Argentan
Sint-Niklaas
Schongau
Lucca
Colmar
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Go to 2021 Events. See also the list of all Events since 2007, Future Events and the Newsletters. Most images can be enlarged by clicking on them.
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Christmas LunchSunday 18 December 2022 - at Hilton Garden Inn, Marcham Road, OX14 1TZ
Last year, despite Covid inhibitions, members were able once again to meet for an annual Christmas lunch. Reassured by that success, this year forty of us returned to our convenient venue, the Hilton Garden Inn, to enjoy a good meal and service. A welcome drink was followed by three courses (with crackers, etc.), with coffee and mince pies to finish. We are grateful to Peter Dodd, who made all the arrangements. Lucca Mayor's Fiftieth Anniversary LetterThursday 8 December 2022 - Abingdon Guildhall
This autumn a visit to our twin town of Lucca in Tuscany was arranged by the Mr Hemmings Traditional Abingdon Morris Dancers. Although they enjoyed their visit overall, there was an administrative hiccup over a public dancing permit and they were very appreciative of the help and support throughout that they received from our local twinning friend Maria Curto. The team were received by the mayor of Lucca, who gave them a letter of friendship to bring back to our mayor. At the following full meeting of the Abingdon Town Council in the Old Magistrate's Court in the Guildhall, Les Badcock, on behalf of Abingdon Morris, was able to present the letter to our mayor, Councillor Andy Foulsham. The translated text from the mayor of Lucca's letter reads: On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Twinning Pact between Lucca and Abingdon, we are pleased to transmit the attached parchment which celebrates and renews the friendship between our fellow citizens and the peace between our nations. Evening Meeting - Herman ColeThursday 17 November 2022 - Preston Road Community Centre
Brian Read in his thanks referred to this as “a long-awaited visit (Covid, etc).” Herman's subject for the talk was his recently-published book (so far, unfortunately, only in the Flemish/Dutch language) about a pilgrimage on foot from Sint-Niklaas to Jerusalem started in the year 1770 by a local “monk” by the name of Marinus Geubels. A “pilgrimage” that turned out to be something of a Grand Tour, as conducted by aristocrats of that time. The title, Pelgrim met een knipoog - dóór Italië naar Jeruzalem, translates as “The Pilgrim with a Twinkle in his Eye: Through Italy to Jerusalem.” Herman explained the sources of his personal fascination with the man he began to call “my monk”. Marinus, the inhabitant of a Carmelite monastery/convent close to S-N, had been born in 1735 in Sinaai, one of three villages on the periphery of S-N. Herman showed a large family group photo from 1947, in which he figured in one corner as a babe-in-arms. He was able to name many of those in the picture as his antecedents in Sinaai, but most notably at the very centre of the group is Herman's great-aunt, born in 1896, a nun wearing the Carmelite habit, most likely of the same monastery as Marinus, nearly 200 years before her. Herman found that Brother Marinus' diaries of the “pilgrimage”, a book in two volumes, printed in 1780 and 1786, were in the University of Ghent library (and on Google Books!). And then, in the last minutes of a hurried visit to the Mercator Museum before final closing of an unrelated exhibition, Herman discovered an etching of a man in Valletta, Malta descending steps to the sea. To his total surprise, Herman discovers the man depicted is Brother Marinus.
Herman's explanatory talk to us was notable for its professional, relaxed and sometimes amusing delivery. It was ambitious in that the talk seemed to have a number of diverse angles. As Englanders, perhaps due to/thanks to (it’s your choice) Henry VIII, we don't think of monasteries and “monks” as post-1500's things, so Herman referring to Marinus throughout as “my monk” kept putting my mind back into the Middle Ages in my picturing of Marinus on his journey. I kept having to remind myself that this was as much an 18th century Grand Tour as a pilgrimage except that it was conducted entirely on foot.
The two photos, first of Herman's great aunt, and second the etching of Marinus descending the steps to the sea in Valletta where a number of his associates die after being blinded by a flash from the sun and Marinus escapes with a lifelong disfiguring contortion of his mouth area, have made an impression on me and I still see them vividly in my imagination now a week later. Many, many thanks to Herman for such a thought-provoking and above all, entertaining talk, we look forward to a sequel. Philip Addison Remembrance SundaySunday 13 November 2022 - The Square, Abingdon The first part of the service took place in St Helen’s Church where Carine, Marie Lise, Guy and Danielle were welcomed by the rector Charles Miller. The service began and soon the mobile phones came out to record parts of the service as they were astounded to see the Mayor of Abingdon read the lesson. Apparently, this would never ever happen in France. Religion and politics never ever mix. Another thing that astounds our guests every year is the number of people around the war memorial. This year was no exception and we struggled to get through the crowds to get into position to lay our wreaths. After the ceremony we moved onto the mayor’s reception for a glass of wine and speeches from the President of the British Legion and the Mayor of Abingdon, who again welcomed our guests. The mayor’s reception is also an opportunity to meet members of the armed forces, the Deputy Lieutenant and members of the Town Council.
