Timbuktu communications meeting

I turned up at Pemberton Minor last night to find some of the "usual suspects" on the committee (I'm one of them, of course!). Luke and Anna, of Drover Holidays, are new faces though, and very enthusiastic. They actually cycled across Africa before they set up the bike hire business.
Come September, we will have our own office in the Council Chambers - Gareth the Mayor is doing his best to rent out as much space as he can as an argument against the County Council closing the offices down. Ann was very frustrated with the Council officials she'd come across, though. She said that emails to Timbuktu were answered promptly, in French and English, and that things actually seemed to be getting done there - whereas here it's taking more than a month to move a couple of filing cabinets before we can move into the office.
There are plans to do things with the website, which at present is just a small slideshow and contact details, so that it can be used for FAQs (like "Where is Timbuktu, anyway?") and advertise upcoming events - one of which is a film show at the Parish Hall on 23rd August, 7pm, with a question and answer session, about a charity in Mali.
There's already been some interest on the web about the twinning - but some of it has been along the lines of "This is great and can I have a free flight out there?" Even Ann and Rosanna and the other organisers had to pay their own flights out when they went to visit - freebies like that just aren't going to be available, even with the (modest) funding from the Welsh Assembly. The Assembly is keen to encourage links with Sub-Saharan Africa, apparently.
The big event coming up will be a visit to Hay by a delegation from Timbuktu, from 22nd October. Before that happens, there will be at least one newsletter to publicise up-coming events and let everyone know what's going on.
Quick Timbuktu factoid: Hay and Timbuktu are on the same line of longitude -and some clever person has worked out that the line actually goes through Hardwicke Church!