Argentan

Sint-Niklaas

Schongau

Lucca

Colmar

 PAST EVENTS 2012

Go to 2013 Events or 2011 Events. See also the list of all Events since 2007, Future Events and the Newsletters.

Many images can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Christmas Lunch

Sunday 16 December 2012 - The Cosener's House

Sixty-five members and guests enjoyed the annual Christmas lunch on Sunday 16th December. The lunch took place, as it has for the past few years, at The Cosenor's House. The food and service were up to their usual high standard and there was a good choice of starters, mains and desserts. The company and atmosphere were also very good and the buzz of conversation only abated a little when the food for each course was served.

The event was organised by Ian and Rosemary Jardine who were not even there! They had some excuse about having to visit their daughters and their families in Australia and Tasmania. They did manage to send an email earlier in the day saying how they had just had lunch and were waiting for the temperature to cool down a little – it was 30 deg C – before they went to the beach. It must have been a hard choice!

Our thanks must go to Ian and Rosemary, the staff at Cosenor's and all others who helped make the event such a success.

Mars Street

Colmar Anniversary Weekend

6 - 10 December 2012

A combined 50th anniversary of twinning and 20th anniversary of the Colmar twinning association was held on the first weekend of December at the beginning of the Advent festivities. All the towns are invited to send four people for a twinning weekend in celebration. ADTTS was represented by Neil & Margaret Hancox and Ian & Angela Waterhouse.

Celebrating Colmar’s 50 years of Jumelage

2012 is the 50th anniversary of the first town twinning agreement between Colmar and Sint-Niklaas, Lucca and Schongau, the 20th anniversary of the Association of Les Amis du Jumelage de Colmar and the 30th anniversary of the Vale of the White Horse’s twinning with Colmar and the other towns: altogether something to celebrate. And that is what we did in great style from 6th to 10th of December this year.

Twenty-three guests were invited from the various European twin towns, including two from Gyor, plus two representatives from Princeton. Unfortunately no one could come from Eisenstadt. Together with the folk from Colmar there were about 40 of us.

Celebrations began on the evening of Thursday 6th December when we all met for a bowl of traditional soup, made from vegetables and smoked meat, which was just the thing to fight the cold, followed by fruit and manalas, special sweet bread figures; and, I nearly forgot, wine! While all this was happening we were told the about the history of St Nicolas (nothing to do with the 19th century impostor from across the Atlantic!) and then the man himself, bearing a striking resemblance to the Archbishop of Canterbury, made an appearance.

Friday started with a tour of historic Colmar overshadowed by a dark and glowering sky, scudding flakes and bigger flurries of snow. The wine and cakes and central heating that followed at the Mairie were a welcome antidote. After an excellent lunch at a local restaurant, where I tasted spätzle, the Alsatian pasta, there was a visit to the Unterlinden Museum where the famous Issenheim Triptych is displayed. In the evening, in the large church of St Matthew, a young people’s orchestra from the Colmar Music School gave us a delightful concert of European music carefully chosen from each country that had a twinning connection with Colmar. There were solo performances from a flautist from Sint-Niklaas and a young soprano plus the backing of a children’s choir. We ended with the conductor encouraging us to sing Silent Night in our own languages – not quite as melodious as listening to the choir.

It was every schoolteacher’s nightmare on Saturday morning at Colmar station –trying to organise 40 adults (!) and get them on to the local train to Sélestat, a town a little to the north of Colmar. Once there we visited a Christmas fair, with toys, displays about Christmas, cribs and an exhibition of novel/different representations of a Christmas tree, which we were invited to judge; I personally thought that the one made of Coke cans was the most imaginative. Afterwards we went to St George’s church where the history of Christmas tree decoration over the last five centuries was illustrated. It started with small red apples hung from the branches; then flat round pieces of bread were added (to represent the Host), metal decorations, lights, glass baubles etc. After a visit to the local Christmas market and another excellent lunch our hosts managed to get us all back onto the train to Colmar.

There was one more function that evening: a gala dinner with an exhibition of folk dancing by the Vogesia folk group. There were ten or twelve dancers dressed in a way slightly reminiscent of our Morris Men, though the costumes were specific to each of several local villages. Not only did they give exhibitions of dancing but they pulled the guests on to the floor as well – alas I was not quite so nimble as my partner! Amongst all this excitement we had another visit from the man himself – no not the archbishop but St Nicolas, who distributed special gifts to the twin town representatives from the people of Sint-Niklaas. This time, his stentorian tones and imposing speech in four languages, with a different twinning story in the language of each town, led one to think of a certain Hermann Cole, our honorary town crier.

We were quite glad of a lie in on Sunday morning before attending an African Mass in St Paul’s church, Colmar. This is a relatively new building with some very elegant brickwork in the walls. Just in case we were hungry we had another magnificent Alsatian lunch, in a private house, of sauerkraut and ham, smoked pork and sausages, before heading out of town to the Eco Museum at Ungersheim. This display of Alsatian life and work in the last two or so centuries, was similar to a heritage site in UK. St Nicolas arrived again, by boat this time, and led a procession of adults in peasant costumes, animals and children dressed as angels, all of whom must have been freezing, to distribute presents in a large barn. By this time the cold and biting wind had driven some of us (me anyway) to seek shelter in the restaurant for a supper of tarte flambée, both savoury and sweet, wine and coffee. And so to bed.

All the events were played out against a truly Christmas background. There were lots of old buildings, even cobbled streets sometimes, Christmas trees everywhere, adorned with lights, large out door cribs, Santas climbing walls and into windows loaded with presents, and Nature’s very own touch, real snow.

