21 June 2004 AGM

Dunfermline Trondheim Twinning Association

The 7th Annual General Meeting of the above Association was held in the City Hotel, Dunfermline, on Tuesday 21st June 2004 at 7.00pm

1. Welcome and comments from the Chair The Convener welcomed everyone and addressed the meeting. The Association is approaching the 60th anniversary of the formation of the friendship link, and this is an opportunity for building on the link, and showing what can be gained. Membership of the Association gave access to a network of connections through which things could be done, and members were encouraged to stay involved and make use of this.

2. Apologies had been received from Anne Marte Bergseng on behalf of the Royal Norwegian Consulate General, Peter Franklin, Glenda Franklin and Norma Forsyth.

3. Minutes of 2003 Annual General Meeting. These were accepted as an accurate record of the meeting, and were moved by Alan Stewart, and seconded by Mrs Anne Bathgate. There were no matters arising.

4. Secretary’s report A Secretary’s report had been circulated highlighting the main activities of the year, and the various initiatives that were now in train. See attached.

5. Financial report and fixing of annual subscriptions. The Treasurer presented a statement of accounts for the year which was moved by Mrs Bathgate, seconded by Lillian Cameron and approved by the meeting. The Treasurer proposed that the subscription fees for the Association should remain as for the previous year, and this was agreed by the members present.

6. Nominations for Committee Members of the committee had agreed to stand for another year, and Mrs Anne Bathgate accepted nomination to the committee. There being no further nominations, this was agreed. It was noted that the committee has the power to coopt, and that there is still one vacancy, and a need for a Treasurer. The meeting requested that the committee should seek out a treasurer if no one from within the committee was able to undertake the work involved.

7. Appointment of Accounts Scrutineer Bill Runciman agreed to undertake this on behalf of the membership.

8. Any other competent business. There being no further business, the Convener thanked members for their attendance and closed the formal part of the meeting.

At the conclusion of formal business, the Convener welcomed Dr Alex Wolf, Lecturer at the Department of Scottish History, St Andrews University, with a special interest in Scottish Norwegian links. As part of his training he was involved in archaeological digs in Trondheim. The meeting then participated in a conversation about the historic finks between Scotland and Norway, in which both Dunfermline and Trondheim had played such a significant part. A fascinating discussion ensued, revealing many aspects of how the historic link had developed, and making it clear that there is still much to be discovered. All Association members present expressed considerable interest in this.

9 June 2005 AGM

Dunfermline Trondheim Twinning Association

The 8th Annual General Meeting of the above Association was held in the City Chambers, Dunfermline, on 9th June 2005 at 700pm

Welcome and comments from the Chair
The Convener welcomed everyone and addressed the meeting. The last year had seen a consolidation of the youth links that had been created, with a number of visits to and from Trondheim occurring. Plans were in place for further visits to take place in 2005/2006, and for a sculpture to be created in Abbeyview to mark the 60th anniversary of the Bond of Friendship between the youth of Trondheim and Dunfermline

Minutes of 2004 Annual General Meeting
These were accepted as an accurate record of the meeting. There were no matters arising.

Secretary’s report
The Secretary reported on the developments that had occurred during the year. In particular there had been a highly successful visit to the St Olav’s festival which the Association had coordinated, all party members being self funded. There was the possibility that the Dunfermline Strathspey and Reel Society would be getting involved in the 2005 St Clay’s festival. The Abbeyview Sculpture project had established links between Woodmill High School and Flatassen Skole in Trondheim, and an artist was being appointed to lead and involve the pupils in the creation of the artwork.

Financial report and fixing of annual subscriptions
The Treasurer presented a statement of accounts for the year. Bill Runciman had been unable to scrutinise these, and Walter Hutchieson had kindly agreed to assist in their preparation. The Treasurer proposed that the subscription fees for the Association should remain as for the previous year, and this was agreed by the members present.

Nominations for Committee
During the year three people had been co opted onto the committee - Ann Slavin, Maria Johansen, and Sandie Knudsen. All members of the committee had agreed to stand for another year, apart from Maria Johansen who was moving out of the area and therefore had to resign. Maria was thanked for her interest and involvement in the work of the committee. There being no further nominations, it was agreed that all current members of the committee would be reappointed.

Appointment of Accounts Scrutineer
It was agreed that Bill Runciman should be approached to act as Accounts Scrutineer. If this was not possible then the committee would identify and approach a suitable candidate for their assistance with this.

Any other competent business
There being no further business, the Convener thanked members for their attendance and closed the formal part of the meeting. At the conclusion of formal business, the Association and friends attended a Civic Reception in the Court Room of the City Chambers which had been organised by the Provost of Fife to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Dunfermline Trondheim link. This will then be followed at 7.3Opm by an open discussion with music and song on 60 years of the Dunfermline link, and how Twinning and International Friendship links can and should be developed in the 21st Century.

20 June 2006 AGM

Dunfermline Trondheim Twinning Association.

The 8th Annual General Meeting of the above Association was held in the City Chambers, Dunfermline on June 20th 2006 at 6pm.

Apologies Ian Ross, Glenda and Peter Franklin, Norma Forsyth and Anne Bathgate. Welcome. Members and guests were welcomed by the Convenor.

1. Minutes of 2005 Meeting These were accepted as an accurate record of the meeting.

2. Convenor/General Secretary Report

• The office bearers for 2005-6 were Honorary Convenor/ General Secretary: Ishbel Ritchie, Honorary Minute Secretary: Jan Bagnall and Honorary Treasurer: Sandie Knudsen. During the year the secretarial work for each project was carried out by those most concerned with the project. For the Abbeyview Art Project by Gifford Lind/Mike Payne, for the Nettie Dick Biography by Ian Ross and for the School links by Jan Bagnall. Mike Payne is the Fife Council Liaison Officer
• The Dunfermline Association was invited by the Norwegian Scottish Association to attend a Scottish/Norwegian musical programme in the Canongate Kirk during the Edinburgh Festival 2005. Members of the Association attended ‘Blowing Norlands Trumpet’ at the Norwegian Consulate in Edinburgh in May 2006. This was a multimedia presentation featuring a singer, pictures and text
• Isla Ulvestad received an award in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in April 2006. This was in recognition of her work for the St Andrews Society in Trondheim. She is hoping the organise a group visit from Trondheim to Scotland in August 2006
• The Bond of Friendship, a document presented to Dunfermline in 1946 by young people visiting from Trondheim has been found. The original will be placed in the City Chambers and smaller copies will be displayed in Abbot House and the Central Library
• The Fife Twinning Forum of which all the Twinning Links/Associations in Fife are members and which is supported by Fife Council meets every two months. Representatives of the Committee attended these meetings last year and found them to be an excellent source of information and an opportunity to exchange ideas. The Association has secured funding to assist two boys from Halbeath, who are part of the Active Steps group initiative (organised by Tom Philips) to visit a tri- national meeting at Granskogen School in Trondheim in June2006. The Association hopes to receive a report from them at a future committee meeting
• The Convenor expressed the Association’s thanks to Mike Payne and Fife Council for their support and advice. She thanked Bob Bagnall for designing and hosting the Association’s website www.dtta.net and the Committee for their hard work
• Reports on the Abbeyview Art Project and the Nettie Dick Biography were given during the seminar after the buffet.

3. Financial report and fixing of annual subscriptions
The Treasurer provided a written statement of the current finances appended below. The members nominated Douglas Aitken (subject to his agreement) to be the independent scrutineer of these accounts. The statement was accepted by the members subject to the scrutiny being carried out. The annual subscriptions are to be unchanged at £3.00 for a student, £5.00 for an individual member, £9.00 for a family and £12.00 for a group.

4. Amendments to the Constitution Members had already received a copy of the Constitution, showing the amendments suggested by the Committee with their invitation to the AGM. An appendix showing a few further minor changes suggested by Mike Payne was issued at the meeting. The meeting discussed the proposed amendments point by point and they were accepted. The amended Constitution was dated and signed by the Convenor. (new Constitution appended below.

5. Nominations for the Committee The Committee for 2006-2007 numbering nine members according to the amended Constitution was elected unanimously as Ishbel Ritchie, Ian Ross, Gifford Lind, Sandie Knudsen, Jan Bagnall, Peter Franklin, Anne Bathgate and Agnes Paterson. Bob Young was proposed by Gifford Lind and seconded by Sandie Knudsen. The proposal was unanimously approved.

6. Any other competent business There being no further competent business the Convenor thanked the members for their attendance and closed the formal part of meeting.

After the formal meeting the guests and members attended a buffet and an informal seminar to brief the members on progress with the Abbeyview Art Project and the Nettie Dick biography.

Abbeyview Art project The Association initiated the idea of a permanent art work to be sited near Trondheim Parkway as part of the Abbeyview Regeneration project. The Council commissioned an artist called Alex Hamilton to work with young people from Woodmill High School and Flataasen School in Trondheim on this project. Alex has filmed in Dunfermline and Trondheim and will produce a DVD showing his work. Recently the Council has commissioned two artists, Patricia Brae and Elaine Alison, to work with Jacqui Powton and her students (Art Department, Woodmill High School) and youngsters from Flataasen School in Trondheim to produce an art work possibly incorporating carved text. A visit by Dunfermline young people to Trondheim is planned as part of the project.

Nettie Dick Biography Nettie Dick played a significant and inspirational role in youth work in Dunfermline in the post war period and was very important in the founding of the Twinning link. Helen Welsh, a local author, has been commissioned by the Association to write Nettie Dick’s biography. Helen has a particular interest in women who have played a significant role in Scottish communities. The book is progressing and the Committee are currently trying to find sponsorship for its publication. It is hoped that the book will be available in local schools and libraries and will provide a link between past, present and future twinning activities in Dunfermline.

28 June 2007 AGM

Dunfermline Trondheim Twinning Association.

The 9th Annual General Meeting of the above Association was held at the City Hotel, Dunfermline on June 28th 2007 at 6pm.

1. Welcome
Members and guests were welcomed by the Convenor.

2. Roll call
Ishbel Ritchie. Anne Bathgate. Peter Franklin. Jan Bagnall. Gifford Lind. Agnes Paterson. Mike Payne. Ian Ross. Norma Forsyth. Jim Paterson. Glenda Franklin.

3. Apologies
Sandie Knudsen. Alan and Isobel Stewart. Bill and Eileen Runciman. Lillian Cameron. Morris Frank.Fiona Aitken. Bob Young.

4. Minutes of 2006 Meeting
These were accepted as an accurate record of the AGM meeting with one alteration: Item 2. Convenor/General Secretary Report (ii) : ‘Blowing Norlands Trumpet’ was held at the Merchants Hall, Hanover Street Edinburgh and not at the Norwegian Consulate.
Acceptance of the minutes was proposed by Anne Bathgate and seconded by Gifford Lind.

5. Matters arising from Minutes of 2006 meeting
George Hunter acted as the independent examiner for the accounts in place of Douglas Aitken.

6. Convenor/General Secretary Report 2006-2007 (Ishbel Ritchie)
(i) The office bearers for 2006-7 were Honorary Convenor/ General Secretary: Ishbel Ritchie, Honorary Minute Secretary: Jan Bagnall and Honorary Treasurer: Sandie Knudsen. During the year the secretarial work for each project was carried out by those most concerned with it. Abbeyview Art Project by Gifford Lind/Mike Payne, for the Nettie Dick Biography by Ian Ross and for the School links by Jan Bagnall. Mike Payne is the Fife Council Liaison Officer.
(ii) Bond of Friendship The handover of the special gift, brought to Dunfermline in 1946 by the first party of young people from Trondheim to mark the Bond of Friendship signed with Trondheim in 1945, to the Provost or a representative of Fife Council has not yet taken place. It is hoped that this commemorative framed copy of Trondheim’s coat-of-arms, lost from sight for some 20 years may be handed over for safe keeping at a Civic Reception to be held on August 28th 2007 for our next visitors from Trondheim. It is also hoped to display a copy at the Central Library in Dunfermline.
(iii) Fife Twinning Forum The Convenor welcomed John Vaughan, the Chairman of the Fife Twinning Forum to the AGM and thanked the Forum for their continuing support and assistance with grant applications.
(iv) Fife Council Grants The Association supported a successful grant application for an Active Steps visit to Norway (helping to combat racism through sport/football)by young people from Abbeyview in summer 2006. The Association has just received £400 from Fife Council Community Grants (Heritage and Culture) towards a biography about Nettie Dick. (See discussion ). Thanks were expressed to Calum Farquhar for his assistance. Also to Mike Payne, Fife Council Liaison Officer and to Fife Council and its officials concerned with external relations, including twinning links, for their continuing support.
(v) Norwegian–Scottish Association Ishbel Ritchie and Gifford Lind attended the Norwegian–Scottish Association Christmas party held at the Danish Cultural Institute in December.
(vi) Norwegian Consulate. The Committee was represented at the Constitution Day Reception held at the Norwegian Consulate in Edinburgh on May 17th 2007.
(vii) Royal Society Conference on the 'Impact of the Vikings in Scotland' Ishbel Ritchie and Gifford Lind attended this two-day Conference held at the Royal Scottish Museum in September 2006.The Conference was very interesting and also gave excellent opportunities for contacts with others with an interest in Norway.

7. Treasurer’s report
The 2006-2007 accounts have been examined George Hunter. Members received a copy with their invitation to the AGM. The Convenor thanked Mr Hunter for his work. There were no questions from the members regarding the accounts and they were accepted.

