Friday, 20 May 2011
Coffee Morning – Sunday 29th May (rain or shine)
Time 11.00-14.00.Come and go as you please.
£4 per person - Members and Friends only.
Hot beverages or cold refreshments. Selection of cakes and biscuits. A raffle too will be held. All proceeds to SAKA funds
Venue: The Embersons, St. Marks Road, Broadwater Down, Tunbridge Wells.
Thursday, 19 May 2011
Highlights from Newsletter Number 18
Some Admin Matters from the AGM about which You Need to Know
Subscription:-
It was agreed there would be no change to the membership subscription rate this year. That means adult membership remains at £4; family membership, for two or more people living at the same address, stays at £7 and young persons in full-time education are entitled to free membership, provided written permission to belong is given by their parent(s) or guardian(s). Subs are now due - and thanks to those who have paid already.
Committee Membership:-
The following people were elected for the next 12 months:-
Chairman – Mike Handcock, Vice Chairman – Bob Marsh; Hon. Treasurer – Bert Alldis, Hon. Secretary – Lynda Emberson, Membership Secretary – Mike Bailey, Publicity Officer – Brian Dobson, other members Trevor Poile and Paddy Moran.
Colette Marsh has decided to stand down from the Committee. Many thanks go to her for her service to the Committee since the inaugural meeting of February 2005. She has been a really splendid Events Organiser with lots of good ideas, contributing much to our debates and our cause in general. Thankfully she continues in membership.
Currently we have no Events Organiser and still have no Youth Representative. We have power to co-opt anyone willing to offer their services.
Peter Crawford has agreed to continue as our President and Eric Dias will again act as our Financial Scrutineer.
Our Guest Speaker at the AGM
The highlight of the evening was the talk by Professor Alan Mayhew MA DPhil (Oxford) MSc Econ (LSE). Following the election of Viktor Yanukovych as President of Ukraine on 7th February 2010, Professor Mayhew chose as his theme, “Ukraine between East and West: Can it face both ways at the same time?”. Both the new President, who received 49% of the vote, and his main rival Yulia Tymoshenko, who gained 45%, had promised to improve relations with both Russia and the European Union and it appears that President Yanukovych is attempting to do this. In exchange for a 25 years extension of time for the Russian fleet’s use of the Black Sea base, the vexed question of the price Russia charges Ukraine for gas has been modified. Ukraine is a huge user of gas. The economy is performing better with inflation, reducing from about 30% to around 9%, but food prices are rising and this is very worrying.
It was a fascinating talk, after which Alan was happy to answer a number of questions from his audience. We were privileged and very pleased to have Alan as our speaker for the second year running.
Subscription:-
It was agreed there would be no change to the membership subscription rate this year. That means adult membership remains at £4; family membership, for two or more people living at the same address, stays at £7 and young persons in full-time education are entitled to free membership, provided written permission to belong is given by their parent(s) or guardian(s). Subs are now due - and thanks to those who have paid already.
Committee Membership:-
The following people were elected for the next 12 months:-
Chairman – Mike Handcock, Vice Chairman – Bob Marsh; Hon. Treasurer – Bert Alldis, Hon. Secretary – Lynda Emberson, Membership Secretary – Mike Bailey, Publicity Officer – Brian Dobson, other members Trevor Poile and Paddy Moran.
Colette Marsh has decided to stand down from the Committee. Many thanks go to her for her service to the Committee since the inaugural meeting of February 2005. She has been a really splendid Events Organiser with lots of good ideas, contributing much to our debates and our cause in general. Thankfully she continues in membership.
Currently we have no Events Organiser and still have no Youth Representative. We have power to co-opt anyone willing to offer their services.
Peter Crawford has agreed to continue as our President and Eric Dias will again act as our Financial Scrutineer.