Lunch followed in the Crown and Thistle for 16 of us wonderfully organised by Ian and Rosemary Jardine. Then the Mayor, Andy Foulsham, arrived in time for pudding and coffee and to take our guests on a really fascinating walk round the parts of Abingdon that had been connected to the Abbey. My thanks to all the people involved in making this a very special occasion for our guests. Stella Carter Evening Meeting - BelgiumThursday 20 October 2022 - Preston Road Community Centre
For our Belgium themed evening, we had two interesting speakers. First, we were pleased to welcome the superb local photographer Martin Wackenier. He is well-known in Abingdon, covering town events with his camera and also he has a weekly market stall with his photographs. Martin told us how he was the result of twinning - his Belgium father and English mother met each other on a twinning visit! Brought up Flemish speaking in Ypres / leper in Belgium, he moved to England at age eleven and learnt English, eventually settling in Abingdon as home. The second speaker was our Belgian correspondent, Siegfried Waterschoot. His was a bold attempt to explain the complexities of Belgium politics to a foreign audience. What with the language partitions and multiple political parties in the country, it was a lot to take in, but Siegfried presented the topic entertainingly. After questions, members present enjoyed the rest of the evening chatting over appropriately themed refreshments: chips with mayonnaise and Belgium beer. And Siegfried had brought with him Belgium chocolates for us! Brian Read Twin Towns Charity Music ConcertFriday 7 October 2022 - Amey Theatre, Abingdon School, Park Road, OX14 1DE
All the participants performed free of charge, with all profits going to two local charities, The Abingdon Bridge---which offers a confidential guidance and emotional support service to our town's youngsters aged 13-25, and Asylum Welcome, helping refugees and vulnerable migrants living in Oxfordshire, currently focussing on support for Ukrainian women and children. Before the music, there was a welcome by Nick Marsh and a short address by Stella Carter, the chair of ADTTS, highlighting the distress of victims of conflict who have lost their HOMES, lost their LIVELIHOODS. Three pupils of Abingdon School gave very fluent welcomes in French, German and Italian to our viewers in the twin towns. This (mainly schools') concert, displaying the standard of music-making in our town, and in particular in our young people, left me, for once, speechless. The first half began and ended with an Abingdon brass band, first the Abingdon Concert band with a selection from Coldplay and Les Miserables, and the Abingdon Town Band with a March by The Chieftains, the ever-popular and rousing Light Cavalry overture and the very moving number I Will Follow Him. In between we were treated, yes treated, to the Big Band sound: brass, saxophone sections and great drumming from the very accomplished young ladies of St Helen and St Katharine School.
After a short interval, the second half was largely contributions from the Abingdon boys' schools, with from Abingdon School itself, a super Piano Trio featuring a near-tango version of Jealousy, followed by a large string section with excerpts from Warlock's Capriol Suite. It was great to see that we were going to have representation from one of our state schools and the audience were delighted with what it had to offer: firstly, Barnaby Merriman played so maturely the passionate Robert Schumann showpiece Traumerei. It is no reflection at all on this young man's budding talent to report however that his Larkmead colleague Nyzal Gurung just brought the house down playing Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. This was just stunning and from one so young, and fully deserved its standing ovation. It’s often said that youthful performers are capable of all the required technical skill and musical understanding, but are normally insufficiently mature to express the emotion of such titanic compositions. All I can say is that this young man's performance moved my wife to tears. Stella spoke to Nyzal's Mum after the show and was told that he is just fifteen years old, is self-taught from the Internet, and his MUM had never heard him play in a hall until this concert. Astonishing! And still the high-class musical entertainment continued. It was good to see Radley School also contributing to the concert: a very nice change from piano fireworks to a sensitive singing, with piano accompaniment, of Vaughan-Williams' Let Beauty Awake, performed by Christian Traynor-Bucknall and Bernardo Mercado, and then Alexsandre Khundzakishvili was not to be outdone in the piano stakes with his interesting jazz-influenced Kapustin's Toccatina.
For the audience there was a chance to recover their breath as the Amey Theatre stage filled and filled and filled with the Abingdon Operatic Society chorus in their full costume for the forthcoming staged musical Me and My Girl, which is to play the Amey Theatre in the last week of October. Their rousing medley from the show (including Leaning on a Lamppost and great actions to the Lambeth Walk) sent us all home in high spirits. A wonderful evening's musical entertainment benefitting two very deserving charities. How lucky we are to have such an abundance of talent and teaching in Abingdon. Huge thanks to Mr Stinton and Mr Preece, who have a 2023 performance tour of our twin towns by the Abingdon school orchestra, to Abingdon School governors for kindly offering the Amey Theatre as our venue, to Nick Marsh for the initial dream and the drive to bring it to reality, and, above all, to every one of the so many performers who gave their time and their talents in aid of two such worthy causes. Philip Addison
ADTTS was delighted with the success of this venture. The size of the audience exceeded expectation and resulted in a healthy surplus donated to the two featured charities. The live stream over the Internet was recorded and has subsequently been viewed more than two hundred times to date. If you missed the concert, or wish to watch all or part of the performance again, it can be viewed on YouTube at https://youtu.be/xhltORX4qxA. Evening Meeting and AGMThursday 15 September 2022 - at Preston Road Community Centre
The agenda was covered efficiently. The Chairman and Treasurers presented their reports. (Members may read them on the AGM page of the ADTTS website.) The meeting confirmed its confidence in the current officers and committee by re-electing them. The only change was Philip Addison standing down from the committee and he was thanked for his contribution, not least for his articles for the Newsletter. Next year we hope to resume a full programme of twinning visits, including hosting a weekend for the twin towns in the spring.
The formal proceedings of the meeting were followed by the opportunity to chat over a glass of wine and enjoy Richard Smart's Turkish sausages, plus cheeses prepared by Nikki Henton. Brian Read Evening "St Edmund" Guided WalkThursday 21 July 2022 Saint Edmund of Abingdon
He was born about 1175 in an area now called St Edmunds Lane off West St Helen Street. He was a renowned scholar, teacher and priest at Oxford University, eventually becoming Archbishop of Canterbury in 1233. He died in 1240 and is buried at Pontigny in France. He lived in a fantastic period of history. The Oxford University he taught at was just emerging from a loose grouping of monks and their young students renting teaching space in the structure of the colleges that we know now. As a young boy in Abingdon, he watched St Helen’s Church rise from its foundations only a stone's throw from his home. While studying in Paris he watched Notre Dame being built and was treasurer at Salisbury Cathedral only two years after the foundation stone had been laid and watched that cathedral rise from the ground. Anne told us of his formidable mother, Mabel, and his struggles, as Archbishop of Canterbury with the King – so similar to the better-known struggles of Thomas à Becket only a few years earlier. Throughout his life Edmund always signed himself Edmund of Abingdon but he has left few traces of himself in the town. His brothers and sisters were all nuns or priests so he has no descendants and there is no trace of his childhood home and he died and was buried abroad. Understandable then that he is little known in the town. The other St Edmund (of Bury St Edmunds fame) is better known and tends to be mixed up with Abingdon's son, and Thomas à Becket's struggles with the King and martyrdom in Canterbury Cathedral overshadows Edmund of Abingdon's similar struggles.