8. Nominations for the Committee 2007-2008
Sandie Knudsen has resigned as Treasurer due to pressure of work commitments. The other members of the 2006-2007 Committee were nominated to serve again. This was proposed by Anne Bathgate and seconded by Norma Forsyth. The office bearers will be chosen at the next committee meeting in July.

9. Appointment of an examiner for the Association accounts
The Convenor proposed that George Hunter should be asked to examine the 2007-2008 accounts. (He has already intimated his willingness to do so.) This was accepted.

10. Fixing of annual subscriptions
The subscriptions will remain the same for the next financial year: Student £3.00. Adult £5.00. Family £9.00. Corporate. £12.00

11. Any other competent business
Gifford Lind will act as temporary treasurer at the AGM to collect any monies for annual subscriptions or payments for the buffet.

After the formal meeting the guests and members attended a buffet and an informal discussion on the theme of ‘Twinning for Tomorrow’s World - Active Citizenship’

The members and guests present included John Vaughan the Chairman of the Fife Twinning Forum, Jim Watson from the Culross Twinning Association, Jim Tolsen MSP Dunfermline West, Ken Oliver, Dunfermline Town Centre Manager, Pat Bray, one of the artists involved in the Art Project at Woodmill High School and Lillian King, a local author. Regrets for their inability to be present, but greetings and best wishes for the DTTA were received from Mrs Margaret Dean, Lord Lieutenant of Fife and the Royal Norwegian Consul-General Oystein Hovdkinn.

A Time of change for Twinning
John Vaughan started the discussion by outlining the history of twinning in Fife and explaining how it is a time of change for twinning. He suggested citizens need to ‘think local, act globally and think together’. He described some of his experiences, as a representative of Fife, at a recent gathering in Rhodes of delegates from many European countries. Twinning still involves European and American exchanges, but there are now commercial relationships, women’s groups, village partnerships, theatre group links, educational partnerships, disability groups, church links, e-twinning in schools and groups of community volunteers across Europe. Scottish twinning is usually organised by volunteers supported by their local authority, but in Europe the initiatives tend to be directly in the hands of local authorities. John stressed the need for twinning to engage the next generation of young people. He mentioned that there are now political dimensions to twinning and there is interest in twinning with the citizens of Eastern European countries, Africa and communities in China.

Project reports were given for the past year, with special reference to the discussion topic:

Abbeyview Arts Project
Mike Payne outlined the development of the project. A link was set up between Flataasen School in Trondheim and Woodmill HS Dunfermline. Initially this went well with video conferences and artwork completed in Dunfermline, but unfortunately there has been no recent contact with Norway despite Mike’s best efforts and assistance from the Association. Pat Bray explained that the ‘Nexus’ project had resurrected an old idea of exchanging artist’s trading cards. Seven 14-16 year old pupils made cards using text as their theme. These were printed using the expertise of a graphic designer and exhibited in the community. However the next step of an exchange visit with Norwegian students has not been possible so far. Pat Bray is going to work on a project in Norway shortly but this is not in Trondheim.

‘Sailor’ Musical
Peter Franklin described the background to the visit of Georg Kajanus, a composer of music, to the opening night of the musical ‘Sailor’ which took place at the Carnegie Theatre in Dunfermline summer 2006. Georg is well known in musical circles and was born and lived in Trondheim. His father was involved in the Resistance movement in Norway during the second World War. As it was Georg’s 60th birthday and the 60th anniversary of the twinning link between Trondheim and Dunfermline members of the Committee, who attended the performance presented Georg with a copy of the Bond of Friendship. Georg has now met Isla Dugstad in Trondheim and it is hoped that this will lead to a Dunfermline–Trondheim theatre link in the future. It may be possible to stage ‘Sailor’ there with participants from both cities.

Nettie Dick Biography
Ian Ross explained that Helen Welsh had been unable to continue as the author of the biography due to personal difficulties, but has interviewed people who knew Nettie and gathered some material. Reminiscences about Nettie were exchanged and her dynamism and contribution to twinning were very apparent to all present. Lillian King expressed an interest in taking over the project and recording the stories she had just heard. Nettie was honoured in Norway with the St Olav medal for her contribution to twinning and work with young people. Ishbel made the audience aware of the Association’s aim to use the biography as a tribute to Nettie Dick and a historical record of her life and work, but even more to produce a book which would be an inspiration for young people today, by demonstrating how a local citizen can contribute to the well being of the whole community.

26 June 2008 AGM

Dunfermline Trondheim Twinning Association.
The 10th Annual General Meeting of the above Association was held at the City Chambers, Dunfermline on June 26th 2008 at 6.30pm.

1. Welcome.
Members and guests were welcomed by the Convenor

2. Roll call
Ishbel Ritchie. Peter Franklin. Jan Bagnall. Gifford Lind. Agnes Paterson. Mike Payne. Jim Paterson. Glenda Franklin. Bob Young

3. Apologies
A.Bathgate. Ian Ross. Norma Forsyth. Fiona Aitken.

4. Minutes of 2007 Meeting
These were accepted as an accurate record of the 2007 AGM meeting. (Proposed Peter Franklin, seconded Gifford Lind) There were no matters arising.

5. Convenor/General Secretary Report 2007-2008 (Ishbel Ritchie).
(i) The office bearers for 2007-8 were Honorary Convenor/ General Secretary: Ishbel Ritchie, Honorary Minute Secretary: Jan Bagnall and Honorary Treasurer: Bob Young. During the year the secretarial work for each project was carried out by those most concerned with it: Nettie Dick Biography by Ian Ross, School Links by Jan Bagnall, Direct Contacts with Norway and Exchange Visits by Gifford Lind. Until its completion in 2008 the Abbeyview Art Project by Gifford Lind and Mike Payne, who is the Fife Council Liaison Officer.
(ii) Bond of Friendship. This was signed at Dunfermline’s Regal Cinema in May 1945 and taken to Norway on HMS Mackay. The special reciprocal gift, brought to Dunfermline in 1946 by the first party of young people from Trondheim to mark the Bond of Friendship, is a framed, inscribed representation of Trondheim's coat-of arms. This was displayed at the Dunfermline Youth Centres for about 30 years, until it disappeared. The framed document was rediscovered in 2006 and handed over to the Provost, Frances Melville at a Civic Reception for visitors from Trondheim on August 28th, 2007. Facsimiles of the Bond of Friendship were also presented to Dunfermline Central Library and Abbot House. The Association is grateful to Fife Council for displaying the Bond of Friendship in the Council Chamber at the City Chambers in Dunfermline, also to the Central Library, for displaying their facsimile near the Local History Department and to Dunfermline Heritage Trust for plans to display their document in the near future.
(iii) Fife Twinning Forum. The Convenor expressed thanks on behalf of the Association to Fife Council and in particular to Dominique Robertson and Callum Farquhar for supporting the twinning links in Fife. She reported that the regular meetings of the Forum had been useful and informative.
(iv)Nettie Dick Book A local author Lillian King has written the first draft of a book celebrating Nettie’s work with young people in the local community and telling the story of her involvement in the founding of the twinning link with Trondheim. The Committee will be discussing this draft with the author and agreeing with her the way forward to publication.
(v) Royal Norwegian Consulate-General, Edinburgh. The Convenor reported on the changes at the Norwegian Consulate-General in Edinburgh. Norway is now represented by Acting Consul-General Mrs Kjellaug Myhre.
(vi) Norwegian Scottish Association. The Association was represented at the annual Christmas event and at the ‘Scottish Celebration’ in January.

6. Treasurer’s report (Bob Young)
The 2007-2008 accounts have been examined and verified by George Hunter. Copies of the accounts were available at the AGM and will be sent out to members by the Treasurer. The Convenor thanked Mr Hunter for his work. The Treasurer answered questions on small matters of detail regarding the accounts and they were accepted

7. Nominations for the Committee 2008-2009
The members of the 2007-2008 Committee were nominated to serve again. This was proposed by Glenda Franklin and seconded by Jim Paterson. The office bearers will be chosen at the next committee meeting on July 21st 2008.

8. Appointment of an examiner for the Association accounts
The Convenor proposed that George Hunter should be asked to examine the 2008-2009 accounts. (He has already intimated his willingness to do so.) This was accepted.

9. Fixing of annual subscriptions
The subscriptions will remain the same for the next financial year: Student £3.00. Adult £5.00. Family £9.00. Corporate. £12.00

10. Any other competent business
Glenda Franklin has been nominated by the Dunfermline Soroptomists to represent them at committee meetings of the Association.

After the formal meeting the guests and members attended a buffet and an informal discussion on the theme of ‘Twinning and the Community–Benefits and Links’.

The members and guests present included the Acting Norwegian Consul-General, Mrs Kjellaug Myhre, Councillor Joe Rosiejak, Councillor Anthony Martin, Alex Macaulay from SEStran and Mr and Mrs Firth (Royal Naval Association).

Apologies and greetings were expressed on behalf of the Lord Lieutenant of Fife, Mrs Margaret Dean, Councillors Liz and David Mogg, Councillor David Walker, Mrs Gillian Hoehnke, of the Scottish Norwegian Association, Miss Lilly Miller, Jim Tolsen MSP, Gordon Brown MP, and John Vaughan, Chairman Fife Twinning Forum.

The discussion began with contributions from members of the audience, who each gave personal reasons why twinning is important for them. All the speakers agreed that twinning and friendship links are a way of ensuring that people around the world understand each others aspirations, differences and culture and that these links must be fostered between young people as a way of ensuring peaceful coexistence in the future.

• The Bond of Friendship is an enduring reminder of a friendship link formed with Norway at a very pivotal time in World history.
• Nettie Dick received the St Olav medal from Norway for her work to encourage friendship between young people from Norway and Scotland and 60 years later the DTTA is still working to further this aim.
• Pupils from Queen Anne High School are involved in International projects. (Links with Norway and Italy in a Comenius project and more recently with Gambia.)
• Mike Payne is involved in links between Abbeyview and Granskolgen and Flataasen schools in Trondheim. He hopes that girls from the Tryst Centre in Abbeyview will visit pupils from Flataasen school next year.
• Gifford Lind reported that there is a possibility that a children’s choir from Niborg in the Trondheim area may link up with and visit Townhill primary school in Dunfermline next year.
• Bill Blenman staged a musical at Carnegie Theatre in Dunfermline called ‘Sailor’. The music was written by Georg Kajanus from Trondheim. Georg Kajanus attended the opening night. There is the possibility that ‘Sailor ‘ will be staged in Trondheim at some time in the not too distant future and involve performers from Dunfermline and Trondheim.
• The Association hope to encourage young people from Dunfermline to visit Trondheim to hear about the Occupation of Norway during World War 2 as a way of raising their awareness of the importance of international friendship, freedom of thought and tolerance of cultural differences.
• Councillor Rosiejak and Councillor Martin were in agreement about the value of contacts around the world being used to promote peace and friendship. Councillor Rosiejak visited Lillehammer when he attended the World Scout Jamboree in 1975. They intimated that the new councillors for the Dunfermline area, including Alice McGarry, planned to take an activeinterest in the local twinning links.
• Mrs Kjellaug Myhre , Acting Consul-General for Norway was welcomed by the Convenor . She spoke about the longstanding historical connections between Norway and Scotland, mentioned that hundreds of Norwegian young people attend Scottish Universities and alluded to the many personal friendships that exist between citizens of the two countries. She expressed her thanks for the welcome that exiles from Norway received in Scotland during the second world war. She reminded the audience of the similarities between Trondheim and Dunfermline which make them ideal twinning partners.Mrs Myhre agreed that promoting friendship links in the twenty first century is very important as a way of promoting world peace and assured the audience that the Norwegian Consulate General in Edinburgh would continue to play a positive role in encouraging links between Scotland and Norway.

Alex Macaulay from SEStran gave a presentation about connectivity between Scotland and Norway. Information about SEStran, the South East of Scotland Transport partnership is available on their website www.sestran.gov.uk.

The Norshukon link is a proposal to link Norway (Kristainsund) , Shetland, mainland Europe (Zeebrugge) and Rosyth with a ferry service consisting initially of two ships. It is hoped that if the necessary ‘Motorways of the Sea‘ European funding is forthcoming that this will be inaugurated in Autumn 2008.

Alex explained why Rosyth is such an ideal hub for this project, it has existing modern dockyard facilities, proximity to major manufacturing centres and accessibility for Scottish road hauliers and tourists. Initially the new routes will cater for freight but if the routes are successful passenger -travel will follow.

The Scottish Government and SEStran are working to find a replacement for the current Superfast link with Belgium which although it has been operating at close to full capacity ceases on September 1st as does the DFDS Bergen-Newcastle service. There is the possibility of a further development whereby two additional ships would provide services between Bergen, Zeebrugge and Rosyth making Rosyth one of the major ports on the east coast of the UK.

26 May 2009 AGM

Dunfermline Trondheim Twinning Association

The 11th Annual General Meeting of the above Association was held at the City Chambers, Dunfermline on May 26th 2009 at 6.30pm.

