KTA Chairperson's Report to the AGM 2004

Talofa, Mauri and Greetings to you all.

How wonderful to see so many of you at the great Foakes Hall of Great Dunmow. We were here four years ago and now here again to celebrate the Independence of our two countries for the year 2004 and in addition to that, we are celebrating the twinning of Great Dunmow Town Council with Funafuti Town Council. This is a unique and special event for the KTA because this is our very first twinning. We continue to promote our two countries by way of finding more town councils here in UK and Europe to twin with more Island Councils in Kiribati and Tuvalu.

On behalf of KTA I would like to thank the Great Dunmow Town Council, represented today by The Mayor and his wife Mrs. Miller, and the people of Great Dunmow for their kind hospitality and in welcoming the KTA into their town with open arms. We greatly appreciate it.

I would like to give a very big thank to our host for the whole weekend, Mr. Clive Smith, and his team of helpers in the bar, the pig and lamb earth oven roasters, Bob Bryden and Neil McNoughton.

Also to the BBQers, Tony Wainwright and Keith Dixon who fed the campers upon arrival at the campsite with KTA beef burgers and hotdogs. To the kitchen staff, Judith who really went overboard peeling the veges at the campsite then cooking them until the early hours of the Saturday morning in the hall and up again in full gear helping Teka and Emily setting up the buffet lunch and then giving Ivor Blake and Nick Harding a hand in the afternoon teas preparation. Where did she get the energy?

A huge thank you too to the Summers family who organized the raffle. Ko bati n rabwa to Mark Pollard yet again for decorating the hall. I had to keep reminding myself that I was sitting in Foakes hall, not in the Funafuti maneapa. The KTA owes a special appreciation and thank you to Rose Fordham of course for manning the door and selling tickets while her husband was at the meeting.

I would like to thank one of our very senior members, Mrs. Peggy Turpin and the Great Dunmow Mayor’s wife, Mrs. Marion Miller for cutting our beautiful cake.

Allow me too to thank one of our members, I cannot recall her name who donated a yummy homemade fruitcake and those of you who donated stuff for the raffle. All contributions are well noticed and appreciated

A special fafetai lasi to Emma Waters for her effort in organising the outdoor games. The tennis was a success! We need more volunteers for games next year please!

Most of you enjoyed the Saturday night disco using our very own powerful loud sound system, thanks to our amateur but vibrant DJs Timake Day and Hegnes Dixon for keeping the dancers happy on their feet form 9pm to 12.30am with their top of the pops selection of rock, reggae, hip-hop and disco music.

Thank you also to David de-Silver and his gang for tidying and sweeping up the hall after the disco in the early hours of Sunday. You all did it marvelously.

I thank Patrick and Philomena Lawrence for their help in doing the shopping with me again in France and at Cash and Carry here in England. The KTA saved a lot of money on cheap but good quality first class wine and champagne from France. My special thanks to Patrick for driving down to Exeter in the middle of the night to fetch my passport. What a scout!

Further more thank you to Katalina Tupou who went around the local London markets picking fresh tropical vegetables for us. Taro, breadfruit, casava, tapioca, kumara, yams, coconuts are our prized vegetables in special occasions like this and to compliment it with the roast pig makes some of us feel like eating in the maneaba on the islands.

Thank you too to Rev. Peter Street for the wonderful moving Sunday service of thanksgiving that concluded our weekend in perfect harmony. It certainly made some of us feel very much at home. What was most inspiring and absorbing was the recitation of The Lord's Prayer in Kiribati, Tuvalu and English It certainly was an emotional as well as a memorable one.

Lastly but not the least, I thank the committee who is the backbone of the KTA for their hard work and their dedication in ensuring the smooth running of the KTA throughout the year.

Fafetai lasi to Suliana Barber, our dance coordinator who took the reins on the day while Rote Walsh, our dance organizer was in Kiribati. She did an excellent job in motivating and encouraging some dance supporters prior to the event to sing and be percussionists on stage if ever the sound system could not cope: The dance supporters include Kaitibo Batterham, Avira Harding, Kabure Blake, Teka Wainwright, Timake Day, Philomena Lawrence, Tauri Carmichael, Nafiata McNoughton, Emily Bryden, Agnes Derby, Buaua Wills Richard, Betty de-Silver, Erin Orme, Aorita and Emma Waters, Hegnes Dixon and Tabera Samson. Well done!

Of course, a great deal of gratitude goes to our young dancers whom without, the dancing would not be as fascinating and enchanting as it should be. Thank you Juliet Barber, Elizabeth Blake, Arlina and Nicola Day, Krista Dixon, Amanda Lau, Erin Orme, Faletapu Petelu, Jesse Turpin, Terema Wainwright and Rotiina Willis-Richards for being such skilful and delightful entertainers on the day.

A big thank you to Terri Pollard for her terrific work as Secretary. Her smartness and efficiency was greatly admired and it will be missed terribly.

Thank you very much Erin Orme for filling the post of the Treasurer, and for looking after KTA finances during this period. May I thank Jeremy Fordham, our KTA Trustee for keeping his eagle eyes on the running of the committee and the association as a whole. It is very comforting and assuring to know that you are always there when needed.

I thank Hegnes Dixon, for accepting to be our Te Buu (newsletter) editor and producer again for the next three years and not only that but thank her as well for being a caretaker to our KTA expensive sound system transporting it where ever and when ever needed by the KTA dancers. More importantly, ko rabwa for liaising with our webmaster, Jeremy Cooper in maintaining the running of the KTA website.

Many thanks to Jeremy Cooper for his most valuable contribution in keeping ktaweb going for us. You will find up to dates of events and announcements there so check it every now and then. The address is http://www.ktaweb.org.uk

We have two new faces on the committee for the next three-year term. I have the pleasure to welcome Mrs. Agnes Derby as Treasurer and Mr. Simon Seligman as our new Secretary. I congratulate and thank them both for their willingness to take up these very challenging posts, and looking forward to their working together with the committee as team players. I am sure they will find their new posts most enjoyable.

We all did it again this year. What a success!

As the saying goes, “Many hands make light work”.

Hooray for the KTA team. We all won.

Thank you, Fafetai lasi and Kam bati n rabwa.

Samoala Kofe Jackson.