South Petherton Twinning Association
Things now seem fairly quiet on the twinning front after all the excitement of the visit by our friends from Javené during April. E-mail exchanges have continued though between our members and the French visitors who stayed with them- including some of the young people involved. We also received a cutting from their local newspaper “Fougéres Nord-Sud” which featured a photo of the reception in the Blake Hall and a summary of the visit. The Javéniens are looking forward to returning our hospitality when we visit in 2010. The likeliest dates for this (usually over a long weekend) are round the middle of April or early June next year (to fall within our local school holidays). We cannot finalise it till Flybe publish their timetable in early 2010 and we hear back from our colleagues in France.
Our thanks go to Chris Hockey and the staff of Hamdon Financial Services for allowing us space in their window for a presentation about Twinning during July.
Summer BBQ .This will be held at The Old Granary, Coles Lane on 31st July 2009 , 6.00 for 6.30pm. The cost will be £5 for members and £6 for non-members- bring your own drinks. Please send payment for your tickets to Judy Bosanko at 1 Farm Court, Palmer Street, TA13 5EB –cheques made payable to South Petherton Twinning Association by latest 27th July.
AGM and social evening. This will be held on Tuesday 3rd November 2009 at the David Hall 7.00-9.00 pm. We will hold a short AGM followed by a Quiz and the raffle of the excellent bottle of Calvados presented to us by the Javené twinning group during their visit. The bar will be open and cheese and nibbles will be provided.
For further information on SPTA and how to join, please contact Lin Aldred on 242386 (email fred.astall@virgin.net)
South Petherton Twinning Association
Newsletter – April 2009
Visit of our Twin Village Javené in April 2009
We hosted some 19 visitors from Javené in Brittany during April, the party included eight children and the mayor and his family. They arrived at Exeter Airport on Tuesday the 14th and were brought to South Petherton in time for a quick tour of the village followed by an informal reception in the Over Stratton Village Hall. On the Wednesday we were very grateful to Keith Duffield and friends for offering a trip on the Taunton and Bridgwater canal on their boats. The visitors and hosts got to see parts of Somerset they wouldn’t normally see. This was followed by a picnic and then visits to various destinations- Wells and Glastonbury being popular. On Wednesday evening the local Scouts group laid on activities for the children in the party at the scout hut. This was a terrific way for the youth of both villages to meet and break down the barriers – many thanks to Renira Rutherford and Tim Burch for organising this.
A coach trip was arranged for visitors and members of the SPTA on the Thursday and we were pleased to have a few guests along who were interested in meeting the visitors. The tour took in a ride on the tram from Colyton to Seaton and then lunch and a tour on foot round Sidmouth .
Of course the weather had been fairly poor from the moment the Javeniens arrived on the Tuesday but after Sidmouth the sun did start to appear for the first time. The trip ended with a tour of Otterton Mill and then back to South Petherton. We took advantage of the sunshine to show our guests the view from Burrow Hill which they found outstanding. The evening was spent with members who had invited our French guests and their hosts to dinner.
Friday started cold and grey but was livened up with a tour round Ham Hill with Grace Hall, one of the Rangers. She managed to involve the visiting French children by giving them lists of objects to find along the way as well as organising an Easter egg hunt. This caught their enthusiasm and must have improved their English vocabulary. We then returned to the Youth Club at the Recreation Ground where the French were introduced to a Ploughman’s Lunch. There then followed the first international rounders game and rather than teaming up on national grounds, we had Women vs Men. Considering that they had never seen the game before, some of the French picked it up rather well. The final result was declared a draw after some suggestions of obstruction by the Men!
There was a formal reception planned for the Friday evening at the Blake
Hall which got off to a tremendous start with a dancing display by the
Wyvern Jubilee Morris Men in the square outside. The French loved it and
all the children wanted their photos taken with the dancers. Rodger Neve
then welcomed the visitors (in French) formally to South Petherton on behalf
of the Parish Council. The Mayor of Javené Bernard Delaunay then replied
(in English) to say how much they had enjoyed the visit and presented us
with a glass statuette (which we hope to display in the near future). The
evening continued with a buffet, more dances from the Morris Men and then
some traditional dances which everyone joined in.
Saturday was the final day and most of the guests took the opportunity
to do a final tour of the village in the morning which included a brief
tour of the parish church bell tower and the view from the top (thanks
to the Bellringers and Rosemary Heard). Then off to the Scout Hut again
for a final BBQ (thanks again to the Scouts!) and the trip to the airport.
After a long series of farewells at the airport, the drivers started their
return to South Petherton-and the sun finally came out.
In conclusion, this was a really successful first visit by the Javeniens (as measured by their response), particularly due to the generosity of the people named above and by the hard work of those members of the SPTA involved in the organisation. If you would like further information and how to join then please contact Lin Aldred on 242386 (email fred.astall@virgin.net).
Other Contacts:
Secretary : Lin Aldred tel: 242386 fred.astall@virgin.net
Hosting : Diane Langford tel: 249107 peter.langford@which.net
Chairman : Brian Turtle tel: 241073 brianturtle@tiscali.co.uk