Baldock Town Twinning

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This AGM concludes my fourth year as Hon. Chairman and yet again I have to say that I am pleased with how the year has gone and I hope that you have also enjoyed the things we have done during the course of 2018.

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Membership

On the membership front I am pleased to report that in 2018 we welcomed two new members, Christine and John Watson, and we now have 39 members.  Attracting new and if possible, younger members continues to be our biggest challenge and I would ask all members to do whatever they can to introduce new members for the long term good of the Association.

We have been involved with St Mary’s Junior School and schools in Sanvignes to set up a pen-pal project and in November Janet and I went to Knights Templar to discuss an invitation from a sports academy in Eisenberg who have proposed starting an exchange.  As yet we have not heard from the school.

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Financial

Last year we hosted visitors from Eisenberg to celebrate the 30th anniversary of our partnership.  As a result of making the visit a little bit special we incurred costs in excess of our income which has resulted in a reduction in our reserves.  Humphrey will go through our financial results in his Treasurer’s Report.  We will continue to monitor our finances closely to ensure that we are living within our means.  For the moment our reserves are sufficient and we do not have to make any imminent changes to the way we are financed.

In fact, our situation has improved recently with the award of £1,500 from the NHDC Baldock and District Area Committee which we are very grateful to have received.

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Twinning Exchange Visits

Our exchange activities went extremely well in 2018.  In July, 24 visitors from Eisenberg and 3 guest visitors from Sanvignes came to Baldock to celebrate the 30th anniversary of our partnership.  The programme started with a welcome reception at Paul and Sue’s and despite some late arrivals, things got off to a good start.  The following day was spent at leisure with hosts and in the evening we had the ‘official’ Dinner at Letchworth Hall Hotel where, following speeches to recognise the 30th anniversary and an exchange of gifts, we enjoyed an excellent meal and were then entertained by the local band Rock, Stock and Basil who provided excellent music for those who had put on their dancing shoes.

On Saturday, we had an excellent day out, after a coach journey to Windsor we took a boat trip on the River Thames to Bray.  Following an enjoyable ploughman’s lunch on board we travelled back to Windsor and then took the coach to Beckonscot model village, something a little bit different but thoroughly enjoyed by everyone. 

 

On the Sunday we began with a coffee get together in the morning, held at Janet and John’s.  It was then time to say ‘bon voyage’ to those visitors travelling home to Eisenberg, those not leaving for home stayed on with their hosts to spend additional time together.

In August we visited Sanvignes, unfortunately, the group only consisted of 9 members and I would like to encourage more members to join the exchanges with Sanvignes.  Despite the small number we were treated to excellent hospitality largely provided by members of their association.  For the day out we visited an interesting museum of social culture, the Centre Eden, in Cuisery, a lovely medieval Burgundy town, known as the ‘village of books’.  In the afternoon we visited the workshops of an artisan bookbinder and an old-fashioned printer both very interesting to visit and hear about these crafts of yesteryear.  The official dinner and brunch which completed the visit were both excellent events, again largely catered for by members.

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Fundraising

Last year we had a good fundraising year although income was slightly lower than in the previous year.  The Murder Mystery attracted 56 people and raised in excess of £1,000, thank you to everyone for their part in organising, supporting and participating in this event.  My thanks also go to Margaret and Humphrey who hosted an excellent English lunch, Mary and Michael for hosting another excellent French Lunch and Greta and Ray for hosting the very successful and enjoyable Afternoon Tea.  Thank you also, to all those people who assisted in making these events so successful.  Greta and Ray were kind enough to donate the entire proceeds from the tea to the Twinning Association and I thank them for their genorosity.  These events were all enjoyable, successful and profitable due in no small measure to the efforts of the hosts and their band of helpers.

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Committee

The committee, which meets quarterly, continues to work hard to provide an active and sustainable association and my thanks go to everyone who contributes their time and effort.  There will be some changes on the committee this year as Malcolm and Diana have decided to step down after many years of serving on the committee.  I cannot thank them enough for all they have done and contributed over the many years that they have been on the committee and we hope to see them at our activities.

Mair will also step down from being Secretary, I would like to thank her for all her work and support.  Mair will continue as a Committee member.

As a result of these changes we need additional committee members and I hope that we get some nominations when we get to that part of the agenda.

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Programme for 2019

As we look forward to 2019 the committee have put together some of the fundraising events which will take place in the year.  It will again include a Murder Mystery evening as part of the Baldock Festival.  So, make a note in your diaries, Saturday, 4th May at St Mary’s Church Hall.  The play has been written by Viv which makes it very special and the cast have started rehearsals so you can expect another entertaining evening delivered with all of the polish of a West End performance!!!

 

We also have two lunch dates, the first will be on Sunday, 2nd June and will be a bbq kindly hosted by Rob and Eileen and Mary and Michael will host a French lunch on Sunday, 14th July.  The cost of these lunches will be £18 and they will be ticketed events so tickets will need to be purchased in advance.  On Sunday, 1st September, Greta and Ray have kindly offered to host another Afternoon Tea.

I hope as many people as possible are able to attend these events.

To finish with, I would like to offer my special thanks to everyone on the Committee for their support and hard work during the year and also to everyone who has helped and supported our fundraising activities.

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I look forward to another successful year in 2019, and I am committed to work with the committee to ensure the continued viability of the association.  But at the end of the day our success or otherwise will depend on the number of members we have and the level of support from that membership.  So, I hope to see as many people as possible at our fundraising events.