1. Welcome
Members and guests including Mr Windmill, Norwegian Consul General and John Vaughan,Chairman of the Fife Twinning Forum were welcomed by the DTTA Convenor, Ishbel Ritchie

2. Roll call
Ishbel Ritchie. Peter Franklin. Jan Bagnall. Gifford Lind. Agnes Paterson. Jim Paterson. Ian Ross. A.Bathgate. Glenda Franklin. Bob Young. Ron and Elizabeth Smith. Eva Tyson. . Apologies : Mike Payne. Fiona Aitken. Norma Forsyth

3. Minutes of 2008 Meeting.
These were accepted as an accurate record of the 2008 AGM meeting. (Proposed Gifford Lind, seconded Peter Franklin). There were no matters arising.

4. Convenor/General Secretary Report 2008 -2009 (Ishbel Ritchie)
The Convenor summarised the year as one in which the Association had been busy in many directions, but not involved in any major events.
a) Nettie Dick Book A local author Lillian King has written the first draft of a book celebrating Nettie’s work with young people in the local community and telling the story of her involvement in the founding of the twinning link with Trondheim. The book is nearly ready for publication and it is hoped to stage an event to launch the book in October 2009. This would coincide with a visit of young people from Trondheim to the Dunfermline Folk Club. Lillian has suggested ’The Bond of Friendship ‘ as the title of the book, with a subtitle ‘A Tribute to Nettie Dick’. The Convenor asked for any alternative suggestions for a title or ideas for a cover design to be passed to her. The Association are seeking sponsorship to meet the costs of publication and intend the book to be non- profit making.
b) Girls Football The Association has tried, unsuccessfully as yet, to facilitate a link between girls’ football teams in Trondheim and Dunfermline.
c) Central Library Dunfermline Janice Erskine from the Local History department of the Dunfermline Central Library attended a Committee meeting to discuss ways of working with the Association to further the twinning link. The Nettie Dick archive is already housed at the library and additional twinning memorabilia could be added to the collection for safe keeping. The library could be a source of information for young people involved in twinning activities.
d) Guests at the February 2009 Committee Meeting I. Links through Art Liz Harvey attended the meeting to discuss the possibility of linking artists in Dunfermline and Trondheim in collaborative projects. II.Youth Council Vicky Robertson, a Community Youth Worker attended the meeting and provided information about the Youth Councils in the area and their relationship to the Scottish Youth Parliament.Awareness of the Dunfermline –Trondheim link may be raised amongst these young people in the future.
e) Primary School Choirs The Association is trying to facilitate a link between a local primary school and a comparable school in Trondheim.
f) Norwegian Scottish Association Gifford Lind has given a presentation about the Dunfermline-Trondheim twinning link to the Glasgow branch of the Scottish Norwegian Association and it has been suggested this presentation might be given to local groups or schools in the future. Janice Erskine at the Central Library has offered to add Gifford to the library list of people willing to speak to local organisations.
g) Burns Supper in Trondheim. Gifford Lind has made his annual visit to the Trondheim St Andrew’s Society Burns Supper organised by Isla Ulvestad.
h) Fife Twinning Forum. The Convenor expressed thanks on behalf of the Association to the Forum for supporting the twinning links in Fife. She reported that the regular meetings of the Forum had been useful and informative.
i) Royal Norwegian Consulate-General, Edinburgh. The former Acting Consul General, Mrs Kjellaug Myhre made the Association a gift of a book called ‘Norske Dikt and Bilder’ by Inge Bruland after the 2008 AGM . The book was on display at the 2009 AGM.

5. Treasurer’s report (Bob Young)
see appendix The 2008-2009 accounts have been examined and verified by George Hunter. Copies of the accounts were available at the AGM. The Convenor thanked Mr Hunter for his work. There were no questions regarding the accounts and they were accepted. The Association holds money for young people from Abbeyview to benefit from activities related to twinning with Norway.

6. Nominations for the Committee 2009-2010
The members of the 2008-2009 Committee being eligible and available were reappointed with the approval of the meeting. The office bearers will be chosen at the next Committee meeting. 2009-2010 Committee members : Ishbel Ritchie, Jan Bagnall. Bob Young. Ian Ross, Gifford Lind. Agnes Paterson. Anne Bathgate. Peter Franklin. Mike Payne (Fife Council Liaison Officer). Soroptomists representative Glenda Franklin.

7. Any other competent business.
There was none.

After the formal meeting the guests and members attended a buffet and an informal discussion on the theme of ‘Twinning-Youth Opportunities.’
Apologies and best wishes were received from : Margaret Dean. Lillian Cameron. Lillian King. Callum Farquhar. William Rennie MSP. Jim Tolsen MSP. Liz Harvey. Mr and Mrs Firth. (Royal Naval Association). Rector Dunfermline High School. Rector Lochgelly High School.
The discussion was initiated by Ishbel Ritchie who paid tribute to the work of Nettie Dick in establishing the Bond of Friendship between the youth of Dunfermline and Trondheim.
John Vaughan, Chairman of the Fife Twinning Forum outlined ways of encouraging young people to become involved in a twinning link by relating his own experiences
• He described the success of a sporting event, such as the Fife Olympiad, in bringing young people together and reminded his audience that the programme for a sporting exchange should also include a range of additional cultural experiences.
• Through their Cupar twinning link students from Elmwood College take part in exchange visits involving work placements in France. Glenrothes schools have long running links with schools in Germany and other parts of Europe. Waid Academy in Anstruther is linked with a Belgian John made the point that debriefing and follow-up reports after twinning activities are very important.
• Aberdour has a link with Italy based on a summer school programme.
• Links can be established initially through school websites and e-twinning. Funding is available for websites that establish European links.
• The Dunfermline-Sarasota link has a poetry writing competition as one of its activities.
• Links with Africa are working well. These may involve charitable activities through schools or churches to benefit underprivileged communities
• Links through music, drama and dance can be a good way of encouraging twinning activities.
• There are plans for a’ twinning conference’ involving young people from Fife and young people from twinned towns and cities abroad
• There is funding for youth activities for youngsters up to the age of 25years
• Arranging accommodation with families in the local area is not always easy as there can be difficulties in providing spare rooms, language barriers and hosting is time consuming
• People with time to be involved in twinning activities are often older people and it is important to try to involve youngsters from the outset when a project is being planned.
• A link often flourishes when one person with enthusiasm leads the initiative.
• Websites, video- conferencing and internet links have many possibilities as ways of communicating
• Young people can be involved in twinning activities at school or in their community but they may move away to college or university and their interest is often lost.
• The first attempt at establishing a link may be unsuccessful but it is important to revisit ideas and repeat contacts several times to be successful
• Adults must avoid patronising young people. An involvement in twinning is very satisfying and becomes a consuming interest. Gifford Lind is interested in facilitating a link with Norway through the Youth Councils in Fife. He described the importance of youth politics in Norway. Every two years a conference is held in Norway where hundreds of youngsters get together to discuss issues of interest to young people. It may be possible to find an issue of common interest in both countries and to encourage young people to share possible solutions. Bob Young described the Abbeyview Junior Wardens scheme and mentioned the Blue Light Disco. It might be possible to interest these young people in twinning activities.

1 June 2010 AGM

Dunfermline Trondheim Twinning Association

The 12th Annual General Meeting of the above Association was held at the City Chambers, Dunfermline on June 1st 2010 at 6.30pm

1. Welcome
Members and guests were welcomed by the DTTA Convenor, Ishbel Ritchie

2. Roll call
Ishbel Ritchie. Peter and Glenda Franklin. Gifford Lind. Agnes Paterson. Ian Ross. Mike Payne. Bob Young. Ron and Elizabeth Smith. Norma Forsyth. Lillian King. Morris Franks. Jan Bagnall

Apologies : A.Bathgate

3. Minutes of 2009 Meeting
These were accepted as an accurate record of the 2009 meeting with two alterations
• Norma Forsyth and Fiona Aitken were added to the apologies
• Convenor’s report 4.g) ‘Trondheim Caledonian Society Burns Supper’ was changed to ‘Trondheim St Andrew’s Society Burns Supper’. There were no matters arising

4. Convenor/General Secretary Report 2008 -2009 (Ishbel Ritchie)
a) A Bond of Friendship. The Convenor reported that the major activity during the year had been the preparation and publication of the book ‘A Bond of Friendship’ by Lillian King. The book launch was held at the Keavil House Hotel, Dunfermline on October 30th 2009. A reprint of the book was needed after the launch, as the colour quality of some of the photographs was poor and the cover was incorrectly aligned. The Convenor thanked the author Lillian King for all her hard work and the sponsors (Fife Council and the Dunfermline Soroptomists) for their support. Entertainment at the book launch was provided by a group of Norwegian fiddlers, who were visiting the Dunfermline Folk Club. Vilde Aarethun ,Youth Mayor of Trondheim, Gjertrud Langaas (Depute Youth Mayor), Olavus Udbye and Sigurd Harby, Bente Resell Krogstad, Trondheim Mayor's Secretary and consultant to the Trondheim Youth Council, and May-Iren Skamfer Evenmo, Co-ordinator of Trondheim Youth Council, also attended the book launch. Contact has continued between the Norwegian young people and their hosts in Dunfermline. Free copies of the book have been sent to local schools, councillors and friends in Trondheim. Catherine Stihler MEP passed a copy of the book to the Mayor of Trondheim during her visit to Trondheim in 2009. Ms Stihler is promoting the idea of Dunfermline and Trondheim working together as part of an ‘Ancient Capitals’ initiative
b) Future project
i) An adaptation and Norwegian translation of ‘The Bond of Friendship’ giving the Norwegian perspective on the Dunfermline-Trondheim friendship link may be written using material from the archive in Norway. Lillian’s copyright as the author and publisher of ‘A Bond of Friendship’ would need to be respected.
ii) The Association hopes to facilitate a joint ‘Democracy project’ involving young people from the Trondheim Youth Council and young people from Dunfermline, possibly from the Dunfermline Youth Forum and St Columba’s High School. Participants would be from informal groups in each community. The project would allow young people to explore democracy in action at national, regional and local level in the participating countries.
iii) The Association has expressed interest in a project being considered by John Vaughan of the Fife Twinning Forum. Young people would exchange information on film about life in their communities.
iv) The possibility of enabling a link between primary school choirs has been explored but at the moment there has been little progress.
v) A string orchestra with 60 musicians is visiting Dunfermline in late September/early October. Discussions about a programme for the visit are at an early stage.

5. Financial Report (Bob Young)
The Treasurer provided the members with copies of the balance sheet for 2009-2010. The accounts were scrutinised and signed by George Hunter. The Treasurer listed the expenditure grouped together under the heading Trondheim Youth as comprising the costs of the Abbeyview welcome function for the Youth Council, the accommodation at Keavil House, lunch at Abbot House, a daily allowance for the young people and transport costs. He also explained the costs, grants and fees involved in publishing ‘A Bond of Friendship.’ Mike Payne asked about the Abbeyview Pathfinders Fund, which was not itemised on the balance sheet. £1000 was lodged with the Association in 2001,when the Pathfinders Project was wound up. There were no written terms and conditions attached to this money at the time and the meeting discussed the different recollections of how it was to be used. The Treasurer explained that the money had been used to fund twinning activities for the benefit of young people from Abbeyview. It was agreed to discuss this matter at the first Committee meeting of the new session. It was noted that the Association would be pleased to receive any requests for support for twinning activities from Abbeyview youngsters at any time. The Treasurer anticipates that the current balance will be increased by revenue from sales of ‘A Bond of Friendship’, subscriptions, a donation towards ‘A Bond of Friendship’ from the Dunfermline Soroptomists and donations towards the catering at this AGM.

6. Nominations for the Committee 2010-2011
The members of the 2009-2010 Committee being eligible and available were reappointed with the approval of the meeting. The office bearers will be chosen at the next Committee meeting. 2010-2011 Committee members : Ishbel Ritchie, Bob Young. Ian Ross, Gifford Lind. Agnes Paterson. Jan Bagnall. Anne Bathgate. Peter Franklin. Mike Payne (Fife Council Liaison Officer). Soroptomists representative Glenda Franklin. It was suggested that a sub-committee of youth members involved in the ‘Democracy project’ might be formed and that a youth representative could attend Association Committee meetings when items of interest to young people were on the agenda.

7.Appointment of a Scrutineer of Accounts
The Treasurer informed the meeting that George Hunter would be willing to scrutinise the accounts for 2010-2011. The meeting agreed to his appointment. Action: The secretary will write to George Hunter thanking him for scrutinising the 2009-2010 accounts.

8. Annual subscriptions
The meeting agreed that the subscriptions would remain unchanged: individual membership £5, family membership £9 and group membership £12.

AOCB
Lillian King reminded the Association that some legal requirements need to be completed for ‘A Bond of Friendship’. Books need to be deposited with the British and National Libraries. Information can also be posted on the internet to allow world-wide sales. Action: Bob Young and Lillian King will attend to the legal requirements.

After the formal meeting the guests and members attended a buffet and an information evening on the theme of ‘Developing twinning initiatives involving Dunfermline and Trondheim’.

Apologies and best wishes were received from : Margaret Dean. Councillor Tony Martin and Dr Andrew McLellan.