It was a wonderful experience and our genuine thanks go out to all our Amis in Colmar who had spent so much time and effort to make these four days such an enjoyable and memorable occasion. We know it took a great deal of hard work and organisation plus support from the local council. The very special thanks of Margaret and of myself go to Madame Bernadette Touhami who hosted us so well and drove us to so many places. I do hope her cat can relax now that we are out of the way!

Margaret and Neil Hancox

Official Visit to Colmar

22 - 24 November

Along with the official representatives of its other twin towns, the town of Colmar invited the Chair of the Vale of White Horse District Council, Alison Thomson, and the Chair of ADTTS, Stella Carter, to come for a weekend of celebrations to mark fifty years of twinning. This included the switching on of the Christmas lights.

Evening Meeting - "Ballooning"

Wednesday 21 November 2012 - Preston Road Community Centre

James Sadler, Oxford Pastry Cook and first British Aeronaut

In Oxford along the back of Merton College, near the end of Deadman’s Walk is an intriguing blue plaque to James Sadler (1758 – 1828), aeronaut. Although we tend to link ballooning with Sint-Niklaas and its famous annual ballooning festival each September, in fact amongst the first 500 aeronauts there wasn’t a single Belgian. For enlightenment on the early history of man's attempts to fly, we welcomed Mark Davies to tell us all about it. As a local historian he wrote the book on the Abingdon Turnpike Murder and has turned his attention to the first aeronaut, an Oxford pastry cook. It was a fascinating story*, illustrated with early photographs of pioneering flights from the Botanic Garden. Afterwards Mark signed copies of his popular books and we enjoyed refreshments organised by Ann Prior.

* See a summary of Mark's talk as presented to the Bicester Local History Society (pdf).

James Sadler – the first English aeronaut - by Mark Davies - and a surprising twinning connection

James was born in 1753 – the son of an Oxford pastry cook and at the time of his balloon ascents lived on Oxford High Street. He made his first balloon ascent from the site of the Oxford Botanic Gardens on 4th October 1784 when he rose to a height of 3600 ft and landed 6 miles away at Water Eaton. His second ascent in 1785 took him to Aylesbury in just 20 minutes.

James was the first Englishman to make a balloon ascent off English soil but not the first person to do so. The first person was an Italian, Vincent Lunardi, and he made his ascent from the grounds of the Honourable Artillery Company in London to much acclaim.

We thought that the Twin towns link with this talk would be that Sint-Niklaas – our Belgian twin town – is famous for its hot air ballooning weekend every September but when I looked for more information about Vincent Lunardi, I discovered that he had been born in Lucca, our Italian twin town in Tuscany!

In his ballooning attempts James was competing with the Marquess of Blandford at Blenheim Palace, another keen balloonist, but James was more successful and went on to cross the English channel and the Irish sea in balloons. Ballooning was a dangerous activity in those days but James survived and died in his bed in 1828 at the age of 75.

Peter Dodd

Remembrance Sunday

Sunday 11 November 2012 - 11am at The Square

Each year ADTTS invites a representative from one of our twin towns to join with us in Abingdon's annual act of remembrance. This year we welcomed from Schongau our friends Rutgar and Ursula von Grawert-May. Together with our chairman, Rutgar laid a wreath during the ceremony at the War Memorial with a message that translates as "As representative of the twin towns I lay down this cross to the memory of the fallen of both world wars - Rutgar v. Grawert-May".

Remembrance Day reminds us of the start of Twinning, which originated in the aftermath of the Second World War, with the aim of spreading friendship and understanding and with the hope of avoiding further wars in Europe.

Each year the Society, in the person of the Chairman, lays a wreath, and in recent years, a representative from one of our twin towns also lays a wreath on behalf of all four towns. This year, perhaps especially significantly, this was done by Rutgar and Ursula von Grawert-May from Schongau.

Rutgar’s career was spent in the post war German Army and he was particularly interested and impressed by the commemoration ceremonies. His family, like so many others across Europe, had experienced suffering and loss in both World Wars.

Rutgar and Ursula attended the Civic Service in St Helen’s Church, where they were welcomed by Rev Charles Miller, before attending the service at the Memorial, and afterwards the civic reception. Here they were greeted by Monica Lovatt the Mayor, and met other members of the councils, the Deputy Lord Lieutenant of the County and the Commanding Officer of Dalton Barracks.

The von Grawert-Mays know Abingdon quite well so they enjoyed renewing contacts with many of their friends here. They were also able to visit places they had not seen before, Sutton Courtenay, with George Orwell’s grave, Dorchester Abbey and St Birinus Church, and Windsor Castle. With their keen interest in history we, who were hosting them, learnt a great deal about local and German history, not least about the origin of the names of our local villages and towns.

Rosemary and Ian Jardine

Opera Visit: La Boèhme

Saturday 27 October 2012 - New Theatre, Oxford

Ten members attended a performance of Puccini's "La bohème" by Welsh National Opera in the New Theatre Oxford, which they agreed was excellent, beautifully sung and well staged. Most of the party had gathered for a pre-theatre supper beforehand, which started off the evening in style (despite collapsing a restaurant table!) and helped to make a very memorable evening.

Michael Matthews

Evening Meeting: "Reynard the Fox"

Wednesday 17 October 2012 - Preston Road Community Centre

For our first meeting of the new season we were pleased to welcome as our guest speaker Dr. Rik Van Daele, the chief librarian of Sint-Niklaas.

We had invited Dr. Van Daele to speak to us on "Reynard the Fox", a renowned tale in Belgium and northern Europe but less well known here in England. Dr. Van Daele was the ideal choice for this talk as his doctoral thesis had been on Reynard and he is a member of an international Reynard society and editor of their newsletter. His fascinating talk traced the history of Reynard from medieval times in French literature through translations into Dutch and other languages to the present day where statues of the fox and references to him abound in Sint-Niklaas.

