WALLED TOWNS FRIENDSHIP CIRCLE

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WALLED TOWNS FRIENDSHIP CIRCLE
The Walled Towns Friendship Circle is
sponsored by Jarvis U.K.
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WALLED TOWNS FRIENDSHIP CIRCLE

• What is the Circle?
• Established in 1990, partly in response to the
  European Year of Tourism, as a forum to consider
  the many mutual interests shared by walled towns.
• It was an initiative that was inspired and
  developed by a hotel owner in Tenby, South Wales,
  called Peter Osborne.
• Its aims are
• To encourage friendship between the people of all
  ages in walled towns communities and to foster
  the interchange of visits by individuals and
  associations.
• To enrich each other lives through the
  appreciation of each others historic,
  traditional, cultural and artistic inheritance.
• To promote tourism whilst considering the
  challenges of traffic, pedestrianisation , access
  to homes and businesses, building and road
  maintenance grants and assistance for
  preservation work and the burdens of
  conservation.
• To establish links with other walled towns and
  to develop joint marketing strategies to increase
  world wide awareness of walled towns as historic
  treasure and tourist attractions.
• To convene regular Symposia in member towns to
  address topics of key importance and to organise
  study tours.

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WALLED TOWNS FRIENDSHIP CIRCLE

• Who can join the Circle?
• Membership of the Circle is divided into two
  sections
• - Full membership, which is open to the
  municipalities of any historic town or city
  regardless of size, which is walled, or has
  remnants of its walls remaining, or
• - Associate membership, which is open to
  companies, groups, organisations, institutions or
  individuals, who are interested in and support
  the aims of the Circle.
• The Circle has annual membership fees which
  are graded according to the population of town or
  city members and according, in the case of
  associate members, to the type of member.
• All membership applications are considered and
  determined by the President.

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WALLED TOWNS FRIENDSHIP CIRCLE

• What is the Circle doing now?
• Over the past fourteen years, since it was
  established, the Circle has developed into a wide
  ranging network of historic walled towns, with
  over 140 members in 27 different countries!.
• Member towns are situated mainly in Europe, but
  the Circle recently welcomed into membership the
  world famous Chinese city of Xian, with a
  population of over 7 million.
• The Circle has a President who is elected by the
  members for a three year term of office and a
  Deputy President elected for a year at a time.
  There is also an Executive Committee made up from
  representatives from the various countries
  containing member towns and an elected Treasurer
  and Secretary General, usually for convenience,
  from the same region as the President, who help
  to run Circle affairs.

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WALLED TOWNS FRIENDSHIP CIRCLE

• The President The
  Deputy President
• John Price - Chester Maud
  Arkesteijn van Willigen- Naarden
• 
  
• The Treasurer
  The Secretary General
• Medwyn Jones- Denbigh Chris
  Lines- Chester
  
• 
  

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WALLED TOWNS FRIENDSHIP CIRCLE

• Who are the member towns of the Circle?
• They are mostly in Europe and include well known
  places such as
• Valletta, Malta
• Verona, Italy
  

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WALLED TOWNS FRIENDSHIP CIRCLE

• Piran, Slovenia
• Zadar, Croatia
• 
  Soave, Italy
  
• Conwy, Wales
  

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WALLED TOWNS FRIENDSHIP CIRCLE

• Chester, England Xian, China
• Elvas, Portugal
• Drosendorf, Austria
• Policka, Czech Republic
• and
  many,
• 
  many more
  

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WALLED TOWNS FRIENDSHIP CIRCLE

• New member towns
• The Circle is growing steadily, (at approximately
  3 per year)
• New towns joining in 2003 are
• Novigrad, Croatia
• Kezmarok, Slovakia
• Pecs, Hungary and
• Trnava, Slovakia

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WALLED TOWNS FRIENDSHIP CIRCLE

• What has the Circle achieved so far?
• The Circle has achieved a great deal since its
  launch in 1990.
• It has developed, as mentioned earlier, into a
  known and respected network of over 140 towns and
  cities in 27 different countries. Continual
  recruitment of new members is vital however for
  the Circle to flourish.
• Like all organisations, however, it must also
  change and improve if it is to continue to grow
  and prosper in the future.
• Help in achieving this aim has recently arrived
  in the shape of major sponsorship from U.K. civil
  engineering firm, Jarvis. Support has also been
  received through smaller sponsorship deals with
  companies from member towns such as Piran and
  Soave, which have greatly assisted with the costs
  of vital communications, such as the production
  of newsletters.

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WALLED TOWNS FRIENDSHIP CIRCLE

• Where does the real strength of the Circle lie?
• It lies in the constant support of our core
  member towns and the hard work that the
  individuals and municipalities of those towns
  give to the Circle.
• This support takes a number of forms, such as the
  sharing of good practice and constant search for
  ways to provide financial support for the Circle
  through joint project working. It also happens
  when member towns agree to host one of the
  Circles annual symposia which helps to raise
  awareness of the Circle and its work in that
  country.
• The first symposia took place in Cardiff, Wales
  in 1991, the 10th anniversary symposium was held
  in Tenby, Wales (the place where it all started).
  Last year the host town was Waterford in Ireland
  and this year it will be in Chichester, England.
  Other symposia have been held in Austria, Malta,
  Croatia, Slovenia, France, Portugal and Italy.

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WALLED TOWNS FRIENDSHIP CIRCLE

• Where does the Circle go from here?
• The Circle understands and recognises in its
  business plan, that there are five key areas that
  it must address so it can continue to develop
• It is important that the Circle retains its
  friendship roots, which is the basis for many of
  the current memberships involvement.
• It needs to retain its social element, again to
  cater for current members, but also to form the
  basis for political involvement.
• It needs to be able to demonstrate that its
  existence makes a difference and that being a
  member also makes a difference.
• It needs to develop its culture of sharing good
  practice, and
• It needs to further develop itself as a strong
  and active network.

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WALLED TOWNS FRIENDSHIP CIRCLE

• What else must the Circle do?
• The Circle needs to build on the solid
  foundations it has already, but also to go
  forward on a number of broad fronts.
• Increasingly, potential new members will be
  assessing the added value that being a member of
  the WTFC will bring to their town, in the light
  of other competing forums addressing similar
  issues they will be looking for
• a professional and businesslike set up.
• more regular events tackling issues of concern.
• an organisation which really does share and
  exchange information and good practice.
• a forum which innovates.
• Profile and influence.
• a source of funding for partners through joint
  project working
• an organisation with political influence
• an organisation which is fun to be part of.

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WALLED TOWNS FRIENDSHIP CIRCLE

• The Future
• However we develop our future through our
  business plan, consolidating our position as a
  respected and robust European network of historic
  walled towns, we must not lose sight our roots
  and the reasons we are here.
• Our founding President Peter Osborne wrote a
  mission statement for the Circle, which we call
  the Piran Declaration, which states
• Walled towns are unique inheritances from
  times long past and should be treasured,
  maintained and safeguarded from neglect damage
  and destruction and passed on into perpetuity as
  irreplaceable Timestones of History.
• We must never forget this responsibility.
  
  
• 
  
• 
  The Walled Towns Friendship Circle
  is sponsored by Jarvis UK