1. ‘Ancient Capitals’ Gifford Lind explained the proposal from Catherine Stihler MEP about ‘Ancient Capitals’, which is being explored with the European Commission. Dunfermline and Trondheim are among a group of cities, which were ancient capitals of their countries. Ancient capitals in Denmark, Scotland, Finland, Norway and other countries could work together to promote cultural links and might hold a title for a year similar to the European Capital of Culture status awarded to Glasgow a few years ago. This status would have economic and cultural advantages.
2. Lillian King recollections Lillian shared her experiences gained while writing ‘A Bond of Friendship’ and explained how she goes about researching and writing her books. This commission involved combining information about the history of the DTTA with a biography of Nettie Dick’s life and work with young people. Lillian commented on the high regard she found for Nettie among the people she interviewed.
3. A Bond of Friendship book review. A review written by Dr Andrew McLellan was read to the meeting. Dr McLellan was invited to review the book as an incomer to Dunfermline and as a person with standing in the community. He is a former Chief Inspector of HM Prisons and a former Moderator of the Church of Scotland. It is hoped to use his review to publicize the book. The book is now on sale in the Central Library, Dunfermline. It is hoped to hear soon that Waterstone’s will take some copies for sale in their Dunfermline bookstore. Free copies of ‘A Bond of Friendship’ have been sent out to all the schools and youth associations in the area.
4. Encouraging Twinning links. Callum Farquhar is from the Fife Council Funding Team for Youth programmes. Callum reported that in other European countries there are often budgets for Youth Democracy programmes and young people are encouraged to engage in the running of their communities and make real decisions on budget priorities. Youth involvement in local democracy in Norway is an example of good practice. The Association could consider facilitating a study visit by young people from Dunfermline to Norway to make connections and plan a joint Democracy project. Callum Farquhar could advise on how to apply for funding and provide the necessary application forms for consideration by Fife Council. Callum also suggested that busy youth leaders might find the preparations for a group visit abroad daunting and opt for a package deal. The Association could produce an information pack to advise them on the practical and legal requirements involved in organising their own trip to Norway.

16 May 2011 AGM

Dunfermline Trondheim Twinning Association

The 13th Annual General Meeting of the above Association was held at the City Chambers, Dunfermline on May 16th 2011 at 6.30pm.

Welcome
Members and guests were welcomed by the DTTA Convenor, Ishbel Ritchie

Roll call
Ishbel Ritchie. Peter and Glenda Franklin. Gifford Lind. Ian Ross. A.Bathgate. Norma Forsyth. Morris Franks. Jan Bagnall. Lilian Cameron

Apologies: Agnes Paterson. Bob Young. Mr and Mrs Smith. Mr and Mrs Runciman Bert Sadler. The Convenor informed those present that sadly the funeral of Bert Sadler had been held earlier in the day. A minutes silence was held for Bert as a mark of respect. During the funeral eulogy Bert’s pride in helping to establish the ‘Bond of Friendship’ between Dunfermline and Trondheim was mentioned

Minutes of 2010 Meeting
These were accepted as an accurate record of the 2010 meeting and were signed by the Convenor.

Matters arising from the 2010 AGM minutes
1. The Bond of Friendship book i) The Committee will find out whether the ‘Bond of Friendship’ book is to be translated into Norwegian
ii) A copy of the book will be sent to Bodil Dagstad, who is secretary of the Trondheim – Dunfermline Twinning Association.
iii) 2010-2011 sales of the ‘Bond of Friendship’ book amounted to £268. The books are on sale at the Central Library, Dunfermline and at Abbot House, Dunfermline. It was agreed that the Committee would contact the Tourist Information (central purchasing) and Waterstone’s again to try and interest them in taking books for sale.
2. Future Projects:
i) The Youth Mayor and depute Youth Mayor of Trondheim were present at the book launch for ‘A Bond of Friendship’ and on their return to Trondheim they put forward the idea of a joint Democracy project involving young people from Trondheim and Dunfermline. In August 2010 two pupils from St Columba’s HS visited Trondheim and helped to write a proposal for EU funding for the Democracy project. The bid was successful and 48,000 Euros were awarded to fund the project. There will be a visit by Norwegian young people to Dunfermline in August 2011 and a visit by young people from Dunfermline to Trondheim in Autumn 2011. The young people will aim to learn about and influence decision making in their schools and communities and to learn more about youth participation at national level. The Committee thanked Gifford Lind for his hard work in facilitating the project.
Ii) A Youth Committee has now been formed. They will be involved in the Democracy project and in other twinning activities. It is difficult to bring the group together for meetings especially during the SQA exam period. The young people will elect office bearers in the near future
iii)Fife Twinning Forum: The film project is not going ahead. iv) The Primary Schools Choir project and the visit to Dunfermline by a string orchestra have not taken place

AGM 2011 Agenda 1. Financial Report
i) The Convenor informed the meeting that Bob Young will not be standing for re- election to the Committee and that his position as Treasurer is vacant. The Committee expressed their appreciation of the support and hard work Bob has given to the Association. The Convenor will write to Bob to thank him for being Treasurer. The accounts for 2010 -2011 were prepared by Bob and scrutinised /signed by Tracey Eydmann (Accountant Abbeyview Daycentre).
ii) In Bob’s absence Gifford Lind brought the Association books to the meeting and answered questions. In response to members queries it was explained that on the balance sheet under Income, ‘Donation Trondheim’ refers to money from the EU grant passed to the Association to fund the Democracy project and under Expenditure, ‘Website’ is the fee paid annually to ‘Systems Excellence’ for web-hosting and unlimited technical support
iii) Gifford reported that the most recent bank statement (April 20th 2011) showed a balance of £1053.00. This does not include expenditure for the AGM.

2. Nominations for the Committee 2011-2012
i)The Committee members expressed their thanks to Agnes Paterson for her support and dedication to the Association. Agnes was also involved in establishing the Bond of Friendship in 1945 and has been a member of the Committee for many years. Agnes has already received a letter of thanks from the Convenor.
ii)The members of the 2010-2011 Committee being eligible and available were reappointed with the approval of the meeting. The office bearers will be chosen at the next Committee meeting. 2011-2012 Committee members : Ishbel Ritchie. Ian Ross, Gifford Lind. Jan Bagnall. Anne Bathgate. Peter Franklin. Soroptomists representative Glenda Franklin. iii)It was suggested that the Youth Committee Chairman and Secretary should be invited to attend Association Committee meetings. iii) Mike Payne has a new position within Fife Council and no longer acts as Fife Liaison Officer for the DTTA. This liaison is now the responsibility of Mary Siskou, Locality Manager Dunfermline. She will allocate someone from her team to liaise with the Association. Mary is responsible for allocating funding for twinning.
iv) The committee thanked Ishbel for her hard work as Convenor and Secretary for 2010-2011.

3. Appointment of a Scrutineer of Accounts.
It was agreed that the Convenor would write to Tracey Eydmann (Accountant Abbeyview Daycentre) thanking her for scrutinising the accounts for 2010-11 and asking her to scrutinise 2011-12 accounts.

4. Annual subscriptions.
The meeting agreed that the subscriptions would remain unchanged: individual membership £5, family membership £9 and group membership £12.

AOCB
i) Isla Ulvestad (St Andrews Society ,Trondheim.)has contacted the Association. The Association is invited to send representatives to take part in the May 17th Parade in Trondheim in 2012. Anyone interested could fund their travel to attend the parade and Isla would arrange home-stays for them. At the meeting it was suggested that young people from Dunfermline could participate in the parade. P7 pupils would not be involved in examinations at that time of year.
ii) Gifford has been contacted by James Brown, who promotes tourism in Largs. A celebration marking the 1263 Battle of Largs is being proposed. This battle was fought between Norway and Scotland to settle the ownership of the Scottish Islands. Gifford was asked to suggest possible events and he responded with several suggestions including a golf tournament, a commemorative sea voyage, a music festival featuring Norwegian and Scottish performers and an exhibition. Dunfermline was the Royal seat at this time and could therefore offer to become involved in any celebrations. It was also suggested that Norway’s last sea-going tall ship could act as a visitor centre for celebratory events and Norwegian visitors could be invited.

After the formal AGM meeting the guests and members took the opportunity to meet each other over tea/coffee and pastries before attending an information evening on the theme of ’Dunfermline : A Future in its Past’. The particular emphasis was on ‘Pilgrimage, Past, Present and Future’. The Convenor warmly welcomed the guest speaker the Rev. Dr Ian Bradley and the visitors present .Dr Bradley is a member of teaching staff at St Andrews University and a distinguished member of the Church of Scotland. He has a special interest in Pilgrimage and is consulted by the Church of Scotland and the Scottish Parliament on this matter. He is actively helping to re-establish pilgrim routes in Scotland. He has written 30 books on the subject of Pilgrimage. Dr Bradley has visited Trondheim and walked many well known pilgrim routes in the UK and Europe, including the Olav Way leading to Trondheim. He has been an adviser to the Trondheim Pilgrimage Centre and helped Trondheim achieve European Cultural status for the pilgrim routes leading to Trondheim. Dr Bradley has visited St. Margaret’s Cave in Dunfermline with Roger Pickering. St Margaret was the saintly wife of King Malcolm and she has been the focus for religious events and pilgrimage to Dunfermline in the past. Dunfermline celebrates her life by holding a St Margaret’s Festival in November. The theme of Dr Bradley’s talk was ‘What can Dunfermline learn from Trondheim’s Experience of Pilgrimage’: There are three main branches of tourism promoted by Visit Scotland ; golf tourism, heritage and genealogy related tourism and ‘faith tourism’. ‘Faith tourism’ is very popular in attracting visitors to Scotland; particularly Americans. Three main pilgrimage routes are being developed in Scotland: the St Columba’s Way from Garten to Iona, a route from Iona to St Andrews and a third route from St Andrews to Edinburgh. The later provides an ideal opportunity to include Dunfermline due to its connection with St. Margaret. St Cuthbert’s Way from Melrose to the Holy Island of Lindisfarne in Northumberland is well established. St Olav, who is buried in Trondheim, has national status in Norway and is a focus for ‘faith tourism’ there. St Margaret and Dunfermline Abbey could be a similar focus for increasing ‘faith tourism’ around Dunfermline. Pilgrimage passed out of fashion in Norway at the time of the Lutheran Reformation, but has been revived due to joint initiatives between the Norwegian Government, local kommunes like Trondheim and the Lutheran Church. This model of co-operation between Church and State has a parallel in the current revival of pilgrimage routes in Scotland. Norway is promoting the spiritual, cultural and environmental advantages that people experience when they are involved in pilgrimage. The pilgrim routes in Norway take in places of historic and scientific interest as they do in Scotland. The pilgrim route to Nidaros (St Olav’s Cathedral) in Trondheim is 640 km and connects Oslo and Trondheim. A number of other routes converging on Nidaros have also been re-opened giving 5,000 km of pilgrimage routes in total. Many pilgrims walk these routes in the summer and many arrive at Nidaros for the St Olav’s festival held annually starting on July 29th. ‘Pilgrim Pastors’ from the Lutheran Church lead pilgrimages and welcome the pilgrims to Nidaros. This role has not yet been taken on formally by Scottish pastors, but Dr Bradley has himself been actively involved in the spiritual side of Scottish pilgrimage experiences. The St Olav’s Festival includes religious events such as a ‘Night Vigil’ and Celebrations of Mass held in the Cathedral as well as musical events called ‘Olavfest’ during the following week. These include performances of jazz, opera and folk music. Pilgrimage can have other benefits for the community. In Trondheim the Pilgrim Centre is used all year by young people. Convicted criminals are sometimes sentenced to undertake a pilgrimage and the re-offending rate after this experience is low. Interfaith pilgrimages have helped to foster good relationships between different ethnic groups in Trondheim. Local schools in the Trondheim area organise walks for their pupils to learn about the culture and history of Trondheim. Roger Pickering is encouraging similar initiatives for Dunfermline primary school pupils. Dr Bradley suggested that encouraging the revival of pilgrim routes should start as it has in Norway at the ‘grass roots’ without the need for development of a large infrastructure of hostels and facilities. Pilgrimage gives individual opportunities for prayer and reflection and spiritual enrichment. It encourages people to visit churches at any time not just to attend Sunday services. He feels that pilgrimage could have many other benefits for Scotland including encouraging health and fitness, raising awareness of environmental issues, highlighting cultural and historical events, supporting national pride and identity, contributing to education and providing opportunities for interfaith activities. Dr Bradley suggested that government funding for the development of pilgrimage routes may be forthcoming in the future as part of a national initiative to develop footpaths around Scotland. The Convenor thanked Dr Bradley for his excellent, informative and entertaining talk and gave him a copy of ‘A Bond of Friendship ‘by Lillian King as a token of appreciation and thanks for his visit. A lively discussion about ‘Pilgrimage’ then took place where members of the audience were able to ask Dr Bradley questions and express their view about ‘Pilgrimage issues’.

28 May 2012 AGM

Dunfermline Trondheim Twinning Association

The 14th Annual General Meeting of the above Association was held at the City Hotel, Dunfermline on May 28th 2012 at 6.30pm.

Welcome
Members and guests were welcomed by the DTTA Convenor, Ishbel Ritchie

Roll call
Ishbel Ritchie. Peter and Glenda Franklin. Gifford Lind. Ian Ross. A.Bathgate. Morris Franks. Jan Bagnall. Agnes and Jim Paterson. Pat Jameson. Fiona Aitken. Apologies: Mr and Mrs Runciman. Bill Livingston. Norma Forsyth. Margaret Dean.

Minutes of 2011 Meeting
These were accepted as an accurate record of the 2011 meeting and were signed by the Convenor.

Matters arising from the 2011 AGM minutes
The matters arising were mostly covered in the Convenor /Secretary report. However it was also reported to the meeting that there had been no additional information from James Brown about the Battle of Largs celebration.

