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THE NEW EUROPE - Connecting People and Places

Programme of the Day's Events
Presentations / Short Summaries
Testimonials
Photographs

'A good time was had by all'! The international conference held at Dillington House on Saturday 8 May 2004 was a great success!

Somerset County Council hosted the event to celebrate Europe Day and enlargement, welcoming 'New Neighbours' from Central and Eastern Europe. The conference served to highlight some of the mutual economic and cultural benefits in an enlarged Europe.

Delegates who attended were County and District Councillors, Somerset County Council officers, teachers, business people, Twinning Association representatives, friends from some of the new EU Member States, people from local organisations and members of the public.

The conference was chaired by Robin Bush and guest speakers included 2 MEPs as well as representatives from the Czech Republic Embassy, Heathfield School, Bristol International Twinnings Association, Gloucestershire County Council and the Czech/Slovak Friendship Society.

Two parallel workshops were held in the afternoon hosted by the 'Tandem Team' speakers from the UK and new EU countries.

Jane Murray, Corporate Director of Culture & Community, thanked all those who attended and made a presentation to Dick Langridge, County Twinning Co-ordinator, who was retiring from his post.

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THE NEW EUROPE - Connecting People and Places

Programme of the Day's Events

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THE NEW EUROPE - Connecting People and Places

Presentations / Short Summaries

Kateřina Fialková

• New Neighbours
  

On 1 May 2004, the Czech Republic, together with nine other countries, joined the European Union. This historic step, which only several years ago would have been beyond anybody’s imagination, means that my country’s most ambitious foreign policy goal has been attained.

The EU at 25 will be different from the EU at 15 in many ways. However, despite the complexities real or perceived, I believe that enlargement will prove beneficial to all parties. It will, inter alia, provide a better framework for cooperation on local and regional level.
Local and regional cooperation is a longstanding big-ticket item on the agenda of the Czech Republic’s government. And it is there to stay because neighbours tend to outlive institutions and sometimes even states.

The Embassy can play an important role in getting international cooperation on local and regional levels right. It can act as an effective facilitator and mediator but it cannot replace direct contact.

In the case of Czech - UK relations direct contact is particularly important because, given the distance and language barrier, the UK is not the most obvious place for a Czech local government official to look for a twinning partner. This is why the Czech Embassy, in cooperation with the Local Government International Bureau, decided to organize the Day of Czech Regions in the United Kingdom. The purpose of this event, which will take place in London on 23 September 2004, is to facilitate information sharing as regards local and regional administration, including information about what potential partnerships can offer, and to promote cooperation in a European framework aimed at raising awareness about the enlarged EU both in the UK and in the Czech Republic. After all, it is a matter of general interest that the “New Neighbours” should become a classic rather than a one-season hit.

Click here to download the presentation - New Neighbours

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Penny Krucker

• Thinking European: the Challenge for Schools

This will be a brainstorming session about the vexed question of raising awareness of Europe within schools with a whistle stop tour of the European Union countries, touch on the importance of students' knowledge base and understanding of European and global issues and their role as Young Citizens of Europe.

It will cover the wider implication of Europe's role in the world and include the positive projects, which schools can access through European Union and Government funding opportunities. This will include the video conferencing successes with teachers, students and embassies talking across Europe to enhance communication and understanding.

This presentation is available on request only. Please contact Julia Resenterra to obtain a copy.

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‘Tandem Team’ I: Somerset / Czech Republic / Slovakia
Brian Smedley – Czech-Slovak Friendship Society / Milos Salus (Slovakia) and David Pribyl (Czech Republic)

• Long-standing twinning link with two new accession countries
  
  Click here to download the presentation - Bridgwater Czech Slovak Friendship Society

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‘Tandem Team’ II: Somerset / Pays de la Loire / European Voluntary Service
Birgit Hughes – Somerset County Council / Nigel Engert & Faki Saadi (EVS)

• Somerset County Council and the rest of Europe
  
  This presentation is about the benefits that local authorities can derive from becoming involved in European inter-regional co-operation and the delivery of specific projects part-funded by the European Union. It will describe some of the activities under the official cooperation protocol that Somerset County Council signed with the Regional Council of Pays de la Loire in Western France in 2000, as well the very impressive track record of their Social Services Department, which acted as a European Voluntary Service (EVS) hosting organization from 1997 until recently. They had been trail blazers in that their placement opportunities for young volunteers from all over Europe (old and new) included those open to young people with mental and physical disabilities, and the piloting of an innovative mentoring scheme.
  