It was a thoroughly interesting talk and walk. Anne's enthusiasm and knowledge were obvious throughout. Peter Dodd Canoe Camping Oxford19 - 25 July 2022 In the past I have invited our twin towns to come canoe camping and it is normally very pleasant with about 5-10 adults, some British and some from twin towns. This year I took leave of my senses when I gave an enthusiastic ‘yes’ to Marie Lise's suggestion of 16 youngsters aged between 10 and 18 with just 2 adults, Marie Lise and Kat. It finally dawned on me what a silly fool I was to take this on without even a car but I had to do my best. I thought I would get 6 big Canadian canoes, 3 trolleys and a few host families from my U3A French conversation group. Each person would bring a SMALL rucksack containing sleeping bag, mattress and a minimum of clothes, etc. Thus, each canoe would contain 3 people, 3 rucksacks and a tent and we would wheel all this from my house to the river. What could possibly go wrong??? They arrived on the 19th with 18 kitchen sinks!!! We played garden games until the host families came to take their guests away and the next day everyone gathered at my house in the morning. Fortunately, I had enlisted the help of Jen Clough (God bless her!) and other members of Abingdon Canoe Club who helped us get everything to the river and accompanied us. We set off upstream towards Oxford with Jen leading the way and me and Dave Surman tail end Charlies. Some of the youngsters were novices and I have to admit to sniggering at the back as I watched them zigzagging their way up the Thames but after a while, they got the hang of it. We forked left up Hinksey Stream and followed the little overgrown backwater to the campsite where the youngsters put up the tents. We had dinner at the Head of the River and had an early night. The next day Pete Dodd met us in town and gave us a guided walking tour of Oxford. In the afternoon they had free (shopping) time and I went to the library where I fell asleep reading the Guardian. That evening the kids ate at McDonalds and we adults went to Pizza Express. On 22nd we packed everything up and put masses of equipment into Jen's car and Dave's van for transporting to Abingdon Lock. We had our prepared picnic on the way and had an enjoyable paddle back downstream to Abingdon. Various youngsters took great delight in capsizing and when we explored an island near Sandford, Axel jumped into the Thames from an overhanging branch and lost his glasses to the delight of all the onlookers. The youngsters put up all the tents and we walked to Abingdon Bridge hoping in vain to see some ‘swan upping’.
The next day I walked with a group of them to Abingdon Squash club who thanks to Ian Dingwall, had said we could use their showers. On the way back we stopped off at my house, picked up bikes of various sizes including a tandem and cycled back to camp in time for Jen, Dave and Arian to give the kids a kayaking session which they loved and we had a picnic at the lock. We adults had dinner at the Dil Raj and the kids went to various fast-food outlets. (Photo: A few of the Argentan canoeists with the Queen's Swan Master) On 24th we walked and cycled up the Ock to have a duck race. I don't remember who won but the current was so weak that the race lacked the drama of a normal duck race. Marie Lise and Kat took the kids to the Dil Raj for a specially negotiated lunch followed by free shopping time in the afternoon so I went home for a snooze and then went back to help break camp. For me the funniest sight which will remain in my memory forever was seeing Lucas towing my kayak on a bike and a trolley while Aloise, Simon and Flore, I think, rode the tandem like the Goodies. We gathered at my house and gradually the host families took people home.
On 25th people came to my house to play garden games while waiting for the coach to arrive at 11.00. When everyone had gone, I crawled upstairs for a rest. I found the whole thing great fun but utterly exhausting. A huge thank you to host families, Pete Dodd, Jen, Dave and Abingdon canoe club. Richard Smart Bastille Day Cycling Trip to Argentan11 - 17 July 2022 2022 Bastille Day Cycling Trip to Argentan - or what could possibly go wrong?
1. Do not attempt this in a heat wave. We set off on Monday 11th July. Peter was aware that he was the least experienced cyclist and the heat wave was on so he and Anne Marie very sensibly decided to go from Oxford to Portsmouth by train. It is some 80 miles from Abingdon to Portsmouth so the rest of us agreed to cycle to Basingstoke and get the train from there. We were held up by a few hours because I insisted on popping in on my old childhood friend, Michael but we soon made up the time and were approaching Basingstoke station in plenty of time when Emily got a puncture! Ian and John stepped up and set about repairing it while Emily, Jennifer and I looked on admiringly! This delayed us a bit but we still had plenty of time, the night ferry was not until 10.45 pm. We bought tickets for Portsmouth and noticed that our train was delayed a bit and was due to leave from platform 2 as was another train going into deepest Dorset! We were all hot and tired and when someone said ‘this must be our train’ we all hopped aboard with our bikes and relaxed thinking we would soon be on board the ferry and sinking into exhausted sleep. I looked up at the screen and was puzzled not to see the word ‘Portsmouth’. I checked with an employee and sure enough we were on the wrong train!!! When the train finally stopped in some godforsaken place in Dorset, I quickly got out yelling ‘we're on the wrong ************* train’. We all got off with our bikes and looked at the timetable. No trains back to Basingstoke for hours which would mean missing the ferry. We all sat there dejectedly thinking. Cycle it, Uber it, check into a hotel then Ian had an idea. He phoned his friend Ryan in Abingdon and he drove like a demon in his van to pick up me, Ian and the bikes while the other 3 went in a very expensive taxi to Portsmouth. We were very grateful to Ryan but I started getting a bit worried when he appeared to pay more attention to his Sat Nav than to basic road signs and we appeared to be going all over the place. At one point Sat Nav told us to go down a narrow lane which led directly into the sea and he had to reverse back up. We got there with minutes to spare and joined up with the other 5 friends who had been anxiously tracking our strange route. We had a good night's sleep and were looking forward to cycling together in France. What could possibly go wrong? After a very pleasant breakfast at Ouistreham terminal we followed the cycle track along the canal as far as Benouville, also known as Pegasus Bridge, the first part of France to be liberated on D-Day. The famous cafes were all closed so after reading about D-Day and looking round we carried on into Caen. I wanted to pop in for coffee with my old friend Philippe who lives in Verson, a south west suburb of Caen. Big mistake! We had a terrible time finding the place with maps making no sense and local people sending us the wrong way but got there eventually and had a good catch up and sit down. We then had a torrid time in trafficky roads, searing heat and uncertainty. Our hosts had arranged to meet us in Falaise with cars and bike racks during the afternoon but it became clear we would not make it. I then switched on my phone and discovered that Guy Frenehard had tried to phone me 32 times so I resolved to leave it on for a few minutes a day. We spoke and arranged to meet them in Potigny. Our progress had been fairly pitiful and we were all pretty tired. We spent the evening relaxing, eating and recovering. During this day we learned that Jennifer had to be at work on Sunday morning. Somehow this rather crucial fact had evaded Ian up till now but the Dingwalls decided to stick together, change their ticket and leave on Friday 15th.