As with many old fairy stories such as those of the brothers Grimm, the tale of the devious fox and his dealings with King Nobel and the other animals is to say the least rather vicious and blood thirsty, perhaps reflecting life in medieval times and might have difficulty in getting published in these more squeamish days. However we survived an enthralling presentation and the following questions before enjoying our "Belgian Refreshments", well organised by our catering ladies.

We are most grateful to Dr. Van Daele for coming and giving us a memorable evening and incidentally helping to strengthen the links between our two towns.

Michael Matthews

Mayors / Twinning Conference

15 - 18 October 2012 - Lucca

This year Lucca in Italy hosted the annual twin towns conference. This is an opportunity for the twinning societies to strengthen personal contacts with the local organisers of each of our partners and to share plans for the coming year. In addition, official (Mayoral) delegations from all of the twin towns were invited, the focus being a conference in which each town gave a presentation on the theme of the European year of "Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations".

ADTTS was represented by Susan and Brian Read. The town council sent our Mayor, Monica Lovatt, the Leader, Sandy Lovatt, and Abingdon's twinning officer, Marianne Milburn.

A day was devoted to the conference work followed by a second of visits and entertainment. From the point of view of ADTTS, the main focus of this annual event is the opportunity to learn more about the activities of our partner twinning organisations and to hear about their plans for the coming year. Thus while the Mayors deliberated, the twinning representatives met together separately and reported in turn.

For Lucca, Adolfo Berti, supported by Maria Curto, said that following dramatic council elections in May, there seemed to be a welcome new input to twinning by the city. It involves two major events in 2013. The first concerns the annual comics and social games festival in the autumn, which attracts 150,000 visitors over three days. Invited representatives from the twin towns, hosted by families, would promote twinning at five stands in a tent. The other big event is a food festival to be held each weekend in November. They would like to host each twin town to come for a weekend in turn to showcase (and even sell) their products, especially food and drink. The municipality would also like to institute an annual award, voted on by all the twinning associations, to recognise someone who has contributed significantly to twinning. Adolfo also spoke of his association’s interest in promoting particular exchanges, sporting or cultural, and would welcome smaller visiting groups. Of interest would be the world cycling race in Lucca next October.

The Abingdon report on this year’s activities and the future programme was summarised and usefully discussed. Apart from the major twinning visits, emphasised were the popular monthly meetings, the successful churches’ twinning group and exchange visits by schools and sports clubs. Most importantly it was an opportunity to publicise Abingdon’s English Language School to be held next July.

For Colmar, Christiane Wagner told us that their association was very active, with about a hundred members and an established annual programme of monthly meetings. Quite soon would be the official opening of the Christmas markets to which twin towns Mayors and societies were invited by the town to celebrate fifty years of twinning. Two weeks later (6-9 December), Les Amis du Jumelage de Colmar hold their big twinning weekend, welcoming guests from all their partners to celebrate the anniversary. Principal events in 2013 are a trip by members to Sint-Niklaas in April and an invitation to the twin towns for the vendanges (grape harvest) in September.

The Schongau spokesman was Herr Diesch, accompanied by Maria Abletshauser. Only a few of their fifty members are presently active and the future programme is not prepared yet. Two weeks previously was the fiftieth anniversary celebration with a feast and an exhibition of twinning in the museum. The Mayors of Colmar and Abingdon attended, together with organists from the twin towns, who played each evening on the new (loud) organ.

Unfortunately Sint-Niklaas twinning was unrepresented at the meeting. As anticipated, with elections only the previous week, a new administration was not yet in place to participate.

After further constructive discussion, we rejoined the official delegations for welcome speeches and a buffet lunch (with a commemorative cake!). The reports on Ageing in the afternoon session from each town were distributed in four languages, though the deliveries by each rapporteur were less than exciting, with no opportunity for questions or even discussion. Each town had interpreted the remit differently. However the contribution from Sint-Niklaas covered initiatives on intergenerational solidarity that were quite interesting (including “Tuppercare” in their Turkish community).

The conference closed with the Mayor from each visiting town ceremoniously signing a declaration of confirmation of twinning with Lucca.

The following day brought a guided tour of the city with a visit to Puccini’s house, a demonstration of flag throwing and cross bows by the Balestrieri, a fine clarinet concert, and culminated in a formal, farewell dinner with exchange of presents.

Overall, it was an enjoyable and profitable visit. The city of Lucca must be warmly thanked for its hospitality. However, above all we must acknowledge the great kindness of our own hosts Pietro and Renata Bertolozzi who looked after us so generously!

Susan & Brian Read

Visit to Argentan

4 - 8 October 2012

Group visit to Argentan Thursday 4th to Monday 8th October 2012

We were beginning to wonder if we’d ever reach the ferry after our coach driver took the wrong exit off the motorway, then took the wrong exit from the roundabout, then had three attempts at finding the correct spot in Portsmouth Ferry Port before we eventually arrived!

Some of us dined on sandwiches on the coach, some ate in the Cafeteria, while others ate lots of fresh shellfish and French cheese as well as other delicacies, in the Restaurant. (Some of us gave the free whisky tasting a good go in the shop –ed.) We all seemed to sleep well in our cabins until about 4 a.m., when it got a bit rough.

We visited Le Mont St Michel and Villedieu-les-Poêles, where at the bell foundry some of our number saw a bell being cast, before arriving in Argentan at 6 pm. Eight of us were dropped off at their hotel, while the rest were taken to the Intermarché car park, where our hosts were waiting for us, and we received very warm welcomes. We were taken to where we were staying, and then very soon were off out to the enormous barn-like Halle des Expositions for a Pasta Party. This was because the next day there was going to be a half-marathon, and apparently runners need to eat lots of pasta. Guess what we had to eat, both cold as a starter, then hot as a main course? It was great fun – we were welcomed with a glass of cider or Kir, very good wine was €5 a bottle, and I must have had too much of it, as I agreed to write this article for John’s newsletter! (I caught her when her guard was down – ed.)

