On Friday, 30th November 2018, our Chairman, Wendy Barron, welcomed members to our Annual General Meeting (AGM). As usual there was an excellent turnout, with 36 members present. The minutes of the previous AGM were accepted, and our Chairman delivered her annual report on twinning activities.
Wendy started by thanking all Twinners for helping to make the year such a success, notably by assisting with, and supporting the calendar of events.
Wendy reviewed events of the past year. The Cheese and Wine evening with wine tasting in March, hosted by Cliff Nicholson, was hailed as a success.
The April coffee morning went well, and huge thanks go to Jenny for all her drive and commitment, our generous Dunmow Library hosts and the Co-op for their support. A number of our members attended, and we enrolled two new members!
The 4-day visit to Dourdan in May was very successful, though the journey out took longer than we would have liked. The visit to Le Mans was greatly enjoyed.
In July, Patsy and David Beedle once again hosted a very successful barbecue.
In October we met up with our Dourdan friends in Royal Tunbridge Wells and the visit to Scotney Castle was enjoyed by all. Our final social event in Dunmow was the Fish Supper. Many thanks to the members who kindly provided desserts and to Mike and Judy for the salmon.
Wendy thanked Jenny for continuing to provide the venue for our committee meetings through the year.
Thanks were also extended to David A. for all his hard work in preparing Twinning for GDPR and his Website support over the last year. The Chairman was sorry to report that David had decided it was time for him to retire from the committee and thanked him for all his considerable help over the years.
We still do not have a replacement Social Secretary or volunteers to assist with the role so this will be shared round the committee as much as possible. Help from members would be much appreciated.
Marian then gave the Treasurer’s report. Next year we will have the major expense of the French visit to Dunmow, so we need to continue to raise funds this year and into 2019.
Elections: Wendy Barron was re-elected as Chairman and Marian Steven as Treasurer. The role of Social Secretary remains open and will be shared round the committee as much as possible. With the exception of David Aldridge, the existing members of the committee were willing to stand again. An appeal for any further members willing to join the committee was answered by Claire Newman. The meeting duly elected Claire and the other committee members. June and Sue were appointed as joint Minutes Secretary.
After a short discussion it was agreed that the membership subscription should be increased from £10 to £12 a head from next year (2019-2020).
The next twinning event will be a Burns Supper on 26th January 2019 in the Rowena Davey Day Centre.
Following the formal part of the evening, Dunmow Twinners settled down to the real business of the evening, the traditional ‘ploughman’s supper’ of assorted cheeses, bread and salad items, accompanied by wine, beer and soft drinks. Conversation flowed regarding, amongst other things, past events and future plans. It seems a good time was had by all.