We spent Wednesday 13th relaxing and socialising, playing petanque and table tennis. Bastille Day began with speeches at the war memorial, a parade into the ‘patures’, general relaxation and socialising, finishing with a spectacular fireworks display in the evening. On the 15th we went to Montormel, the site of the Battle of Normandy with a museum where we learned about events in August 1944 which we do not seem to hear about in the UK and I still find shocking. E.g. 1. Flies feasting on human and animal corpses were a danger to aircraft. On the 16th we set off and got home astonishingly easily. We took no detours, I kept my phone on, Guy took Anne Marie and Peter by car to Caen where they met up with John and me who cycled it in under 4 hours. We then cycled together to Ouistreham where we had a pleasant meal and slept badly on the night ferry. On the 17th we went from Portsmouth to Oxford by train without getting on the wrong train and then cycled home, exhausted but happy. I for one, hope to do this trip next year if invited and will learn the 5 lessons. Richard Smart Church Twinning Visit to Schongau and Oberammergau7 - 11 July 2022
On Thursday 7th July a group of 11 set off from Abingdon to a chaotic Heathrow to fly to Munich on a Church Twinning visit to Abingdon’s twin town of Schongau in Germany and the Oberammergau Passion Play, under the leadership of Eileen Bontempelli whose daughter Annis joined us later. This visit had to be postponed from 2020 because of COVID lockdowns. We were a motley crew from a wide assortment of local churches and denominations, but seemed to gel well, especially as we had already met at Eileen's house for a briefing. From Munich Airport we went to Schongau via the metro and 2 trains, and were met at the station by our hosts who took us to their homes and made us very welcome. Irene Lederle, in charge of Church Twinning there, had worked hard to make all the arrangements for our stay and we owe her a big thank you. On the Friday morning we attended a Welcome Reception at the Town Hall hosted by the Deputy Mayor, who was very friendly and told us how the local churches cooperated today.
After this we travelled with our hosts to Oberammergau through the lovely countryside with a full view of the mountains, and checked into our hotel where we had to spend the night. After a light lunch we went to see the performance, which began at 2.30 and was in two parts with an interval for dinner, and finished late in the evening. The play is held every ten years and was first performed in 1634 after much of the village was wiped out by the plague, and the local council decided to put on a play about Christ's Passion in the hope that the village would be spared future affliction. Fortunately we all seemed healthy throughout the trip and we were blessed with good weather. In the Passion Play theatre which has a partly open-air stage and an auditorium with 4,100 covered seats, we sat as a group in the fourth row back from the stage, giving us an excellent view. We felt really involved in the action despite the dialogue in German. It was a profound spiritual experience which demonstrated God's unconditional love for us in sending His Son to suffer and die. Most of the music was composed over 200 years ago but its depth of feeling made a fundamental contribution to the overall atmosphere. It is awe-inspiring to think that all the musicians in the classical symphony orchestra, singers, actors and stage hands - about 2000 villagers - are involved in the production which runs for 6 months.
On the Saturday morning in Oberammergau the members of our group chose to do different things, from riding up in a cable car to browsing through the craft shops with their wooden figures to visiting the Baroque parish church. Many of the 18th century house facades are brightly painted with religious or rustic motifs. The local museum had an exhibition of a route marked by thread spun from strands of human hair collected from the male actors at the end of the Passion Play season when they were allowed to cut it and shave their beards! The long thread was a symbol of how people can work together in harmony, pulling on the same strand so to speak. Our hosts took us back to Schongau, and in the afternoon we had an interesting trip, guided by Helmut Schmidbauer, to the Romanesque Basilica at Altenstadt with its magnificent proportions, outstanding frescoes, font and crucifix group on the rood beam. On the Sunday morning we attended church with our hosts, and at the Catholic Mariahimmelfahrt Kirche we were welcomed in English by the parish priest. In the afternoon most of us enjoyed a leisurely raft cruise on the river Lech while being serenaded by a Lorelei in the form of a harpist in full Bavarian costume including a beautiful jumper.
We later visited the Lutheran Trinity Church, followed by a farewell party outside. The ecumenical feast was outstanding with a table laden with savouries and cakes. Sally Mears stood on a bench and sang "Summertime" for us as her contribution to all the jollifications, speeches and present swapping. It was evident at this collaborative tea how their churches and congregations cooperated, with very cordial relations between the different flavours of Christianity. The Catholic Priest, Father Marxer, sat next to the Lutheran Pastor, Pfarrer Hermann, and discussed the Church Twinning leaflets and photos of Abingdon Churches which we had brought for them.
Finally, on the Monday morning we decided to spend more time in Schongau rather than Munich and Helmut kindly offered to guide us around the Town Museum to see a selection of its interesting artifacts and then on to the main church, followed by a second church associated with a nunnery, now a care home. He was full of remarkable information about many things. In the garden of the care home, we could see Schongau's city walls with a striking war memorial for the victims of both world wars. Some of us walked along the covered walls and down through a gate to the railway station. We then said goodbye to our hosts and left by train for Munich, where most of us then flew home, after a wonderful trip. We are most indebted to Eileen, Irene, our hosts and other participants from Schongau. Grüß Gott! Church Twinning Group Weekend in Colmar to celebrate 60 years of twinning23 - 27 June 2022
The official group photograph in the courtyard of the Town Hall was taken by the local newspaper. Credit: DNA. See the report at https://www.dna.fr/societe/2022/06/25/quel-avenir-pour-le-jumelage.
