Many of the "news" stories we have covered in our news section recently reflect the impact the recession has had upon many Twinning Associations who are either Council run or supported.

Although the reduction or withdrawal of public funds is understandable at this time, does this mean that the particular association should give up and close it's doors or should it be looking at new ways of raising the necessary funds.

Could this be a good time for the affected associations to relook at their position and consider seeking an independent existence whereby they raise their own funds as do many other groups, and in doing so, gain an independence from council and/or political control over their activities.

One example of this is our own group at Sandy, whereby the link was originally set up by Council representatives, but once set up was passed over to an association set up by residents of the town. The only official status the council had was to have one council nominated representatvie on the committee, that is one person out of maximum of 16 comitteee members, thereby allowing the council the opportunity of having a voice on the committee, but only a minor voice.

The association was made responsible for raising its own funds, in fact, the articles of association stated that they were not permitted to receive any funding from the council apart from any funding that would be available on occasion to any other group within the town.

The link was ratified in 1982 and the association set up in 1983 and since then we have raised our own funds for everything, the only council donation was £50 towards our 10th anniversary (plus 2 old and surplus lampposts for our twin town), and for our 25th anniversary the council donated two flags, one for each town with the two town crest upon them.

In the early days we had only a few councillors among our members, however, we currently have several councillors within our membership, however, whatever their council position, they pay their own way for any visits either to or from our twin towns, they, like the rest of us in the group do it for the joy of twinning with no financial support whatever from our council.

Another example is from Brian Harrison-Jennings, founder and past chair of the Stocksmoor and Villages Twinning Association

In the first year of our existence, when members were few and subscription income was low, we did apply to the parish council for a small grant towards the cost of the present which groups such as ours typically and traditionally take to give to the mayor of the host community.

In refusing our request the parish council offered us a few coffee mugs with a local motif. We declined, with our thanks. That same year the council gave a grant of several tens of thousands of pounds to the National Mining Museum at Caphouse Colliery, which is not even in Kirklees. There followed a lively correspondence in these pages between myself and the councillors concerned.

There are no councillors in our membership and there never have been. No councillor has ever been to Italy with us in any capacity whatsoever. Though they would be very welcome to do so in the same private position that we all share. Our only involvement with the town hall is on our biennial visit, when the mayors of both communities or their representatives meet to exchange small, token gifts. Typically, after a tour of the town hall and the concert hall we and our guests then "junket" on tea, coffee and biscuits, for which we are always and sincerely grateful. We would want no more.

So, is it time that we cut the ties with our councils and acted with the true believe in twinning and all its benefits, or are these groups so dependent upon public money that they are unable to act without it???

This may be a contentious posting, what do you think, are we dependent upon public funding or can we do it our own way, please let us know what YOU think

Alan

Hi, Alan

I can only quote from our own experience, which is that we raise most of our funds ourselves, but do get a grant which is at the Mayor's discretion. As the Mayor is the President of the Association, he might be looked upon with some disfavour if he decided not to make the grant, but there's always a first time!

Our constitution provides for the Charter Trustees (that's the Councillors for the District Council who represent wards within our town) to have a number of representatives on our committee, and to that extent we are linked with the Council, but in practice they haven't recently made any appointments, and the two or three Councillors who actually serve on the committee do so out of their personal interest. This, and the involvement of the Mayor, does in fact help a bit - we can work through them to ensure that meeting rooms are available, that our guests from Germany are made officially welcome, and so on. When we named a bridge in the town after our twin town, Councillors were very much involved - as were Councillors from Germany, and that was a particularly good public relations exercise.

I tend to think that this level of involvement is preferable to a kind of "armed neutrality", which is sometimes the case elsewhere, and it certainly tends to give a good impression to visiting twinners (and dignitaries) who may place more emphasis on the involvement of officialdom.

The current situation of funding being withdrawn is a fact of life, and twinners should be taking whatever steps are necessary to ensure that their budgets aren't adversely affected, but I'm afraid that, like many charities even of national standing, we must expect times to get a bit harder.

I don't think many of us will be in the situation of one Association that I know of, which had to make a grant to the Council to secure the provision of a reception that was a bit more lavish than a cup of tea and a biscuit!