Our Guest Speaker at the AGM
The highlight of the evening was the talk by Professor Alan Mayhew MA DPhil (Oxford) MSc Econ (LSE). Following the election of Viktor Yanukovych as President of Ukraine on 7th February 2010, Professor Mayhew chose as his theme, “Ukraine between East and West: Can it face both ways at the same time?”. Both the new President, who received 49% of the vote, and his main rival Yulia Tymoshenko, who gained 45%, had promised to improve relations with both Russia and the European Union and it appears that President Yanukovych is attempting to do this. In exchange for a 25 years extension of time for the Russian fleet’s use of the Black Sea base, the vexed question of the price Russia charges Ukraine for gas has been modified. Ukraine is a huge user of gas. The economy is performing better with inflation, reducing from about 30% to around 9%, but food prices are rising and this is very worrying.
It was a fascinating talk, after which Alan was happy to answer a number of questions from his audience. We were privileged and very pleased to have Alan as our speaker for the second year running.
Grand Charity Cabaret Evening and Grand Draw – Saturday 9th October 2010
With a number of regulars attending the 40th Anniversary Celebrations of the twinning of Lambersart and Viersen held in France, the number attending this popular function was rather fewer than usual. However, those present very much enjoyed their evening. Colette Marsh had put together an entertainment featuring family members Mary, Jane, Emma, herself and even husband Bob. Mary Cottle, Val Davis and Mike Handcock made guest appearances.
The fish ‘n chips supper was up to Wei Lin’s usual high standard. Then we came to the Grand Draw, made by our President, Councillor Peter Crawford.
Quiznite – Saturday 13th November 2010
Nineteen members and six friends supported this enjoyable event. It enabled us to have six teams of four, plus the quizmaster asking the questions. A close contest resulted in a one-point win for the team represented by Trevor Poile, Jean Yardley, Lesley Herriot and Alan Bullion. Thanks go to Mike Bailey, who set the questions, and to Colette Marsh and Jackie Prance, who organised the splendid ploughman’s supper. Thanks to Peter Jervis, the owner of Downingbury Farm in Pembury, who kindly gave us a generous quantity of delicious eating apples, and also to everyone who donated raffle prizes. The evening enabled us to raise £163, which was sent to Kaniv to help with aid and welfare for elderly folk there during the cold winter months. Friends of KASA, our equivalent in Kaniv, will deliver this help, as they did last winter. A very worthwhile joint enterprise between our two Associations!
Festive Cheer
The Christmas Lunch was held at the Abergavenny Arms in Frant on Sunday 5th December. Fourteen people attended: nine members and five friends, including two charming gentlemen, Stephen and Tony, from Molo in Kenya, which is linked with Meadows School. The table was beautifully laid out for us in a separate room. At every place a Christmas cracker had been set out on the red tablecloth and soon we were enjoying a delicious traditional Christmas Lunch. In his after lunch speech the Chairman congratulated Pat Briggs and Sue Skilton for the good work they are doing to help develop the link between Meadows and Molo.” Stephen thanked SAKA for its invitation and said how much he and Tony had enjoyed the meal and our hospitality. He wished our Association continued success and hoped some of our members would visit Molo. There is little doubt we will want to hold a similar social gathering next Christmas time.
Some Snippets of News from the Chairman
Space does not permit us to write the story of the December visit of Iryna Datsenko and the two boys, so we shall issue a special supplement about it in due course. Suffice to say that it was great to see them. They enjoyed a fun-packed time and it showed our Association Membership at its very best.
The Start of Our Year Dinner at Café Bliss on Saturday 19th March was a very enjoyable occasion and attended by seventeen members and five friends. Elaine Lawrence had thought of everything to make us feel comfortable and at home. The three-course meal was excellent and the service could not be faulted. We enjoyed a good time in pleasant surroundings and certainly hope to return to Café Bliss in the future. It is a community venture and a facility of which Southborough can be proud.
We hope to stage an Open Gardens event again this year. If you are able to offer to have visitors to your garden for an hour or so, please contact myself and then we can begin to think about possible dates for this popular event.
Other events the Committee have been considering are:
(i) a Coffee Morning on Sunday 29th May.
(ii) the ever popular Grand Cabaret Evening with a fish ‘n chips supper.
(iii) a Quiz evening with a ploughman’s supper
(iv) a Beetle Drive
(v) a Boat trip on the River Medway from Maidstone
(vi) a Christmas Lunch
Lynda Emberson is preparing to reorder a quantity of SAKA T-shirts. An approximate price is £15, but that would be the maximum. The larger the order, the lower the price will be. Sizes available are Small, Medium, Large and Xtra Large.