After two long years of pandemic-induced isolation for the twin towns, L’association des amis du jumelage de Colmar took the chance to resume twinning exchanges. Normality was back! Along with the other twin towns, ADTTS was invited to send four representatives to Colmar to celebrate 60 years since the first twinning agreement was signed by the city of Colmar with Lucca, Schongau and Sint-Niklaas (then later with Vale of White Horse). On Wednesday June 22nd, we all set off from Abingdon a day early so we could spend a day at leisure before arriving in Colmar. Stella and Howard flew to Basel. Brian and I travelled by train from Didcot and arrived happily in Strasbourg in time for dinner in an Alsatian restaurant, a night in a hotel and the next day with a relaxing boat trip round the sights of the city. All four of us arrived in Colmar by train around 6pm and were collected and taken to our respective hosts. Stella and Howard stayed with a family in a nearby village. Our host, Jeannette, provided dinner and accommodation consisting of a very comfortable modern annexe in her garden built a few years ago. We were able to live independently there and to cater for our breakfasts ourselves from the well-provided kitchen area. Friday morning saw us visiting the main sights of Colmar by a small tourist train, which had the advantage of audio-guides in whichever language we chose. It turned out that the local army battalion had a change of leader with a formal handover of power, a parade and march past that morning, so some of the streets the train was supposed to use were closed and we had a much longer route through leafy avenues of beautiful Art Deco / Art Nouveau houses. This was followed by a reception at the Town Hall with a group photo, a speech in French, Italian and English and, of course, local wine with the local speciality, Kugelhopf cakes. Friday lunch was the first of six delicious meals provided for us. This one, at a restaurant was “bouchées à la Reine” with Spätzle, i.e., big vol-au-vents filled to overflowing with chicken in a creamy mushroom sauce together with a large portion of small pieces of pasta cooked, then fried. There was also plenty of the wonderful local wine and a choice of dessert. We staggered from the table for a free afternoon in the town. Friday dinner for Brian and me was by kind invitation to the comfortable home of Bernadette, together with two ladies from Sint-Niklaas. This featured the Alsatian speciality of a wonderful choucroute (sauerkraut served with mixed meat and sausages). Saturday was the grand inauguration of the new library in Colmar, “Bibliothèque des Dominicains”, named after the former convent that it had been very tastefully converted from. There was a choir of young people from a school in Györ, Colmar’s Hungarian twin town, who performed a superb concert in the cloisters. There was an exhibition of medieval books and chained books that we could handle in the way the monks would have done. There was a workshop displaying different ways of binding and of restoring ancient books. And a series of slides showing the redevelopment work on the buildings and gardens, which had taken three to four years to complete. Lunch was at another restaurant, with free time in the afternoon followed by a Gala Dinner provided by the Colmar twinning association. It was preceded by an impressive concert by the Györ choir. On Sunday we were driven the 16 km (10 miles) to the Glasborn farm inn, very high up in the Vosges mountains with superb views. There we enjoyed a three-course lunch, including a new dessert for me: fresh soft cheese swimming in kirsch and sugar. After a brief walk among the former 1st World War trenches, we were taken for a wine tasting at the pretty village of Eguisheim, followed by a farewell dinner (tartes flambées) in a restaurant there. Our Colmar friends had worked hard to create a very successful meeting. Thank you! The programme for the weekend was designed to give us lots of opportunities to chat with guests from the other towns in our group as we sat and ate together. I really felt I had made a lot of new friends, as well as renewing existing friendships. All in all, a very happy time together! I just have those extra pounds to lose… Susan Read
Inauguration of the Dominican Library, Colmar
We were treated to a performance from the choir of Colmar’s Hungarian twin town Györ. This was in the cloisters where the garden had been planted as a wild flower meadow. A beautiful backdrop to a wonderful performance. Afterwards we wandered through the various exhibitions. The transformation including the restoration of the original wooden ceiling beams was remarkable. Of particular interest to me, as a former printer, was the section on the history of printing and the beautiful illustrated books. How times have changed in that industry. Being a twinning trip, it was soon time to leave and head to the restaurant for lunch. Howard Carter Evening Garden PartyTuesday 21 June 2022 - at Longside, Tatham Road, Abingdon OX14 1QD
On a beautiful summer’s evening, we experienced our annual treat (which in past years we had missed due to Covid) of a garden party at Michael Matthews’ delightful home in Northcourt. The event was very well attended by almost 40 people, who enjoyed a variety of delicious snacks and canapés prepared by Nikki and Stella, glasses of chilled prosecco, and Stella’s outstanding mocktail of grenadine and ginger beer, ably served by Howard and Richard. The garden was, as usual, in immaculate condition with shrubs in flower and a beautiful pond with a variety of aquatic plants. Huge thanks to Michael for enabling us to enjoy our garden party in such delightful surroundings. Nick Marsh Colmar visitors in Abingdon for the Diamond Jubilee3 - 5 June 2022 It was with great pleasure that ADTTS welcomed three members of the Council of Colmar to share in the Jubilee celebrations with us. Michele Sengelen-Chiodetti is the Deputy Mayor, Claudine Mathis is the councillor in charge of twinning and our old friend Marc Lischer, whose role on the council includes international relations. Marc’s role is increasing as Colmar not only understands the importance and opportunities that come with twinning, they are actively expanding their twin towns. Before our guests arrived, we asked what they would like to do during their stay. Meet lots of people, including members of Abingdon Town Council and the Vale, see Abingdon and also Oxford came the reply. A tall order for three days! Luckily our guests arrived early, an extra hour badly needed! Anne and Peter Dodd were our first hosts. The weather was lovely and over 20 of our members, together with Margaret Crick, Chairman of the Vale, were able to meet our guests in their pretty garden. We dined on coronation chicken and salads, followed by a magnificent Jubilee trifle made by Maggie Greaney.
