Agenda and minutes

Members are reminded that at the start of the meeting they should declare any known interests in any matter to be considered, and also during the meeting if it becomes apparent that they have an interest in the matters being discussed.

The Chair reminded Members of the need to declare any known interests in any matters to be considered at the meeting.  No declarations were made.

To receive the minutes of the meeting held on 7^th April, 2006.

Resolved – That the minutes of the meeting held on 7^th April 2006, be confirmed as a correct record.

Minute 25 (2)

Clarification had been sought from the grants monitoring officer with reference to any group’s accounts not holding an excessive level of “free” balances in order to be eligible for a grant and this information would be sent out with these minutes.

Minute 26 (3)

Members of the Network recommended that travel/transport costs should be included within the Town Twinning grants criteria.

The Council has nominated the following seven Councillors to serve on the Town Twinning Network for the 2006-2007 municipal year.

Councillor Steve Wakefield

Councillor Doreen Dart

Councillor Ray Fisher

Councillor Chris Van Roon

Councillor David Glaholm

Councillot Peter Mallinson

Councillor Stan Pajak

No notification of changes to other membership has been received.

            The constitution of the Town Twinning Network states that there should be six Councillors nominated to sit on the Network.  At Annual Council on May 19^th, seven Councillors were nominated to sit on the Network, subject to the agreement of the Town Twinning Network.  Members of the Network, however, felt that it was not appropriate to have seven Councillors on the Network and             requested that the membership remain at six Councillors.  In response to this, Councillor Mallinson offered to stand down as a Councillor on the Network but asked to remain on the Network, in a non-voting capacity, as he was Chair of the Salzgitter Twinning Association.

            Resolved – (1) That membership of the Town Twinning Network remain at six Councillors.

            (2) That, subject to the membership of the Town Twinning Network being confirmed by Special Committee, Councillor Peter Mallinson stand down from the Network as a Councillor, but remain on the Network, in a non-voting capacity, as a representative of the Salzgitter Twinning Association.

            The Network considered (a) a report of the Director of Law and Democratic Services and (b) the following verbal reports from Town Twinning Associations and Links:

Swindon Salzgitter Twinning Association

            Reg Clarke updated members of the Network on the recent visit by 19 people to Salzgitter where an excellent programme had been arranged and Reg himself had been presented with an engraved plate to celebrate his 50^th visit to Salzgitter during the last 30 years.  Councillor Peter Mallinson had also been presented with a miner’s (carbide) lamp on behalf of the Swindon Salzgitter Adult group.  The visit included:-

• A reception dinner

·        A visit to Schacht Conrad, a former iron ore mine

·        Lunch at the Volkswagon factory and a tour of the works

·        A tour of Dresden, followed by a trip on the river

·        A visit to the castle at Marienburg

·        A farewell dinner

Councillor Steve Wakefield added that he had thoroughly enjoyed his first official visit to Salzgitter and outlined some of the highlights of the trip.  He felt that the visit had been very well organised and added that, as a result, he had changed his views about Twinning activities.

Swindon Ocotal Link

            John Mayell updated the Network on two activities that SOL were currently involved in:-

·        Preparing for the arrival of visitors from Ocotal for the 15-year celebrations of the Link.  Visitors include the Mayor of Ocotal who will be visiting Swindon between 14 – 22 July and two dancers.

·        Multi-lateral youth visit and conference – the funding request for this has been passed at the regional level and is now awaiting approval at a national level – the deadline being 1^st July.  The youth service in Germany referred the proposal to a Grammar School who have since dropped out due to the consideration of the safety features of sending young people to Guatamala.  The proposal has been passed back and Salzgitter are looking for 6 young people to participate in the visit.

Swindon Torun Link

            No report was recieved as there was no-one present at this meeting from the Torun Link.

La Garenne Link

            It was understood that this Link was currently in abeyance

Highworth-Pontorson Twinning Association

            Dr Worsnip confirmed that he had contacted Phil Eagle from La Garenne Link to invite members of this Link to join the Highworth Twinning Association.  A formal letter outlining this proposal would also be sent to Phil Eagle from the Chairman.

Dr Worsnip updated the Network on the following activities:-

• The Highworth Market 800^th anniversary celebrations had been very successful.
• A visit to Pontorson was due at the end of October and a group from Pontorson would be visiting Highworth at the beginning of December.
• Currently working on developing a twinning with Wassenberg and 10 couples from Highworth have already visited Wassenberg.  There is a new Mayor of Wassenberg who is very pro-English and pro-Twinning.

Chattanooga Friendship Agreement

            Councillor Dart informed the Network that the Friendship Agreement had been signed by the Mayor of Chattanooga and was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 32.

Janet Duffield (External Funding Project Officer) introduced herself to the Network and added that, for the time being, she would be a point of contact for information for Twinning but that this may change in the future.  Her telephone number is 01793 463158.         

Dr Worsnip asked for clarification on the amount that was available for the Town Twinning grants during 2006/07.  This information would be sent out with these minutes. 

Reg Clarke informed members of the Network about the Geminid project which Swindon Borough Council had agreed to support as it had no financial implications for the Council.  Members of the Network sought further clarification as to the aims and objectives of this project and asked that a letter be sent to the Leader of the Council confirming the Council’s involvement, formal or informal, with this project.

The next meeting of the Town Twinning Network would be held on 26^th September at 6.00pm.