The meeting of the Association of the Europe Prize Winning Towns Presidium  Royal Leamington Spa

On November 17^th, 2000 a meeting of the presidium of  the Association of the Europe Prize Winning Towns was held in Royal Leamington Spa (England). The meeting was chaired by Mr. Wiesław Maras, the Mayor of Częstochowa.
At first Mr. Maras  thanked for the confidence placed in him by the Association members by entrusting him with the function of the Chairman of the Association and promised to  make every effort to meet the expectations and to continue the works of the Associations. According to Mr. Maras the most important task of the Association is the integration of in  Western Europe. In his opinion, the extension of the European Union will create new social,  political and economic quality and the united Europe will be a dynamically developing community. In order to achieve this aim it is necessary to build bridges linking local communities in various countries – as it is done by the Europe Prize Winning Towns.

Afterwards the Chairman of the Europe Prize Sub-committee, Mr. Franciszek Adamczyk reported on the celebration of giving the Europe Prize 2000 to the towns of Marjevols (France) and Cockermouth (England). 

Further Mr Maras gave an account of the six months of his tenure in the office of the Chairman of the Association:

· the Association’s home page has been created: www.czestochowa.um.gov.pl/europeprize.

 

 The data base, though rather small for the time being, will be modified and supplemented, which, however, is up to the  Europe Prize Winning Towns themselves.  
· the final declaration “Europe in the 3^rd Millennium Free from Drugs and Alcohol” signed by the participants of the Youth Forum, was sent to all 56 Towns belonging to the Association.
· school and pre-school children from the Prize Winning Towns have been invited to take part in the “Child and Dog” art contest. Regulations of the contest have been enclosed with the invitations. Works are to be submitted by February 24^th, 2001.
· runners from Bursa (Turkey) took part in the street running competition “The Golden Mile”. One of them won the 1^st price in her category. 

Subsequently, Mr Bertram from Cockermouth declared that his town will actively join in the work of the Association, promoting the idea of European integration among English towns and cities.

Further it was agreed that the next General Meeting of the Association will be held in Regensburg (Germany) from 22^nd to 23^rd June, 2001. The leading issue of the meeting will be “Culture in European Towns – Heritage and Responsibility”. Experts in the field, among   others from the  International Forum of Historical Cities in Graz should be invited to the discussion  of the above issue.

  At the same time as the General Meeting, the international youth forum will be held in Regensburg. Mr. Adamczyk proposed that the forum should be called: “ The Europe Prize Winning Towns Youth Assembly”. Everybody agreed to this proposal. It was further agreed that the subject of the Youth Assembly will be: “Present Cultural Development of Youth – Visions of Youth Culture”. The following rules of  participation in the  Youth Assembly were agreed upon:
- participant age limit: 25 years;
- two delegates from each town;
- travel and accommodation costs shall  be covered by the delegating town;
-meals shall  be provided by the host town.

Afterwards, the representatives of Bursa, Klagenfurt, Braunfels, Regensburg, Cockermouth, Royal Leamington Spa and Częstochowa presented information about the most important events that had taken place in the year 2000 in their local governments in the field of international co-operation and youth exchange.

Thereupon Mr. Maras proposed that the Association’s website should include a calendar of cultural and  sports events etc., planned for the year 2001 in the Europe Prize Winning Towns. Written information should be e-mailed to: pklimek@czestochowa.um.gov.pl   or ajadowska@czestochowa .um.gov.pl

The calendar will include only those events, to which the Prize Winning Towns wish to invite other Association members.

Next Mr. Maras reminded that publishing of the Europe Prize Winning Towns information brochure had already been planned three years ago. Appropriate information materials and photographs had been deposited in Strasbourg. Mr. Maras asked Mr. Adamczyk to find out the reasons for this delay and speed up the publication of the brochure.

In the afternoon session information about the operation of the British Health Service was presented to the Presidium members by Director Thomas Bransby, M.D. As no additional matters were placed on the agenda, the meeting was closed. Concluding, Mr. Maras thanked all the delegates present at the meeting for their full co-operation. Special thanks were given to the Mayor of Royal Leamington Spa, Mr. Bill Evans and to Mr. Trevor Ashbourn for the efficient organization of the Meeting in their town.