On Friday evening Peter, Anne, Sue, Howard and I as hosts were ourselves hosted to a dinner at Bella Napoli by our guests from Colmar where we were joined by members of the Pavlova Quintet, regular visitors to Colmar. Saturday was a day for exploring Oxford with Phil Addison. Phil had been worried that his planned two-hour tour might be too long. I knew it wouldn’t be as tours I have done with Phil have always been fascinating and so tailored to his audience. So, I wasn’t in the least surprised when, four hours after they had set off, he rang me asking for another half hour! Howard took over from Phil and took us all punting. As we punted down the Cherwell Michele, a member of a choir in Colmar, led us in singing French and English songs culminating in a resounding rendition of The National Anthem tied up outside the ‘Vicky Arms’ accompanied of course by scones and cream and sparkling wine.
Singing continued into the night as Howard and I hosted a barbecue. We set the television up outside under the vines and joined in with the Queen’s Jubilee concert and we all sang along to Queen and Rod Stewart whilst waving flags from our two countries. Sunday was another day for spending time in Abingdon and meeting more people. Abingdon’s Deputy Mayor Gabby Barody welcomed us to the Mayor’s Parlour for coffee where we were joined by Lorraine Oates, our extremely hard-working representative on the Town Council, Margaret Crick, Nigel Warner the Town Clerk and Brian Barody. We then moved on to Cosener’s House where I hosted on behalf of ADTTS a lunch, joined by hosts Peter and Anne and Michael Matthews, Freeman of Abingdon, Sint-Niklaas and Lucca. Of course, the highlight of the weekend was the bun throwing, with Michele, the Deputy Mayor of Colmar throwing her share of the 5000 buns. Afterwards we were invited to the Mayor’s drinks party where I was able to introduce our guests to Leyla Moran, our local MP. Our final event was a wonderfully low key one, just relaxing with some good English cheeses and wine at Michael Matthews. We hope that our guests enjoyed a side of Oxfordshire that, without Twinning, they could not experience. Private tours, punting, garden parties, barbecues and guaranteed friendship cannot be found even in 5* hotels. Throwing buns is an absolute honour. With the support of both our local councils so many more opportunities could open up for local residents. Exchanges can be made with the local services such as fire, police, social services and the courts, schools, colleges as well as sports clubs, art societies etc. etc. It is having inquisitive open minds and generosity of spirit that is needed, not money. Colmar City Council are very keen to enhance co-operation and opportunities between them and our town and district. Let’s hope our councils will step up to the mark. Stella Carter Evening Meeting - KaraokeThursday 19 May 2022 at Preston Road Community Centre Richard Smart gave us a very entertaining and varied evening at what was advertised as a karaoke evening but turned out to be more of a sing along with a couple of outstanding personal performances. Unfortunately, calling it a karaoke evening may have put some people off which was great pity for, if they had come, they would surely have enjoyed it. Nobody was expected to sing solo, and everyone was happy to join in when they could. Richard was very ably supported by Linda Phillips who mastered the technologies, so we were all able to hear the music and follow the words. Perhaps inevitably in the light of Richard's experience as a teacher of French, the majority of the songs were in French ranging from Sur le pont d’Avignon, through “Je ne regrette rien” to a poetic ballad by Graeme Allwright. But we also enjoyed Italian - Funiculi Funicula - and a version of the Beatles “I want to hold your hand” in German, as it might have been sung in Hamburg. Margaret and Neil Hancock also very nobly led us in song. Phil
As with any song contest there was a specially selected “expert” judging panel made up Howard Carter and myself. It was neck and neck between Richard and Phil until Richard ruined his chances by trying to get everyone to sing “Kalinka“ in Russian. Russian was probably not a good choice at this time but even more it is a very fast song that gets faster and faster. To get us to read and sing very quickly in a language nobody knew proved quite impossible even though it led to may laughs. Phil was awarded the first prize of a bottle of wine. Our thanks are certainly due to all those who led songs and especially to Richard for organising it. The evening ended with Italian pizza and Tuscan wine. Ian Jardine TT60 Quiz night from Sint-NiklaasThursday 12 May 2022 - on Zoom Our good friend in Sint-Niklaas, Herman Cole, organised this TT60 Quiz night. Stimulated by the ADTTS-Abingdon and District Twin Towns Society, he seized the occasion of the 60th birthday in 2022 of the European twinning links of his birthplace Sint-Niklaas to launch the quiz. Zoomed from Belgium and co-hosted by Herman Cole and his oldest son Thomas, the quiz contained sixty pictorial questions about the five twinned cities: Abingdon-on-Thames, Colmar, Lucca, Schongau and Sint-Niklaas and their surrounding areas.
