The Foreign Residents in the TRNC (TFR)
17th Annual General Meeting
18th October 2014
By Ralph Kratzer
The 17th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of The Foreign Residents in the TRNC (TFR) was held on Saturday, 18th October 2014, again at the Silver Rocks Restaurant in Lapta, and was attended by more than 60 members.
Heinz Nauroth, Chairman of the association, opened the meeting at 11.35am and welcomed all TFR-members being present.
Ralph Kratzer was nominated as being the Meeting Secretary and Robin Melhuish as the Meeting Chairman for the day.
Mr. Nauroth spoke of the two members, Brian Self and David Halstead, who sadly passed away in 2014.
The Meeting Chairman Robin Melhuish then examined the quorum of the AGM. It was achieved as more than 20% of the actual total members of the club were present.
In his Chairman´s report Heinz Nauroth gave a summary of the numerous last year´s events like the highly praised Christmas Dinner in December 2013 at the Deniz Kizi Hotel in Alsancak with the unforgettable live show of the sketch “Dinner for One” presented by the members Carolyn Hartley and Horst Gutowski. Other successful events in 2014 had been inter alia a bus trip to Famagusta including a guided tour through the historical old town, the Easter Picnic in Pinarbasi, a tour to the “Mavi Kösk” and the Maronite village Korucam, the two interesting visits of the newly built Gecitköy water pipeline and dam and the “hidden village” Akincilar, and last but not least the authentic “Bavarian Oktoberfest” one month ago.
(Note: To remember the above mentioned persons and events – click on the bold links above. Get back to this article then by clicking the “back-arrow” in the upper left corner of your screen!)
Heinz then gave a short outlook of the next planned Christmas Dinner at the newly opened Merit Royal Hotel on 6th December 2014 plus other events in the queue for next year.
Last but not least he thanked the association´s Cemetery Subcommittee and all his colleagues of the main Committee for their good and effective work in the past year.
Heinz Nauroth closed his speech with a reference to the actual number of active members of the club (246 from 21 different nations).
The Chairman´s report was followed by the reports of the Deputy Chairman, Willy Lindh, about travels and trips of TFR; the Treasurer Horst Gutowski´s report about the financial status of the association; the Secretary Ralph Kratzer´s report about the development of the club´s website and Tommy Rognmo´s report about last year´s work of the Cemetery Subcommittee concerning burials and their dealing with the local authorities.
The next topic on the agenda was the Auditors´ report. The Auditors Ruth Reiter and Margaret Sheard had checked the book-keeping of the Treasurer some days before the AGM and had found no problems.
The discharge of the Committee for the period since the last AGM in October 2013 was agreed unanimously by the members present, as well as the discharge of the Auditors.
The Chairman Heinz again took the floor and suggested (instead of having stand-by-members as in the past) to enlarge the Committee by 2 additional full members for special tasks. The AGM-voters agreed that Pamela Tschersich and Richard Pete Bradley be appointed.
He then explained that several minor amendments to the constitution of the association had to be made. The members had been informed about these changes in detail before the meeting. The amendments were therefore agreed by a large majority of the AGM.
As Auditors for the following period of 2 years Lynn Hartill and Petra Wendt were suggested by the Chairman and elected by the members.
The rise of the annual membership fee from 30TL to 40TL was also agreed by most participants of the General Meeting.
Last point on the agenda was the election of the Committee. The AGM voted unanimously that the previous Committee members should be reinstated for the period of 2 more years.
After that last point, the official part of the meeting ended and most of the members present enjoyed the ensuing lunch at the Silver Rocks and the opportunity for an extensive chat among like-minded.
How do we get information on joining the foreign residents association ?
Hello Bill, please visit the website tfrnorthcyprus.wordpress.com, look under TFR contacts, you´ll find my email-address. Just send me a mail, I´ll give you more details then. Ralph (TFR Secretary)