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Twinning IN
Salford
Annual report
2003-4
Salford City Council
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Salford City Council
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Contents
Section Page
Foreword 3
1. Structure 4
2. Finance 5
3. Developments 6
4. Directorates’ contribution 8
5. Future Workplan 9
Appendix 1: Contacts for town twinning in Salford 11
Salford City Council
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Salford City Council
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Foreword
By Councillor Derek Antrobus,
Lead Member for Town Twinning.
Since taking over as Lead Member for Town Twinning at the start of the 2003-
4 financial year, I have sought to re-model the way the service is provided.
The aim was to minimise the impact of the decision taken to remove the post
of Town Twinning Officer, particularly its impact on our relations with our twin
towns and on the opportunities available to people.
I had been the Chairman of the Town Twinning and International Relations
Sub-Committee of the old Finance Committee when Andrew Beattie was
appointed to that post and I would like to publicly thank him for the work he
did to support our relationship with our twin towns.
The voluntary twinning associations are now at the forefront of the way we
maintain relations with our twin towns and I would like to thank the many
volunteers for the time and energy they put into this.
I have also been pleased to renew acquaintance with my counterparts in our
twin towns to whom I have given assurances about Salford City Council’s
commitment to maintaining our links.
With reduced resources, we will not be able to meet all aspirations. But a
pleasing aspect of the past year is the extent to which new links have been
forged – both with our twin towns and within the town twinning community in
Salford.
It is with confidence about the future development of town twinning that I
present this Annual Report to the Council.
Salford City Council
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1. Structure
Salford is twinned with four towns in Europe. They are Lünen in Germany,
which first twinned with the former Borough of Swinton and Pendlebury in
1966, and the French towns of Clermont-Ferrand (Salford, 1966), Narbonne
(Eccles, 1957) and St Ouen (Worsley, 1961).
Salford City Council has appointed Councillor Derek Antrobus as Lead
Member for Twinning. His role is
● To maintain links with the political administrations in Salford’s twin towns
● To promote and facilitate links between the City Council’s directorates and
the twin towns
● To support and coordinate the activities of the voluntary groups which
organise exchanges and other twinning events.
His responsibility is a corporate function – that is, the links are supported by
the City Council in general, not a particular Directorate. A small budget of
£500 is, however, held by the Members’ Support Unit to assist the Lead
Member in his duties. This decision was taken because the Member Support
Unit is also responsible for supporting the Mayoralty. The Mayoralty is the
primary focus for communications from the twin towns and plays the major
role in receiving visitors from our twin towns.
The Lead Member also holds a grants budget of £12,000 which is used to
support the activities of four organisations which organise exchanges with
each of the city’s twin towns. The four organisations are the Swinton and
Pendlebury/Salford-Lünen Twinning Committee, Salford-St Ouen Twinning
Association, Salford/Clermont-Ferrand Twinning Association, and the Salford-
Narbonne Twinning Association. A list of the officers of these associations
and other bodies involved in town twinning is attached at Appendix 1.
Each organisation is required to account for its expenditure by submitting to
the Lead Member an audited statement of its accounts for the preceding
financial year. Each organisation is required to submit a quarterly report to the
Town Twinning Forum to report to the Lead Member their activities and plans.
It is pleasing to note that, for the first time in its history, the Town Twinning
Forum has met on a quarterly basis as scheduled.
Salford City Council
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2. Finance
Salford City Council has made available a budget of £12,500 to fund town
twinning activities. Last year, grants of £2,500 were made available to each of
the four twinning organisations. The Salford-St Ouen Twinning Association
and the Swinton and Pendlebury (Salford)-Lünen Twinning Committee have
provided statements of accounts which show, to the satisfaction of the Lead
Member, that they have spent the grant on the purposes for which it was
awarded. It is intended that grants of £3,000 be made available to each of
these organisations for 2004-5.
The Salford-Narbonne Association has not functioned effectively during the
year after the departure of the secretary. The grant for 2003-4 and 2002-03 is,
on the basis of evidence available, unspent. It is therefore intended to
withhold the grant for the 2004-5. The Salford/Clermont-Ferrand Association
has not spent its full allocation for the year and discussions will take place
with officers of the Association to determine the appropriate level of grant. Any
withheld grant will be retained by the Lead Member to fund activities involving
these twin towns or supporting the activities of other organisations. The Lead
Member will also work with those two Associations to ensure that they
continue to provide opportunities for the community in Salford to establish
links with their respective twins.
The Lead Member holds a small budget of £500. This has been used to fund
a variety of minor administrative costs.
Salford City Council
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3. Developments
The restructuring of the town twinning service has seen a number of
significant developments.
