WALLED TOWNS FRIENDSHIP CIRCLE

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE – VERONA, ITALY

11 SEPTEMBER 2006

Present:

Apologies:

Apologies were submitted by Peter Osbourne (Tenby – Life President), Vojka Stular (Piran – Deputy President,  Franz Tades (Drosendorf), Terry Ralph (Chester), Csaba Pozsarko (Pecs), Francis Tabone (Valletta), William Petit (Canterbury), Xi’an delegates, Huib Crinjs (‘s Hertogenbosch),), Nada Zajc (Piran), José Carlos Marin (Arabarri)

PRESIDENTS WELCOME

The President of the Circle, Councillor John Price from Chester, welcomed delegates to the meeting and thanked the Mayor of Verona and his colleagues Diego de Carlos and Arnaldo Vecchietti for organising the Symposium and for their hospitality.

MINUTES

It was agreed to approve the minutes of the Executive Committee held in Pecs, Hungary on 10 March 2006, subject to the name “John Beynon” being added to the list of those apologising.

MATTERS ARISING:

Police Community Safety Conference

The Secretary General reported that the framework of the Conference had been organised ready for taking place in 2006 but it had  needed to be  postponed until the end of 2007 to enable new funding sources from the EC to become available.

It was agreed to note the situation

Associate Membership Cards

It was agreed to note with pleasure that these were now available for circulation.

Innovation Award

Peter Van Roosmalen reported that two entries had been received, from Verona and Lagos and that after due consideration by the judging panel the award had been made to the town of Lagos in Portugal.

It was agreed to note and congratulate the winner and the prize be presented at the Annual General Meeting in Verona.

“ARCHWAY” – INTERREG IIIC PROJECT

Chris Lines, acting as leader for the project submitted his progress report on the project being carried out on behalf of the Circle by ten of its member towns working in partnership. The project was now in the last of its three year life and three of the five  good practice guides, being produced, were nearing completion. All five will be competed in readiness for the final Legacy Conference to be held in lead partner town, Chester, during the last week of June 2007.

It was agreed to note the good progress being made with the partners in the project.

THE WATERFORD EXPERIENCE AND BENEFITS

Eamon McEneaney, representing the Heritage Council, reported on the success of the €2m Irish Government sponsored project to help restore monuments and walls in Waterford.  The award had been announced at the Circle’s Symposium in Waterford in 2002.  The Government had also set up and funded a branch of the Circle consisting of 16 towns from both north and south of the country, using the Heritage Council to organise the new branch . Eamon had been elected as its first chairman.  This branch now meets six times per year and is completing its management plan.

The Irish Government had also shown its support for walled towns heritage by designation the 27^th August as “Walled Towns Day” in Ireland and had recently funded a national conference on walled towns in Dublin.

Eamon thanked the Circle for supporting walled towns in Ireland, which had helped act as a catalyst for all of this excellent progress.

It was agreed to note the excellent progress being made in Ireland and Eamon be thanked for his work.

17^TH SYMPOSIUM – PLASENCIA, SPAIN – APRIL 2007

José Luis Muňoz from Plasencia presented his report on plans being made in his city for the Circle’s 17^th Symposium next year.

He reported that following his presentation at the Executive Committee in Pecs, further work had been done for the planning of the event which would form part of a number of celebrations of the walls, continuing to 2010.  17 Portuguese and 43 Spanish walled towns had been invited to take part in the initiative and responses would be co-ordinated at a meeting in November 2006 when more detailed plans for the Symposium will be revealed.

He reported that the Symposium would follow the Circle’s usual 5 day pattern and the assistance of nearby towns Avila and Caceres would be included.  The theme of the Symposium would be “Open the Walls – Experience the Walls”.  Discussions would mirror and compliment many of the themes being worked on by the “Archway” project at its Legacy Conference in June 2007.

It was agreed to agree and thank José Luis for the planning work he was carrying out and the President and Secretary General visit Plasencia in November to further develop the plans.

INVOLVEMENT OF SCHOOLS IN THE CIRCLE

Piran / Soave / Valletta

Milica Maslo presented her report on the success of the educational activities in the town connected with the walls.  Principle amongst these is the book project entitled “Youngsters in the Shelter of the Walls”, which contains contributions from schools in the UK, Italy, Malta and Slovenia.  In addition a video link conference had been set up to take place following the Annual General Meeting of the Circle in Verona, with attempts to contact youngsters in Ljubljana, Valletta, Soave and Piran.

An initial print run of 500 copies of the book had been produced but some difficulty had been experienced in official fund raising, with private donations needing to be made to ensure its publication.

As a result a further request was made for the Circle to help with further funding,  

Soave reported on the success of its local schools’ projects and also reported on difficulties with local fund raising.

It was agreed to express the sincere thanks of the Circle for the excellent work being carried out in the towns to realise the various projects.

It was also suggested that if possible the draft book be published on the Circle’s website and all member towns be requested to help with funding to print further copies.

