Other than matters to follow in the reports of officers, there were no matters arising. It was however noted that all of the objectives and targets outlined in them had been achieved during the year.

It had been much applauded and this acknowledged the year of hard work put in by all members of the committee. The foundations were now laid for us to continue to develop our relationship with Artannes and this was our future challenge.

One interesting outcome of the event was that Bathford needed a heraldic style emblem for the twinning. As a result, the committee commissioned a beautifully designed emblem that had been adopted by the Parish Council on behalf of the village. The committee had then produced a fine banner depicting the emblem. It had been used at the ceremonies and was now permanently available for use at suitable future events in the village.

In order to provide funds for the Twinning, further fundraising had been successfully continued.

Events such as a Race Night and a Safari Supper had provided entertainment as well as cash resources. An application for grant for the twinning weekend had been submitted to the EU and subsequently approved. This, when paid, should leave us in a strong financial position for the future.

Contact with our twinning partner remained strong and a meeting in the Touraine involving other twin towns had been attended.

The Youth Twinning Forum continued to advance in structure and we are committed to further its aims.

As well as the Cookery Book we now have a Bathford-Artannes tea towel, produced to provide small gifts for our October visitors. This promises to be a popular sales item at future events.

Next year would provide more challenges and we looked forward eagerly to the further twinning event in Artannes in May 2006. We would now seek to involve more groups and societies in the village. Details of our activities were always available through our own website:
www.bathfordtwinning.org.uk, which continued to be ably managed by Patrick Hathway.

Maureen concluded by thanking the committee for their total dedication and support over the past year.

Although the EU grant had been approved for the Twinning Ceremony weekend, it would not be paid out until several months hence. To ensure that this delay did not cause financial embarrassment, members had provided interest free loans amounting to £2200. In the event, the loan was barely needed and donors had already been reimbursed 75% of their advances. The remainder of the loans was currently offsetting the small shortfall of £123.85. Once the EU grant is paid, the financial state of the Association should be restored to former levels.

It was pointed out that the fully met fundraising targets had in effect, covered the costs involved and the small overspend had been incurred in the knowledge of the approval of the grant.

In answer to questions, the Treasurer explained the composition of the expected grant and that the sum shown was based on his estimate using the EU Tariff for such events.

To questions regarding certain items in the programme, it was pointed out that it was necessary to demonstrate that the visit had a cultural and educational function rather than being just a tourist trip.

Chris recorded his and the Association's thanks to Derek Brown for his auditing of the accounts,
Philip Harris proposed and John Lees seconded the acceptance of the accounts. This was unanimously approved.

The thanks of the Association were accorded to Chris for his skilful management of the accounts and similar handling of a difficult budget.

On the other hand, the problems of health experienced by Tony over the last couple of years had demonstrated the usefulness and importance of having someone who could take over at short notice if he was not available. Colin Priston had undertaken the roll this year.

He therefore suggested that a post of Assistant Secretary be instituted thus putting the arrangement on a formal permanent basis and to ensure that someone was always in position to take over if necessary.

It was therefore proposed by Jeanette Kremer and seconded by David Llewelyn that the Constitution be amended as follows:

In Section 3 - Membership: the words "Membership Secretary" be deleted and replaced by "the Secretary"

In Section 4 - Officers & Committee: the post of Membership Secretary be deleted and replaced by Assistant Secretary.

This was approved unanimously.

Chair: For the election of Chair, Maureen handed over the meeting to Vice Chair, John Lees, who invited nominations from the floor. Hugh Baker proposed and Anne Woodcock seconded that Maureen Breeze be elected Chair. There being no other nominations, Maureen was elected unopposed.
Vice Chair: Resuming the Chair, Maureen called for nominations for Vice Chair. Lyn Clarkson proposed and Pam Priston seconded that John Lees be elected Vice Chair. There being no other nominations, John was elected unopposed.
Secretary: Jeanette Kremer proposed and Colin Priston seconded that Tony Woodcock be elected Secretary. There being no further nominations, Tony was elected unopposed.
Treasurer: Tony Evans proposed and Anne Woodcock seconded that Chris Eker be elected Treasurer. He was elected unopposed.
Assistant Secretary: For this new post Julia Masdin proposed and David Llewelyn seconded that Colin Priston be elected Assistant Secretary. He was elected unopposed.
Committee: The Chair reminded the meeting that all 7 committee seats were open and invited anyone interested to come forward to join the committee.
Philip Harris proposed and Pam Priston seconded that the 5 sitting members, namely, David Llewelyn, Tony Evans, Julia Masdin, Anne Woodcock and Peter Rideal along with Jeanette Kremer (formerly Membership Secretary) be nominated. There being no further nominations, the 6 persons proposed were elected unopposed. One vacancy remains.

From the floor, Keith Masdin pointed out that he would have expected the various nominations to have been made in advance and other nominations invited at the meeting. The Secretary, whilst agreeing that this was normal practice, said that experience had shown that this usually resulted in his having to initiate each nomination. He felt that what had been done tonight was more transparent and ensured everyone having the opportunity to put up candidates. However, next year he would try again.

The work done by Jeanette Kremer in running her 'Youth Hostel' was also much complimented and appreciated.

The matching of guests to hosts, including language abilities, often hard to get right, seemed to have been very successful.

Philip Harris said that the organisation had been brilliant, especially the Ceremony and the Celebration Dinner.

As usual there was some overload on the programme schedule but it was pointed out that some of this was due to meeting the sort of criteria expected by Brussels.

There being no further business, the Chair thanked everyone for attending and closed the meeting.