Town Twinning

GTB · Town Twinning

Call me cynical but I am sick to death with all these taxes that are showing no visible benefit to the society who pay them. One of the most pointless exercises in my opinion is these town twinning associations. How do they benefit the people who live in towns?? I know a town clerk in a Wiltshire town who spent a week in Finland at the tax payers expence all in the name of town twinning.

Somebody, please make this situation more clear over why there is a fad for towns to be twinned with a village or town in a far away land which has not even a tenuous link with each other than an excuse for a jolly up between the respective councils at the tax payers expence.

rosco

Well, I presume that's not the case for Caln which does have a very distinct connection with Calne.

I guess that the idea is to exchange ideas and give people places to go where a bit more effort is made for them to visit/stay there. As long as stupid amounts of money are not spent on it, I don't think it is a bad idea to have wider horizons that just the UK.

Peter Dolman · twinning

I think that dear GTB may not be in touch with the position regarding twinning, especially those relating to Calne.

As far as funding is concerned most of it comes from those involved apart from this year. The town mayor will be attending an event in Enningen (Germany) and I understand his transport costs will be paid by the council. This will come from a general budget relating to transport costs. The event in Ennigen is to mark the 40th(?) anniversary of the setting up of the twinning them and Calne.

I think it is fair to say that since the twinning with Ennigen/Charleiu/Caln was established many students from the JBS & others have benefited from having the chance to spend a week or 2 in France or Germany. Many of these students would not have had the opportunity to do so without the twinning association.

The amount of council monies that have been given to the Calne Twinning Association over the last 40 years is a fraction of that spent say on the allotments which actually costs every house approx £2.50 each year to subsidise them. Can you say that is money well spent?

GTB · Re: twinning

Local lass

I would have to agree with gtb i dont see the point in it also .

Peter wrote

think it is fair to say that since the twinning with Ennigen/Charleiu/Caln was established many students from the JBS & others have benefited from having the chance to spend a week or 2 in France or Germany. Many of these students would not have had the opportunity to do so without the twinning association. ?

why wouldnt they been able to go to those places if we were not twinned with them?

rosco

GTB

rosco

Local lass

Local lass

ROSCO WROTE
Well, at a local level, maybe they do some council type services better or in a different way that we could learn from and apply to Calne

Do we really have to go abroad just for that though?
i agree with gtb .
i still can not see a very good reason for any twinning especialy at are expence.
will have to look in to it more.

Chepfer

I have never personally been to any of our twin towns but know many that have.

All trips are paid for by the individual here in Calne !. I believe there may be a very small allowance for civic duties in respect to the mayor, which is not neccessarily for twinning trips but for any number of events that raise the profile of Calne in the local area.

I have met many people from our twin towns and can honestly say that it is a wholly worthwhile assocciation to belong too.

You get the chance to really understand another culture in an intimate way that you just can't from "going on holiday".

You get to live with a french, german or us family and are classed as part of there family when you are staying with them, I have met Policemen from the US, Hornblowers from Germany and farmers from france and learnt all about there own beliefs, customs, lifestyles, views on the world "including britain" and crazy drinking habits.

It just opens another view to the rest of the world and the chance to meet and be friends with people from other walks of life.

Caln in the US has obvious links with here, as even some of the founders of the Caln settlement have recognisable names from here in Calne, like ....... Pinegar, butler and Dixon. So they came from here and have family links here, so in that respect it's a good thing to have.

Like i said, "all paid for by the individual" and none paid by the town council.

Bear

I have lived in Calne for 40 years plus on and off (having moved away and returned) I have been fortunate in my time to have travelled extensively all over the world some times at my expense and sometimes while being paid to do so. I have never been to any of the twin towns to Calne and cannot really see that this has been a great loss to me and fully support GTB question regarding the benefits. As a tax payer in Calne I cannot for the life of me see how my life has been improved by the act of twinning Calne with somewhere else. It would also be interesting to do a survey of Calne residents to see how many of them have been to any of the twin towns my guest would be a small percentage and then it would be interesting to see what the percentage would be if the same question were to be asked of councillors and council officials.

rosco

Chepfer

Please have a look at this link and make your own minds up......

www.calne-twinning.org.uk

Perhaps we should have a vote and see if people think Calne should have no outside contact with the rest of the world ........ "It's free" and won't cost a penny.

Wink.... :wink:

Local lass

Peter Dolman · twinning

I would like to reiterate the basic facts to all involved in this debate. Most, and this includes Calne, twinning associations are funded by the particpants and supporters. Yes believe it or not there are people who willingly support twinning groups but never travel.
Unlike our continental partners who are quite generously funded by local/regional goverments, as I may say are their leisure centres but thats a seperate debate.

I assure you that twinning associations are not comfortable little groups, most are actively looking for new people to join.
I was involved in a football club exchange in 1975, all 3 of my children went on exchanges when students at the John Bentley School. One to Germany, one to France and one to Holland. All the students at JBS could have participated during the time there.

