Present:

Councillor Peter Bedford - Chairman of the Lincolnshire County Council
Accompanied by Zita Bedford
Andrew Taylor -               Chief Executive Lincoln County Council
Kate Fenn - PA to              Chief Executive

Committee:

Mike Cutler -                    Chairman - (Cherry Willingham)
Margaret Hopper -            Secretary - (North Hykeham)
Graham Martin -                Hon Treasurer - (North Hykeham)
John Bucke -                     Events Co-ordinator - (Cherry Willingham)
Ken Shackleton -               (Cherry Willingham)
Bonny Smith -                   (Spilsby)

Member Associations

Cherry Willingham - Pamela Bucke
Ludford - Caroline Feit
Market Rasen - Sylvia Valentine, Bill Valentine, Mr & Mrs W. Johnson
Nettleham - Pat Vessy , Trisha Adams
North Hykeham - Geraldine Martin, Geoff Hopper
Swineshead - Phil Boseley, Sue Boseley
Tattershall - Dave Shaw
Washingborough - Joyce Frost, Bill Aspinall, Julia Aspinall
Welton - Bob Boulton
Willingham by Stow - David Edwards, Barbara Bussey
Woodhall Spa - Margaret Horton, O Williams

1. Welcome

The Chairman opened the meeting and thanked everyone for coming.

2. Apologies

Terry Hancock, Caistor, Long Bennington, Grasby, Grantham, Holton Le Clay, Gill Shaw, Tattershall and Nicola Turnball WLDC.

3. Approval of the Minutes

of the Annual General Meeting held on 11th May, 2010

4. Matters arising from the Minutes

No matters arising

5. Chairman's Report

The Chairman thanked all members of the committee and management team for their hard work and dedication over the last year. The Chairman stated that Lincolnshire had little success recently in obtaining any grants for their twinning associations which must be discouraging for many; in fact the whole of the UK only received 4 grants in 2010 against 64 for Germany. He asked the members not to be discouraged and to keep making the applications. Any help is available from our Grants Co-ordinator John Polkinghorne.

The Chairman stated many associations are concerned they are becoming aged, but we all have to actively seek new younger members. He suggested the age groups over 35 could be interested in twinning and we should actively court them. He also said that many twinning groups were regarded as rather insular and said we must involve the wider community to keep twinning alive.

6. Secretary's Report

The Secretary reported on what had been happening with the committee over the last year, 5 Management Meetings were held since the last AGM, these were to discuss arrangements for Events, discuss any correspondence received, finance, new twinning possibilities and updates on The federation website. The minutes of these meetings are on the Federation Website www.twinninglincs.org . The Secretary informed the meeting our annual Boules event was attended by 44 members and again we had a very enjoyable day and an excellent buffet. The Secretary also reported our Autumn Meeting had been replaced by a Curry Lunch at the Barracks in Lincoln, this change of type of meeting had been requested at the AGM last year, but unfortunately only five associations attended this was very disappointing. Those associations that did attend produced excellent displays of their associations work and events.

7. Treasurer's Report

The Treasurer circulated a copy of the Financial Report for year ending 30th April, 2011 and made detailed comments on the income and expenditure.

Balance as at 30th April, 2010 - £2621.27

Add net income - £41.22

Balance as at 30th April 2011 - £2662.49

The Treasurer stated the accounts had not been audited as the auditor was away on business, this would be done as soon as possible on his return. A point was raised by Washingborough, asking why do we pay for our website (£46.98 per year) Washingborough use a website through the council and this is free. The Chairman would look into this.

8. Election of Officers

The Chairman and Secretary have another year in office, the Treasurer position was vacant if anyone wished to take this post ,no applications were received, the present Treasurer Graham Martin agreed to stand for another year, Proposed Mike Cutler, seconded Geoff Hopper. The Vice Chairman Terry Hancock wished to stand down; one nomination for Vice Chairman Bonny Smith had been received, proposed by Mike Cutler seconded by Ken Shackleton.

All members of the old Management Committee were all willing to stand again.

9. Appointment of Honorary Examiner of Accounts

The meeting agreed Mr D Martin would again audit our accounts.

10. Any Other Business

Barbara Bussey from Willingham by Stow raised a point, asking what were the aims of the Federation. The Chairman answered by saying that the Federation provide a cheap bulk insurance for associations, which would be very expensive if each individual association arranged it's own. The Federation also arranges events for members to meet other members and pass on tips and details of their experiences. The Federation investigates the subject of European grants and attempts to keep abreast of matters. It is there to help associations with their grant applications if needed. The Federation website is also there for our associations to use, with many useful links e.g. Travel Offers, Partnerships & Twinning and how to proceed, lists of possible partners, air and ferry travel and many more.

The Chairman agreed we should look at our aims again in the after further discussion on the subject. A questionnaire would be produced and sent to each association to ask them what they wanted from The Federation.

Washingborough Twinning Association stated is looking to twin with somewhere in Holland and they asked for guidance. The Chairman suggested looking at an appropriate link on the website, and he would also make some further enquiries.

The formal meeting was then closed and :

Andrew Taylor Chief Executive of Lincoln Council then gave a talk and visual presentation to the meeting on Lincoln's twinned town of Tangshan. Tangshan has a population of 1.4 million and is 100 miles south east of Beijing, the twinning was established in l988. Tangshan was devastated by an earthquake in 1976, Andrew showed us pictures of this devastation, we were also shown pictures of present day Tangshan and it is amazing to see that a major large city has been built it such a relatively short time. Andrew went on to explain in his talk how many schools and businesses are involved with the twinning and the benefits received.

The Chairman thanked Andrew for a very enjoyable and informative talk.

Members were then invited to retire to another room where they could network and take refreshments provided by the Federation,