AGM 2012 Agenda 1. Convenor/Secretary Report
Ishbel Ritchie reported that during the last year the focus of DTTA activity has been in two areas ; the Youth Committee/Democracy Project and a visit to Norway in May 2012.
i) Youth Committee/Democracy Project. The Democracy Project, which is EU funded, involves young people from Dunfermline and Trondheim working together to explore the involvement of young people in Democracy in Norway and Scotland. More detailed information about the Democracy Project was given in the Open meeting after the AGM. (See report) The Youth Committee will be a sub-committee of the main DTTA Committee. Preparation of a draft constitution for the Youth Committee is in progress and members will be kept informed of developments.
ii) Norway Visit May 2012. In Norway the Trondheim-Dunfermline Friendship Society lapsed in 2001. Since then the link between Trondheim and Dunfermline has been kept alive by the St Andrew’s Society. The DTTA has heard that efforts are underway in Trondheim to revive the Friendship Society. The DTTA was invited to join the St. Andrews Society members in the annual Constitution Day Parade through Trondheim on May 17th 2012. The DTTA accepted the invitation and it was hoped that 15 representatives would make the trip to Trondheim, however eventually for many reasons including illness the visiting party was a small group of 5 people. The DTTA are very grateful to the Dunfermline Area Budget of Fife Council for a grant, which made this visit possible. The money funded 3 pathfinders for the Dunfermline Community and helped towards travel expenses for other members of the group. The Convenor also thanked Isla Ulvestad (St. Andrew’s Society), Trondheim Kommune and the May 17th Parade Committee in Trondheim for making arrangements for the group. An especial thank you went to Jim Motherwell, the Piper, who lead the Scottish contingent and played non-stop throughout the Parade despite the appallingly wet weather.
2. Financial Report. The DTTA is delighted to welcome Pat Jameson, who became the new DTTA Treasurer in September 2011. As there was a spell when the Treasurer’s position was vacant the Committee is very grateful to Pat for taking on the job and tidying up the accounts ready for examination by Tracey Eydmann (Scrutineer of Accounts). Copies of the examined accounts for 2011-2012 were distributed. A portion of the EU Grant awarded to Trondheim Kommune for the Democracy Project was passed to the Association by Trondheim Kommune. Pat explained that most of the transactions itemised in the accounts related to the Democracy project exchange visits. There were no queries from the membership and the accounts for 2011-2012 were accepted.
3. Nominations for the Committee. The members of the 2011-2012 Committee being eligible and available were reappointed with the approval of the meeting. The office bearers will be chosen at the next Committee meeting. 2012-2013 Committee members: Ishbel Ritchie. Ian Ross, Gifford Lind. Jan Bagnall. Anne Bathgate. Peter Franklin. Pat Jameson. Soroptomists representative Jan Bagnall.
4. Scrutineer of Accounts. Tracey Eydmann was appointed to examine the accounts for 2012-13.  Action: Committee will write to Tracey thanking her for examining 2011-2012 Accounts.
5. Annual Subscriptions. The meeting agreed that the subscriptions would remain unchanged: Individual membership £5, Family membership £9 and Group membership £12.

AOCB The Convenor indicated that leaflets were available to provide members with information about Trondheim and also about Pilgrimage (see AGM minutes 2011)

After the formal AGM meeting the guests and members took the opportunity to meet each other over tea/coffee before attending an information evening on the theme of ‘Youth Democracy in Dunfermline and Trondheim.’ ‘Youth Democracy in Dunfermline and Trondheim.’ Over the last year the DTTA has been collaborating with St Columba’s RC High School, Trondheim Kommune, and Sor Trondelag County Council on an EC funded Youth Democracy Project Ken Mair - Jor Mair. Eight young people from Dunfermline have been working with eight young people from Trondheim to develop the active participation of young people in decision making about their own community. Members of the Dunfermline group Jennifer Scott , Niamh Mussen and Sarah Beamish gave an excellent presentation about the Project and their experiences. They then answered questions from the floor.
The Democracy Project has 4 stages:
1. Planning. In August 2010 Tina Melville from St Columba’s HS and Gifford Lind from DTTA went to Trondheim with young people from Dunfermline to meet with young people and representatives from Trondheim Kommune, and Sor Trondelag County Council to prepare a proposal for submission to the EU for funding for a Democracy Project.
2. Visit to Dunfermline. Eight Norwegian young people and representatives from Trondheim Kommune, and Sor Trondelag County Council visited Dunfermline in August 2011. There was a full programme of meetings with Councillors, a visit to the Scottish Parliament to meet Jim Parks MSP, working meetings to discuss ‘democracy issues’ in the two cities and formulate Action Plans, as well as participation in events such as Culross Raft Race and the Townhill Gala.
3. Visit to Trondheim. The membership of the Scottish group had changed to include participants from Queen Anne and Woodmill High Schools as well as St Columba’s by the time a party from Dunfermline visited Trondheim in October 2011. Again the group worked hard during meetings to finalise the Action Plans for the Dunfermline and Trondheim groups. The visitors also took part in cultural and social activities and met with Councillors in Trondheim.
4. Visit to Dunfermline by Norwegian young people and preparation of Final Report for EU. (August 2012)

Sarah, Niamh and Jennifer described the project as a mixture of fun and hard work and felt that they had benefited from participating in the project in many ways. They had for example improved their presentation skills as they had spoken to many audiences in Dunfermline and Trondheim. These included MSPs, MSYP’s and Councillors in both Trondheim and Dunfermline. They had forged new friendships; both personal and on behalf of Dunfermline. Jennifer ,Niamh and Sarah explained that Youth Democracy is very different in Norway and Scotland. They were concerned to discover that young people are more engaged in decision making and respected in the community in Norway than are the young people in Dunfermline. They would like more information about how to become involved in the democratic process to be available to young people in Dunfermline. In Norway Youth Councils chaired by young people are formally involved in making decisions that affect the community and there are more facilities available for use by young people. The Norwegian group would like to see the formation a Norwegian Youth Parliament similar to the Scottish model. The Action Plan formulated by the Dunfermline group focuses on raising the awareness of young people to issues related to participation in Democracy. They hope this will be achieved by including information in the School Planner/Diary of young people at High School in the area and by presenting them with information at school assemblies. They would also like the work and influence of the Democracy group to extend beyond the timescale of this project in order to change the Constitution of the Scottish Youth Parliament. The group feel that achieving a more active role in decision making by elected young people in Scotland is an important goal. Sarah, Niamh and Jennifer showed a picture presentation of some the highlights of the Democracy Project so far and Gifford showed pictures of the Norway Visit May 2012.

24 April 2013 AGM

Dunfermline Trondheim Twinning Association

The 15th Annual General Meeting of the above Association was held at the Gillespie Church Hall, Dunfermline on Wednesday April 24th 2013 at 7.30pm.

Welcome
Members and guests were welcomed by the DTTA Convenor, Ishbel Ritchie

Roll call
Ishbel Ritchie. Peter Franklin. Ian Ross. A.Bathgate. Lynda Bath. Morris Franks. Jan Bagnall. Agnes Paterson. Pat Jameson.

Apologies
Eva Tyson. Mr and Mrs Runciman. Norma Forsyth. Margaret Dean. Elaine Lennox. Lillian Cameron. Dominique Robertson. Glenda Franklin. Fiona Aitken.

Minutes of 2012 Meeting.
These were accepted as an accurate record of the 2012 meeting and were signed by the Convenor.

Matters arising from the 2012 AGM minutes
The matters arising were covered in the Convenor and Secretary reports.

AGM 2013 Agenda

1. Convenor Report
Ishbel Ritchie reported that the DTTA Project Organiser, Gifford Lind has been ill since December and although he is keeping in touch with the DTTA, he has been unable to take an active role in the Association. The Committee miss his input and Ishbel sent him best wishes for his recovery from the Association. The Convenor reported that during the last year the focus of DTTA activity has been in two areas; the Democracy Project and following up a visit to Norway in May 2012.
i) Democracy Project. The Democracy Project, which was EU funded, involved young people from Dunfermline and Trondheim working together to explore the involvement of young people in Democracy in Norway and Scotland. The project is now complete apart from some winding up of the finances. The project was very successful and beneficial for the participants. During the August 2012 visit by young people from Trondheim, the Democracy project group took a stall at the Pitreavie Gala as part of sharing the project with people from Dunfermline. It has not been possible to establish a Youth Committee as the participating young people were in their final years at school and have now moved on to Further Education or employment. The Association will need to follow up the project and consider ways to involve young people again in the future.
ii) Norway Visit May 2012. The DTTA was invited to join the St. Andrews Society members in the annual Constitution Day Parade through Trondheim on May 17th 2012. The DTTA accepted the invitation and the visiting party was a small group of 5 people. As a result of contacts made it is hoped that a party of Lade Seniors from Trondheim will visit Dunfermline this year. The members of the group would like to improve their English during their visit.
iii) Other Twinning Activities Last October Norwegian fiddlers, Jenny Elisabeth Gustafsson and Andreas Bjørkås, took part in the Dunfermline Folk Festival. They took part in a rehearsal of the Dunfermline Strathspey and Reel Society. The Association passed details of the Arakne tapestry weaving group in Trondheim to local people with an interest in tapestry and hopes they will establish a friendship link. The Association also hopes that some other projects will develop this year: Pitreavie Primary School are establishing an electronic link with Bispehaugen School in Trondheim and the school hope this will lead to a school visit to Trondheim sometime in the future. Gifford made contact with boat builders in North Queeensferry about the possibility of a link with Norway through the building of historic boats.

2. Financial Report
The DTTA is very grateful to Tracey Eydmann of Abbeyview for scrutinising the accounts and agreeing to carry out the scrutiny again next year. Copies of the examined accounts for 2012-13 were distributed. Pat reported that subscriptions for 2012-13 were down on the previous year, but sales of the Bond of Friendship book were up. A small part of the Pathfinders Grant from Fife Council for the May 2012 visit remains in the DTTA account and with the agreement of Linsey Duffy is being held in reserve for future visits such as the Pitreavie Primary School visit. A portion of the EU Grant awarded to Trondheim Kommune for the Democracy Project was passed to the Association by Trondheim Kommune. Pat explained that the underspend of £445 would be returned to Norway reducing that part of the account to zero. There were no queries from the membership and the accounts for 2012-2013 were accepted.

3. Nominations for the Committee. The members of the 2012-2013 Committee being eligible and available were reappointed with the approval of the meeting. The office bearers will be chosen at the next Committee meeting. 2013-2014 Committee members: Ishbel Ritchie. Ian Ross, Gifford Lind. Jan Bagnall. Anne Bathgate. Peter Franklin. Pat Jameson. Lynda Bath. Soroptomists representative Jan Bagnall.

4. Scrutineer of Accounts. Tracey Eydmann was appointed to examine the accounts for 2013-14.  Action: Secretary will write to Tracey thanking her for examining 2012-2013 Accounts.

5. Annual Subscriptions. The meeting agreed that the subscriptions would remain unchanged: Individual membership £5, Family membership £9 and Group membership £12.

6. Secretary Report Jan Bagnall reported that Lynda Bath joined the Committee after the May 2012 visit. Her special interest is promoting links with Saline. Jan explained that the Association would need to consider ways to involve young people in future twinning activities. She emailed young people, who had participated in the Democracy Project to invite them to the AGM to make suggestions about future plans. Sadly there were no attendees at the meeting or comments from them. Jan suggested that there would need to be discussions in Dunfermline and Trondheim about future activities and that the way forward might be to involve new groups of senior pupils every few years as progression to employment and Further Education made sustaining membership of a twinning group for young people difficult.

AOCB
Lynda provided a slide show of pictures of the May 2012 visit to Trondheim.

After the formal AGM meeting the members took the opportunity to meet each other over tea/coffee and to discuss ideas for future twinning activities particularly discussing how to involve young people. Ideas mentioned were joint music/drama or art projects, providing speakers to visit local groups to talk about Trondheim, contacting the Scottish Youth Parliament and promoting sporting links.

5 May 2014 AGM

Dunfermline Trondheim Twinning Association

The 16th Annual General Meeting of the above was held at The Bruery Canmore Street , Dunfermline on Monday 5th May 2014 at 7.30pm.

Welcome
Members and guests were welcomed by the DTTA Convenor Ishbel Ritchie.

Roll call
Ishbel Ritchie, Peter Franklin, Glenda Franklin, Ian Ross, Ann Bathgate, Lynda Bath, Lorna Cochrane, Agnes Paterson, Elsie Paterson, Pat Jameson, Gifford Lind, Callum Farquhar ( Fife Council Rep.), Adam Mc Naughton (Guest singer).

Apologies
Mr. W. Runciman, Mr. Windmill, Mr D. Sinclair, Mr. Jim Paterson, Catherine Stihler, Jan Bagnall, Margaret Dean, Brian Dean.

Minutes of 2013 AGM meeting
These were circulated and accepted as an accurate record of the 2013 meeting.

