In
the 35th year of our sister city relationship I pleased to report on
the activities of the Frankston Susono Friendship Association over the past 12
months. Thank you to my fellow group of passionate volunteers who continue their
great work 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 and left us during
the year. A
very well done to Simon Hast, Therese Sakamoto, Bev Hannan, Vic Webster, Julie
D’Arcy, Margaret Patterson and Helen Wilson. Good Luck Helen from all of us. Thank
You also to Suzie Zagami and Fran Menting who were with us for part of the
year.
Again, our collective thanks to Chris Hodgins for providing outstanding administrative support
to the Association.
In
February this year we held a reception at Frankston High School to celebrate
the 35th year of our sister city relationship and the 20th
anniversary of the Japanese garden. Those who attended included Mayor Brian
Cunial, Councillors Hampton and Toms, Past Executive members, Life members and
supporters of the sister city relationship. Speeches and ceremonial toasts
recognised the work of many who have contributed to the fabric of the sister
city relationship. See my speech attached to this report.
This
year we completed a stocktake and documented of all the wonderful Japanese
treasures we look after on behalf of the City. Thank you to Bev Hannan for this work.
We
had a delegation visit of middle school students and minders from Susono on a
short term stay on Frankston during August 2017. Thank you to Derinya Primary
School community and Therese Sakamoto for looking after the group during their stay.
Simon
Hast continues to manage our Japanese Garden at the Frankston High School. Thank
you Simon. We have some work to do at the moment to recover the garden after
being unattended for 5 months while building works at the school were completed.
Frankston
High School continues to be a great supporter of our cause. It will be the
venue for next year’s Japanese Fair. Principal John Albiston will represent the
High School on this year’s Executive.
Our
annual Speech Contest at Monash University continues to develop and evolve and
is well supported by local schools. Our contest this Friday has attracted
record numbers of participants. We also appreciate the support of those who
have volunteered to be judges. We are developing a great network of people in
the broader “Japanese community”. Thank you to those who have contributed to
the success of our speech contest. There are some 26 schools in the region
teaching Japanese and 8 schools in the city of Frankston.
In
recognition of the number of Japanese expats in the broader Frankston
community, one of our goals is to set up an informal Japanese Network. FSFA
would be the catalyst and the organiser of the first event. After a false start
earlier this year we plan to have a gathering in our Japanese Garden this
spring to coincide with blossom blooming. Our Hanami is planned for late October
so will can sit under the sakura and network with one another. We plan to enjoy
some great Japanese food and beverages.
A
member of our Association Mr Sorin Ionascu continued his great work as a
Community English Language teacher in Susono. This fulfils his dream of living
in Japan for an extended period. He has been well assisted by his wife Mirella
and both have become loved members of the Susono community. We look forward to
seeing Sorin and Mirella back in Frankston in February 2018. We supported Sorin
and Mirella at the International Fair in Susono with a range of Australian
goods.
The
Frankston Council has approved in principle the naming of a service road in
front of the Frankston Private Hospital as Susono Way. This is subject to
community consultation and other processes. Once approved a tribute garden and
signage will be constructed in a reserve opposite the Hospital. Signage will
publicly recognise the sister city relationship and the contribution of AAPL
to the Frankston Community.
After
a break of a number of years, FSFA has submitted an application for an Australian Sister
Cities Award. The submission was under the Community Involvement category and
related to the 2016 Japanese Fair. Thank to Simon for putting the submission
together. We shall keep our fingers crossed.
Jess
Hast has been developing our new website. It is slowly getting there has we
feed in more content and evolve the structure of the website. Thank you to Jess
for her work to date. Keep up the good work.
We
have started early preparations for a Japanese Fair on 6 May 2018 and a delegation
visit to Japan for the Australian Fair on 30 September 2018. We all look
forward to these two events.
It is
sad to see that AAPL/Yazaki is closing in Frankston in the coming weeks. The
company was a significant contributor to the Frankston Community in many ways.
The company of course brought Frankston and Susono together and we always
indebted to the company for that. We will be recognising the contribution of
AAPL/Yazaki to Frankston in our new Japanese garden.
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.
