Excerpts from Newsletter No. 22, dated April 2012

Date for your diaries
The series of Garden Friendship Days, running throughout May, will end with the fourth to be held at the home of Lynda Emberson on Sunday 3rd June, 2.30 – 4.30.

A Coffee Morning will be held from 10am-noon on Sunday 22nd July at the home of Lynda Emberson

Obituary – Hilary Clements
Although afflicted by ill health throughout virtually the whole of her adult life, Hilary Clements was one of the most cheerful people one could ever hope to meet. It was a joy to be in her company and a great sadness to learn of her death on 15th February at the early age of 59 years. She had a wide circle of friends, despite the difficulties she encountered due to mobility problems and numerous weeks spent in various hospitals. It was no surprise therefore that her funeral was attended by some two hundred people, many of whom had travelled a considerable distance in order to be there to say their farewells to a remarkable, much loved, greatly admired lady and to support her dear mother, Dorothy, who has lost not only a beloved daughter but a best friend and wonderful companion. Hilary and Dorothy joined SAKA soon after its formation and, although unable to attend many events, they have been loyal, generous members throughout, always keen to be kept informed of our activities. Our warm friendship with Dorothy will continue just as our memory of Hilary will forever remain one of gratitude, that we were fortunate enough to know her.
Mike Handcock, Chairman.

The Hinton Family – Sam deserves a medal!
Whilst on holiday in Scotland recently, the Hintons were involved in a horrendous road accident, when the vehicle, in which they were travelling, skidded on an icy road and plunged into a loch. For some time they were trapped, with poor Ian under water. However grandson Sam instructed by his mother, Rebecca, managed to hold Ian’s head above water. When they managed to get free, Ian was helped out of the icy water and swiftly taken to hospital, where he spent several days in intensive care. Thankfully he is recovering, as are the rest of his family. Well done Sam, who, despite his own injuries, did a wonderful job in helping to save his Grandad’s life.
Mike Handcock, Chairman.

A Message from Our New President, Jacqui Jedrzejewski
As you will see from this edition of the Newsletter, it has been a very active last few months, the highlights being our AGM and our “Start of the Year Dinner”. It was my great pleasure to be selected as your new President at the AGM and I very much hope to be able to continue to champion the SAKA twinning activities and fundraising events over the next twelve months. Being the current Town Mayor, as well as a Councillor, I hope to be able to raise the profile of SAKA and meet as many of you as I can over the coming months ahead. Of course my acceptance of the role is bittersweet, given that the vacancy was due to the sad passing of Councillor Peter Crawford. I would like to take this opportunity to pay my respects to Peter, who did so much for our Association and was such a keen supporter. You will all know by now, to our great regret, that he died suddenly at home in January. I am passionate about twinning and enabling communities from different countries to establish a link which enables the citizens of both those communities to get to know each other. The aim is, quite simply, to let people discover what life is like in the twin town; how the people live, work and play. The building of individual friendships and shared experiences plays a vital part in better overall international relations and highlights how we can help support each other. I am keen to widen our base of supporters in the area and want to try and establish a list of residents in and around Tunbridge Wells, who were perhaps born or have lived in Ukraine. I am sure, that, if we can locate them, they will be interested in joining SAKA. I would also like to personally thank all the committee members for the continued enthusiasm and hard work in keeping the Association going and for all that they do. They are the driving force behind all the activities we get to enjoy and frequently give many hours of their own time to this good cause.
Jacqui Jedrzejewski.

The annual “Start of the Year” Dinner
A reasonably-priced three-course meal with three choices was offered by a hard-working team. It was a social occasion, which was well supported by members and guests, and included our newly elected President. Despite her injured right elbow, Cllr. Jacqui Jedrzejewski, the Mayor of Southborough, managed to attend and enjoyed the occasion, as we all did. Our congratulations to Elaine Lawrence, whose idea and ambition it was to provide a community facility for the people of Southborough and High Brooms to enjoy. Bliss Café is much more than a place to eat. There is a well-used billiard table, a room upstairs where meetings can be held and a toddlers’ playpen. Well done Elaine as once again you did us proud. Keep up the good work! Thank you!