Matters arising from the 2013 AGM minutes
The matters arising were covered within the Convenor’s report and the 2014 agenda

AGM 2014 Agenda
1. Ishbel Ritchie gave an update of events since the 2013 AGM. (Convenor’s report attached).
2. Gifford Lind gave a summary of the position re the Democracy Youth Committee. He stated that the original members had now moved on to university etc. and therefore were no longer in the area. Ishbel Ritchie asked members should they had any advice, help, suggestions as to how best to progress with this initiative to contact either herself or the secretary, Jan Bagnall.
3. Lade Seniors had hoped to visit Dunfermline but to date this has not happened as Bodel Dugstad, the organizer, had been unwell.
4. Queen Anne High School played host to 10 Head Teachers from Trondheim over a period of 2 days.
5. Callum Farquhar, Fife Council Rep., reported that an invitation, for 2 council representatives, to attend the 17th May 2014 Norwegian National Day had been received from the Mayor of Trondheim. Callum Farquhar and Helen Law have accepted the invitation.
6. It is hoped that next year’s Dunfermline Children’s Gala will adopt a Norwegian theme as this will coincide with the 70th anniversary of the end of the 2nd World war. If anyone has any ideas then please let the committee know.
7. On the 27th May 2014 the Nokken Mannskor Choir from Trondheim will arrive in Dunfermline. They will be participating in many activities before moving on to Edinburgh on the Friday. (a timetable of events is attached to these minutes).
8. Agnes Paterson raised the hope that the new museum would be able to store all the Dunfermline/Tronheim Twinning information gathered over the years. This would allow it to become an archive resource.
9. Callum Farquhar to make enquiries regarding the time capsule that’s due to be opened in 2025.

Financial Report
This was given by Pat Jameson and is included with the minutes. Tracey Edymann the previous auditor was not available for signing off this year’s account therefore they were examined and signed off by Agnes Allan. There was no objection to this change of examiner.

Nominations for Committee
The members of the 2013-14 Committee, being eligible and available, were reappointed with the approval of the meeting (Approved by G Franklin, Seconded by A Bathgate). C. Farquhar will attend future meetings as a representative of Fife Council.

A.O.C.B. Subscriptions will remain the same ie.5 pounds per person, 9 pounds per family and 12 pounds corporate membership. There being no further business I. Ritchie closed the meeting by thanking everyone for their attendance.

Teas and coffees were available before the start of an evening of Scottish and Norwegian folk singing

23 June 2015 AGM

Dunfermline Trondheim Twinning Association

The 17th Annual General Meeting of the above Association was held at the City Chambers, Dunfermline on Tuesday June 23rd 2015 at 6.30pm.

Welcome
The Members and guests were welcomed by Peter Franklin, who chaired the meeting.

Roll call
Peter and Glenda Franklin. Gifford Lind. A.Bathgate. Roger Pickering. Cllr Helen Law. Morris Frank. Jan Bagnall. Mr and Mrs Paterson and Elsie. Pat Jameson.

Apologies
Norma Forsyth. Brian Blanchflower(DHS) Cara Hilton MSP. Callum Farquar (Fife Council). Lynda Bath and Ishbel Ritchie (DTTA Committee). Karen and John Vaughan. (Fife Twinning Forum) Adam McNaughton. Lilly Miller.

Minutes of 2014 Meeting
These were read and accepted as an accurate record of the 2014 meeting.

Matters arising from the 2014 AGM minutes
• Callum Farquhar and Cllr Helen Law visited Trondheim in May 2014 to attend the May 17th Norwegian National Day celebrations.
• DTTA tried to submit artefacts for display in the new museum exhibit about local organisations, but was not able to find anything which met the museum criteria. It is understood that there will not be storage space to archive material from local organisations in the new museum building but there may be storage elsewhere in area.
• Ann Bathgate offered to look at her father’s mementos from the first visit to Trondheim in 1946 and see if there is any small non-paper/fabric item that might be suitable.
• Gifford Lind has a list of the items in the time capsule due to be opened in 2025.

AGM 2015 AGENDA Convenor’s comments - Gifford Lind
DTTA Committee Significant changes took place in the DTTA Committee during 2014-15. Tribute was paid to the retiring Convenor Ishbel Ritchie who was thanked for all the work she has done to support the twinning link over many years and the pivotal role she has played. Ishbel has continued to be a member of the Committee and to host the committee meetings at her house. The meeting wished Ishbel a good recovery from her recent operation. Gifford also thanked Ian Ross who resigned from the Committee after many years of service. Peter Franklin has taken on the role of meetings chairman, and Gifford thanked him, the Treasurer Pat Jameson and the Secretary Jan Bagnall for their support during the year allowing him to focus on the 70th Anniversary celebrations.
Fife Council The Association is grateful to Fife Council for financial support and Cllr Helen Law and Callum Farquhar for their support and active participation in the preparations for the 70th Anniversary celebrations.
70th Anniversary Celebrations Cllr Helen Law and Gifford attended the St Andrew’s Society Burns Supper in Trondheim in January 2015 and meetings in Trondheim to plan the 70th Anniversary Celebrations. The idea of a re-enactment of the arrival of the Bond of Friendship between Trondheim and Dunfermline in Trondheim on May 16th 1945 was adopted and extended so that it would also be a renewal of the twinning link. Bjorn Erik Neilson from the Nokken Choir was able to facilitate the use of a Norwegian coast guard vessel to bring the Lord Provost of Fife’s party into Trondheim harbour. The Nokken Choir sung on the keyside and its members were involved in the weekend of celebrations. The celebrations in Norway and the forthcoming visit to Dunfermline by the deputy Mayor of Trondheim for the Gala weekend will significantly raise the profile of the twinning link. There has already been coverage in the press in Trondheim and the Lord Provost and his party were given the honor of leading the May 17th Parade through Trondheim along with the Depute Mayor and Trondheim Kommune representatives. Gifford thanked the Provost Jim Leishman, Cllr Law and the other members of the Dunfermline party for their enthusiastic participation in the visit. Thanks were also given to Callum Farquhar for his work, and in particular the Banner he had created which was carried by two of the MSYPs and significantly increased the awareness of the twinning link to the many thousands of people from Trondheim who had attended the 17th May events. It was also highly appropriate that the Provost and Cllr Law placed wreaths at the Commonwealth Graveyard and at the Sailors’ Memorial. (There would be more information about the visit in the information evening after the AGM)
St Andrew’s Society and Twinning Committee in Trondheim There will be changes in the organising committees in Trondheim. In the past the DTTA has worked closely with Isla Ulvestad and Bodil Dugstad. They have both indicated that they will be taking a less active role in organising twinning activities in future.
Youth Involvement Gifford stressed the importance of encouraging young people from Trondheim and Dunfermline to keep the friendship link alive. The MSYP’s took an active part in the visit to Trondheim. He was pleased to report that the local secondary schools have shown an interest in twinning activities as part of the international studies in the Curriculum for Excellence.
Future Plans Gifford looked to the future and hoped that DTTA would be able to support and facilitate projects in the Dunfermline area. He suggested it was an unrealistic expectation for the small DTTA Committee to carry out all the work required for a twinning link involving a wide range of community activities . He hoped that the DTTA , supported by Callum’s funding expertise, would be able to advise on and facilitate twinning projects for people of all ages and that community groups would be willing to make the necessary applications for funding that would be needed.

Secretary’s report - Jan Bagnall
The Nokken Choir visited Dunfermline May 27th –June 1st 2014. This was a very successful and enjoyable visit for all concerned. The Choir sang in the Kingsgate, attended a Civic Reception at the City Chambers, visited Dunfermline Folk Club, gave concerts at St Ninian’s Church, Abbeyview and at Dunfermline Abbey. The Choir also gave a recital in St Giles Cathedral Edinburgh and in the Princes Street Gardens at the Norwegian War Memorial. Lynda Bath helped them get permission for their Princes Street Gardens performance. The Association purchased informative banners giving information about Trondheim and the history and activities of the DTTA. Gifford used these when he visited Woodmill and Dunfermline High Schools to talk about the Friendship link with Trondheim and to collect signatures from young people to accompany the Bond of Friendship to Norway. The Association has also been in contact with Queen Anne and St Columba’s who are also involved in furthering the Trondheim-Dunfermline link. Future plans include contact between Dunfermline artists from the new Fire Station Gallery and artists in Trondheim. Also a joint project to make a tapestry reflecting the twinning link. There is still interest in a visit to Dunfermline by Lade Seniors from Trondheim. There may also be a link between Contemporary Dance Groups. Roger Pickering from Forth Pilgrim visited Trondheim for the 70th Anniversary Celebrations in May and is working to establish pilgrim links with Trondheim. This link could involve local culture, hiking, architecture and activities for young people.

Treasurer’s Report - Pat Jameson
Copies of the scrutinised Financial Report were circulated. Pat explained that the Fife Council Grant towards the expenses for the May 16th 2015 Visit to Trondheim would be included in next year’s report. Pat thanked Agnes Allan for scrutinising the accounts. There were no questions about the financial report. Pat recommended that the subscriptions should remain unchanged.

Nominations for the Committee
The members of the 2014-15 Committee, Ishbel Ritchie, Gifford Lind, Lynda Bath, Ann Bathgate, Jan Bagnall and Peter Franklin being eligible and available, were reappointed with the approval of the meeting. Callum Farquhar and Cllr Helen Law will continue to represent Fife Council. The Chairman explained that the Constitution requires at least 6 Committee members and therefore the DTTA would like to recruit more Committee members. Office Bearer’s will be chosen at the first Committee meeting after the AGM.

Appointment of Scrutineer of Accounts
It was agreed that Secretary will write to Agnes Allan thanking her for scrutinising 2014-15 accounts and asking if she would be willing to scrutinise 2015-16 accounts.

Fixing Annual Subscriptions
It was agreed to leave the subscriptions unchanged : £5 per person, £9 per family and £12 corporate membership.

AOCB
Peter Franklin explained that the Dunfermline Scouts presented a Saltire to the Trondheim Scouts in 1945. He is trying to trace a leather bound brochure presented to Major Easson of the Dunfermline Scouts on the return visit in 1946. The brochure commemorates the flag ceremony in 1945. It was suggested that the DTTA could advertise in the press for an artefact for the new museum and ask about the whereabouts of the leather brochure. Cllr Roseak, a local Scout Commissioner, might be able to help. At 7.30pm after tea and coffee there was an Information Evening about the Dunfermline-Trondheim twinning link. The participants introduced themselves and explained their interest in the twinning link. Gifford Lind then gave a presentation about the May 16th/17th 2015 Visit to Trondheim. This was a slide show and Gifford gave a commentary about the pictures. After the presentation Peter Franklin reminisced about Nettie Dick , who did so much to establish the twinning link between the young people of Trondheim and Dunfermline. The meeting was then opened up to allow discussion about the importance of twinning in the pursuit of peace, the importance of youth participation and the way forward for the Dunfermline-Trondheim twinning link.

Date 14 June 2016 AGM

Dunfermline Trondheim Twinning Association
The 18th Annual General Meeting of the above Association was held at the Gillespie Memorial Church Centre, Dunfermline on Tuesday June 14th 2016 at 6.30pm

Welcome
The Members and guests were welcomed by Peter Franklin, who chaired the meeting

Roll call
Peter and Glenda Franklin, Gifford Lind, Roger Pickering, Cllr Helen Law, Jan Bagnall, Agnes and Elsie Paterson, Kate and Graham McDonald, Jayne Baxter, Callum Farquhar (Fife Council), Lynda Bath, Ann Bathgate, Liam Middleton, Michelle Campbell, Anne Miller

Apologies: Brian Blanchflower (DHS), Ishbel Ritchie, Mike Payne, Bill Runciman, Catherine Stihler MEP, Fiona Aitken, Pat Jameson

Minutes of 2015 Meeting: These were read and accepted as an accurate record of the 2015 meeting Proposer: Glenda Franklin. Seconder: Ann Bathgate

Matters arising from the 2015 AGM minutes
• St Andrew’s Society and Twinning Committee in Trondheim. Gifford Lind reported that the cornerstones of the twinning link in Trondheim for the last 10 years, the St Andrew’s Society and the Twinning Committee no longer exist. Isla Ulvestad has retired from the St Andrew’s Society and Bodil Dugstad has retired as Secretary of the Twinning Committee. The twinning link is currently working through Fife Council/DTTA and Trondheim Kommune as signatories of the renewed Bond of Friendship in 2015.
• Gift to Dunfermline Scouts 1946 Peter Franklin asked the meeting if anyone knew the whereabouts of a leather brochure presented to Dunfermline Scouts by Trondheim Scouts during their 1946 visit. This has not been found since the 2015 AGM.

Convenor’s Comments (Gifford Lind)
• Gifford expressed the view that in the world today working for twinning and friendship between nations is a very worthwhile thing to do.
• He reported on the successful visit to the Dunfermline Gala in June 2015 by politicians and young people from Trondheim. There will be another visit to Dunfermline by young people from Trondheim in August 2016. This is being organized by the Youth Committee (Chairman Liam Middleton) and supported by Fife Council Youth Service, Cllr Helen Law and Callum Farquhar from Fife Council. Gifford thanked these people for their efforts to make this visit happen.
• During the year there have been expressions of interest in twinning activities with Trondheim from the Dunfermline Spartans (gymnasts), Rab Walker, Ian Moir and Bill Runciman (Art exchanges and an exhibition), Pitreavie Athletics Club, Kate McDonald and Ian Moir (tapestry) and Roger Pickering (Pilgrimage links).
• Gifford expressed his condolences and reported that sadly two supporters of the twinning link Tør Skjånes and Jim Paterson had passed away this year. Tor was the eldest son of the Mayor of Trondheim, who received the Bond of Friendship from Dunfermline in 1945. He was an enthusiastic member of the Nokken Choir and visited Dunfermline with them in 2014. Jim was the husband of a former Committee member Agnes Paterson. He supported twinning activities in Dunfermline for many years with his wife and daughter.

