Minutes
of the Annual General Meeting
held
at Crispin Community Centre and Via Zoom.
Wednesday
20e
Octobre. The meeting started at 7.05pm.
Our
Chairman David Atkins started the meeting by welcoming everyone in
the room and also those online, he said it is a delight to be able to
meet and see friends physically as well as virtually. He gave a
special welcome to two of our newest members, from the Gulliver
family Sarah and Evie.
ACTUELLE:
David
Atkins DA,
Catherine Atkins CA,
David Brunt DB,
Veronica Brunt, Peter Fry PF, Barbara Fry BF,
Jacqui Chevalier JK,
Francis Knight FK,
Isobel Knight, Mark Lewis, Jenny Lewis, David Mozley DM,
Hilary Mozley, Marina Richards MR,
Paul Badman, Kay Strain KS,
Tom Winn TW,
Kay Winn, Sally Bois SW,
Sarah Gulliver SG
and Evie Gulliver.
EXCUSES:
Gabbie
and Martyn Butler,
Barbara
and Martin Cowell,
Gill
Davey, Brian Read and Julia Welch.
Minutes
and
any matters arising of last AGM held on 31st October 2020:
DA
checked
that those present had read the minutes from the previous AGM and
that they were a true and fair record. DM
proposed that the minutes were correct, et FK
seconded. Agreed by all members by a show of hands. No matters
arising.
Chairman’s
Report: (A copy of the report was sent to members prior to the
meeting)
DA
checked
that everyone had received a copy of his report. In summary he spoke
about three main points.
1.
The association has been able to keep in contact with our French and
German friends via Zoom during the last year. There have been three
such meetings and all have been good fun and it was a delight to both
see and hear from our fellow Twinners. We look forward to having more
meetings in the coming months. Such meetings via Zoom will help us in
planning future visits.
2.
The committee has met each month via Zoom and DA
thanked them all for their support and desire to both keep in touch
with and to update our members. Special thanks to our Secretary JK
and our Treasurer MR
for their continued work in those roles. DA
also thanked the members who supported our Bric-a-Brac stall in July
and the Water or Wine stall at Merriman Park Fun Day.
3.
DA
said that we hope to be able to resume visits next year and that the
key to the Associations future success still lies with increasing our
membership. We received a grant of £1k from Street Parish
Council to help with this. He said that the way lies in targeting
families and we are looking to do this through the schools. Families
are not the only additional members we want to see - anyone with the
right motivation is welcome - but families offer a longer term and
vibrant future.
DA
asked if there were any comments. No comments. KS
proposed the acceptance of the report and DB
seconded. Agreed with a show of hands from members.
Treasurer’s
report and presentation and acceptance of the annual accounts: (A
copy of the accounts was sent to members prior to the meeting)
MR
presented the accounts for the financial year ending 31st
Août 2021 as checked by the accountant.
Current
account balance £7207.06
Reserve
account balance £8059.19
MR
proposed the acceptance of the accounts and TW
seconded.
All in favour by a show of hands. DA
thanked Chris Ford for inspecting the accounts.
MR
proposed the level of subs
for next year to stay at £15 per member 18yrs and over.
There were no comments to this proposal and the motion was seconded
by SW.
All in favour by a show of hands.
Voting
to elect the Chairman:
DA
thanked
those who had already sent their votes for nominations to our
secretary. Voting at the meeting would normally be by a show of
hands but a secret ballot may be held if requested by at least 4
members. No requests for a ballot were received and the voting by
show of hands proceeded.
TW
our current Vice Chairman was on Zoom and did not have sight of the
room to see the votes. It was agreed before the meeting that DA
would hand over to JK
to conduct the election of our chairman.
Once
DA
had left the room JK
reported that no other nominations had been received by post or
email. By a show of hands with no abstains or against votes David
Atkins
was re-elected as Président.
DA
was called back into the room and thanked everyone for their
continued confidence “I am delighted to continue in this role,
and I hope that I can bring the necessary energy to lead us for the
next 12 months that are critical to the association as previously
mentioned this evening”.
Voting
to elect Vice Chairman, Treasurer and Secretary:
DA
stated that TW
has decided not to seek to remain as vice chairman, a role he has
had for the last three years. On behalf of the Association DA
thanked TW
for having filled this role and personally thanked him for all his
help advice and support over the last two years. In response TW
said that it has been a pleasure to be Vice Chairman and also a
pleasure to work alongside DA.
BF
had been nominated for Vice Chairman – She left the room for
the vote to be held. The vote was carried out by a show of hands. The
motion was carried, et Barbara
Fry
was elected as Vice
Chairman
and called back into the room and she joined the top table.
JK
who had been nominated for Secretary left the room. Jacqui
Knight
was re-elected by a show of hands as Secretary.
MR
who had been nominated for Treasurer and had joined the meeting by
Zoom was asked to leave the room. Marina
Richards
was re-elected by a show of hands as Treasurer.