(i) Communication
A major concern of the Lead Member was that, in the absence of a town
twinning officer, effective communication was required between all those
engaged in town twinning. To this end, the lead Member re-established the
Town Twinning Forum which has met regularly on a quarterly basis. The
meetings consider reports from each of the organisations and is open to
anyone interested in town twinning. The Lead Member is grateful to the
Mayoralty for hosting informal receptions at the rising of the meetings of the
Forum. This allows members to network outside of the formal meeting. The
meetings are chaired and serviced by the Lead Member.
The Lead Member has also undertaken to produce a quarterly newsletter to
report on activities and as a medium for circulating the Forum’s minutes. The
newsletter is distributed electronically to those interested, contacts in twin
towns and in Salford’s schools. It is also published on the internet where the
town twinning pages have been enhanced.
To ensure more effective communication, the Lead Member is building up a
database of contacts, liaising with Community Telematics (a training section
within the Corporate Services Directorate) to establish websites for each
twinning organisation, and developing a press and publicity strategy. It is also
intended to produce an information leaflet at the start of the new municipal
year in June and develop a PowerPoint presentation which can be screened
in the foyer of the Civic Centre.
(ii) Promoting Partnership
The year 2003-4 has been used to consolidate relationships with existing
town twinning organisations although, as section 2 of this report suggests,
there is still some work to be done in that direction. To make town twinning
work, however, it is important that as many organisations as possible are
recruited to become stakeholders in town twinning. It is pleasing to note the
significant involvement of the PCT and the Trades Council in the St Ouen link.
The Lead Member is also grateful to the Economic Division of the Chief
Executive’s Department for their work in identifying potential business
partners who might host trainee placements from our twin towns.
A strong partnership exists with the University of Salford. Mr Steven Fletcher,
in particular, has devoted much energy to sustaining links – both as a member
of staff of the University and his chairmanship of the Salford-St Ouen
Committee. Further potential links with the University are being explored.
Salford City Council
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(iii) Identifying resources
The loss of the major part of the town twinning budget and the full-time
member of staff means that we have to seek to resource town twinning in new
ways. The voluntary associations have been involved in fund-raising and the
Twinning Newsletter should help to promote those events.
A major challenge will be for Directorates to embed the City Council’s town
twinning agenda into their day-to-day activities. Councillor Barry Warner, Lead
Member for Arts and Leisure, has been so enthusiastic about reciprocating a
visit by Salford librarians to St Ouen and has agreed to host two librarians
from St Ouen. This is a welcome development. There is also a need to
encourage participation by other stakeholders and it is pleasing to note that
the Walkden Rotary Club plans to include a twinning element in their
Citizenship Project.
The Salford-Lünen Travelling Scholarship Trust has, at the instigation of the
Lead Member, held a meeting for the first time in more than a decade and will
be able to offer grants to young people to participate in study visits between
Salford and Lünen.
(iv) Re-establishing confidence
The uncertainty occasioned by the budgetary decisions of last year was
accompanied by a belief that the City Council was ending its twinning
relationships. In order to clarify the position the Lead Member held an early
meeting with representatives of the Twinning Associations before re-
establishing the regular meetings of the Forum to maintain that information
flow.
The Lead Member wrote to the Mayors and twinning officials of the twin towns
to assure them of our intention to continue the relationships. Specially
designed greetings cards were sent at Christmas to re-establish past
conventions. The Lead Member has responded to concern about out-dated
materials by supplying twin towns with CDs of recent images of Salford
provided by the Development Services Directorate. Copies of the Twinning
Newsletter and Salford Life are sent to twin towns. The Lead Member will
write to each of the Twin Towns outlining the scale of projects for the
forthcoming year.
The Mayor has played a major role in receiving visitors from twin towns to
emphasise the civic importance of such links.
Salford City Council
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4. Directorates’ contributions
The Chief Executive’s Economic Development Unit has been helpful in
seeking placements with local firms for students from town towns.
The Directorate of Corporate Services through the Member Support Unit, the
Mayoralty, and the Treasury has provided enormous assistance in ensuring
the twinning function has been maintained.
The Directorate of Development Services has provided the CD of
photographic images of the city supplied to our twin towns. In particular, Nick
Harrison of the Landscape Design Team is thanked.
The Directorate of Education and Leisure has provided useful contacts with
schools. They also report the following activities:
Canon Williamson CE High School - Ten Year 10 pupils undertake work
experience annually in Lünen and a group of Lünen student visit here in
return.
Salford Youth Service - In September 2003 a group of young women from
Irlam and Cadishead visited Clermont Ferrand.The main purpose was to look
at the transport systems and the safety of young women at night.This was
part funded by the Youth Service and part by a grant to the young women
from Irlam and Cadishead Community Committee.The group visited a local
youth centre, met the company which runs the local transport system,
attended a seminar on local transport and visited the local area. The trip
lasted 7 days.