Secretary’s Report (Jan Bagnall)
• There was a program of events during the visit to Dunfermline by young people from Trondheim in June 2015. This was to celebrate the 70th Anniversary of the signing of the Bond of Friendship in 1945 and followed the renewal ceremony in Trondheim in May 2015.
• The Association took part in the Dunfermline Festival in September 2015. Banners and flyers about the twinning link were displayed and members of the public were engaged in conversations about the Dunfermline-Trondheim twinning link at the DTTA stall.
• MSYPs visited Trondheim in September 2015 for a Youth Conference.
• Gifford spoke at the Queen Anne HS Peace day in September 2015.
• There was a stall at the Dunfermline Book Festival in May 2016. Banners about twinning were displayed and copies of the Bond of Friendship book were available.
• There will be a visit to Dunfermline by young people from Trondheim in August 2016. (see ‘Make it Happen for Dunfermline’ )
• Gifford will be visiting the Nokken Choir in November 2016.

Financial Report
The Treasurer Pat Jameson was unable to attend the meeting due to illness. In her absence copies of the scrutinized accounts (scrutinized by Agnes Allan) were circulated and the Secretary explained the finances related to the Fife Council Grant for the May 2015 visit to Trondheim. There were no queries about the accounts.

Nominations for the Committee 2016-17
The members of the 2015-16 Committee, Ishbel Ritchie, Gifford Lind, Lynda Bath, Ann Bathgate, Jan Bagnall, Pat Jameson and Peter Franklin being eligible and available, were reappointed with the approval of the meeting. Callum Farquhar and Cllr Helen Law will continue to represent Fife Council. Pat Jameson has indicated that she wishes to resign as Treasurer. The meeting was asked if there were any additional nominations for the Committee and Jayne Baxter and Youth Chairman Liam Middleton expressed an interest. Office bearers are appointed at the first meeting of the new session.

Scrutineer of Accounts 2016-17
It was agreed that the Secretary will thank Agnes Allan for scrutinizing 2015-16 accounts and ask her to scrutinize the 2016-17 accounts

Annual Subscriptions
It was agreed to leave the subscriptions unchanged: £5 per person, £9 per family and £12 corporate membership.

AOCB
Gifford Lind thanked Peter for chairing the Committee meetings during the year, Jan for her work as Secretary, Pat for her work as Treasurer and Bob Bagnall for technical support for the website. Peter thanked Gifford for his hard work on behalf of the Association.

‘Make it Happen for Dunfermline’
After tea and coffee Gifford Lind introduced a discussion session. He hoped exciting ideas for moving the Dunfermline-Trondheim link forward would be suggested and the practicalities of making them happen would be discussed.
• Liam Middleton, Chairman of the Dunfermline Youth Committee outlined the plans for the August 2016 visit by young people from Trondheim. He thanked Callum Farquhar and Gifford Lind for their support during the planning process. The visiting party, who will stay at Scout HQ at Fordell Firs, will be 10 young people aged 13-18 years and 2 adults. They will be in Dunfermline for a week from August 12th or 13th. There will be a Democracy Conference at which young people from Dunfermline and Trondheim will discuss the implications of the recent EU Referendum, the refugee crisis in Europe and youth participation in democracy. The Norwegians will experience Scottish culture by participating in cooking, making music with local bands and a ceilidh.
• Callum Farquhar shared his experiences of organising and funding Scout trips to Scandinavia on a modest budget. He also had lots of useful advice for anyone looking for funding from Fife Council, the EU or Awards for All for exchange projects involving young people.
• Gifford will explore possible links through sport during his visit to Norway in November.
• Other ideas mentioned were links for dance groups, pilgrim walks and tapestry. Roger Pickering is involved in pilgrim walks in the Dunfermline area including a Culross walk. A ‘people’s panel tapestry’ made jointly by ‘stitchers’ from Dunfermline and Trondheim was suggested. The first step to achieving this would be to agree a design. Kate McDonald and Ian Moir are interested in this idea. It was agreed that to ‘make things happen’ needs people with enthusiasm, even more than funding. Norwegian groups are able to find their own funding and sponsors to attend twinning events abroad. Organising a twinning event here is likely to result in a return invitation from Norway.

13 June 2017 AGM Minutes

Dunfermline Trondheim Twinning Association

The 19th Annual General Meeting of the above Association was held at the Gillespie Memorial Church Centre, Dunfermline on Tuesday June 13th 2017 at 7.00pm.

Welcome
The Members and guests were welcomed by Peter Franklin, who chaired the meeting.

Roll call
Peter Franklin. Gifford Lind. Ann Bathgate. Roger Pickering. Cllr Helen Law. Bill Runciman. Jan Bagnall. Agnes Paterson. Jayne Baxter. Lynda Bath. Pat Jameson. Charlie Whyte. Maurice Frank. Heather and Bob Anderson.

Apologies
Glenda Franklin. Kate and Graham McDonald. Ishbel Ritchie. Fiona Aitken. Norma Forsyth. Linsey Duffy. Margaret Tait. Ron Daniel.

Minutes of 2016 Meeting
These were read and accepted as an accurate record of the 2016 meeting. Proposer: Jayne Baxter. Seconder: Lynda Bath.

Matters arising from the 2016 AGM minutes
• Gift to Dunfermline Scouts 1946 At 2016 meeting Peter Franklin asked if anyone knew the whereabouts of a leather brochure presented to Dunfermline Youth by Trondheim Scouts during their 1946 visit. The brochure has been traced and is in the possession of 2nd Fife Scouts.

Convenor’s Comments (Gifford Lind)
• The 1945 Youth of Dunfermline initiative to forge a Bond of Friendship with the Youth of Trondheim gave rise to the twinning link between the two cities. Gifford suggested that a way might be found to celebrate the 20th anniversary year of the DTTA.
• Gifford explained that in Trondheim Isla Ulvestad (St Andrew’s Society) and Bodil Dugstad have retired from actively organising twinning activities. This has left a hiatus and currently as far as he is aware there is no twinning group in Trondheim with which DTTA can liaise. Gifford hopes that this situation will change. A ‘Friends of Scotland Association’ in Trondheim has invited Gifford to sing at their Burns Supper next January. This group may provide useful contacts. On June 21st a group of 30 Norwegians is visiting Dunfermline for the day. Four of the party belonged to the St Andrew’s Society. As DTTA is hosting a programme of events for the visitors it may be possible to generate interest supporting the twinning link from amongst the group.
• There has been very successful cooperation between Fife Council and Trondheim Kommune, represented by Gerhard Dahlen, over the last few years. Gerhard will be retiring from his post as Director of International Relations in the next year. DTTA has sent Gerhard a list of projects which could form the basis of a variety of twinning activities in future. The question is how best to facilitate them. The DTTA hopes that Gerhard and his successor will be willing and able to take some of them forward. One suggestion is that Dunfermline and Trondheim will hold a joint Choir Festival annually, with hosting alternating between the two cities.
• Gifford thanked the 2016-17 Committee for their support and hard work and felt that there had been some ‘good’ meetings during the year.
• Gifford reported that Ishbel Ritchi , who was Convenor of the Association for many years, has been in hospital for some time. He visited her earlier in the week and found her still very interested in and enthusiastic about the work of the DTTA. She sends her best wishes to everyone and would like to be kept informed about what the Association is doing.

Secretary’s Report (Jan Bagnall)
• August 2016 Visit. A group of 10 Trondheim young people and 2 adults visited Dunfermline in August 2016, which was the anniversary of the 1946 visit to Dunfermline by young people from Trondheim. It was a very successful and friendly visit. DTTA is grateful to Youth Service for helping to organise a programme for the visitors and to Fife Council for holding a Civic Reception and Ceilidh for them. There was also a very successful social evening for the young people from Norway and Dunfermline at Gifford’s house. The DTTA is hoping to facilitate a visit to Norway next year for Dunfermline young people to celebrate the anniversary of 1948 visit to Trondheim by Dunfermline youth.
• Treasurer. During the year Jayne Baxter very kindly took over from Pat Jameson as DTTA Treasurer. The Association is very grateful to Pat for her hard work as the previous Treasurer and delighted that she has stayed on as a member of the Committee.
• Archive. Some Committee members are meeting later in the month to start organising a DTTA archive.
• Gifford Trondheim visit November 2016. Gifford visited Trondheim to sing with Nokken Choir in November 2016. The Nokken Choir visited Dunfermline in 2014 and sang in Dunfermline Abbey. Gifford has kept in touch with members of the Choir. He also met with Gerhard Dahlen from Trondheim Kommune to discuss future twinning activities. Since then DTTA has sent Gerhard a list of possible activities to continue the Bond of Friendship link. As an example it is hoped that an a Art link will be forged with Trondheim, perhaps by a Norwegian artist working at Firestation Creative. Also Gerhard has been able to contact a nursery in Trondheim who may form a friendship link with Lauriston Nursery in Dunfermline.
• Norwegian visitors June 21st. A party of 30 Norwegians are spending a day in Dunfermline with DTTA on June 21st. There is a programme of events for them; coffee at Dunfermline Carnegie Library and Galleries, a Civic Reception at lunch time, sightseeing in the afternoon followed by a meal and entertainment at Firestation Creative in the early evening. Copies of the programme were available at the meeting for anyone who wished to join in any part of the programme.

Financial Report (Jayne Baxter)
Jayne made copies of the ‘Dunfermline /Trondheim Twinning Association, Summary of Accounts 2016-17’ available. These accounts have been scrutinised and signed by Agnes Allan (see Appendix). The accounts were studied by those present and there were no questions.

Nominations for Committee 2017-18
It was agreed to reappoint the 2016-17 Committee: Gifford Lind. Jayne Baxter. Jan Bagnall. Peter Franklin. Pat Jameson. Ann Bathgate. Lynda Bath. Cllr Helen Law and Callum Farquhar will represent Fife Council. Liam Middleton will be the Youth representative. It was agreed that Ishbel Ritchie will become an Honorary member of the Committee. This will create a vacancy on the Committee. There were no offers to join the Committee from those present at the meeting.

Appointment of Scrutineer of Accounts
It was agreed to ask Agnes Allan to act as Scrutineer of 2017-18 accounts.
• Action: The Secretary will write to Agnes Allan thanking her for scrutinising the 2016-17 Accounts and asking her to be Scrutineer for 2017-18.

Fixing of annual subscriptions
It was agreed to leave the subscriptions unchanged: £5 per person, £9 per family and £12 corporate membership.

AOCB
There was no other competent business.

After tea, coffee and cakes Gifford introduced Roger Pickering. Roger arrived in Dunfermline in 2002 and has worked in the Library. He has also done a lot to promote interest in the history of Dunfermline including organising pilgrimage tours and historical activities for youngsters and visits to St Margaret’s Cave. He was a member of the delegation that visited Trondheim in 2015 for the renewal of the Bond of Friendship.

‘Dunfermline: From Pilgrim Hub to WW2 Anti-Tank Island’
Roger talked about his enthusiasm for and interest in the rich history of Dunfermline and his delight in meeting people from other cultures. He wants twinning to succeed to allow people to learn from each other. He hopes people will think about how they want Dunfermline to develop and will learn from its history, but he admitted that it can be challenging to make this happen. He would like to promote Dunfermline as a ‘City of Themes’ and to involve children in history based activities and writing historical adventures so that they become creative life-long-learners. He hopes to encourage the growth of Dunfermline as a ‘Pilgrim Hub’ so that visitors will come to Dunfermline via the pilgrim routes in Scotland. Roger then talked about the plans based on Dunfermline that were made to disrupt a potential German invasion in WW2. The plans were devised by Polish Soldiers under the command of the British military and would have been implemented by the Poles and the Home Guard. He described the relics of WW2 defences that have been found in Dunfermline , including a defensive position along the Coal Road. He told stories about the ammunition dump at the football ground, spiking of Townhill Loch to prevent sea-planes landing and about children cadging food from a transport depot behind the Pilmuir works during the rationing. There was a defensive perimeter around the power station at Townhill Loch with machine gun emplacements. The Linen Exchange would have been fortified and the City would have been vigorously defended street by street. Roger wants to honour the memory of the Polish soldiers who were stationed around Dunfermline and the 450 local Home Guard volunteers. Roger is organising a Festival sponsored by Fife Council, the Polish Consulate and the Heritage Lottery Fund among others, called ‘Defend Dunfermline WW2’. The Festival will be held on August 19th-20th in Dunfermline. There will be a range of events including re-enactments, music and dancing, a war-gaming club, exhibitions, a WW2 comic book on sale and a Parade.

Appendix

13 June 2018 AGM

Dunfermline Trondheim Twinning Association

The 20th Annual General Meeting of the above Association was held at the Gillespie Memorial Church Centre, Dunfermline on Wednesday June 13th 2018 at 7.00pm

Welcome
The Members and guests were welcomed by Peter Franklin, who chaired the meeting. Peter welcomed Gifford Lind on behalf of everyone and expressed great pleasure at seeing Gifford back after his serious illness. Peter and Gifford Lind have recently visited Ishbel Ritchie, who is the former DTTA Convenor. She was pleased to see them and to hear about the activities of the Association.

Roll call
Peter Franklin. Gifford Lind. Ann Bathgate. Jan Bagnall. Jayne Baxter. Pat Jameson. Liz Mogg. Bryan Mottershaw. Tina Chapman. Lilian Cameron. Iain Dalzel Job. Eva Tyson. Bob Bagnall. Agnes Paterson. Charlie Whyte. Ron Daniel. Maurice Frank.

