MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF THE LINCOLNSHIRE TWINNING FEDERATION HELD AT COUNTY OFFICES,

LINCOLN TUESDAY 11TH MAY, 2010

PRESENT:

Mike Cutler             - Chairman                  - (Cherry Willingham)
Terry Hancock        - Vice Chairman           - (Cherry Willingham)
Margaret Hopper    - Secretary                - (North Hykeham)
Graham Martin        - Treasurer                - (North Hykeham)
John Bucke             - Events Co-ordinator  - (Cherry Willingham)
John Polkinghorne   - Grants Co-ordinator  - (Stamford)

Member Associations:- 
Billinghay                                - John Eastham, Cathy & Peter Kingsbury, Mary Jackson
Cherry Willingham                   - Mary Hancock, Pamela Bucke
Dunston                                  - Ralph Timms
Horncastle                              - Mr & Mrs Voce
Ludford                                  - Caroline Feit
Market Rasen                          - Wilfred & Susan Johnson
Nettleham                               - Pat Vessey
North Hykeham                       - Geraldine Martin & Geoff Hopper
Spilsby                                   - Bonny Smith
Swineshead                             - Sandra Turl, Keith Turl, Phil Boseley, Sue Boseley
Tattershall                             - Gill Shaw
Welton                                   - Jim Sidoll & Sam Owen
Woodhall Spa                         - Andrew & Kay Hayden

1. Welcome: The Chairman opened the meeting and thanked everyone for coming.

2. Apologies: Chairman of Lincolnshire County Council, President of the Lincolnshire Twinning Federation and his lady were unable to attend due to prior commitments, also his deputy was unavailable. Other apologies received from Ken Shackleton (Management Committee) Bourne, Crowland, Grantham, Grasby, Holton le Clay, Saxilby, Washingborough, West Lindsey and Friends of Sezanne

3. Minutes: The Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on 13th May, 2009 were circulated and read and agreed as a true record of the meeting and were signed by the Chairman and Secretary.

4. Matters arising from the Minutes: John Polkinghome suggested that all Associations and members attending be listed on future minutes, it was agreed this would be done.

5. Chairman's Report: The Chairman Mike Cutler greeted everyone at the meeting in five languages, these are the five languages used to greet our twinned towns, French, German, Dutch, Czech and English. Mike went on to inform the meeting of a trip he had just taken to the Czech Republic and how they were made very welcome and had fantastic hospitality, they were very interested in forging twinning links. The Chairman also reported on a successful Summer Gathering at Cherry Willingham and the Petanque Tournement. The Chairman went on to say he realises that some Twinning Associations are having difficulties, but the Twinning concept is a way of experiencing other cultures and lifestyles which we cannot achieve by being a tourist.

6. Secretary's Report: The Secretary explained that 4 Management Meetings have been held over the past year at either Cherry Willingham or Baston Nr. Stamford to discuss any correspondence received, finance, new twinning possibilities and updates on the Federation Website, also information on grants from our Grants Co-ordinator John Polkinghome. The minutes of these meetings can be view on the Federation Website (twinninglincs.org). We also took the decision at the September meeting not to hold the Autumn General Meeting due to poor attendance. It was felt that our members had had a chance to meet one another at our Summer Gathering and Petanque Tournament. The Secretary read out an email from Holton Le Clay sending their apologies and also stating they thought the talk after the meetings should be Twinning related. The Secretary requested all member associations keep her informed of any changes in their Committees' and email addresses.

7. Treasurer's Report and Balance Sheet: The Treasurer circulated a copy of the Financial Report for year ending 30th April, 2010 and made detailed comments on the income and expenditure.
Balance as at 30th April, 2009 - £2461.17 Add net income 2009/2010 - £160.10
Balance as at 30th April, 2010 - £2621.27
The Treasurer stated the accounts had not yet been audited as the auditor was away on business, these would be done as soon as possible. The meeting asked why there was no interest shown on the balance sheet, it was explained the Alliance & Leicester account that the Federation hold does not produce interest. It was suggested the Treasurer look at different accounts, the Nationwide was suggested.

8. Election of Officers and Management Committee The present Officers and Management Committee were all willing to stand again, these were all re elected, proposed by John Polkinghome and seconded by Geoff Hopper. Bonny Smith of Spilsby Association was interested in joining the Management Committee and was willing to attend the next Management meeting on the 16th June at 7.30 at Cherry Willingham.

9. Appointment of Honorary Examiner of Accounts:
The Meeting agreed Mr. David Martin would again audit our accounts.

10. Any Other Business:
Several points were raised regarding the Autumn General Meeting not being held and a number of ideas were put forward, one of the ideas proposed was that the November meeting be organised and run by one of the county associations.

It was also suggested that the November meeting be held on a Sunday during the daytime to enable more people to attend due to the travelling involved especially during the winter nights.
It was also suggested that we arrange a date for the summer get together sooner to enable members to arrange their events calendar. (Mike has now sent an email to all associations asking for their response to the November meeting.)
John Polkinghome informed the meeting that he had emailed all 35 Associations regarding how successful they were on obtaining grants over the years, 21 associations replied out of the 35 and John thanked those for their response.

The Secretary (who is also Treasurer of North Hykeham) informed the meeting that North Hykeham Twinning have 2 vacancies on their forthcoming trip to Denzlingen in Germany due to illness. The dates are Wednesday 30th June returning on Thursday 8th July, anyone interested or for further information please contact John Lingard on 01522 882014.

The Meeting was officially closed.

John Polkinghorne then gave a very interesting talk on Oil Depletion over the World with interesting slides and quotes for various organisations on the subject.
After the talk everyone adjourned for refreshments generously supplied by the Chairman of the Lincolnshire County Council.