On Saturday morning we had a guided tour of the town given by a very knowledgeable American teacher and his student, then we had an enormous lunch, with more alcohol, and lots of speeches before having a free afternoon. Picking wild mushrooms, visiting a Museum of Lace, watching horseracing and running in the marathon were some of the activities we enjoyed.

Saturday evening saw a return to the Halle for a "Dinner Dance". (I use the inverted commas deliberately!) Again it was fun, with a huge contingent of runners from Yeovil livening up the proceedings, but the food was a disappointment.

I had to go to Church with my very kind hostess on Sunday morning, and even carried the chalice of wine down the aisle, with Helen Smith, who had been running in the marathon holding the plate of wafers, behind about ten very young children all carrying burning nightlights! The service was bilingual, with the Smiths reading lessons.

After Sunday lunch, we went to Le Haras du Pin, one of France’s National Studs, which was very interesting. My hostess entertained two of the hotel guests to both lunch and dinner, and my French improved quite a lot, as I had to do a lot of translating!

We left Argentan early on Monday morning, and drove through the wet Normandy countryside, through the tiny village of Camembert, to the larger one of Livarot, where we toured a very interesting cheese factory, Fromagerie Graindorge, and sampled Pont-lÉvêque, Neufchâtel, Livarot and Camembert cheeses with sweet cider, before driving on to Lisieux for lunch, thence to Ouistreham to catch the ferry home.

We arrived back in Abingdon well after 11p.m. after an action-packed visit. It was my first experience of twinning visits, but it won’t be the last!

During the whole trip we were all looked after extremely well by Rosemary and Ian Jardine, who became leaders at fairly short notice, and could not have been bettered in any way. Heartfelt thanks from us all go to them.

Sue Hodgson

AGM & Evening Meeting

Wednesday 19 September 2012 - Preston Road Community Centre

At the Abingdon and District Twin Towns Society (ADTTS) Annual General Meeting, reports on the year were received, the Chairman and other officers were re-elected, while two new members joined the committee to replace two members standing down. (Details)

Following the AGM, the evening had a Normandy theme (with appropriate refreshments) including a presentation on our forthcoming twinning trip to Argentan.

Alsace Patchwork

13 - 16 September 2012

Alsace hosted a major patchwork event, the 18th Carrefour Européen du Patchwork. With interest from Abingdon Quilters, an advance party of two spent a week in the region, based at our twin town of Colmar. They were welcomed by our twinning friends, les Amis du Jumelarge de Colmar.

Schongau Churches Visit

6 - 10 September 2012

photo: J Nicholson

photo: J Nicholson

The Church Twinning Group recently hosted 15 members of the Lutheran and Catholic churches in Schongau, and the visit was an enjoyable mix of history, religion, socialising, music and exercise in the fresh air over an Indian summer weekend.

The invitation was timed to coincide with Heritage Weekend, so, as well as visiting some of the churches in Abingdon and hearing of the work of the CiA (Church in Abingdon) - such as 35 Ock St, the Street Pastors, Christian Aid, and Trinity Learning - there was also the opportunity to see parts of Abingdon not usually visible to the public.

The sun shone on our visit to Dorchester where Christianity came to this part of England, so we walked down from Wittenham Clumps with all our history from the Iron Age to JET nuclear fusion laid out before us. Evensong at Christ Church rounded off an afternoon in Oxford, with choices of activities to cater for first-timers and those who already knew the city.

Our visitors met members of ADTTS over lunch in the lovely garden of St Ethelwold’s house, and also met people from other community groups, such as the Friends of Abingdon who gave a tour of the abbey site and buildings, and All Saints string ensemble who played chamber music during our main meal together, where the visitors sang for their supper too. They also sang for us at the bilingual ecumenical church service held to bring the visit to a close.

Some of the points which leader Evelyn Schmidbauer picked out in her farewell speech were the way the churches work well together in Abingdon, the way the buildings themselves are used, and the effort that Abingdonians are now making to try a little of the language of their guests: the surprise of being invited after their journey to sit down for lunch at tables set in the south aisle of St Helen’s church was only surpassed by seeing, fixed on the pillars with bluetack, phrases from the German class given to the committee prior to their arrival – the German for "Did you sleep well?" and "You may use the bath at any time"!!

Angela Waterhouse

Annual Garden Party

Sunday 22 July 2012 - Willows, Faringdon Road, Shippon

The ADTTS annual garden party was held this year at the home of John and Ann Prior in Shippon. It took the form of a lunch in their large garden which had plenty of room for members and guests to mingle in the sunshine. (As John remarked, it comes complete with a 'shady nook by a babbling brook' for those of you who remember the Donald Peers recording of 1944.) Especial thanks are due to the catering team, who excelled!

What wonderful weather – beautifully warm blue skies and puffy white clouds!

What a truly fabulous garden, with beautiful flowers, shrubs, trees, a babbling brook, and never a slug or snail in sight!

What a fantastic lunch with a whole range of truly delicious dishes and sumptuous drinks!

What else?

The delightful company of so many members, friends and guests!

And, our most sincere thanks to Ann and John Prior for their excellent hospitality – we are already looking forward to next year!!