Contact with Friends in Molo
Good neighbours of mine, Val and Tony Fitzpatrick, have recently visited Molo in Kenya, so I had the opportunity of sending with them a letter for Anthony Wainainah, whom we met with his colleague Stephen Ikenye, when they joined us for a Christmas lunch at the Abergavenny Arms in 2010. They have kept in touch since and Bert has emailed to them our newsletters. So I was delighted to receive letters from both our friends, when Val and Tony returned home. This is what Anthony wrote and I would like to share it with you.:-

Dear Mike,
I too couldn’t miss this wonderful opportunity to salute all of you good S.A.K.A. friends. I must admit I was elated to receive the letter thru’ Val and Fitz! We are all good friends and God loves us ALL.
The week has been busy, dusty and dry! Val and Tony have been around. They have been having good times with the community. God willing, you will also have the chance to come and visit us.
Thank you for your prayers, which were helpful, and continue praying; and we will also keep praying for all of you.
We will continue communicating through the emails. Tell the S.A.K.A. members to keep up the good work they are doing for the community. God bless them all. I’ll e-mail soon.
Bye to you all,
Tony Wainainah

I also received an interesting letter from Stephen – thanks to them both. Whilst it would be great to visit Molo, I think it unlikely for me. A number of us showed support for our Kenyan friends by attending the Nairobi Chamber Chorus Concert at Salomons. The Choir is performing at Windsor Castle in the Queen’s Jubilee Pageant.
Mike Handcock, Chairman.

The Annual General Meeting, 18th February 2012, at Gallards
Sadly our Chairman, Mike Handcock, had to start the proceedings by acknowledging the deaths of our former President, Councillor Peter Crawford, who died on the 21st January, and also Bob Constable, Pat Heywood-Young and most recently, on 15th February, of Hilary Clements. Members stood for one minute’s silence in memory of those four loyal and generous friends, who are much missed. Reports were then received from the Chairman Secretary and Treasurer. These were duly approved. Copies are available on request from the Secretary. Councillor Jacqui Jedrzejewski, Mayor of Southborough, joined us last May and agreed to become our new President until her term of office ends twelve months later. She has now confirmed her willingness to continue beyond then, a decision about which we are very pleased. Jacqui presided over the election of the Committee, at which the existing members were re-elected for another year. A very interesting illustrated talk was given by Brenda Greenwood about the excellent work the charity “Hope Now” is carrying out in Cherkassy, which is the main city of the region in which Kaniv is situated. This made a very pleasant ending for the 24 people present and our thanks go to Barbara and Phil & Vera Sandford. Phil and Vera are local members of “Hope Now” and arranged for Brenda to be our speaker.

Keep an Eye on the Website!
Work is in progress to add some new pages to the website. In addition we shall be adding new photographs to some of the existing pages.

Global Camp 2012, Cranbrook, 28th July – 5th August
Following the success of Euro Camp 2010 the Kent Youth Service is organising another such event this summer at Swattenden, near Cranbrook. Iryna Datsenko and Svitlana Yakymenko, who both teach at School No. 6 in Kaniv, will lead the group from Ukraine. Some of the youngsters in the group have attended previously and Iryna has been a welcome visitor to Southborough on four occasions. She speaks and understands English very well and it will be great to see her again. Svitlana is fluent in French, superb on the dancefloor (where language skills do not matter at all) and her English is improving. We have no plans to host our friends as we did in 2010, but it is hoped that some provision can be made for those members, who wish to meet them.

Membership Update
We now have 67 members, of whom 34 have already renewed their membership, and five have standing orders to renew on specific dates during the year. At the AGM it was agreed that we would retain the cost of membership at the same rate as last year: £4 per adult or £7 for a family membership. May we please issue a gentle reminder to those intending to renew.

Lotto Club 2012