Our new website is live!
We’ve finally achieved our goal.
Take a long look for yourself! Switch on your computer now and enter our website address:- www.southboroughandkanivassociation.com
The work has not ended. We shall strive to obtain the information and photographs that have eluded us, and be updating pages on a regular basis.
SAKA Lotto Club
It is proving increasingly difficult to obtain donations of desirable prizes for a Grand Draw, so this year we have decided to run a 10 months Lotto Club, properly licensed with Sevenoaks District Council, our local licensing authority. Belonging to the Club costs just £10 and there will be two draws held in the year, both taking place at a SAKA event, unless this becomes impracticable. The first round of draws held in July will be for the five months of March to July and the second round for the last five months will be held in December. Half the money subscribed will go to the Association’s funds; the other half will be paid out to Club members in cash. The total amount paid in by the time of the first draw will determine the amount of prize money. For the first nine months the prize will be the same, but in December the prize money will be greater, by how much will depend on the additional amount, which could accrue from those joining between 1st August and 31st October, which is the last date for joining in 2011. There could be a second prize in December should the value of that month’s prize money go over £50. The SAKA Committee will decide that matter. To participate contact Mike Handcock
Every Club member will receive a dedicated number, which is then entered into every draw for which their Club membership is valid, so joining early is an incentive. The Club is not restricted to SAKA members. Obviously the more people who join, the better the prizes and the more we will raise to support our Project objectives in Kaniv. There will not be a Grand Draw this year.
Friday, 25 March 2011
Former mayor tells of the unlikely friendship between Southborough and a town in central Ukraine
Reprinted from Tunbridge Wells on Saturday.
Geographically and culturally there is little in common between a town in former communist central Ukraine and leafy true-blue Southborough.
Yet a chance meeting a decade ago sparked a remarkable friendship between two very different towns which continues to blossom to this day.
The result has been the Southborough and Kaniv Asssocation (SAKA). Founded in 2005, it has provided a platform for a mutually beneficial link-up between the diverse areas.
For Mike Handcock, the association’s chair, it has been an eye-opening experience since he first met with representatives from Kaniv at the European Project for Youth, an EU initiative, in Southborough’s twin town of Lambersart, France in 2001.
He got chatting to the group leader from the Ukraine, Lyudmila Synenko, and was interested to find out about where she lived and surprised to hear that they had not flown to France but had driven all the way.
The next year they met again at a similar event at Swattenden near Cranbook, which he attended as then Mayor of Southborough. Over tea at Tunbridge Wells Town Hall, Mr Handcock spoke again with Ms Synenko and this time asked if there was anything they could do to help.
She said the children in Kaniv were very keen to learn English but did not have many English books. Mr Handcock launched a collection and the community donated 13 boxes of books.
The mayor of Kaniv then invited Mr Handcock to attend the town’s 925th anniversary, he said: "I was not sure what to expect. Not all that long ago it was a communist country.
"We were greeted at the airport in Kiev by a group from Kaniv and we were taken there in a minibus carrying all the bouquets of flowers we’d been given. There were a lot of hugs and kisses and singing all the way there.
"It has really gone from there. When I got there I never expected to be addressing 7,000 people in the square. Fortunately, being a former headteacher it did not faze me too much.
"I’ve been to the Ukraine eight times since then. I love it there, it is such an interesting town and I like the country. The people are so generous and hospitable."
Other people from Southborough visited Kaniv and residents from the Ukrainian town, which is in the province of Cherkasy, came to Kent.
SAKA was set up to encourage more visits between the two towns and to support projects there. It now has about 50 members who meet regularly.
Member Brian Dobson has recently completed work on a new website for the association, which is packed full of information about both towns and their history. He hopes it will encourage more residents of Southborough to join.
"It has taken a long time to gather information, in particular about Kaniv, for which it has involved working in Ukrainian and Russian," Mr Dobson said.
"SAKA can now boast the best English language website for Kaniv and one of the best for Southborough."
SAKA has been helping elderly people in Kaniv through the cold winter months through fundraising.