TTQ60 ‘What is this?’ I hear you ask. ‘A secret code straight from GCHQ?’ No, something much more difficult, it’s the Twin Towns Quiz with 60 questions set by Sint-Niklaas’ Herman Cole helped by his son Thomas. And this is what challenged about 25 or 30 twin towners on the evening of Thursday, 12th May 2022. Herman started by mentioning that Michael Matthews had recently had the honour of being made a Freeman of Lucca and then Herman paid tribute to his great friend Geoff Brighton who died a few years ago. All the questions had a strong visual element connected with one of the twin towns or a place, we were informed, within a 70 km radius of the same. The answer might involve the name of a person connected with one of the twin towns, a nearby venue, or an item of food from one of the towns or even a jazz musician who had been temporally accommodated in the local jail. Round one featured St Nicholas himself in all the pictures, while round two involved a man or woman greeting or speaking in a twin town. By the time we reached round three the common feature was water in some form or other – punting or a river. Naturally, for twin towners, there was round of questions concerned with food and drink. Who would recall that there was a chestnut museum outside Lucca? I had hoped that Margaret and I might come storming back in the fifth and final round dealing with Arts and Crafts. Alas bell ringers and statues among other delights proved even more difficult to name or locate. First place went to Guido de Bruyne (pictured) with 54 points out of a possible 60, then Siegfried Watershoot with 47 and holding up the Abingdon side, Brian and Susan Read with 45 points. They were awarded, and will receive, a signed certificate to record this in due course. Our score was um … you might say that we just scraped home towards the rear of the race. Nick Marsh proposed a vote of thanks to Herman and Thomas and then we all sank down into an easy chair and rested our overheated brains – well I know two people who did! Finally, Herman promised another quiz next year and requested that we kept the answers to this year’s event under our belts as he was using the questions again in September in a Dutch language version. Personally, I promise to do that as by then I will have forgotten the answers and it would be Double Dutch to me. Neil Hancox, 13th May 2022 (written up while I remember some of the details) Presentation of an Honour from LuccaWednesday 11 May 2022 - in St Helen's Church, Abingdon
(The second photo of Michael Matthews receiving the certificate from the Mayor is from the Abingdon blog.) The annual Mayor-Making ceremony this year in St Helen's Church was the opportunity for a special public presentation of an honour to Michael Mathews, the Society's Vice President. As a Freeman of Abingdon (1998) and a Past Mayor, Michael was, in February 2022, awarded the honorary citizenship of Lucca, Italy, one of Abingdon's twin towns. This is "a token of recognition from the City Council of Lucca for the passionate work that Mr Matthews has done over the years for the mutual understanding of our communities." In accordance with the request from Lucca City Council, the Mayor, Cllr Cheryl Briggs, on behalf of the Town Council presented Michael Matthews with the certificate confirming the honorary citizenship. Europe Day MealMonday 9 May 2022 - at The Cosener's House, 15 - 16 Abbey Close, Abingdon OX14 3JD About 40 members and friends enjoyed a very pleasant dinner yesterday evening at Cosener's House, Abingdon. In these sad and difficult times, caught up in wars, viruses and economics, it was good to get together, meet face to face, and talk. The food was excellent and the staff smiling and helpful, though it would have helped to have had the tables better spaced. Nevertheless, this small inconvenience was soon forgotten in the general bonhomie. Neil Hancox
After the enforced break due to Covid, forty plus members were at last able to meet again and enjoy a meal together to celebrate Europe Day. This year we returned to the Cosener’s House in Abbey Close, an excellent venue to convene, with the opportunity of firstly enjoying a mocktail in their lovely gardens which lead down to the Thames. A special menu had been designed to reflect our links with the four countries of our Twin Towns - Argentan, Colmar, Lucca, Schongau and Sint-Niklaas. We collected our menu choices and seated ourselves around tables decorated with the flags of the Twin Towns. To be out meeting up as a large group again and sitting in the lovely dining room, glasses charged, with plenty of news to exchange - gradually the level of chatter was elevated! It was good to witness the smiling faces and laughter as members exchanged stories and experiences - a start to getting back to normal! Towards the end of the meal, our Chairperson Stella Carter gave a vote of thanks to Nikki Henton and Rosemary and Ian Jardine for all their hard work in making it such a successful occasion and then to staff of the Hotel who certainly did us proud in terms of their attentiveness and positivity. I always find these occasions such a learning curve in terms of talking to individual members regarding their Career Pathway and own life journey - their individual contributions to the Society have all been amazing as well as their travel portfolios. This is what makes the fabric of the Society - all the threads which hold it together! Sharing this richness with other members of our Twin Towns who likewise offer us their own cultural experiences to enrich all our lives. Sitting next to Michael Matthews proudly wearing his medal for his Services to Twinning and knowing the wonderful contribution that he has made to the Society, I felt very humbled and yet so proud to acknowledge that Freedom of the City of Lucca was about to be granted to him. I hope wherever you were on 9th May, you were able to raise a glass to Europe Day and be grateful for all it represents - to our special friendships with all our friends in the Twin Towns around the globe. Gloria Tolputt Evening Meeting - John Jones and LuccaThursday 21 April 2022 - at Preston Road Community Centre
(The photo of John Jones as Mayor is from the Abingdon blog in March 2020.) The monthly meeting took place as usual, gathering together at 7.30 pm for an illustrated talk by one of our committee members, Phil Addison. The subject was Alderman John Jones, a person famous for his influence on the development of Abingdon town and known to many still living in the town, especially to Michael Matthews, our Vice President, who is also a Freeman of Abingdon and Lucca. The opening slide was of the memorial plaque to John along the Ock valley river walk situated near Cygnet Court where his wife Jean spent her later years. The emphasis of the talk was John’s connection to Lucca, and his work in getting our town to twin with this wonderful Italian town. For those who haven’t visited the town it has a really beautiful wall suitable for walking round and beautiful Italian buildings. John was born in Liverpool in 1918 and always had a great passion for opera. He joined the army in the Second World War and was involved in the liberation of Lucca in 1944 as an army captain of the British Artillery. He was captivated by Lucca. It was warmly reciprocated by the people of the town who made him a Freeman of Lucca. John is celebrated as having some influence over the German army persuading them not to destroy the city as they left their occupation in 1944. He is featured in the Lucca Museum and has contributed some articles of clothing to their displays. John on his return became an art teacher and came to Abingdon to teach at the predecessor of Larkmead School and then pursued his career with Larkmead when the school was relocated to Faringdon Road. He was head of the art department. He was leader of the town council and became a freeman of Abingdon, later getting an OBE. He wrote a history of Lucca, with the unusual feature of Italian on one side of the page and English on the opposite side. Above all John is remembered as a charming man who exuded his love for opera and contributed greatly to the town of Abingdon. It was a really interesting talk and much appreciated by the audience. Refreshments were, as ever, excellent: Pizza and Italian wine. Norma Queralt Evening Meeting - History of the Oxford–Didcot RailwayThursday 17 March 2022 - at Preston Road Community Centre