Oakwood High school - St Ouen 2003. Oakwood High Youth Club was invited
to send two of its members to take part in the Handisport Tournament on 20th
September 2003. Disabled individuals from St. Ouen, Italy, Bulgaria and
Salford took part in a table tennis tournament, archery, various adapted bikes
and cycles plus other new and adapted sports. The tournament was a huge
success and everyone had an enjoyable time. The Modern Foreign
Languages teacher at Oakwood is the secretary of the Salford - St Ouen
Town Twinning Association and he has strong links with St Ouen both
formally and on an informal basis. There is a link between Oakwood and the
IME special school in St Ouen. He took part in the recent town twinning
festival held in St Ouen and ran a stall on behalf of the Town Twinning
Association.
Salford City Council
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5. Future Workplan (Indicative – not yet agreed)
Month Activity Co-ordinators
Town Twinning Forum Lead Member
Award grants Lead Member
Complete contacts database Lead Member
April Lünen Trust Lead Member
May
Salford hosts Lycée Blanqui Steve Fletcher
students form St Ouen
St Ouen hosting trade union St Ouen Association
delegation
Citizenship Day Walkden Rotary Club
Swimming Gala in Lünen Swinton ASC
June Clermont-Fd student Lead Member/Clermont
placement Association
Town Twinning Forum Lead Member
Promotional leaflet Lead Member
Lünen Trust Lead Member
July
Lünen Young People’s Lünen Twinning Committee
Exchange
August
Host Narbonne delegation Lead Member/Narbonne
Association/Mayoralty
Fête de St Ouen St Ouen Association
Salford-Lünen Churches Link Salford Diocese
September St Ouen Librarians Arts and Leisure
Reciprocal visit to Salford
Disabled sports event St
Ouen
Lünen Festival Economic Development
Salford City Council
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Town Twinning Forum Lead Member
Families from Lünen in Lünen Churches Partnership
Salford
October
St Ouen Chess Tournament St Ouen Association
Annual Twinning Reception Mayoralty
Chess Tournament – Salford
to host?
November
Seasonal Greetings to Lead Member
Mayors
December
Town Twinning Forum Lead Member
Lünen Trust Lead Member
January
February
International Women’s Week Val Burgoyne
March
Salford City Council
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Appendix 1: Contacts for town twinning in Salford
Position Name Address E-mail Telephone
Salford City Council,
Councillor Derek Members’ Room, 0161-793
Lead Member councillor.antrobus@salford.gov.uk
Antrobus Civic Centre, 3059
Swinton M27 5AD.
Salford City Council,
Members’ 0161-793
Cathy Pickup Civic Centre, cathy.pickup@salford.gov.uk
Support Unit 3064
Swinton M27 5AD.
10 St Mary’s Road
Chair, St Ouen Prestwich, w.s.fletcher@alford.ac.uk 0161-798
Association Steven Fletcher Manchester M25 9250
1AP
9 Deyne Avenue,
Secretary, St Emma Brown Prestwich, Emsabroad@hotmail.com 0161-773
Ouen
Manchester, 1395
Association
M25 1EJ
Treasurer, St 27 Brookhurst Lane,
0161-790
Ouen Valerie Burgoyne Little Hulton,
0484
Association Worsley M38 9TF
Chair, Lünen
Association Ray Selby
Secretary,
3 Deansway, 0161-281
Lünen Jean Sofield p.sofield@ntlworld.com
Swinton, M27 0WH 3650
Association
Treasurer,
Lünen Bob Welsby
Association
Chair, Lünen The Vicarage 0161-736
Churches’ 43 Derby Road keith.archer@salford.gov.uk
Rev Keith Archer 5819
Partnership Salford M6 5YD
Treasurer, 47 Agecroft Road
Lünen Avis Gordon West, 0161-798
Churches’ Prestwich, 8018
Partnership M25 9HF
Salford City Council,
Chair, Narbonne Councillor David Members’ Room, Councillor.lancaster@Salford.gov.uk 0161-793
Association Lancaster Civic Centre, 3059
Swinton M27 5AD.
Secretary,
Narbonne
Association
Treasurer,
Narbonne
Association
Salford City Council,
Chair, Clermont- Councillor John Members’ Room, Councillor.warmisham@Salford.gov.u 0161-793
Fd Association Warmisham Civic Centre, k 3059
Swinton M27 5AD.
Salford City Council
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Secretary,
Clermont-Fd
Association
Treasurer,
Clermont-Fd
Association
Salford City Council
