chairman, Treasurer and Secretary:

Jacqui reported that no other nominations or votes against had been received by post of email and that the nominations she had received were in favour of the current Vice Chairman, Treasurer and Secretary being re-elected.

Before the vote took place the current Vice Chairman Tom Winn said that he felt he should stand down due to his health but with the present situation and there not being much to do he feels happy to stay in the position until someone stands forward.

The candidates left the room and a vote was carried out by a show of hands. The motion was carried and the three candidates re-entered the zoom meeting and congratulated on their re-election and they thanked everyone.

Tom Winn re-elected as Vice Chairman

Marina Richards re-elected as treasurer

Jacqui Ritter re-elected as Sekretär

 

8.      Members are invited to volunteer to serve on the management committee with a target of at least 10 members:

Members volunteering to serve on the committee for the coming year are:

 

Francis Knight, Claire Axten, Sally Holz, Barbara and Peter Fry, Catherine Atkins, Paul Badman and Trevor Skinner.

Previous Committee members Gabbie Butler and Kay Strain who were not at the meeting will be approached to see if they would like to continue.

Anyone else who would like to join is very welcome; please contact either David or Jacqui.

 

9.      Lotterie:

Tom stated that the lottery is one of the few fundraisers still able to go ahead and asks members to encourage family and friends to join. The lottery licence renewal is now due. It was agreed that Tom will pay the £20 and Marina will reimburse. Tom is happy to continue lottery for the time being until someone steps forward. Please let David, Tom or Jacqui know if you would be happy to step in.

 

October Lottery Winners:

1^st no.13 Sandy Baird £20

2^nd no.55 David Mozley £10

3 ^rd no.49 Lily Della Valle £5

 

10. AOB:

Gill Davey asked if there were any possible dates for visits or hosting next year. David stated that the plan is to visit Gravenchon from 7^th bis 11^th April and host Isny during the week commencing the 2^nd August. The agreement with both France and Germany was to maintain the same pattern of visits as we would have done this year. No organising will start for Gravenchon until the beginning of next year. Isny has a deadline of the end of February to start organising. There is no pressure for members to take part and we will do everything we can to delay payments of any kind.

Peter Fry thanked Jacqui for her help in keeping everyone updated and keeping the links going.

Sally Wood asked when people can pay for lottery. Tom answered by saying an invitation letter will go out shortly and the first new draw will take place at the January Committee meeting. There is no rush but Tom would like replies back before Christmas so as numbers can be allocated in plenty of time before the first draw.

Mark Lewis asked about the Road which has been requested to be named after Isny. Jacqui said that she has received a very positive email from Cllr. Peter Goater and they are waiting for planning permission to go ahead for a possible new housing estate in Street and an extension to the current Business Park by Sainsbury’s. Mark proposed that it would be a nice idea if the road had trees along or near it and if it could be called an avenue as this would be very fitting for Isny. Jacqui is happy to contact Cllr. Goater with this proposal.

 

DA thanked Trevor for hosting the zoom meeting and thanked Peter and Jacqui for helping to circulate the information for tonight’s AGM. He thanked everyone for attending.

 

Meeting Closed at 3.15pm

Termin der nächsten Sitzung: November 25^th 2020 at 7.30pm

To be held via Zoom