Dear UKEDC members,
It has been fantastic for many of us to be able to get back on the dance floor in recent months including at the UK Fun Competition, the UK Equality Open and the Pink Dancers’ Ball. The return of in-person events means that many of us are much busier, and I am sorry to announce that both Paul Killick and Julie Tomkins have resigned from the UKEDC Committee due to the pressure of increased travel and greater workloads. I thank them both for their work on the Committee and in particular their role in establishing the Sub-Committees, of which more below.
Following Paul’s resignation, I will be the Acting Chair of the Committee until the AGM and elections on 27 February 2022. Since our last AGM back in February 2021 there have been a number of changes to the Committee and the current list of Committee Members is below. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has contributed to the work of the Committee over the last year. We now only have five voting members on the Committee, rather than the nine required by the constitution. As, however, we have less than three months before the AGM, the Committee has decided not to seek to formally co-opt new members to the Committee before the AGM. We would still love to hear from anyone who would be interested in working with the Committee more informally or in joining one of the Sub-Committees. We also encourage everyone to consider standing in the Committee elections – nominations must be submitted by 16 January 2022 using this form.
I apologise for the length of this newsletter, but please do take the time to read the updates below as they contain important information and dates for your diary. We will be sending out more updates over the next couple of months in the run up to the AGM and I hope you will find them useful. If you have any questions or comments, please don’t hesitate to contact me or one of the other committee members – we are here for you!
With very best wishes, and stay safe
Ansell
Acting Chair, UKEDC
Committee Member update
The current Committee members are:
Vice Chair and Acting Chair – Ansell Chezan
Treasurer and Acting Membership Secretary – Tom Dane
Other Committee Members – Malcolm Hill, Mariusz Stankiewicz, Roswitha Wetschka, Francesca Canty – non-voting advisory member.
Sub-Committee update
Earlier this year, Paul Killick instigated the Committee’s biggest project so far in setting up four Sub-Committees to help us focus on specific areas and involve more of the members in the work of the Council.
The Sub-Committees and their members are:
Governance – Tom Dane (Chair), Ansell Chezan, Joanne Williams, Andrew Devlin
Education – Ansell Chezan (Chair), Mariusz Stankiewicz, Sue Cooper, Michal Litke
Social Development – Malcolm Hill (Chair), Gary Lyness, Richard Rose, Jack Bisseker, Jo Taylor
Activities – Roswitha Wetschka (Chair), Francesca Canty, Bradley Stauffer-Kruse, Crista Pearce-Altendorff, Darren Hulme, Lori Pearce-Altendorff, Tom Wohlfahrt
We will update you on the work of all the Sub-Committees over the next few months. Today I want to draw your attention to the training module being developed by the Education Sub-Committee. I thank Julie Tomkins for her work in getting this off the ground and I look forward to continuing the good work done so far. The purpose of the module is for the UKEDC to have specific guidance for teachers and dancers wanting to learn about equality dancing. A big project, but an important one for the inclusion of grassroots dancers.
All the Sub-Committee projects are fundamentally intended to promote the UKEDC and build the membership at all levels including social and competitive dancers.