Mr Handcock told how he had met with older members of the community, including some who survived the Holodomor (Death by Starvation) the famine imposed by Josef Stalin.
He said one 92-year-old woman was still working in her garden when they arrived in the evening. Inside her small cottage, she disappeared to the kitchen and returned with a saucepan full of walnuts and a carrier bag.
She poured the walnuts, which were from her garden, into the bag and the translator explained they were a gift and that she said they must return the next evening for some potatoes.
"Wherever you go in the world where people have the least they are prepared and happy to give it away," he said. "People with a lot, however, are a bit mean about things."
Times are especially tough in Ukraine at the moment. The country’s economy shrank 15 per cent in 2009 and to recover the familiar formula of prices rises, tax increases and public spending cuts have been brought in.
One in three people live in poverty in the Ukraine and it is they are feeling the brunt of the cutbacks.
"They had the presidential election last year so the situation has changed a good deal from what it was before," Mr Handcock said. "But that does not stop them behaving just as they have.
"Life is very difficult for them out there. They’ve just merged School Number Six with School Number Two in Kaniv and some of the staff will lose their jobs.
"They are cutting down public services just as we are making cuts to try and get rid of the deficit. They are having the same, but it is much worse than here."
Kaniv itself is a fascinating and culturally rich town on the banks of the River Dnieper as SAKA’s new website shows.
It is the burial site of Taras Schevchenko – a 19th century poet, artist, humanist and national hero. His work is seen as the foundation of modern Ukrainian literature and its language.
Another national hero, Oleksa Hirnyk, committed self-immolation in 1978 on Chernecha Hill not far from Shevchenko’s tomb in protest against the suppression of the Ukrainian language by the Soviet authorities.
Other sites of interest include the Park of Glory, which is a memorial to the military personnel who lost their lives in the battles around Kaniv during the Second World War.
For more information visit SAKA’s website at www.southboroughandkanivassociation.com.
Geographically and culturally there is little in common between a town in former communist central Ukraine and leafy true-blue Southborough.
Yet a chance meeting a decade ago sparked a remarkable friendship between two very different towns which continues to blossom to this day.
The result has been the Southborough and Kaniv Asssocation (SAKA). Founded in 2005, it has provided a platform for a mutually beneficial link-up between the diverse areas.
For Mike Handcock, the association’s chair, it has been an eye-opening experience since he first met with representatives from Kaniv at the European Project for Youth, an EU initiative, in Southborough’s twin town of Lambersart, France in 2001.
He got chatting to the group leader from the Ukraine, Lyudmila Synenko, and was interested to find out about where she lived and surprised to hear that they had not flown to France but had driven all the way.
The next year they met again at a similar event at Swattenden near Cranbook, which he attended as then Mayor of Southborough. Over tea at Tunbridge Wells Town Hall, Mr Handcock spoke again with Ms Synenko and this time asked if there was anything they could do to help.
She said the children in Kaniv were very keen to learn English but did not have many English books. Mr Handcock launched a collection and the community donated 13 boxes of books.
The mayor of Kaniv then invited Mr Handcock to attend the town’s 925th anniversary, he said: "I was not sure what to expect. Not all that long ago it was a communist country.
"We were greeted at the airport in Kiev by a group from Kaniv and we were taken there in a minibus carrying all the bouquets of flowers we’d been given. There were a lot of hugs and kisses and singing all the way there.
"It has really gone from there. When I got there I never expected to be addressing 7,000 people in the square. Fortunately, being a former headteacher it did not faze me too much.
"I’ve been to the Ukraine eight times since then. I love it there, it is such an interesting town and I like the country. The people are so generous and hospitable."
Other people from Southborough visited Kaniv and residents from the Ukrainian town, which is in the province of Cherkasy, came to Kent.
SAKA was set up to encourage more visits between the two towns and to support projects there. It now has about 50 members who meet regularly.
Member Brian Dobson has recently completed work on a new website for the association, which is packed full of information about both towns and their history. He hopes it will encourage more residents of Southborough to join.
"It has taken a long time to gather information, in particular about Kaniv, for which it has involved working in Ukrainian and Russian," Mr Dobson said.
