Annual Town Twinning Liaison Meeting

HARPENDEN TOWN COUNCIL

NOTES OF THE TOWN TWINNING LIAISON MEETING HELD AT THE TOWN HALL ON MONDAY 19 MARCH 2012 AT 2.30 PM

Present: Councillor Michael Weaver (Town Mayor) Harpenden Town Council Councillor Rosemary Farmer, Harpenden Town Council and representing Friends of Alzey Elizabeth Briggs, Friends of Cosne Gill Clark, Friends of Cosne Paul Smith, Harpenden Town Council Dan Taylor, Harpenden Town Council

1. APOLOGIES Apologies were received from: John Lough, Friends of Alzey Joanne Holmes, Friends of Alzey Turid Luedecke, Friends of Alzey

2. DECLARATION OF INTEREST Councillor Rosemary Farmer declared that she was the Town Council’s representative for the Friends of Cosne and the Friends of Alzey. Councillor Weaver declared that he was a member of Friends of Alzey.

3. NOTES OF LAST MEETING The notes from the Town Twinning Liaison meeting held on 7 February 2011 were duly signed as a correct record.

4. SUMMARY OF ACTIVITY 4.1 Friends of Alzey Councillor Rosemary Farmer gave a synopsis of recent and upcoming events for the Friends of Alzey, which included:

 Thirty-two representatives from Alzey visited Harpenden in July, including Alzey’s Mayor, Christophe Burkhard and a number of colleagues. The weekend included a trip to the Olympic Site, lunch in the Thames Barrier Park, and a visit to Greenwich Millennium Village.

Following a free day on the Saturday, the hosts and guests enjoyed a Civic Reception, thanks to the generosity of the Lions’ Club, at the annual Highland Gathering on Sunday 10 July 2011.

 Fundraising activities included a successful quiz night in the Autumn which was well attended, a stall at the Christmas Farmers’ market and another successful coffee morning organised at Wesley’s.

 A new event was held in March 2011 (and repeated again in 2012) tasting wines that were sent over from Alzey. Over half of attendees were new guests and the event was particularly successful. Alzey paid for the wine as it came from municipally owned vineyards and traditional German food was also served, tickets cost £19.50 to cover costs and raise funds.  Councillor Rosemary Farmer reported that 2012 would normally have been the year that a trip to Alzey would have been arranged. However, as 2013 marked the 50 year anniversary of the Harpenden-Alzey twinning connection, a visit was being arranged in 2013 to coincide with this. Councillor Weaver explained that the Friends and Councillors would be attending in one group and staying in people’s houses rather than in hotels. Participants would be financing their own visit. Slight concern was raised by Elizabeth Briggs that the schedule of the two groups had always involved alternating trips so that representatives could be involved in both groups. Councillor Weaver assured Elizabeth Briggs that Friends of Alzey were very amenable to revert back into the normal pattern after 2013.

4.2 Friends of Cosne Gill Clark advised that as Cosne had a couple of twin towns across mainland Europe they preferred to make arrangements with towns in Belgium and Germany than Harpenden.

Elizabeth Briggs gave a synopsis of recent and upcoming events for the Friends of Cosne, which included:

 That 2012 marked 30 years of twinning between Harpenden and Cosne. Although Friends of Cosne were keen to arrange a visit to celebrate the occasion, the Cosnois wanted to wait until 2013. Therefore it was acknowledged that this trip would need to be organised around the Alzey trip. Councillor Weaver provided assurance that Friends of Cosne would be kept updated about any developments regarding the Alzey trip.

 Gill Clark advised that the Friends of Cosne were looking into producing a tea towel/canvas bag to mark the 30 year anniversary of the Harpenden-Cosne twinning connection.

 Twenty-three representatives from Cosne visited Harpenden in October 2011, arriving by coach on the Friday evening. Saturday was spent with host families and a civic reception, followed by a soiree, was held in Park Hall in the evening. Catering was provided by Yvonne Bamford and entertainment was provided by the secretary’s husband. The representatives were very pleased to meet the Town Mayor at the civic reception and Councillor Weaver reiterated the importance of involving the civic function of the Town with twinning visits. On Sunday, a visit to RAF Hendon took place in the morning with a picnic lunch, followed by Kenwood House in the afternoon. The Cosnois departed early on the Monday morning.

 Fundraising activities this year involved a number of activities. The Friends’ took part in the Christmas Carnival, holding a stall with hot beverages and brioche. A coffee morning at Wesley’s and the annual quiz took place again and both were very enjoyable and useful fundraising exercises.

 Elizabeth Briggs informed the meeting that sadly, during the year, the group lost their Treasurer, John Wilson. At the AGM last March, he had agreed to carry on for one more year, but this was not to be. As a temporary measure, Gill Clark would be undertaking this role.  Elizabeth Briggs queried whether there were any legal/copyright issues of using photographs of Harpenden. Dan Taylor explained that photographs taken by the Friends of Cosne were fine to use and if they were taken by the Town Council, as long as permission were sought, there would be no objection to this. Paul Smith also advised that the Council had a number of photographs on file and would be happy to share these, if requested.

 Friends of Cosne were also in the process of producing a website to help raise awareness of the organisation.

4.3 Harpenden Town Council Councillor Weaver stated his admiration for the enthusiasm of both twinning groups, which had kept town twinning going in Harpenden. He also reiterated the Council’s commitment to support town twinning as much as possible and introduced Dan Taylor as the Town Council’s new lead officer for town twinning.

Councillor Weaver went on to provide a synopsis of recent and upcoming events:

 During the week commencing 19 March 2012, Sir John Lawes School had hosted Elisabeth Langgässer School from Alzey, which included a reception in Park Hall on Thursday 23 March 2012.

 Councillor Weaver had been in discussion with the Mayor of Alzey to look into improving the links between schools. Gill Clark asked how willing schools in Harpenden were with developing twinning links. Councillor Weaver mentioned that previously each school had their own links, which had not included Cosne or Alzey. The Group agreed that there had been difficulties in getting schools to form links in Alzey and Cosne. Paul Smith suggested that this issue be raised at the next School Liaison meeting.

5. OPEN FORUM Dan Taylor advised that a report was being presented to the Policy and Finance Committee to consider the continuation of the free of charge use of Park Hall, on two occasions each year for both the Friends of Cosne and Friends of Alzey. Elizabeth Briggs reiterated the value of this particular arrangement.

Dan Taylor invited details on any events from the Friends of Alzey and Friends of Cosne that could be included in Forum magazine. Elizabeth Briggs requested details of the submission deadlines.

Councillor Weaver reminded the Group of the Council’s community grants funds and suggested that where applicable, grant funding for projects could be applied for.

The Meeting closed at 3.31pm.

Chairman …………………………..…

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