Ian Jardine

Churches Visit Argentan

21 - 25 June 2012

Church in Abingdon visit to Argentan, Thursday 21st June to Monday 25th June

Early on Thursday June 21st three cars set out from Abingdon in the rain bound for Portsmouth. Two were going to Argentan via the ferry, while the occupants of the third were going on by ferry and train. By the time we arrived at Argentan in the afternoon the weather had brightened up, and our hosts duly met us. After an evening and Friday morning with our hosts using a mixture of English and French, our programme organized by them began, though it was perhaps not as completely church oriented as we might have expected. Friday and Saturday were fine sunny days, and on the Friday afternoon we were taken to see, in great detail, the beautiful gardens at Marigny where the roses, including the John Clare rose, were at their finest. On Saturday afternoon there was a visit to Alençon to see the birthplace and shrine of St Thérèse of Lisieux, where an enthusiastic nun from Kenya guided us round.

On Saturday evening we were entertained by Pierre and Ionie Silliere to a barbecue supper at their house and met Père Gilbert who had come to Abingdon in November 2010. Then on Sunday morning we attended the mass at St Germain, after which there was an opportunity to meet Père Pechet and old friends from our previous twinning visits. Sunday was a wet day but in the afternoon we were taken to see the national horse stud, the Haras du Pin, which we had visited on our last trip to Argentan in October 2009 but was then closed. On Monday we said goodbye to our hosts and caught the afternoon ferry, arriving back in Abingdon late in the evening. The sea crossing both ways was remarkably smooth. As always, we had all enjoyed the greatest hospitality from our Norman hosts.

John Clare

Argentan School Visit

11 June 2012

School pupils from Argentan visited Abingdon for the week 9-16 June for a return exchange. On the Monday, after a visit to the Guildhall hosted by Council Leader Sandy Lovatt, a small group of ADTTS members took them on a tour of the town. Due to the pouring rain, this was shortened and concentrated on a visit to St Helen's church where the group photograph was taken.

American Visitors for the Jubilee

1 - 4 June 2012

For the Queen's Jubilee weekend, we were delighted to host ten visitors from the town of Abingdon, Virginia to join with us in our local celebrations to mark the anniversary.

Rick & Susan Humphreys

Leslie & Al Bradley Cecile Rosenbaum Tenille Montgomery Greg Kelly Deb Icenhour   photo: Alastair Fear

Maria Barrow       (Not shown: Milton Maiden)

Our guests had a busy weekend, starting on the Friday with a welcome cocktail party given by Michael Matthews. Saturday meant a visit to Blenheim Palace, a welcome from the Mayor and the Jubilee dinner dance in the Guildhall. After the civic service in St Helen's church on Sunday, Mike & Maggie Greaney hosted a table for lunch as part of the great Ock Street party. The day concluded with the Bun Throwing and Proms in the Park. Monday offered our guests An American in Oxford tour, lunch at the Trout Inn and a tour of the Cotswolds with cream tea. The weekend was rounded off with a bring and share supper with members who went on the trip to Virginia, organised in the park to watch the screening of the Queen's Jubilee concert at Buckingham Palace.

A BIG THANK YOU! to everyone who helped so magnificently to give our ten guests from Abingdon, Virginia, a great Jubilee weekend. I was overwhelmed by the response and I hope everyone enjoyed being part of the celebrations. Lots of people did lots of small things which all added to making it a wonderful weekend. Our guests couldn't get over how friendly everyone was, a feeling shared by all of us who went to Virginia! The message is that we are very welcome to make a return visit to Abingdon, Virginia.

Stella

Cycling Trip to Argentan

17 - 20 May 2012

In June 2009 twenty of us accepted an invitation to cycle to Argentan to celebrate D-Day with our twin town. In June 2011 twelve Argentan cyclists came for a long weekend of cycling as our guests and had such a good time they invited us back. We think this could become an annual event as it is generating a lot of goodwill amongst people who do not often speak each other’s language.

On 17th May this year twenty-three of us made our way by two different 90 mile routes to Portsmouth harbour for the night ferry to Ouistreham where we were met by our Argentan cycling friends and their two trailers and two minibuses. We went together by bike around Caen then west to Clecy on the edge of the hilly Suisse Normande, where several of us took our friends’ advice, put our bikes on a trailer and had a relaxing few hours going up and down hills in the minibus, eventually arriving in Argentan to a splendid meal and reception before going off to our host families for a good night's sleep.

The next day, Saturday, our hosts had arranged a 90k ride to include Camembert and Mont Ormel, the site of the battle of Normandy. Here we were shown around by Gerard (pictured), who was a fifteen-year-old boy at the time and was lucky to survive. His family were farmers in the Couloir de la Mort (corridor of death) where the battle took place. Over 10,000 German soldiers were trying to escape from Brittany to Germany and found themselves surrounded trying to cross the river Dives, which only had four crossing points each of which was a magnet for Allied firepower. Gerard and his family had tried to leave the area but were prevented by German soldiers, their home was destroyed early on and all they could do was hide behind the remains of walls and pray. Gerard told me that the British are his favourite people because after three days with nothing to eat cowering behind a low wall, he finally emerged to see some uniforms which were not German, led by a man preparing tea and thick slices of bread and jam for his men and shouting ‘milk, milk’! Gerard ran off to find out what ‘milk’ meant, milked a cow, brought the milk to this strange soldier and in exchange was given some loaves of bread and tins of jam which saved him and his family from starvation.

The battle resulted in ten thousand dead, mainly Germans and thousands of horses and cows. For days afterwards the air was black with flies and even aircraft could not get through. Eventually the corpses were buried in mass unmarked graves until the early 60s when the German authorities disinterred most of the bodies, identified them by their dog tags and gave them a proper burial in nearby Potigny cemetery.

This was a WWII battle which I had heard of but which I knew very little about. One of the Allied heroes was the Polish General Maczec who could not return home after the war because Poland had fallen under the Soviet sphere of influence. It seems he worked out his days as a barman in London and died in poverty fairly recently. As the years go by there are fewer and fewer Gerards who can give personal accounts of what happened so if you want to meet him and your French is good, look him up at the Syndicat d`Initiative at Chambois.

