Annual General Meeting-5th February 2010

Twenty members attended the A.G.M.including two new members. Iris Veness and
Jean Jenkins, who joined prior to the start of the Meeting.
The Chairman reported that four events, plus the Grand Draw had been held during the year. TheAnnual Dinner in March was much enjoyed and well attended. Our four Ukranian guests arrived on the 12th June and so were able to take part in the Open Gardens event held on the following day. We were particularly grateful to John Cooper and Tom Rusbridge, who are not members, but opened their delightful gardens for us and, of course, to Val and Bert Alldis and Jackie and Robert Prance, who are members and who made their lovely gardens available for visitors.
A new venture was the Quiz held in July and Mike Bailey was particularly involved in getting that successful event underway. Tickets for the Grand Draw were sold throughout the Summer and a full list of winners appeared in Newsletter No.15. This was our main fund-raiser and the Draw itself was made at the Cabaret Evening, held in October. As usual, that event was great fun and Colette Marsh had assembled a splendid cast, mostly family members, who, together with a group of youngsters from the Cannon School of Irish Dance, provided great entertainment during the evening. Once again the Fish and Chip Supper was much appreciated.
The Mayor of Southborough, Councillor Colin Bothwell, presided over the election of the
Committee for the next 12 months and with the exception of Jackie Prance and Ann Nolan, who were not continuing, all the other Committee Members were re-elected. Paddy Moran also joined the committee and Lynda Emberson was later co-opted as Hon. Secretary in place of Jackie, to whom tribute was paid for her sterling efforts in this crucial role. Lynda has taken over on a temporary basis until such time as someone else can be found to take over permanently. Thanks were also expressed to Ann for her efforts and to David Coward who has moved from the area and can no longer be our Financial Scrutineer. We are therefore looking for someone willing to take on this task.
Projects: The £900 we were able to send to Kaniv is being used to help with aid and welfare for a few elderly Residents and for the environmental garden being established at
School Number Six. Both are very worthwhile projects chosen in conjunction with K.A.S.A, our Friendship Organisation in Kaniv. So we supply the funding and they deliver the projects in the community.
The Chairman and Hon. Treasurer's Reports were both accepted.
Our guest speaker Professor Alan Mayhew gave a most interesting talk entitled: After the Presidential Election a brighter future for Ukraine?
The first round of the Election had taken place and the two candidates to contest the second round to determine who would be President of Ukraine would-be Viktor YANUKOVYCH, who received 35% of the votes in the first round, and Yulia TYMOSHENKO, who had 25%. So this decider would be held on Sunday 7th February. A higher percentage of people voted in the West and Central Ukraine, where Tymoshenko’s support is but her opponent’s support, mainly in the Eastern part and in the South around the Black Sea, appeared to be well ahead. People's displeasure with the constant bickering between the President Viktor YUSHCHENKO and his Prime Minister TYMOSHENKO seem likely to reverse the result of the Orange Revolution of 5 years ago. Ukraine has very serious financial problems, continues to suffer severely from corruption and whoever wins, massive problems remain, especially with their powerful northern neighbour Russia with whom both candidates want better relations. A question and answer session followed and Professor Mayhew was warmly thanked for his contribution to the Meeting.
After the break a couple of minor amendments were made to the Constitution and it was agreed to raise the membership subscription to £4.00 p.a. or £7.00 p.a. for a family membership.
It was also agreed to continue to support the 2 projects referred to above from 2009 and to give financial help to the group coming to England in July for the Youth Project in respect of the high cost of Visas.
A membership target of 55 was set for the year ahead.