I am currently involved in a twinning with a golf club in France, we are waiting with open arms to invite new members. All the costs are bourne by the hosts (except travel costs).
My ability or should I say inability to speak french is only surpassed by Gael's lack of knowledge of the english language. (our wives do better but they did not teach french at the Fynamore Secondary Modern when I was there). We do thought have some indepth discussions of the Common Agricultural Policy (or some other meaningless european law) over a glass or 2 of wine.

None of our or my childrens visits have cost the rate payers of Calne a penny, but I feel quite strongly that everyone who takes part in the twinning process benefits. Don;t knock it if you have not tried it!

nb I have come from a working class background and still consider myself working class (if such out of date concepts still exsist)

Local lass

so how would you go about getting the full benifit of the twinning,for the people of calne.would you have to be a member of certain clubs.

Bear

I'm sorry but my point seems to have been lost some where in the translation. As a taxpayer in Calne I am obviously interested in where my money is spent and also whether 'we' are getting good value for it. Now I am not inferring that anyone is obtaining free 'jollys' on the back of the twinning of Calne with any other towns around the world. I would however find it astonishing if there is no cost to the taxpayers of Calne which is directly related to the twinning exercise and it is this cost which I would question in terms of what benefit it has given firstly to myself personally and secondly to Calne as a whole and not just the few who can afford to make the connection with our twinned towns themselves. Please do not confuse the words 'Cost to taxpayers' as an insinuation of ill doing I mean it must for instance cost something to have the words 'Twinned with whoever' on the Welcome to Calne signs and I'm sure this was not paid for my kind and generous individuals. Perhaps a freedom of information request might be in order to ascertain the true cost to the taxpayers of Calne

rosco

Local lass

but with the leisure centre rosco people could just go up there and use it.therefore it is a benifit for the whole of calne.
and the centre is good for calne since it re opened i have only heard of one person who had a complaint about it.

just how do you get involved with the twinning?

Peter Dolman · twinning

For the sake of clarity I will try to make the point again.

During my 4 years as a town councillor (2003 to 2007) I chaired the finance sub committee which dealt with the annual budget. Over those 4 years there was no provision in any of the budgets for the twinning association.

There is an amount set aside each year which local community groups & charities can apply to for support. They may or may not have applied for a grant from this pot. The average grant is in the region of £200 to £300 and they are given to a wide range of groups some well known, some very obscure. They are all worth while causes.
The information on who receive grants and the amount awarded can be obtained from bank house.

Anyone can get involved in the twinning association (and I do mean anyone), you would be welcomed with open arms. It is not a closed group they wany more involvement by town people.
The benefits are great for individuals and ultimately for society as a whole.

Let me reiterate there is no hidden cost to the rate payers of Calne.
Yes this year our Mayor has been invited by the Mayor of Ennigen to take part in a ceremony to mark the twinning. I think that we should not expect our Mayor to fund the cost himself!

Bear

So who pays for the extra printing costs incurred when you put 'Twinned with whoever' on the road signed or any letter headings from the council

GTB

I think we shall have to agree to disagree whether the twinning actually benefits Calne as a whole.

Thankyou very much, Peter for your honest input into this subject, and certainly from a man in the know. It's very good that someone like yourself is able to give the time and clarity to answer questions like this one on a public forum where all can see (and learn!). It would be nice to see a few more authoritive figures like yourself, Peter on Calnetalk.

Peter Dolman · twinning

Bear, headed paper and the like will be ordered any way. The cost of adding twinned with................ is tiny in comparison.

The town council give approx £3,000 every year to the CAB, an organisation the majority of residents are never likely to want. Myself included.
I would not advocate for one instance the town council stopped their support for the CAB.

There are other examples where the Town council spends "my" money in areas that do not benefit me or my family in any way.
Everyone is in the same position sometimes you win sometimes you lose.
I would rather live here than in most other countries.

Peter Dolman · twinning

GTB thank you for your kind words. I think it would be great if there were more opinions on this site. I only came on it by chance.

The organisers should consider sending all the town/district councillors a pack with the access details and some examples of topics raised.

I do feel that people should be more open with their details rather than hide behind made up names. I would hope that councillors would have the strength to use their proper names!

Bear

Cheers Peter yeh i'm sorry I do get carried away playing Devils Advocate sometimes. My mum always said I could start a fight in an empty house. All good fun though. Big Smile

Chepfer

Please have a look at this link and make your own minds up......

[url]www.calne-twinning.org.uk [/url]

i re-attach my sadly "unread" post, it tells you how to join.

Wink....

Geddi

The British are once again twinning (sort of) with Iraq. We send loads of troops over there to train the new Iraqi police force and wear wigs and arab clothes carrying explosives and weapons and they flee and come here seeking jobs and asylum (at least the wealthier ones make it this far).

Peter Dolman · twinning

Geddi, while a sentiment I share this is not the thred for discussing the topic. You should start a new one.

Town Twinning

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