On Sunday 20th we went in at least three different routes home, some getting the evening ferry and some the night ferry. It was an unforgettable experience and one that we all look forward to repeating in two or three years’ time when we will have hosted them here again. Our Argentan friends have raised the hospitality bar very high but we will try to do them justice next time they come to us.

Richard Smart

A Night of Opera

Monday 14 May 2012 - Amey Theatre, Abingdon School

To celebrate 40 years of twinning with Lucca, the Society arranged a special night of opera with the Italian Soprano, Silvana Froli, from Lucca, and supported by the Kidlington Amateur Operatic Society Chorus. (Concert poster pdf)

Many will remember that Silvana sang to us in St Nicolas Church a few years ago (November 2008). An article on one of her recent concerts in Florence said:

“Her natural soprano voice allowed her to learn from great singers, doing final masterclasses with Susanna Rigacci, participating in interesting projects like an American video production with Andrea Bocelli in 1998 and a BBC television interview as the typical Puccini singer just recently. In 2002 she sang in Mozart's Requiem and was very requested as Mimi at the annual 'Puccini e la sua Lucca' Festival as well as in many opera houses all over Italy and abroad. At Elba she sang in 2008 Cio-Cio-San in Madame Butterfly. Her repertoire also includes Tosca in 'Tosca' and Turandot in 'Turandot'.”

Additionally, to make an evening of it, ADTTS got together with Limoncello, the Italian restaurant in Abingdon, to offer a supper and concert package. Limoncello opened early for us and a large party of members and friends enjoyed a special supper menu before the short walk to the theatre.

The concert itself was a great success, with an audience of over two hundred sharing a wonderful evening. The programme (pdf) included well-known arias by Mozart, Verdi, Wagner, Rossini and, of course, Puccini. We must thank in particular Michael Matthews who masterminded the project.

"I was sorry to miss Silvana Froli when she came to Abingdon on the 19th November 2008 but I was on my travels to China. Needless to say I thought it would be the one and only chance I would have to hear and see her (although if you Google her you will see lots of interesting things about her). On the 14th May my chance came again, and it was wonderful. Her voice made the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end. I wished for her singing to go on all night. One encore wasn't enough.

I was sitting down at the front but I'm sure the whole of Amey Hall would hear, even if they were a little hard of hearing. I would also mention the Kidlington Operatic Chorus - their "Humming Chorus" from Madame Butterfly was marvellous.

I think a wonderful night at the opera was had by all."

Isabella Russell

Europe Day

Wednesday 9 May 2012 - Kitsons Restaurant

In recent years the Society has celebrated Europe Day, which falls on 9 May, with a meal in a local restaurant. The other towns which Abingdon is twinned with also try to mark this day with a celebratory meal. This year 31 members and 2 guests from the Anglo-German Society enjoyed an excellent meal and good company in Kitsons Restaurant. The menu reflected foods which might have been served in the twin towns and included dishes such as Pate, Risotto, Ganache and Crème Brûlée.

Rosemary and Ian Jardine

On Wednesday 9th May, despite competition from Abingdon's Mayor Making, some thirty or so of our members gathered at Kitsons Restaurant for our annual European Meal. The meal was well up to standard and we had the restaurant to ourselves, which lead to a very convivial evening as we swapped memories and thought of all our friends in our twinned towns.

Michael Matthews

Film Show

Thursday 3 May 2012 - Lecture Theatre at Abingdon College, Northcourt Road

Our annual joint event, the film show with ABCD Film Society, took place on Thursday 3rd May at Abingdon College. The normal format for this event is pre-film wine and nibbles, the film, then followed by cheese and wine after the film. So it's a social event as well as a film. A dozen people from ADTTS came this year and there were probably around 50 there in total.

The film choice is based upon one of our twin town languages - so French, German or Italian (I don't think we have had a Flemish one yet, but I may be wrong!) - and with a theme that is seen to be generally approachable by us non film buffs. This year it was Loose Cannons (Mine Vaganti - in Italian with subtitles), a comedy of errors and sexual identity in a traditional Italian family. Sounds a strange theme, BUT it was a wonderful film, funny and very enjoyable.

So next year, why not come and enjoy the film and meeting ABCD Film Society? And maybe you can even suggest a film!

John Smith

Church Twinning Visitors from Colmar

1 - 6 May 2012

On the bitterly cold Mayday Holiday weekend, three visitors, Fr. Jean-Claude Klotz and two lay-members of the parish of ‘Terre de Rencontres’ in west Colmar, came to visit the Church in Abingdon and plan a future visit by a larger group. For two of the three, it was also their first visit to England!

Despite their worries about the language barrier, and the anxiety about what was happening at home – it was the weekend of the second round of the exciting presidential election, and they had done us the honour of arranging proxy votes – they had an enjoyable visit and fruitful exchange.

They were impressed by the hospitality of the ecumenical team working well together, and we were impressed by Fr Jean-Claude’s interpreting skills (– so good that our cathedral guide tried to enrol him as a Blue Guide). We heard about the Colmar church’s inter-faith work with the local Muslim community, and the visitors learned of the great range of Christian traditions here.

In the course of the tour of Abingdon’s churches, they came across people ‘praying the labyrinth’ at St Michael’s (based on the design of the labyrinth at the cathedral of San Martino, Lucca), ringing bells at St Nicholas, and enjoying lunch at the vibrant community cafe at Peachcroft Christian Centre. We were all fascinated to discover there that even the toilets are twinned - with toilets in Burundi!

