Minutes of the committee meeting held in the John Webster room Wednesday 7th November 2018
The meeting started at 7.30 pm.1. Welcome, introductions and apologies for absence
PRESENT: David Brunt (chairman) DB, Tom Winn TW, Jacqui Knight JK, Marina Richards MR, Katrina Dumontroty KD, Peter Fry PF, Barbara Fry BF, Claire Axten Cl.A, Trevor Skinner TS, Francis Knight FK, Mark Lewis, Paul Badman, Kay Strain KS, Gabbie Butler, Catherine Atkins Ca.A
APOLOGIES: Barbara Cowell, Sally Wood.
2. Minutes of previous meeting
• David checked that everyone had read the minutes from the previous meeting and signed them as a true record.
• It was brought to the attention of the committee that at an AGM the minutes from the previous year’s AGM should be checked and not the September minutes. At the November meeting the minutes from the September meeting should be checked and not the AGM minutes. This was agreed and will happen in the future.
3. Matters Arising
• The Committee thanked Cl.A for the drink and nibbles that she provided for the AGM.
• BF and PF had sent their apologies for the AGM but this had not been minuted.
• There followed a lengthy discussion about the financial procedures and end of year statement that had been discussed at the AGM.
a) TW questioned why Street Twinning pays £50 for an account to check the accounts. MR stated that this had been raised at the AGM and that the members present at the AGM had voted for this procedure to remain.
b) DB produced a document previously received from the Parish Council which requests that accounts are audited. Cl.A will check if this is correct.
c) BF and PF referred back to the January meeting where David Atkins talked about budgeting. MR has now set up files of expenditure and there will be an expenditure report for each event which will be reported back to the committee. This will help with budgeting in the future.
d) Cl.A checked with MR that there will also be an expenditure report for each fund raising event as this would give a true picture of how successful each fundraising event is. The water or wine stall at Merriman Park had been a great fundraiser but the accounts were misleading. All the wine expenditure had been allocated to Merriman Park when not all the wine had been used for this one event. This was agreed. MR to action.
e) PF suggested that there should be a record of wine kept. Donations of wine have dropped in recent times and to make fundraisers more successful more donations are needed. It was agreed that a more precise record will be kept of how many bottles of wine there are, where they are stored and how many bottles are used at each event. It was not discussed who would keep this record. Carry over to the January meeting.
f) TW asked if the constitution could be looked at with reference to finance and procedures. Ca.A suggested adding some Rules of Audit instead of changing the constitution. The lay out and the headings for the financial report need to be looked at as it was agreed that the current financial report is confusing. It was decided that a working group would look at the financial procedures and the lay out and report back to the committee at the January meeting. Working Group MR, TW, Ca.A
4. Treasurers Report
• The amount in the Street Twinning current account is £2549.51. The amount in the reserve account is £8032.80.
• Public Liability insurance: It was decided not to renew using our usual broker, Higos, who quoted £316 but to instead insure with Event Insurance at £266 following enquiries made by Marina. MR to action.
• Future Budgeting: There is an aim towards long term budgeting. This will give the sub committees an idea of expectations when planning events. Budgeting will vary for each event i.e. recently we had our 50th anniversary and so costs were more than usual when hosting Gravenchon in 2017.
5. Committee members who does what
• JK was asked if she is happy to continue keeping Facebook up to date alongside her new secretarial role. She is happy to continue with this.
• JK stated that she would like to stand down from updating the Street Twinning Twitter page. It was agreed that FK will take on this role. FK to action.
• DB is happy to continue to write letters for grants.
• TW stated that he would like to stand down from his Lottery role but will continue for the time being until someone volunteers to take over this role.
• PF is happy to continue with keeping the Website up to date.
6. Booking parish room for meetings
• DB informed the committee that the renewal is due for booking the parish room for the meetings. DB asked if anyone would prefer a different date. It was agreed that the new date for the meetings will be on the fourth Wednesday of every month. A full list of the meeting dates for 2019 will be sent to all members. JK to action.
• Claire will book the parish room for next year. Cl.A to action.
• It was agreed that there would be no committee meeting in December.
7. Discover Your Community stall report
• FK and JK were thanked for setting up a fantastic looking stall.
• JK would like to thank everyone that helped on the day. There had been a great response from members. A lot of people asked about twinning at the event and looked at all the information about both Gravenchon and Isny that had been kindly supplied by members. She reported that three forms of interest had been filled in and many flyers had been given out.
8. Bric a brac market stall (8th November)
Unfortunately this was cancelled due to the weather forecast.
9. Christmas Cracker (1st December)
• Bottle wrapping for the Water or Wine stall will take place at Claire’s 7pm Tues 27thNovember. Cl.A will get some more wrapping paper for the bottles. Cl.A to action.
• KD will email all members to ask for donations of wine to be dropped off at Claire’s house and will organise the rota for the stall. We have enough empty bottles for the water. KD to action.
• It was suggested that some of the new items donated for the bric a brac stall could be used as tombola prizes instead of doing the raffle board this year. This was agreed. KD, MR, KS to action.
• Ca.A maybe able to obtain the use of a tombola. Ca.A to action.
• BF suggested that on the tombola stall they could also sell bric a brac. This was agreed. BF, PF to action.
• The children’s card game with prizes will be on the water or wine stall. There are enough prizes left over from previous events.
• It was agreed that two stalls will be booked and it will be requested that they are next to each other. MR to action.
• We will need two gazebos with weights. Since the meeting Claire has secured the use of two gazebos with weights.
10. Visit from Gravenchon 2019
• We have been notified by Sharon in Gravenchon that they plan to visit from Saturday 6th April and leave on Wednesday 10th April. The Ferry hasn’t been booked yet and so we do not know what time they will arrive or leave at this point but we will update members as soon as we hear.
• The Parish Council had been approached to see if they would like to lay on a reception for our guests. They are keen and so as soon as we know arrival times they will be contacted again to see when this will be feasible.
• Members will be contacted to ask if they are hosting next year and who they are expecting to host. JK to action.
• The Gravenchon subcommittee recently met. They reported back to the committee and are starting to formulate ideas for next year’s visit. Subcommittee MR, KS, Ca.A, TW, KD, JK.
11. Visit to Isny 2019
Flights can’t be booked until March but BF reported that they hope to arrange the visit for during the last week of October to coincide with half term here and a holiday in Germany.
12. Membership update and renewals
A reminder to members that payments for membership renewals are due by the end of November.
13. Publicity / recruitment of new members
• The three people who filled in forms of interest at the Discover Your Community event have been contacted by JK.
• JK was thanked for writing the articles about Street Twinning in the 18TH October edition of the Central Somerset Gazette and in the November edition of The Local Reach. An editorial has also been sent to The Basis.
14. Fundraising for 2019
• A possible fundraising event with Tina Della Valle and a small choir and also Trevor and Sheila singing folk songs was briefly discussed. Carry over to the January meeting.
• TS would like to organise a quiz to take place early next year. This was agreed. TS to action.
15. Website / Facebook /Twitter
• Both the Website and Facebook are being kept up to date.
• Twitter needs more followers to make it a success. It could be used for updates on events or if there are any delays with coaches etc. Street Twinning follows the Gravenchon twitter page (there is a translate tweet option) so it is a good way of keeping up with news abroad as well.
16. Lottery winners this month:
1st Prize no. 62 Hazel Russel
2nd Prize no. 23 Bobbie Lockyer
3rd Prize no. 72 Gillian Davey
17. AOB
TW gave DB two hockey trophies that were passed to him by the Victoria Club. They were from trips that took place between Gravenchon and Street. One dated 1981 and the other 1965-1985.