THE CHARTER TRUSTEES OF THE CITY OF BATH



|[pic] |BATH – ALKMAAR |[pic] |

| |TWINNING ASSOCIATION | |

| | | |

| |Reverend Martin Broadbent ~ Chairman | |

| |Willow Bank, Sham Castle Lane, BATH, Somerset, BA2 6JH | |

| |Tel: (01225) 938417 | |

| |e-mail: rev.martin.broadbent@ | |

| |mayorofbath.co.uk | |

| | | |

| |BATH – ALKMAAR TWINNING ASSOCIATION | |

AUTUMN COMMITTEE MEETING

MONDAY 5 SEPTEMBER 2016

MINUTES

The Autumn Committee Meeting of the Bath – Alkmaar Twinning Association was held on Monday the 5th of September 2016 at the Mayor’s Parlour in the Guildhall in Bath.

1. Opening and Apologies for Absence. The Chairman, Martin Broadbent, opened the meeting at 18.30, and welcomed those present. Apologies were received from Councillor Dine Romero, Victor Windt, Maeve Hamilton Hercod, Bob Newman and John Vickery (all Committee Members), and Paul Perry, Paul Blackmore and Andrew Slegt (all Members).

Present at the meeting were Martin Broadbent, Chris Swordy, Liz Bugg, Antonietta Sgherzi and Chris Davies (all Committee Members).

2. Approval and Signing of the Minutes of the Summer Committee Meeting of the 13th of June 2016. The Minutes were approved by those present and duly signed by the Chairman.

3. Chairman’s Report. The Chairman, Martin Broadbent, highlighted in his report to the Committee Meeting the activities around ‘Alkmaar 70’. A Steering Group has been set up for the planning and execution of a series of events throughout 2016 and 2017. The Steering Group meets on a regular basis and reports back to the Committee (see also item 9 below). The Chairman also pointed out in his report the work that has been done by Antonietta Sgherzi and Chris Davies to put much more information on our website, Facebook Page and Twitter. Lastly, the Chairman announced that we are looking at the possibility of the famous Barrel Organ which is housed in the Guildhall in Alkmaar, and which was pushed around the streets of Bath to raise money in 1945, paying a return visit to Bath! For the present we are inquiring about it being retuned.

4. Feedback from meetings of the Twinning Forum since the last Committee meeting. A Twinning Forum meeting took place on the 13th of July 2016. For the Bath – Alkmaar Twinning Association the Secretary attended this meeting. The following issues were of interest:

o the Twinning Forum meetings are now a better size with the Chairmen and one representative of each Association attending. It is splendidly chaired by the new Chairman of the Standing Committee of Charter Trustees, Councillor Mark Shelford;

o the meeting was informed that the Civic Visit of the Mayor of Alkmaar to Bath and an ‘Alkmaar Week’ were being planned from the 12th to the 14th of July 2017 (Civic Visit) and the 10th to the 16th of July 2017 (‘Alkmaar Week’). Those present took note and were reminded that there is a need to de-conflict these two events with possible activities of the Bath - Aix-en-Provence Twinning Association (and other Associations);

o the background of the proposed Children’s Twinning Games was again explained. It was agreed that the Twinning Associations would sound out their twinning partner (for us Alkmaar), and check whether there is an appetite from their side for developing these Games. A conclusion was that the lead-time for these Games would be considerable, two to three years to set this up (see also item 12 below).

5. Publicity Report. Chris Davies, Committee Member and Publicity Officer of the Association, gave a short overview of the publicity activities over the last three months. He had done a press release early September and he was pleased with the response. Pukka Barr are planning to run the story of 70 years of friendship, we are expecting a story in the Chronicle this week, the BBC are expressing genuine interest and some of the children who went in 1946 have been identified. It was further agreed that Antonietta Sgherzi, Committee Member, would explore further the possibility of a Facebook page.

6. Financial Statement. Chris Swordy, Treasurer of the Association, reported the following:

o the subscriptions are coming in as on schedule;

o grants of £900 had been paid in the current financial year.

The Committee approved the appointment of Mark Nixon as auditor of the accounts of the Association. Mark is an accountant. Furthermore, an updated version of the Grant Application Form was approved. Also, the Membership Application form, the Banker’s Order form and the Grant Application form were updated.

7. Membership Statement. Chris Swordy, Treasurer of the Association, reported that the Association has now 13 Corporate Members, 20 Family Members, and 20 Individual Members. It was agreed the Member of Parliament for BaNES should be invited to become a member of the Association.

8. Applications for Financial Assistance. The following grant applications were received:

o an application for a grant of £250 from Bath University Community Judo Club (a Corporate Member) was approved after further information was received.

9. ‘Alkmaar 70’ report. The Chairman, Martin Broadbent, referred to the newsletter that Chris Davies had produced in the last few days. During the summer we have been heavily involved in the planning stages for ‘Alkmaar ’70’. We have set up a special Committee that has been meeting regularly. The year of celebration starting this September and culminating in July next year with the Civic Visit of the Mayor of Alkmaar, is beginning to take shape. Alkmaar are providing 5,000 tulip bulbs and with the help of Bath in Bloom and the BaNES Parks Department there will be a display of tulips next Spring in Orange Grove, Parade Gardens and in The Flag Bed. Many of the Bath (State) junior schools are sharing in this project and we are supplying tulip bulbs to schools to plant in their grounds or in public spaces. We hope Mary Berry will accept our invitation to launch this project in early November.