Members
are invited to volunteer to serve on the management committee with a
target of at least 10 members:
Members
volunteering to continue to serve on the committee for the coming
year are:
Catherine
Atkins
Paul
Badman
Peter
Fry
Francis
Knight
Kay
Strain
Sally
Wood
DA
thanked them. Ideally the Association needs four new Committee
members and he outlined what it entails:
There
are 11 meetings per year generally on the fourth Wednesday of each
month. There is no meeting in December. Candidates need to have a
willingness to bring suggestions and ideas to our events – be
they hosting, visiting, social or fund-raising and have a willingness
to help organise these activities with others.
David
Mozley
volunteered from the room to join the committee.
Anyone
else who would like to join is very welcome; please contact either DA
or JK.
The
next meeting will be held on Wednesday
24e
Nov
and the venue will be decided nearer the time.
Loterie:
TW
stated that this year’s lottery
had seen a record amount of numbers sold. He has enjoyed doing the
lottery for a number of years but is now going to stand down. KS
has volunteered to take over the running of the lottery and TW
said he hopes she enjoys doing it as much as he has. DA
thanked TW
for running this as it is an important fund-raiser for the
Association.
October
Lottery Winners:
1st
no.30 Cameron Richards £20
2e
no.47 Trevor Sinner £10 – donating to Oxfam
3RD
no.46 Suzie Atkins £5
Plans
for 2022: DA stated
that we would like to give an update from both Gravenchon and Isny
but as importantly he would like to get a sense from the members as
to how you are all feeling about participating in either hosting or
travel next year. He stated that future visits to Europe will need
the Association to have additional documentation in line with EU
regulations which is unrelated to Covid, this was outlined at a
previous meeting and when we organise trips in the future, we will
need to make sure these guidelines are followed.
Gravenchon
update: Please see the attached corrected School holiday timeline.
JK
gave an update to the members that there have been discussions with
Sharon in Gravenchon about us travelling to France next year.
Unfortunately, Sharon had stated that the week commencing 18e
April after Easter, is not an option because of French Presidential
Elections and the wide use of public buildings for voting over the
two weekends in April.
The
other option is Spring Bank Holiday week, 30e
May onwards that includes the Queen’s Platinum celebrations,
but this could be problematic for both sides. The French because of a
Bank Holiday for Whitsun and the UK’s two bank holidays for the
Jubilee. Sharon is checking with their members if they are wanting to
host in Whitsun week, but it is felt that many people may be going
away on holiday both in the UK and in France during this time.
This
leaves two other options when school holidays coincide which are in
August or October.
JK
added that she felt it is important to keep the exchanges in school
holidays as children are not allowed to take time off school during
term time and this is especially important with a new family recently
joining the Association. SG
said that hopefully with the exchange being further into the year we
will all be in a better place by then and so enabling more members to
travel. FK
stated that in a previous year there had been exchanges with both
Gravenchon and Isny in the same month and as some members exchange
with both it had been said that this had been too much to take on. It
had previously been stated that Isny were looking at August to visit
us and so this would leave October as the more sensible option for us
to visit Gravenchon. The members in the room agreed it wasn’t a
good idea to have two exchanges in the same month. We will wait to
hear from Sharon and have further discussions.
Isny
update: BF
gave an update that Isny have pencilled in the first week in August
as a preferred time for them to visit Street. There have been recent
emails, and this is still the case. Nothing has been booked so far
but this will hopefully happen.
It
was decided that JK
et BF
will send out emails in the New Year to gauge interest from our
members to see who would potentially like to participate in exchanges
in 2022.
AOB:
SW
talked
about holding another Bric-a-Brac
near Christmas. It was discussed whether this would be appropriate
due to the fact that Street is holding a food festival around
Christmas time instead of the usual Christmas Cracker event. BF
stated that she still has Bric-a-Brac for a stall. CA
said she thought that before Christmas would still be a good time to
hold another Bric-a-Brac. it was agreed that DA
would look into booking a stall on a Thursday market day in
December. If anyone has any appropriate items for a Bric-a-Brac
stall, please get in touch. SW
said that she felt it would be good if we held a stall more
regularly at the Thursday Street Market in the New Year.
The
Associations new Display
Board
was brought along to the meeting and DA
said that it had been a good focal point at the Merriman Park
Fundraiser. This has been a good investment utilising some of the
grant received from Street Parish Council. Thanks to JK
et FK
for putting the display together. See photo at the end of the
minutes.
DA
asked the members present their thoughts on a Christmas
Social.
Previously we had a sit-down meal. FK
thought that it was better to be able to mingle and chat and so a
buffet would be good for this. SW
suggested a fun Christmas quiz. DB
suggested music. SG
suggested organising a beetle drive. DA
suggested in terms of rooms the United Reform Church and Mission
Church were appropriate and after a discussion these were the
preferred options. DA
will make enquiries.
DA
closed the meeting and thanked KS
et SW
for the teas, coffees, and biscuits. He thanked everyone for
attending the meeting either in person or via Zoom.
Meeting
Closed at 7.50pm
Date
of next meeting: Wednesday
24e
Novembre 2021 at 7.30pm