Apologies
Cllr Helen Law. Cllr Garry Haldane. Ishbel Ritchie. Bill Runciman. Lynda Bath. Heather and Bob Anderson Mike Payne. David Steele. Lesley McNaughton. Jane Glen. Barbara Leppard. Gwyneth Young. William and Molly Sinclair. Ian Yule . Garry Irvine.

Minutes of 2017 Meeting
These were read and accepted as an accurate record of the 2017 meeting. Proposer: Jayne Baxter. Seconder: Pat Jameson.

Matters arising from the 2017 AGM minutes
• Gift to Dunfermline Scouts 1946 At 2016 meeting Peter Franklin asked if anyone knew the whereabouts of a leather brochure presented to Dunfermline Youth by Trondheim Scouts during their 1946 visit. The brochure has been traced and is in the possession of 2nd Fife Scouts.
• ‘Defend Dunfermline WW2’. The Festival was held on August 19th-20th 2017.

Convenor’s Comments (Gifford Lind)
• Gifford’s visit to Trondheim in January 2018. Gifford visited Trondheim in January 2018 and planned to meet with a number of contacts about twinning projects. Unfortunately his trip was taken over by a serious illness, which put him in hospital in Trondheim for 3 weeks. He expressed his appreciation of the first class medical care he received and also the enormous amount of friendship that was extended to him and his family by Norwegian friends and hospital staff. It reinforced his commitment to international friendship and twinning with Norway.
• Gifts for Norway. Gifford gave the Mayor of Trondheim a Peace tartan shawl and others a tartan scarf from Dunfermline and received a book about the history of the Sami people. This was to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Sami Parliament.
• Choir Festival. Gifford and Jayne Baxter met with Willie Campbell from the Abbey Choir and representatives of 8 other local choirs, who have expressed an interest in holding a biennial Choir Festival with choirs from Trondheim. Gifford felt that international peace and friendship would be a good theme for the Festival.

Secretary’s Report (Jan Bagnall)
• Twinning in Trondheim As reported last year there is still no equivalent of DTTA in Trondheim following the demise of St Andrew’s Association and the group formed to organise 70th Anniversary programme in Trondheim for May 2015. DTTA is hoping that a twinning group will come together in Trondheim as this would make facilitating twinning links easier by adding another dimension in addition to the cooperation at Council level.
• Norwegian visitors. A group of Norwegian visitors spent a day with the DTTA in Dunfermline in June 2017. The DTTA are very grateful to the Lord Provost, Jim Leishman, who hosted a Civic Reception for the visitors. The visitors went sightseeing in the Dunfermline area in the afternoon and in the evening the DTTA held a buffet supper for them at Firestation Creative. There were two people from the Norwegian organisation ‘Friends of Scotland’ in the group. Councillor Garry Haldane and Janet Scott came along to the buffet and have subsequently joined the Committee.
• Resignation from Committee by Fife Council Representative Callum Farquhar. Callum Farquhar, who was the Fife Council representative on DTTA Committee has resigned from the Committee and been replaced by Shirley Melville, the Community Development Team Manager for Fife Council. DTTA is very grateful to Callum for his exceptional support with planning youth visits and for being actively involved in hosting visits for young people and completing funding applications.
• Resignation from Committee Lynda Bath has been unable to attend Committee meetings for some time due to family commitments. She has offered to continue to support the Association. DTTA is very grateful to her for her work on behalf of twinning.
• Archive material DTTA has a lot of photos and memorabilia from its 73 year history, which are being sorted for a possible exhibition.
• Defend Dunfermline Gifford took part in an event in August 2017 at the Music Institute in Dunfermline. He sang songs with twinning and WW2 themes
• Dunfermline Historical Society Gifford spoke to the Society in November 2017 about the history of the Dunfermline-Trondheim twinning link.
• Possible Future plans include: Facilitating a Choir festival involving Dunfermline and Trondheim choirs. Preliminary meetings with reps from local choirs have taken place. Involving local high schools in twinning links again and facilitating a Youth visit to Norway. A joint Tapestry/weaving project with Trondheim. Facilitating an Art link between Firestation Creative and a Norwegian artist

Financial Report (Jayne Baxter)
Jayne made copies of the ‘Dunfermline /Trondheim Twinning Association, Summary of Accounts 2017 18’ available. She has been able to set up internet banking, which has made administering the bank account easier. The biggest investment has been hospitality but hopefully this is an investment in the future leading to more contacts/members. These accounts have been scrutinised and signed by Agnes Allan (see Appendix). The accounts were studied by those present and there were no questions. Jayne collected membership subscriptions at the meeting.

Nominations for Committee 2018-19
It was agreed to appoint: Gifford Lind. Jayne Baxter. Jan Bagnall. Peter Franklin. Pat Jameson. Ann Bathgate. Janet Scott and Cll Garry Haldane. Shirley Melville will represent Fife Council. Cllr Helen Law supports the Association and attends meetings when her other commitments allow. Ishbel Ritchie is an Honorary member of the Committee. There were no offers to join the Committee from those present at the meeting. Office bearers will be elected at first Committee meeting after the AGM.

Appointment of Scrutineer of Accounts
It was agreed to ask Agnes Allan to act as Scrutineer of 2018-19 accounts.
• Action: The Secretary will write to Agnes Allan thanking her for scrutinising the 2017-18 Accounts and asking her to be Scrutineer for 2018-19.

Fixing of annual subscriptions
It was agreed to leave the subscriptions unchanged: £5 per person, £9 per family and £12 corporate membership.

AOCB Copies of the Bond of Friendship book by Lillian King and CDs of the Bispehaugen Band were available for anyone interested.

After tea, coffee and cakes a slide presentation ‘Soroptimists and the Dunfermline-Trondheim Friendship Link' was given by Eva Tyson and Jan Bagnall from Soroptimist International Dunfermline. Jan Bagnall spoke about Soroptimism giving an overview of the organisation. She explained the name, vision and principles of the organisation. She then gave examples of how Soroptimism International Dunfermline supports women and girls in the local community and abroad. The Club tries to raise awareness of issues affecting women such as limits on access to health care and education, to speak up (advocacy) for women who are unable to do so for themselves and to take practical action through local and international projects. Jan mentioned exchange visits between members of the Dunfermline and Trondheim Soroptimist Clubs and joint projects. Eva Tyson talked about how the Soroptimist Club in Dunfermline had helped to re-establish the friendship link between Dunfermline and Trondheim. Eva was President of the Dunfermline Soroptimist Club in 1992. At this time she was asked by the then Provost of Dunfermline Margaret Millar to deliver a letter to the Mayor of Trondheim and to make contacts in Trondheim for the twinning link. While she was in Trondheim attending a Soroptimist Conference about ‘Women in Europe’ Eva and Lilian Cameron, who was in the audience for this presentation and two other Soroptimists made the contacts and then on their return to Dunfermline set up a steering group to reinvigorate the friendship link. Eva received Royal approval for the friendship link when she met Princess Martha Louise from Norway who visited Edinburgh in 1999.

Appendix

20 June 2019 AGM DRAFT TO BE APPROVED

Dunfermline Trondheim Twinning Association

The 21st Annual General Meeting of the above Association was held at the Gillespie Memorial Church Centre, Dunfermline on Thursday June 20th 2019 at 7.30pm.

Welcome. The Members and guests were welcomed by Peter Franklin, who chaired the meeting.

Roll call: Peter Franklin. Gifford Lind. Ann Bathgate. Jan Bagnall. Pat Jameson. Maurice Frank. Grant Williams.
.
Apologies: Cllr Helen Law. Cllr Garry Haldane. Jayne Baxter. Agnes Paterson. Margaret Tait. Fiona Aitken.

Minutes of 2018 Meeting. These were read and accepted as an accurate record of the 2018 meeting.

Matters arising from the 2018 AGM minutes:
1. Gift to Dunfermline Scouts 1946
The leather brochure is in the care of 2nd Fife Scouts. Peter hoped that DTTA could see it at some future date.
2. Twinning in Trondheim
The DTTA continues to be in contact with the Friends of Scotland in Trondheim and Trondheim Kommune.
3. Concern was expressed that the Association has a small membership.

Convenors Comments (Gifford Lind)
1. Ishbel Ritchie
Gifford spoke about Ishbel Ritchie , the former Convenor of DTTA, who passed away in May 2019. He paid tribute to her commitment and support for the Association over many years.
2. Choir Festival
Gifford reported that it had been a quiet year but that a lot of thought had gone into hosting a Choir Festival in Dunfermline in 2020 or 2021 and some exploratory meetings had taken place. It is hoped to involve 4-5 Choirs from each of Dunfermline and Trondheim. The theme would be music about Peace and Friendship and the programme might include smaller community concerts given by two choirs as well as events involving all the participants.
3. Golfing visit
The idea that some golfers from Dunfermline might visit Trondheim and play there is being explored.
4. 75th Anniversary in 2020
The Association is hoping to mark the 75th Anniversary of the Friendship link with Trondheim and the possibility of a youth visit to Trondheim is being explored with Trondheim Youth Council.

Secretary’s Report (Jan Bagnall)
1. The Secretary reported that the office bearers for 2018-19, elected at first Committee meeting after AGM 2018 were:
Convenor: Gifford Lind
Meeting Chairman: Peter Franklin
Treasurer: Jayne Baxter
Secretary: Jan Bagnall
2. Eight Committee meetings were held during the 2018-19 session. The Committee met in September, November and December 2018 and in February, March, April, May and June 2019.
3. Members and visitors were reminded that DTTA has a website www.dtta.net.

Financial Report
In the absence of the Treasurer copies of the scrutinised accounts 2018 -19 were made available. The Convenor offered to answer questions but none were forthcoming. The 2018-19 Accounts were scrutinised by Agnes Allan.
See Appendix

Nominations for the Committee
Members and visitors were invited to join the Committee but none were forthcoming.

Nominations : Gifford Lind. Peter Franklin. Jayne Baxter. Jan Bagnall. Cllr Garry Haldane. Anne Bathgate, Pat Jameson. Janet Scott.
Fife Council Representative. Shirley Melville.
Cllr Helen Law supports the Association and attends meetings when her commitments allow.
Office bearers will be elected at first Committee meeting to be held after 2019 AGM (Aug 6th 2019)

Appointment of Scrutineer of Accounts 2019-20
Agnes Allan has agreed to act as scrutineer of the 2019-20 accounts.

Fixing of annual subscriptions 2019-20
The subscriptions were unchanged: £5.00 per member, £9.00 per family and £12 Corporate membership.
The Secretary was available to collect subscriptions and donations for Bond of Friendship books at the end of the meeting.

____________________________________

After tea and coffee Grant Williams and Jennifer Wallace gave presentations on the theme ‘Twin Towns-Learning from each other ? ’

Grant Williams from ‘Dunfermline Heritage Partnership’ is the leader of a ‘Scotland’s Great Places’ three year Lottery funded project. It is working with other partners such as Dunfermline Delivers, Fife Council, Fife Cultural Trust, Dunfermline Carnegie Trust, Visit Scotland, Welcome to Fife, The Abbey Church of Dunfermline, Historic Environment Scotland, Fife Coast and Countryside Trust and others to raise the profile of Dunfermline’s rich heritage amongst residents. They will also use new resources to build heritage into new cultural developments in Dunfermline, to market the City for the benefit of the community and to try to make it a better place to live, work and visit.
The projects involved will include partnerships with primary and secondary schools, the Touch 90 project, Guided and Digital Tours, the Outwith Festival in Sept 2019, Celebration of the Carnegie Centenary and exhibitions at Gallery 3 at DCMG. Dunfermline’s history will be summarised as six themes: Dunfermline’s Royalty, the Auld Grey Toun, Andrew Carnegie, Music and Art, Pilgrimage and Industry so that these stories can be shared with residents, school children and visitors.
The project will generate digital resources such as the Interactive Peacock and www.dunfermline.com also Twitter and Facebook pages and a booklet called ‘Sharing Dunfermline’s Stories’. It will encourage different interest groups in the City to exchange ideas and work together.
Grant felt it would be valuable, particularly for young people, to talk to young people from Trondheim and find gems of common interest to share.

Jennifer Wallace works for the Carnegie UK Trust, which is a different organisation from Dunfermline Carnegie Trust. She has been working on a project tha promotes and supports twinning links between towns with similar characteristics and socio-economic challenges in different parts of the UK. It aims to use modestly funded projects to improve the well being of people by bringing them together due to a sense of belonging to a community.
Ten towns across the UK were paired, not by geography, but by shared challenges and given support for learning and collaboration between them. The representatives of the towns explained the heritage of their towns to each other, discovered that each was facing the same challenges and together they looked for positive stories and ways to improve their communities and leadership within those communities. They tried to break down the ‘can’t do’ attitude and build confidence, to improve the digital footprint of their towns for visitors and to empower local people. Actions taken included pop-up vegan and artisan markets and Festivals, using disused spaces such as a public library, town clean–ups and setting up Heritage Trails and Walking Tours.

There was a short general discussion which covered issues such as what brings about the success of Festivals in Trondheim, the need to get people, including young people, together from twin towns to ‘make things happen’ and the importance of twinning between towns and cities in Europe at a time when links within Europe are weakening.

Appendix