"SAKA can now boast the best English language website for Kaniv and one of the best for Southborough."
SAKA has been helping elderly people in Kaniv through the cold winter months through fundraising.
Mr Handcock told how he had met with older members of the community, including some who survived the Holodomor (Death by Starvation) the famine imposed by Josef Stalin.
He said one 92-year-old woman was still working in her garden when they arrived in the evening. Inside her small cottage, she disappeared to the kitchen and returned with a saucepan full of walnuts and a carrier bag.
She poured the walnuts, which were from her garden, into the bag and the translator explained they were a gift and that she said they must return the next evening for some potatoes.
"Wherever you go in the world where people have the least they are prepared and happy to give it away," he said. "People with a lot, however, are a bit mean about things."
Times are especially tough in Ukraine at the moment. The country’s economy shrank 15 per cent in 2009 and to recover the familiar formula of prices rises, tax increases and public spending cuts have been brought in.
One in three people live in poverty in the Ukraine and it is they are feeling the brunt of the cutbacks.
"They had the presidential election last year so the situation has changed a good deal from what it was before," Mr Handcock said. "But that does not stop them behaving just as they have.
"Life is very difficult for them out there. They’ve just merged School Number Six with School Number Two in Kaniv and some of the staff will lose their jobs.
"They are cutting down public services just as we are making cuts to try and get rid of the deficit. They are having the same, but it is much worse than here."
Kaniv itself is a fascinating and culturally rich town on the banks of the River Dnieper as SAKA’s new website shows.
It is the burial site of Taras Schevchenko – a 19th century poet, artist, humanist and national hero. His work is seen as the foundation of modern Ukrainian literature and its language.
Another national hero, Oleksa Hirnyk, committed self-immolation in 1978 on Chernecha Hill not far from Shevchenko’s tomb in protest against the suppression of the Ukrainian language by the Soviet authorities.
Other sites of interest include the Park of Glory, which is a memorial to the military personnel who lost their lives in the battles around Kaniv during the Second World War.
For more information visit SAKA’s website at www.southboroughandkanivassociation.com.
Wednesday, 16 March 2011
Spring Dinner
No need for a reminder. Tickets for the Spring Dinner, to be held at Café Bliss on Saturday March 19th, are all sold. To all those lucky ticket holders, we wish you «Смачного!» ( phonetically “Smatchnoho!”)
Saturday, 29 January 2011
Annual General Meeting
The seventh Annual General Meeting of our Association will take place at The Ark, Gallards Close, Southborough (opposite Southborough Library) on Saturday, 5th February 2011, at 7.30pm.
We are pleased to announce that Professor Alan Mayhew has kindly agreed to talk to us again following his most interesting address last year, when he posed the question “A brighter future for Ukraine after the Presedential Election?” We know that Viktor Yanukovych has been president for the past eleven months. Professor Mayhew now poses a further question “Ukraine between East and West: Can it face both ways at the same time?
We are pleased to announce that Professor Alan Mayhew has kindly agreed to talk to us again following his most interesting address last year, when he posed the question “A brighter future for Ukraine after the Presedential Election?” We know that Viktor Yanukovych has been president for the past eleven months. Professor Mayhew now poses a further question “Ukraine between East and West: Can it face both ways at the same time?
Monday, 10 January 2011
Sunday, 9 January 2011
Annual General Meeting
The seventh Annual General Meeting of our Association will take place at The Ark, Gallards Close, Southborough (opposite Southborough Library) on Saturday, 5th February 2011, at 7.30pm.
We are pleased to announce that Professor Alan Mayhew has kindly agreed to talk to us again following his most interesting address last year, when he posed the question “A brighter future for Ukraine after the Presedential Election?” We know that Viktor Yanukovych has been president for the past eleven months. Professor Mayhew now poses a further question “Ukraine between East and West: Can it face both ways at the same time?
We are pleased to announce that Professor Alan Mayhew has kindly agreed to talk to us again following his most interesting address last year, when he posed the question “A brighter future for Ukraine after the Presedential Election?” We know that Viktor Yanukovych has been president for the past eleven months. Professor Mayhew now poses a further question “Ukraine between East and West: Can it face both ways at the same time?
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