I have been looking at the all-too-sparse offerings on the Web about how Town Twinning operates, about the financial support that we might hope to obtain, about the "official" line on town twinnings and exchanges, and so on, and I have the impression that we of the Twinning fraternity are largely being led by the nose, bullied into ways of working, planning, scheming, that we would rather not follow, and all in the hopes of obtaining official approval (and the odd crumb from the financial whiz-kid's table) - which as often as not we don't obtain despite our long and laborious form-filling.

There is a lot of good practice out there, honed by years - sometimes decades - of soul-searching, trying and failing (or in many cases succeeding), learning from others and so on. It strikes me that, among ourselves, we have many if not most of the answers when it comes to effective twinning, and that the official line is sometimes way off the mark, concentrating as it does on how local authorities or the European Union should (must?) operate and not taking too much time to consider how things really happen on the ground.

Of course, there are many patterns of twinning, and it would be impossible to fit all us monkeys (or is it cats?) into one sack without a deal of fur flying. But it's not beyond us, surely, at least to share what we consider the best of what we do and where necessary to form a united front against the bureaucrats who try to organise us.

How should we get something like this moving? Who should organise us? And all the other questions...

Well, I think this Forum is as good a place as any; I wonder if Alan would be willing to moderate a page or two where we can all talk about our successes and failures, our best and worst practices, and what we really want from the powers that be? Indeed, would he like to organise us - variegated and individual as we are - into one of those "powers"? In the new financial climate we're being promised a new regime of "openness and honesty"; well, perhaps we should start getting a bit "open and honest" about what we're doing!

As if you hadn't got enough on your plates ...!!

Kidder

Hi Ray,

A very interesting post and very pertinent to the current situation ref funding of twinning activities.

At the beginning of the twinning movement, various towns, councils and communities were very actively encouraged to take part by the "powers that be" ie, governmental sources, who promised us the earth if we would participate.e

The intention (originally) was to build (or mend) bridges between communities in different countries, sometimes former enemies, sometimes former allies, whatever. I believe the original concept was to form a grass roots understanding of different cultures, life styles etc. bringing communities into everyday contact whereby, the people of these communities would begin to understand, and welcome their differences. I believe the twinning movement has gone a long way towards achieving this object over the last 50 or so years.

However, as you say, we are rather being led by the nose regarding the support we now get. It is rather as if we are members of a giant political chess game and we are the pawns. First it was aimed at Europe, then, suddenly the funds began to tighten up and we were being encouraged to look at twinning with the emerging eastern block within Europe, and funds were diverted in that direction for a short while. Now, even those funds are drying up and we are being encouraged to develop links with so-called third world countries, Africa being a priority.

I am not in any way denying that Africa is a country which needs some support, and would welcome more twinning links with the African continent, however, it appears to me, a mere layman in the political field, that this is a movement developed by governments to prove that they are more humanist than the next country. In other words, a political manoeuvre to score points over another country. However, this leaves the people, cities, towns, villages, hamlets etc, who have supported governmental aspirations in a limbo. Do they abandon their links which have been built up over very many years and follow successive governamental guidelines thereby destroying the trust and confidence which have been built up over so many years, or do they have to suffer a lack of support from the very people who encouraged them to build the bridges in the first place. In which case, how do they raise the funding for their activities.

I would actively welcome your opinions on this matter, and if there is sufficient interest I will dedicate a special section within the forum whereby you can all have your say. In the meantime, please add your comments here.

Perhaps, with "kidders" help and support we may between us manage to persuade the "authorities" to review their support policies.

Please, give us your support and comments,, tell us what you think of the current funding process, how do you obtain funds, what do think should happen? Your comments are very important to this potential campaign

Alan

Well, the statistics indicate that 178 people have looked at this topic, but the only response so far is Alan's - wise words as usual.

I suppose that, having started off this discussion, I'm honour-bound to get it moving and perhaps give a few pointers.

One of the main things on the mind of many of us is funding, and I've already said how little many of us can rely on the EU system to support us in what we feel most comfortable in doing. So how do we raise funds? Here I don't have the answers; perhaps others will tell us how they raise the cash?

We've had quite good success with an annual "Race Night" (a social evening where the main activity is wagering on the outcome of filmed races), but this doesn't seem as popular as in previous years. We have one or two "saleable items" - twinning ties, badges, scarves, but these are not great money-spinners, but rather a way of saying "we belong". The annual grant from our local council (which comes without any strings apart from representation on the committee) is of course useful. And one or two of the more garrulous of us do stints at speaking to WIs. etc and donate the fees received. But that's about the extent of it.

What do you do?

Hi Kidder,

Some things we have done in the past are Big Band Dances, Barn Dances, Treasure Hunts, Race Nights, Wine Tasting Evenings, Quiz Nights, French Produce stall at Christmas Lights Switch On, Cake Stalls, take part in the local Village Hall 600 club (where we receive a good percentage of the take), and of course the ubiquitous raffle at every event.

Not all of these have been hugely successful for long periods, but they have all played their part at the time, some kept their popularity for longer than others, but like everything, they all have their life span, which may come round again from time to time.

I am sure that many of you can add to these suggestions, please do not just read these posts, but reply and take part in our discussions, we would dearly love to hear from you.

Alan