35 Ock St and Trinity Learning were two projects of particular interest to them. A visit to see Stanley Spencer’s WW1 frescos at Sandham, and a stop at Greenham Peace Garden to form a circle for peace around the flame memorial sculpture, made a link with their Peace March initiatives in Colmar which Abingdonians had joined some years ago.

There was time for a little taste of Oxford: a tour of the Bodleian Library, where the guide was our own Anne Dodd; a visit to the cathedral, where the story of St Frideswide told in the stained glass windows is remarkably like that of St Odile of Alsace; and a peek at St Edmund Hall, where one of the gargoyles is of an ex-Master whom they could meet at church on the Sunday morning.

The sound of bell-ringing practice rang out as they left in the pouring rain on the Monday morning, determined to mobilise more Colmariens to come to Abingdon next year. Jean-Claude’s quotation of the weekend: « Dieu n’a pas fait de ponts, mais nous a donne des mains pour en construire. »

Angela Waterhouse

Clubs & Societies Day

Saturday 21 April 2012 - Guildhall

Every two years, the various clubs and societies in Abingdon are invited to exhibit in the Guildhall to publicise themselves. Those helping at the Society's colourful stall this time included Angela Waterhouse and Mars Street.

Evening Meeting - European Circle Dancing

Wednesday 18 April 2012 - Preston Road Community Centre

Oh what fun we had......!

Lilly Sell-Dunkley, an inspirational teacher of circle dancing in this area came to tell us about Circle Dancing and very quickly got us on the floor to participate.

The dances that we “performed” were from countries with which we are associated through Twinning and from America and Greece.

Dancing in circles is an ancient tradition common to many cultures for marking special occasions, strengthening communities and encouraging togetherness. They can be energetic and lively or tranquil and reflective. Lilly was at pains to point out that in Circle Dancing there are no mistakes only variations!

About 40 members and friends enjoyed the evening, which included continental refreshments. New friends were made and we left with smiles on our faces despite the inclement weather outside.

A truly enjoyable evening.

Brian Smith

Argentan Quasimodo Fair

14 - 15 April 2012

Over the weekend of 14/15 April Celia Smith and Mars Street represented ADTTS at the 88th annual Quasimodo Fair in Argentan. We travelled on the 8.15am ferry from Portsmouth to Caen. Both of us remarked that we have never been on a ferry so empty; we estimated that it was carrying less than 10% of its capacity. It was a good crossing; it was calm, the boat left 15 minutes early and we were driving out of Ouistreham at the time we were meant to dock.

Our hosts for the weekend were Pierre and Ionie Silliere. Pierre is Vice President of the Twinning Committee and both are on the Quasimodo fair organising committee. As we arrived early Mars was able to introduce Celia to the delights of a French betting shop/café/bar; a PMU. On Friday evening we had dinner with other members of the twinning committee and representatives from Argentan’s other twin towns, Rotenburg in Germany and Baja from Hungary. Each of these delegations consisted of four people representing twinning and/or the twinning authority. It was a pity that Abingdon-on-Thames Town Council was unable to send a delegation.

On Saturday morning at 9.15 we all met in the Mayor’s Office for a coffee and a croissant before walking down to the Salle des Expositions for the opening of the fair at 10.00. After the speeches and the cutting of the ribbon we all followed the mayor around the exhibition. Each year the organising committee try and arrange a theme for the fair centred around a region in France or one of the twin towns. This year the theme was the region of Savoie and so there were many stalls with produce from that region in the main hall. The second hall contained mainly local produce and trade exhibits. Outside there were exhibits from lawn mowers of varying sizes, to cars, to tractors and livestock. Unfortunately it was pouring with rain on Saturday morning so nobody felt too much like lingering at the outside exhibits. At 11.45 we walked back to the town hall for more speeches; some of them appeared to be very political but there are local and national elections in the near future! There then followed a formal lunch with speeches from the mayor and representatives of the mayors of the twin towns. In the absence of a representative from Abingdon Town Council, Mars was called upon to make a speech. The lunch which started at 1.00pm finished at 3.45pm. At 8.00pm there was another dinner!

On Sunday morning there was a mass at L’eglise Saint-Germain at 10.00am. This was followed later by a visit to Chateau de Carrouges with, of course, a lunch on the way. At the lunch we were presented with a cheque by the Argentan Twinning Committee to fund the purchase of a 'jubilee tree' in celebration of the jubilee and the longstanding friendship between the two societies. On Sunday evening at 7.30pm we had our final dinner in the 'Restaurant de la Foire', the temporary restaurant for the fair. This was an informal affair with the majority of members of the town council and the fair organising committee present. The evening broke up relatively early as both the delegates from Rotenbourg and Baja had to leave early the next morning.

We had a leisurely breakfast on Monday morning chatting with Pierre and Ionie. This was the first real opportunity we had had to have a meaningful conversation with our hosts. We said our goodbyes and left mid morning, stopping at Falaise to visit the castle and to have a very light lunch on our way back to Ouistreham. This made a very relaxed and pleasant journey to the ferry.

Once on the ferry things became a little more interesting. The ferry departed late and arrived at Portmouths forty-five minutes late, a ‘technical problem with one of the four engines’ the captain announced. It took us one hour and fifteen minutes to clear immigration and the port. Finally the A34 was closed and we had to make a detour. We arrived back in Abingdon at 12:45 am (01:45 French time), two hours later than planned. C’est la vie!

This had been a most pleasant and enjoyable visit with plenty of good food and good company. We would like to thank the Foire Quasimodo 2012 Committee, the Twinning Committee from Argentan, the Twinning Office of Agrentan Council and of course Pierre and Ionie for their invitations and very generous hospitality over the weekend.

Celia Smith and Mars Street

Argentan Tennis Players Visit

13 - 15 April 2012

THE ARGENTAN – ABINGDON TENNIS LINK

Three years ago five of us went for a long weekend of tennis in Argentan and were so well looked after that we invited them back for the weekend of the 13th April.