There are a host of sporting and music exchanges planned. Rowers, swimmers, badminton, judo, and petanque players, and sporting students from Beechen Cliff and Hayesfield School will be exchanging. There are a number of new musical partnerships developing and the Lake Singers are hoping to take part in the Bath Folk festival. The new Director of Music at the Abbey, Huw Williams (who takes up his duties in January 2017), would like to take the Abbey Boys and Men’s Choir to Alkmaar, and the Bath University Chamber Choir also hope to visit. The wonderful Alkmaar Youth Orchestra ‘Artiance’ plan to return to Bath in July 2017 when the Mayor of Alkmaar is here and we are looking at a number of concerts jointly with Bath young musicians. The Bath Photographic Society and their opposite number in Alkmaar are hoping to hold an exhibition as are the Bath printmakers. For the moment we are searching for a suitable venue.

Every four years the Rotary Club of Bath visits Alkmaar and this will be happening in May 2017. We are planning for a group of students from the Bath Community Academy to visit Alkmaar in the spring and to replicate the visit of the first group of children who went from Bath in 1946.

The Chairman thanked Chris Davies for bringing together much of the historic information which can now be used by schools as a teaching aid relating to the Second World War. The Chairman concluded by stating that he hopes it will be possible for him to share the ‘Alkmaar 70’ plans with the Charter Trustees as we would like them to become more involved in what promises to be a really exciting year.

10. Events. The meeting discussed the latest issue of the Rolling List of Twinning Events. A full version of the list can be found on our website ( bath-alkmaar.eu ) under the tab ‘Future Events’.

11. Matters arising from previous Meetings. The meeting discussed the latest issue of Committee Members’ Rolling Action Items List. The Committee Member’s Rolling Action Items List was updated. A full version of the list can be found on our website ( bath-alkmaar.eu ) under the tab ‘Minutes of Meetings’.

12. Matters Arising. The following issues were raised:

o Website, Social Media: Chris Davies spoke to John Stirrup, the webmaster, about the website on 28 September. It was decided that:

o Antonietta Sgherzi, Committee Member, will act as ‘web-master’ from the 1st of October, so any request for posting after that should be made to/referred to her;

o John Stirrup’s contract with our Association continues until end of October at earliest, in order to allow for a smooth transition to the new arrangements by covering his time in handing things over to Antonietta, informing the various contractors, answering any questions or dealing with any problems she or others may have etc.;

o we will confirm formally the end of the contract at end of October, but this is pending formal discussion at an ‘Alkmaar 70’ Steering Group Meeting on the 25th of October, and ratification at a Bath – Alkmaar Twinning Committee Meeting in early December.

o Children’s Twinning Games: On the 1st of October we got a very positive reply from the ‘Alkmaars Uitwisseling Committee (AUC)’, stating that they are keen to participate in ‘Children’s Twinning Games’. Their strong preference is for the Games to take place in 2018 during the summer holidays (2017 is already very busy). They also make the following points:

o preference for athletics, soccer, swimming, rowing, hockey, and/or rounders;

o need for planning and financial underpinning;

o preference to widen the age group to 12 to 16 in stead of 13 to 15;

o need to know a Point of Contact for these Games in Bath;

o need to know how many teams from one City are allowed to participate;

o need to coordinate the period when the Games take place (Summer holidays probably differ in the participating countries).

o Barrel Organ: Chris Davies was in touch with Ton Wokke (AUC) concerning the costs of tuning the Barrel Organ (which is in fact a barrel piano). The question of it being brought temporarily to Bath has yet to be resolved

o Bath Educational Trust (BET): Gary Forrest has now left his responsibilities. The new Chairman is Andrew Davis (head teacher of Beechen Cliff School) and it was agreed that Martin Broadbent and Chris Davies would see him about how the BET might be more involved.

The actions following from this have been added to the Committee Members’ Rolling Action Items List.

13. Any Other Business. No other business was raised.

14. Date and Venue of next Meetings.

a. Committee Meetings:

Winter Committee Meeting: Monday the 5th of December 2016, at 18.30, in the Mayor’s Parlour at the Guildhall in Bath;

Spring Committee Meeting: Monday the 6th of March 2017, at 18.30, in the Mayor’s Parlour at the Guildhall in Bath;

Summer Committee Meeting: Monday the 12th of June 2017, at 18.30, in the Mayor’s Parlour at the Guildhall in Bath.

b. Twinning Forum:

Wednesday 18 January 2017, at 10.00, at the Mayor’s Parlour in the Guildhall in Bath;

Wednesday 8 March 2017, at 10.00, at the Mayor’s Parlour in the Guildhall in Bath;

Wednesday 12 July 2017, at 10.00, at the Mayor’s Parlour in the Guildhall in Bath;

Wednesday 13 September 2017, at 10.00, at the Mayor’s Parlour in the Guildhall in Bath.

c. Annual General Meeting:

Monday the 12th of June 2017, at 18.00, in the Mayor’s Parlour at the Guildhall in Bath. The Summer Committee Meeting will follow the AGM.

d. ‘Project 70’ Steering Group Meetings:

Wednesday the 23rd of November 2016, at 18.00, at the Chairman’s home.

15. Close. The Chairman, Martin Broadbent, closed the Meeting at 19.25.

Signed:

Martin Broadbent

Chairman

Bath - Alkmaar Twinning Association

5th of December 2016

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