Wetherby and Privas – Town Twinning

Widening Horizons – Promoting Friendship.

Welcome

Wetherby first began looking for a partner in France in the late 1980’s. The main criteria were that the twin town had to have a river, a bridge and a market and be of a similar size to Wetherby. Privas was, at that time, looking for a UK partner and amply fulfilled our criteria. They had already established a link with Weilburg in Germany in 1958, with Tortona in Italy in 1964 and Zevenaar in Holland in 1966. The official twinning document was signed in 1992.

Official visits take place every 2 years (although many private informal visits happen on a more frequent basis. The last time we visited Privas was in June 2018 and the Privas delegation was due to visit us in August 2020. As the pandemic progressed, we made a mutual decision to postpone the visit to 2021. At the time, we didn’t anticipate the pandemic getting so much more serious, so it remains to be seen if we are able to go ahead with the visit this year.

Up to now, we have received no external funding for our events or visits, unlike our French counterparts. Now that we have an official status as a Community Interest Company, we hope that we will be in a better position to access outside funding.

Over the years, many long-standing friendships have been forged, but like many Twinning Associations, our membership is getting older. We are trying to encourage younger people to join us by linking two of our local junior schools who teach French with schools in Privas (see school news).

We always welcome new members with open arms, so if you live locally and have an interest in all things French, please contact us.

Constitution

Services

Early in 2009, our local firm of solicitors, Hartlaw, suggested that it might be a good idea for us to become a Community Interest Company, the main advantage being that in the event of litigation, members of the Association are protected financially. Many of us had not realised that if the Association was sued by, for example, a member of the public following an accident at one of our events, we would all be personally financially liable. We held an EGM in February where members voted unanimously for incorporation. This was approved at our AGM and things were put in motion. Hartlaw was extremely generous in offering to do the work on a pro bono basis for which we are very grateful – we could not have afforded to do it otherwise. We decided on 4 Directors – the Chairman, Vice-Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer – who all duly filled in a variety of forms. The application went off in April and was approved in May.

Our new status will not actually make a lot of difference to us in day-to-day terms because we have always been run on a fairly formal basis with minuted meetings and a proper AGM. The main change will be that our accounts have to be officially audited and lodged with Companies House – which a local firm has agreed to do, again on a pro bono basis, as our accounts are pretty
straightforward.

We will continue to hold our AGM in April with all officers elected annually. In addition to the 4 Directors, we have 4 non-Directors on the Committee.

Wetherby Town Council agreed to our using the Town Hall as our registered address.

Events and News 2019

Following an email from the Chair of the Tadcaster Twinning Association, Cindy and Kazia met up with the TTA committee to discuss ideas and share expriences. This led to 5 WTA members attending the TTA dinner in February and then TTA members attended our Wine Talk in March. It is hoped to continue the link with a boules competition in the summer.

Monday, March 25th – our Annual General Meeting and Wine Talk/Tasting

At the AGM, officers were re-elected, Cindy Bentley as Chair, Neil O’Byrne as Treasurer and Unice Brierley as Secretary. Bernard Atha once again accepted our invitation to be our Honorary President. Committee members were re-elected en bloc – Kazia Knight, Mary-Jane Archer, Norma Harrington, Dawn Payne and Town Mayor Galan Moss is an ex-officio committee member.

Following the AGM, John Butterwick gave another of his Wine Talks, this time about wines from the Ardeche area. 3 wines were available for tasting, all of which went down very well with members. We were delighted to welcome members from Tadcaster Twinning Association, including their Mayor Designate. S

Saturday, April 6th – Scouts Quiz Night

Wetherby Scout groups hold a regular Quiz Night in aid of local organisations and we were very fortunate to be able to have one of them. We put together 2 teams of members and friends, had a very pleasant evening and raised a considerable amount for our funds. The event was beautifully organised and we are very grateful to the Scouts.

Friday, May 6th – our own Quiz Night

40 members and friends attended our own Quiz Night which we held a little later than in previous years. 5 teams competed and the Twinning committee team managed to win the booby prize! The pie and peas supper was excellent as always and thanks to Neil for slaving over a hot stove! Barbara came up with some excellent questions, the Lions provided the PA system and it was another highly successful evening.

Wetherby Newsletter

CHAIRMAN’S UPDATE

I hope that you have all managed to find some sunshine in spite of the lengthy periods of rain over the past couple of months. Our friends in Privas have certainly fared a good deal better than we have as temperatures there in July were 40+ for many days. They seem to have had far better weather over the summer than even the Mediterranean coastal towns.

As autumn approaches – perhaps rather faster than we would like – it’s time to think about our major fund-raising event of the year – our annual Call My Wine Bluff. This year, it will once again form part of the Wetherby Festival and will take place on Friday, October 16th, starting at 7.30 pm in St. Joseph’s Church Hall on Westgate (our usual venue for this event). The event will be compered in his usual inimitable style by our President, Bernard Atha and will feature our 3 regular ‘experts’, Alan Lamb, Victor Hawkins and Eric Ovenden. You will have the opportunity to taste 6 wines and there will be the usual French bread and cheese to cleanse your palate in between wines. We have maintained the ticket price at £12 per person. Tickets will be on sale at the Festival Box Office in the Garden of Rest from early October, but if you want to be sure of getting yours, please fill in the slip below and return to me with your cheque. As always, do encourage family and friends to come along and make up a team. With the 2016 visit coming up, we need to maximise our available funds.

Committee members are already starting to think about plans for next year’s visit. I have already contacted Francois Briffotaux and asked him to discuss possible dates with his committee and as soon as we hear from him, I will let you know what the dates are. This process usually takes months, so I’m not anticipating hearing anything until the New Year, but I have found from experience that the sooner we start the process, the better!

Many of you will be aware of the very sad news about David and Christine Cham, who moved back to David’s beloved Isle of Wight in the summer to be near his family. A couple of weeks after they got there, Christine died very suddenly. We sent David our condolences on behalf of the Association – he had been a stalwart member for many years and served on the committee as Vice-Chairman. Unice has his address if any of you would like to write to him.

I do hope that you will all support our Call My Wine Bluff evening and enable us to entertain our French guests in true Yorkshire style.