Chester

The Secretary General reported on further plans in Chester to use the “SEEN” model of involving youngsters in local areas to help with the market research, ideas and planning of local community provisions.  He outlined the involvement of a local Chester school in the planning of a mini park in the city.

It was agreed to note and welcome the continuing success of the “SEEN” project in Chester.

FINANCIAL UPDATE FROM TREASURER

The Treasurer submitted his reports on

(a)               Audited Income and Expenditure for the Circle for the year ended 31 December 2005 and

 

(b)               the period up to 1 August 2006.

Both reports showed the healthy state of the Circle’s finances.

The Treasurer also submitted lists of those member towns who had paid subscriptions and those who had not.

Further discussions took place on the possibility of members paying by direct debit.  At present bank charged per transaction of £10-£15 made this option expensive, however the possibility of payments of 4-5 years in advance being made was being investigated.

It was agreed to thank the Treasurer for his reports and note the healthy financial position of the Circle

SPONSORSHIP

The Chairman reported on talks being held in Chester with representatives of the Bank of America to find sponsorship for the Circle.   Talks were also progressing with Halifax / Bank of Scotland and a local Chester firm of commercial property agents, to seek financial support.  In the meantime sponsorship of lesser amounts was still welcome to help finance newsletter production.

It was agreed to welcome the efforts being made to assist with the Circle’s finances.

ELECTION OF PRESIDENT, TREASURER AND ASSOCIATE MEMBER REPRESENTATIVES

As no additional nominations had been made for election to the official Circle offices for the year 2006/7, the present office holders be re-elected for the requisite periods, unopposed., they are ;

WORLD WALLED TOWN OF THE YEAR

Following approval of the criteria for the award, nominations would be invited for the award in 2008.  These would be considered by a judging panel of President, Chairs of the WTFC Academic Network and WTFC Technical Network plus Brian Smith of EHTR.

It was agreed to note the position and the present holders, ‘s-Hertogenbosch be invited to continue  holding of the award until 2008.

SECRETARY GENERAL’S REPORT

The Secretary General submitted his report on activities since the Executive Committee meeting held in Pecs, Hungary in March 2006

It was agreed  to note and thank the Secretary General for his report.

ACADEMIC ADVISER’S REPORT

The Circle’s Academic Adviser, David Bruce, reported on his recent activities, including accompanying students from China to Piran, work associated with Archway and authorship of several articles.  He added that his University had granted him leave of absence to concentrate his work on Walled Towns, until February 2007.

It was agreed to note and thank David Bruce for his work.

NEWSLETTER

It was agreed to welcome the publication of a further newsletter for the period Summer 2006 and the Secretary General be thanked for his work in producing the edition.

WEBSITE

It was agreed to note the need for the  Circle’s website to be re-vamped approve the work to begin in Chester to refresh the site.

NEW MEMBERS FOR THE CIRCLE

The President reported that recent new members were:

Ohrid,     Macedonia

Ptuj,       Slovenia

Trencin, Slovakia

Recent enquiries about membership had also been received from:

St Petersburg Museum, Russia

Cartegena, Columbia

Arising:

It was agreed to include in the Circle’s Business Plan, details of what new members joining the Circle can expect and to approve the suggestion that each new member on joining be allocated an experienced member as a mentor, providing existing members were willing to do this.

“SLEEPING” MEMBERS

The Secretary General reported that the process approved at the last meeting of him identifying one paying member in each country to target those members who have not recently paid their subscriptions, had begun.

It was agreed to note the situation and monitor the results of the process over the next months.

FUTURE SYMPOSIA

It was agreed the Circle’s next Symposia be held at:

FUTURE EXECUTIVE MEETINGS

It was agreed that the Circle’s next Executive Committee meetings be held at

FUTURE DIRECTION OF THE CIRCLE

Introduction by the President

The President reported on the initiative in Catania, Sicily by Professor Perbellini of Verona, sponsored by “Europa Nostra”, to initiate a Mediterranean based organisation with similar aims to the Circle.  Discussions had taken place with the Professor to point out to him the dangers of having too many organisations all trying to do the same thing but he remains unconvinced.

It was agreed that as this new organisation is sponsored by “Europa Nostra” approaches be made to that organisation to find out to what level this new organisation is being sponsored and why.

It was also agreed that John Sciberras be authorised to attend this new organisation’s first meeting in November to represent the Circle and its view, that this organisation is unnecessary and potentially damaging and if Europa Nostra insists that it continue, then at least it should work within the influence of the Circle.

Establishment of a Circle Technical Network

The President reminded members they had agreed the establishment of a Technical arm of the Circle at their last meeting in Pecs and requested that to maintain the momentum of “Archway” on its completion; those members be reformed to become the Technical network.

It was agreed to approve this request and all members of the WTFC be informed and invited to become members if they had a strong urge to do so.

WTFC University

It was confirmed that the above group be requested to progress this initiative.

Retirement of Secretary General

It was agreed  that the present Secretary General, Chris Lines, who had been the Circle’s first Secretary General ,elected by the President in 2000, be thanked sincerely for all of his work, during the past six years and he be wished every good fortune for the future.