Minutes of the committee meeting held via Zoom.
Wednesday 26th August 2020. The meeting started at 7.30 pm.
1. Welcome and apologies for absence
PRESENT: David Atkins (chairman) DA, Jacqui Knight (secretary) JK, Peter Fry PF, Barbara Fry BF, Claire Axten Cl.A, Trevor Skinner TS, Francis Knight, Catherine Atkins, Sally Wood, Kay Strain David Brunt
APOLOGIES: Tom Winn, Marina Richards, Paul Badman and Gabbie Butler
2. Minutes of the meeting held on 22nd July: 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: DA suggested that the Twinning Association Reserves be discussed at a later date. This was agreed by the committee.
4. Chairman’s Report: Nothing to report
5. Secretary’s Report: Nothing to report
6. Treasurer’s Report: Please find attached the Financial Report for Aug
Marina was not present at the meeting and so DA summarised that the only change to the account balance is £35.00 less due to lottery winnings. Marina had sent a message to remind everyone that she will need receipts for any expenses. Please send them to her as soon as possible so as they can be included in the accounts.
7. Membership & Member’s Welfare:
JK had written the following to all members when sending out July’s minutes: Since the meeting we have been informed by Sharon Paimpare of the very sad news that Sylvie St Leger has passed away after a yearlong illness. Sylvie and her husband Patrick twinned with Helen and Tim Phillips. Both Sharon and David Atkins have been in touch with Helen and Tim. Sharon wrote in her email "Sylvie was my right hand girl. She helped in organisations of all the visits and was responsible for all the super deco at the dinner dances. She also helped me organise and participate in the street and Catcott primary school exchanges and was present when the English children came to France. She will be greatly missed by all and I have lost a very dear friend." DA has spoken with Sharon and passed on our condolences on behalf of Street Twinning.
JK had also written in this email to members that in response to the card sent by Street Twinning, Hazel Russell had replied. She greatly appreciated the card and she is continuing to gain health. Hazel also said that she and Ivor enjoyed twinning immensely and hopes that visits will continue in the not too distant future. Long may the twinning continue!
8. Update on visits 2021:
BF said that the first week in Aug has been pencilled in for the visit from Isny to Street 2021. She had been informed that there will be a road in Isny named after Street.
There then followed a discussion about a road being named in Street after Isny. Cl.A stated that there had been a recent Street Parish Council meeting which discussed extending the Business Park near Sainsburys and that this would be an ideal area to have a road named after Isny. JK reported that she had written to Mendip District Council back in Aug 2018 asking about the possibility of having a road named Isny and then in Jan 2019 contacted Street Parish Council. It was suggested that she writes again this time directly to Cllr. Peter Goater at the Parish Council and she is happy to do so.
DA has spoken with Sharon about dates and will check again with her ready for September’s committee meeting.
9. Future Fundraising and Events:
JK reported that due to a problem with the Street Twinning Facebook page she hasn’t been able to advertise bric a brac items on Facebook Market place. She has reported it to Facebook and will report back next meeting.
The possibility of a bric a brac stall at Street Market was then discussed. Various ideas were suggested such as self-distancing by placing an extra table between sellers and buyers, wearing masks and placing hand sanitiser on the stall. There was some concern that there would not be enough members volunteering and not many people use cash any more as paying by card is preferred.
It was suggested that the association could buy a card reader and the committee agreed that Street Twinning should buy one ready for future events. It was agreed that there was enough interest in holding a stall and so a stall will be booked in the not too distant future.
TS stated he is hesitant to book a quiz night at the moment as we could possibly not get enough people to attend. It was agreed by the committee that to hold a quiz is sadly too soon at the moment.
JK had asked for suggestions or thoughts about fund raising when she sent out July’s minutes to members but had not received any replies.
10. Annual General Meeting:
Thank you to all members who replied with their views about holding a Zoom or physical AGM. Most had said they were happy with either but some would not be able to or would prefer not to go to a physical meeting.
It was decided that the association must enable anyone who would like to attend the AGM to do so and this would involve combining the two options.
It was decided by the committee to look at a hall that can sit 25 to 30 people with social distancing and to set up a zoom meeting from the hall. It was agreed that the hall would need to have Wi-Fi. There will be costs involved but it was agreed that this is necessary to get the right kind of venue.
BF suggested the meeting to be held during daylight hours and so DA will see what halls will be available on Saturday afternoon of the 31st October. PF is happy to look at setting up Zoom.
Due to the current Covd-19 guidelines it was decided not to serve refreshments.
DA stated that there will be a proposed change to the constitution with reference to a certain amount of expenditure being cleared between committee meetings by two committee members. Also for the constitution to state that a Street Twinning debit card is held by the treasurer.
11. Website & Facebook : The renewal for the Website Domain is due in the next couple of weeks. Marina was not present at the meeting and so the cost of the renewal is not known.
JK has reported that she is no longer able to sign into the Facebook account due to it not recognising the email and password. Luckily it is linked to her own private Facebook page and so she can access it through that and add posts. She is waiting to hear back from Facebook.
The Website was discussed and it was agreed that it will be updated shortly.
12. Publicity: Nothing to report.
13. Guidelines for Event Organisation: DA will be looking at risk assessments.
14. Lottery: Congratulations to The August Lottery winners
1st Prize £20 no.55 David Mozley
2nd Prize £10 no.34 Alison Rowden
3rd Prize £5 no.7 Tina Della Valle
Marina will be informed and payments will be paid directly into the winners bank accounts.
15. AOB: JK has the gift of pâté from Gravenchon and reports that they are all still in date with varied use by dates from April to Dec 2021. She is happy to store them until there is such an occasion for the association to use them.
16. Chairman’s Closing Remarks: DA thanked everyone for attending the zoom meeting and thanked Trevor for arranging it. TS is happy to organise the next zoom meeting.
Meeting Closed at 8.40pm
Date of next meeting: Wednesday 23rd Sept 2020 at 7.30pm