A good number of our members attended the talk at Preston Road Community Centre on the Thursday evening. The speaker David Taylor was born in Abingdon. He is a local historian with a particular interest in railways and their history. His presentation was very relevant to us all because he could tell us all about the old Abingdon railway line and how it developed alongside the stations of Oxford, Radley and Didcot. There were photographs of the local stations and halts before they were closed down, which David had taken. The Port of Bristol was the main reason for the starting of the Bristol to London line for the purpose of transporting goods. Oxford was linked by a station at Steventon where passengers alighted and went on to Oxford by stage coach. The railway was established in 1844. Eventually there were extensions of the main line to Radley, Abingdon and Oxford in our local area. The Abingdon station had houses and a hotel built in Spring Road. It was supported in its use by the gas works, the RAF and MG cars. The last day of the working station was 13th June 1984. To conclude David showed us the proposed plans for the new Oxford station. We all enjoyed the talk and there were many questions afterwards. At the end of the end of the talk we had very fitting refreshments, sandwiches by Nikki and Oxford Landing wine brought along by Howard. It was an excellent evening. Norma Queralt Evening Meeting - Abingdon Abbey’s Deer Park and Radley Large WoodThursday 17 February 2022 - at Preston Road Community Centre
Also billed as “Abingdon Deer Park”, its title may not have seemed the most exciting come-on for this talk. What Deer Park? In ABINGDON, where? Nevertheless, we had a good turnout to hear the talk. Interest warmed when speaker Richard Dunning's title slide bore the subtitle “Monks, deer, riots, canals and bluebells”. This turned out to be a lesson in the maxim “don't judge a book by its cover” as Richard's talk was entertaining and absorbing, in subject and in style. We learnt something completely new about something on our doorstep (well almost). Although, as expected, the Wood/Deer Park had been started by our famous Abbey, the park turned out to be at the northern end of Radley, bordering on Bagley Wood. It's well over 1000 years since the Abbey enclosed the woodland with a palisade fence, with an associated ditch inside. Not to keep the deer OUT, but to keep them in. Richard elegantly demonstrated how deer could get in, but not out, with his lovely clear and quite memorable diagram. A highlight was the tale of John PARKER, appointed the first keeper of the Park. Appropriately named then, you might think, but Richard explained that the man was given the name Parker when he became the keeper of the said Park. The restrictions on his ability to take timber and game from the Wood on pain of termination of employment “in perpetuity” obviously irked John Parker, he LED the famous extra-violent Abingdon town riots against the Abbey in 1350, and later paid the consequences for “carrying away game and timber” during the riots. The Abbey tended to exert its power over the town by frequently referring any dispute with the town to whichever reigning monarch, who invariably gave the Abbey ever-more increased powers over the town, regardless of the rights and wrongs of the case. The Abbey even won a court case against Richard II himself, when he tried to take to himself the power to appoint the Wood's keeper! A much greater power was involved when Radley Church was built. The 14th century pillars supporting its roof are, most unusually (and strikingly), made of wood; the then-time Abbot of Abingdon was directed by a visionary voice to “seek wood in the forest” for their construction. The wood then passed into private hands after Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries, and ownership of the land increasingly becomes the story of Radley Manor (now the well-known Radley College) and its successive owners. The manor house was built by the wood's first private owners, the Stonhouse family. Later occupants the Bowyers were a family of bad wealth managers. During the canal-building craze in Britain, George Bowyer was the instigator of a planned canal through the wood from the nearby Bayworth's natural resources down to Sandford lock on the Thames. Richard showed a map of the canal's planned course, first southwards through Sunningwell and then a massive loop to turn back northward, before running east to Sandford. The canal was never completed, but if you are looking for it, some of its planned course is still visible from walks in the area. After soulful photos of the evacuee and holiday camp (!!) in the wood (now mobile home parks) in its days during and just after WW2, Richard moved to the present day, and described up to the minute developments regarding the preservation of access to the wood for walkers. A talk which started about the year 1000 and finished with very much the present day and the near future. From the lively response to a call for questions at the end of Richard's talk, together with the enthusiastic applause following Susan Read's vote of thanks, it was clear that a previously unknown or unexplored area so close to our homes was suddenly on the agenda for a good proportion of the audience's walking plans, to seek out for ourselves so many of the aspects Richard had so invitingly described. During the informal socialising after the talk, members and guests enjoyed apposite refreshments of venison sausages accompanied by a glass of mead. Philip Addison Evening Meeting - Quiz NightThursday 20 January 2022 - Online via Zoom
A Quizzical Evening It’s that time of year again when a sleeping brain is prodded into life and put into first gear before being connected to the mouth and hand. Note, it helps if the intervening bits are well oiled with a suitable liquid of your choice. It’s quiz time! Eyes down pens or pencils at the ready, your starter for 10 – I must be watching too much TV. ADTTS, and its genial quiz inquisitors Brian and Pete, welcomed twenty plus quizzers from the hometown, St Niklaas and Colmar on 20th January and set out to test our little grey cells and their connections with five rounds of questions and a dessert of dingbats. Europe was the first topic. Ten easy questions Brian assured us. Well would you ‘Adam and Eve it’ the Brexit vote was as far back as 2016 -it seems but yesterday and if you go to Naples to sample a genuine pizza you will probably be disappointed at the blandness and lack of choice. Pete’s first riposte was ten questions on Abingdon. We apparently have a Green mayor and yet another coffee shop. Back came Brian with pictures. Ten photos of well-known European sites. Granada was a bit of a downer as I placed it in Italy, there was a strange structure in Brussels of name unknown and that castle in Bavaria, whose name remained on the tip of our tongues and not on the paper. It was time for food and drink, at least notionally, as Pete plied us with another ten puzzlers. ‘A French farmer’s daughter’ was regarded as insufficiently precise as the answer to the question ‘who invented camembert’ and our knowledge of Normandy alcohols and German grapes was surprisingly poor. One more round to redeem ourselves. This was a real memory test from Brian – what happened in 2021. That is far too recent for the events to have etched themselves into the brain but intelligent (?) guess work helped. I should of course add that the lack of knowledge exhibited was on my part and not that of the other contestants. And to finish twenty dingbats, courtesy of Brian – you either get ’em or you don’t, a sort of Zen enlightenment or satori. Fortunately, you don’t necessarily have to spend a lifetime seeking the answer, though I am still puzzled by some of the explanations. Our thanks to Stella for introducing the event, Brian and Pete for setting the questions and you all for taking part. It was an excellent and enjoyable evening. Neil Hancox |
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Go to 2021 Events. |
It
has been my privilege over the past few years to lay a wreath at Abingdon’s war memorial on Remembrance Sunday alongside a guest from one of our twin towns. This year it was with Carine Gobé from Argentan.