Things went wrong from the beginning. I had not factored in the time difference and they arrived over an hour earlier than expected while I was in the shower! I took them for a walk round the Abbey Meadow before getting home to launch into the pommeau, calvados and nibbles while waiting for host families to arrive to meet and greet them. At 6.30 the plan was to give them a bike ride tour of Abingdon so you can stop where and when you like. After seeing her fall off twice on Thesiger Road we discovered that Gyslene had forgotten how to ride a bike and we had better do our tour by car. At the tennis club I had a chat in Russian with Katya and as we were leaving Gyslene said in French 'my English is really bad, I didn`t understand a word of that!' It was also at this point that I learnt that two of the ladies were not here to play tennis, they wanted to go shopping! At 7.30 we had a very pleasant meal at the Dil Raj followed by an early night for some weary French tennis players who had started off very early in the morning.

On Saturday morning we had a round robin tennis tournament at the leisure centre. I had given each French man an English lady and each French lady an English man at random and each couple would play each couple. We finished on time and went to White Horse Hill for a picnic and visit to the White Horse, the hill fort, the Dragon’s Tooth, the Ridgeway and Wayland’s Smithy before rushing back because some of them wanted to do some shopping. In the evening fifteen of us had a bring-and-share pizza party at my house and I presented the prizes. Arnaud and Dawn won the Abingdon Plaque and Veronique and David Wynn, whom we have now nicknamed David LOSE, won the wooden spoon.

On Sunday morning several members of the Abingdon tennis club turned up to play some social tennis with our guests until about 11.00 when they had to leave for their ferry.

It was a great weekend and we just wish they could have stayed longer. They have invited us back there and hopefully, this could turn into an annual event.

(The pictures show Veronique receiving the wooden spoon which she won partnering David Wynn and Arnaud receiving the Abingdon plaque which he won partnering Dawn.)

Richard Smart

Schools Visit Argentan

24 - 31 March 2012

About thirty pupils from Abingdon Schools (Fitzharries, John Mason & Larkmead) visited Argentan on an exchange visit.

Evening Meeting - Alsace

Wednesday 21 March 2012 - Preston Road Community Centre

The History and Life of Alsace

More than 60 members and guests of the Twin Town Society squeezed in to hear the talk about Alsace held in part of the Preston Road Community Centre on Wednesday 21 March. There was no need to worry that not enough people would come that evening as the room was packed to hear Gérard Klipfel and David Mallen, who had come to Abingdon specially to tell us about the history and life of the people of Alsace.

Gérard is a retired pharmacist who has lived near Colmar all his life and David, while born a Scotsman, is Alsatian by marriage. Neither claims to be expert in the history of that part of Eastern France but they had certainly prepared well and alternated in recounting, with the help of slides, the story of how Alsace acquired its name in very early times, was overrun by Charlemagne in 800 AD, and became part of the Holy Roman Empire. On Charlemagne’s death the land was subdivided between his sons and grandsons and the area that is now Alsace became one of the most prosperous in Europe. In 1354 ten Alsatian towns formed what was called The Decapole and after much progress during the 15th and 16th centuries with printing and the Reformation, there began a series of 'flips' whereby the land was held alternately by Germany and France.

Alsace became French in 1648 at the end of the 30 Years War, then was transferred to Germany in 1871 after the Franco-Prussian War, only to return to France in 1919 at the end of the First World War. With the onset of the Second World War Germany overran Alsace in 1940, but since 1944, it has once more been part of France. However with that history of repeated change it is not surprising that not all the laws of Alsace are the same as those of France itself.

Gérard and David described Alsace as a fertile agricultural area with the River Rhine forming the national boundary to the east and the Vosges mountains to the west. There are many vineyards, market gardens and farms growing cereals. Textiles remain an important industry and the Rhine has big hydroelectric power plants. Alsace remains an important European crossroad.

After Gérard’s and David’s lively double act, we enjoyed sampling Alsatian wine and beer and very tasty samples of charcuterie brought from Alsace by our guests.

Thanks go to everyone who helped arrange such a pleasant and informative evening.

Laurel Symons

(The text of the visitors' talk is available as a Word document and the slides as a PowerPoint slide show.)

Evening Meeting - Abingdon Museum

Wednesday 15 February 2012 - Preston Road Community Centre

Our speaker was Jane Bowen, who has overseen the current refitting of the Abingdon County Hall Museum and is the newly appointed curator. An interested audience heard about the plans for presenting the town's history in the completely refurbished and extended galleries. Installation of the exhibitions will start in April and the museum will reopen in this Summer.

Refreshments after the talk featured local produce - Oxfordshire cheeses, sausages and wine, plus, of course, Abingdon Bridge beer.

Evening Meeting - Quiz

Wednesday 18 January 2012 - Preston Road Community Centre

Hosted by Peter Dodd, with the fascinating Samantha doing her usual things to enhance the proceedings, this was a good quiz and evening with a general theme of twinning throughout the Vale.

Opening with anagrams, many of which seemed to cause a few problems, we ranged through rounds including beer tasting, translation of sentences from other languages into English, wine tasting, cheese tasting and bread tasting – all from the area of one of our twin towns. The round on biscuit tasting reminded us that Abingdon is, of course, one of the twin towns.

So you can see that eating and drinking formed a large element of the quiz.

We did have one round in which we had to mould Plasticine (or whatever its modern name is) into something to represent Abingdon. It was amazing the number of buns that were made, representing the Abingdon bun throwing, which will happen again this year.

Overall a very enjoyable evening, thanks to Peter and Samantha. There was a winning group but did that matter? It was the evening that was special.

John Smith

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