  Click here to download the presentation - Somerset County Council and the rest of Europe
  European Voluntary Service in Somerset - Final Report 1997-2004
  

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‘Tandem Team’ III: Somerset / Latvia / Czech Republic
Mike Bettles – Heathfield Community School / Natalija Balode (Latvia) and Eva Hrabincová (Czech Republic)

• Schools Development Project with Latvia, Italy, Germany and the Czech Republic

The talk is entitled ‘From Mayschoss to Dillington’ and it is an account of the setting up (and, to some extent the content) of a Comenius School Development Project. The team will talk about their original meeting at a Comenius Contact Seminar and about the subsequent preparatory meetings and planning sessions that went into the application process for a School Development Council. They will then talk about the project itself, ‘Motivating Teachers to Motivate Students’ and about the concept of Multiple Intelligences upon which the project is based. Finally, they will deal with some of their experiences from their meetings so far (in Leonberg and Taunton) and look forward to the next meeting in Latvia…

Click here to download the presentation - From Mayschoss to Dillington

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‘Tandem Team’ IV: Somerset / Belarus
Graham Jeffs – Mendip / Zoya Emelianova (Belarus)

• Mutual benefits from corporate social responsibility in practice

In August 1995, a group of people from the Mendip area travelled to South Eastern Belarus at the invitation of Svetlogorsk City Council, so called Children of Chernobyl having visited Wells for three years, some of them from Svetlogorsk. The then Chairman of Mendip Council, Bill Mackay and Graham Jeffs, then Chief Executive, were two of the party and they established a Partnership between the people of Mendip and Svetlogorsk. The first emphasis rested on the environmental agenda, pollution control and sustainable development. Funding from the European Union (TACIS fund) was obtained to address those issues and also for a project to train staff to tackle epidemic levels of AIDS/HIV.

Since 1995 Graham Jeffs has made many professional visits to Svetlogorsk, taking with him a vast range of experts from Somerset, experiences, which he and many colleagues describe as “mind blowing” and “life changing”. A recent report by the United Nations has described the Partnership as “Outstanding” and the Local Government International Bureau has described it as “the Flagship”.
The Partnership has sought to build the capacity of the leaders of both civic and civil society following the disintegration of the Former Soviet Union in order to address the mountain of challenges facing post communist society. It has provided training opportunities, both in Svetlogorsk and Mendip, for the community’s key players but has also targeted young people, both with special needs but also the most able. The problems facing provincial Belarus and Svetlogorsk in particular mean that the results are not always immediate and the commitment must therefore be a long one.

A recent project, only made possible due to the six years of capacity building and involving the public and voluntary sectors in both countries, has been the establishment of a resource centre, described as being unique in the Country. This shared facility with 50 computers is available to schools, businesses and people of all ages for learning IT and with access to a huge stock of English, Italian and German library books and the use of a fully equipped Seminar room, complete with digital projector, sound and interactive whiteboard. The Centre was the first establishment in the Country to be validated for ECDL testing.

The benefits of the partnership are genuinely mutual. Somerset participants find the experience as matchless in term of personal development. Svetlogorsk colleagues welcome fresh ideas, innovation, new solutions and different methods of sharing and training.

Click here to download the presentation - Svetlogorsk/Mendip Partnership

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THE NEW EUROPE - Connecting People and Places

Testimonials

Throughout this website, we have included various comments (in italics) from people that attended the New Europe Conference. Here is a full list of what some people said:

"The conference was an inspiration to continue our work with the youth of Somerset in developing new links in Europe. Enjoyed all the sessions."

"We have probably agreed on an exchange with a school in Latvia as a result of this conference."

"We need to unite and gain from each other's knowledge. Very good day. Thank you."

"An excellent exchange and very useful information and examples - very inspiring."

"Excellent - very wide-ranging."

"It was a pleasure to participate in a very pleasant and clever conference."

"A highly professionally organised and valuable day. A remarkably high standard of presentations throughout the day."

"Wonderful venue, very helpful staff, very fascinating and varied presentations from such enthusiastic people. Well done!"

"Excellent day. Thank you. Fantastic."

"Thanks and well done. Keep up the good work."

"I found the conference very interesting and would like to thank the organisers. Very successful conference."

"Hope to receive follow-up information."

"Thank you for a lovely day - very informative."

"Wonderful that so many nationalities met together today. I am a strong believer in twinning and was very impressed with presentations and workshops."

"Has provided vital contacts."

"How can we spread the word to a wider audience?"

"Very good."

Photographs of the Event

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