Once
again, it is my pleasure to report on the activities of the Frankston Susono
Friendship Association over the past 12 months. A small group of us continue to
look after the sister city relationship on behalf of the Frankston Council.
Thank you to all the Executive members and others who have joined us during the
year. Chris Hodgins continues her sterling effort with admin support to the
Association.
The
highlight of the year was the delegation visit to Susono in November 2014. Lead by Councillors Hampton and Cunial 38
people from the City of Frankston made the trip. We celebrated Australia and
Frankston at a Fair in Susono with entertainment provided by students from
Frankston High School and Derinya Primary School. Thank you to every member of
the group for exceptional effort. The Susono Overseas Friendship Association
said they had a record number of people attend the Australian Fair.
The
group was welcomed to Susono by the new Mayor, Mr Kenji Takamura. He will be
making his first visit to Frankston next year. We are now preparing for this
official visit in April 2016. We will be holding a Japanese Festival and Fair
to coincide with the visit.
FSFA
held a Japanese Fair and Festival in April this year and it was an outstanding
success. The Frankston Arts Centre was the venue with loads of people coming to
try a range of Japanese activities. We were also pleased to have a number of
other organisations and people help us with the event. These included the
Japanese Model Railway group and Taiko drummers.
In
2014 we made every effort to contact all our former Exchange Students. Of the
38 students that went to Susono for an extended stay we were able to contact 26
of them. We will continue the quest. Two former students Julie and Therese are
members of our Executive.
Simon
Hast continues to manage our Japanese Garden at the Frankston High school. He
organised several working bees during the year to prune a number of the plants
and keep the bamboo under control. We
are also looking to re-render the wall to freshen it up before the Susono visit
next year.
One
of our former Exchange Students, Sam Warrington recently returned to Frankston
after spending several years working in Susono as an Assistant Language
Teacher. FSFA has been trying to find a person for a Community English teacher
position. FSFA had for many years been recruiting people for various teaching
roles in Susono.
Our
annual Speech Contest at Monash University continues to develop and evolve and
is well supported by local schools. We have this year’s contest on this Friday.
I
would like to thank the Frankston Council for their ongoing support of our work
and allocation of funding for our activities each year.
I
thank you all for your attendance tonight and thank you again to all the
Executive members and supporters of our sister city relationship.
