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Petersfield Twinning Association
Promoting goodwill and friendship with Barentin in France and Warendorf in Germany
Designed by Phil Chapman.
September 2010 NEWSLETTER
Dear Fellow Twinners,
Welcome to autumn! It sounds too close to winter, but certainly the heat has gone out of the days - if ever there was much heat in August!
We thoroughly enjoyed hosting our Warendorf friends in the middle of August, and we managed to see a little sun in Brighton, where one or two of our visitors actually swam in the sea. We went to Hampton Court, where we encountered a real-life Henry VIII, looking exactly like his portrait! We took our guests to Guildford and went on the navigation to Farncombe where we had afternoon tea, but we would have liked to see the sun as well.
We had an amazing evening of skittles, when 73 people played in one skittle alley. Everyone seemed to enjoy the social evening and the fish and chips supper and requested that we do it again. Foolishly I for- got to ask anyone to write an account of the group’s experiences during the week, so you will not hear from one of our visitors.
Our guests had two free days with their hosts, though some of them took advantage of the coach driver’s offer and went to London for a day. We were sad to see them leave and look forward to our visit to Warendorf next year.
We plan to go to see the Mariähimmelfahrt celebrations again, and if you have not been to Warendorf, do come, for the weekend’s festivities commemorating the Assumption of the Virgin Mary are splendid, with arches over the roads, all highly decorated, with music, flowers and lights and a wonderful atmosphere. The event celebrates Mary’s departure for Heaven, and though it is a religious event on the Sunday, with church processions through the streets, it is very much a secular celebration on the Saturday and one well worth seeing. It is
almost unique in Germany and many people travel to Warendorf to witness it. We hope to take a coach again and this time we intend to subsidise the cost, so that you will all feel impelled to come with us. So, do come to all our fund-raising events over the autumn and winter, so that we are able to offer a good price for the visit, which we hope will be from Wednesday, August 17th to Tuesday, the 23rd. Make a note of the dates now.
Other forthcoming events:
Our first event this autumn will be the Quiz, to be held at The Half Moon PH on 11th November. The cost will be £9 pp, including a ploughman’s supper (for details of choices see the return slip) with baked potatoes, salad and bread. It will begin at 7.30p.m. so please be prompt. There is a tear-off slip at the end of this Newsletter for you to return to our Treasurer, Phil Chapman. We are indebted to Philip and Jenny Brenchley for organising the evening. We hope to have one or more teams from other twinning groups join us.
Those of you who were present on the Sunday evening of the Warendorf visit and listened to the Community Choir, together with the visitors singing as well, will be interested to learn that the Choir has accepted an invitation from the Freundeskreis to go to Warendorf at the beginning of December to sing English Christmas carols in the main square. I know a few of our members are also Community Choir members. It should be a joyful occasion, as the German Christmas markets are taking place at the same time. This year, the theme for the one in Warendorf is “A taste of English Christmas”. Irene Jeffery, one of our members as well as belonging to the Choir, is organising the 4-day trip and wonders whether anyone else would like to join them. Details of the visit are as follows:
Depart by Greys’ coach early on Friday, 3rd December.
Return on the evening of Monday, 6th December.
Both journeys will be through the Channel Tunnel.
Cost: £200 pp if only 20 go, but it could be as low as £82 if the coach is full.
Everyone is responsible for their own travel insurance.
Accommodation will be in families. (If you already have good friends in or near Warendorf, accommodation should not be difficult.)
If you think you might be interested contact Irene as soon as possible by e-nail.
jeffery680@btinternet.com <mailto:jeffery680@btinternet.com>
After Christmas we hope to hold another Coffee Morning and Bring and Buy Sale the first Saturday in February at Winton House in the Pop-In Club. Please sort out your useful books and bric à brac, and bring your friends along to have coffee there. Again, fill in the appropriate tear-off slip if you are able to help.
We have had an enquiry from Richardson’s Coaches to see how many people might be interested in a weekend’s coach trip (2 or 3 nights) at the beginning of the February half term, i.e. the weekend
of 21st February, to Barentin. This would be an informal visit, so you would need to make arrangements with your Barentin friends regarding accommodation. Mr. Richardson has approached one or two other twin- ning associations who also have twin towns in Normandy and would hope to do the journey for £50 a head - very reasonable. We are not asking for a definite commitment at this stage but need to know the possible response so that we can report back to Mr. Richardson for him
to get an idea of the likely take-up for this. The coach would cross from Dover to Calais and drop people off at their respective twin towns, which, fortunately, are not too far from each other. It would be a good chance to meet up with our Norman friends again. Please indicate on the appropriate slip if you are interested and let the Secretary have this as
soon as you can, preferably by 11th October. If it looks as though this visit is viable, we will then contact you again.
The AGM will be held on Monday, 7th March in the Lecture Theatre and Gallery at Churcher’s College. We hope to show pictures of various foreign visits after the business part of the meeting.
We also have plans for another International Supper at the United Reformed Church Hall on 2nd April, when we shall cook foreign food, having had our traditional English Sausage and Mash Supper earlier this year. More details of this next time.
Next year we also look forward to welcoming our Norman friends again. They hope to come some time in May but have not so far given us exact dates. However, please put this provisionally in your next year’s diary and we will let you know in the next Newsletter what has been arranged.
Before closing, here is information of two courses planned to run in the near future:
First, Ann Donnelly (one of our members) is planning a ‘Practical Get By in German’ course, for which some basic knowledge of the language would be an advantage. The course will be held in the Court- yard Room behind Winton House, on Wednesdays 2.30 - 4.00p.m. The first meeting will be on Wednesday, 29th September and will be a free taster session. Subsequent meetings will need to be paid for. The exact amount will be determined by the number of people attending. If you are interested, please telephone Ann on 01730 231374 as soon as possible.
Secondly, a Basic Course in German for Beginners is planned to start after Christmas for those thinking of going to Warendorf. This is free of charge and can run with only three or four participants if required. It will run one evening a week. Please complete and return the tear-off slip at the end of this Newsletter if this interests you. No previous know- ledge is needed for this.
Again this winter we shall be advertising the Travel Bursary for a young person to carry out a project in either Warendorf or Barentin, so if you know of anyone who will be aged between 16 and 22 in 2011 and who might be interested we shall send out information after Christmas.
Do join us for any or all of the autumn or winter activities and come to Warendorf next August to enjoy the celebrations.
Best wishes,
Gill Clarke
Chairman
To see the August 2011 Newsletter click on this link
To see the June 2011 Newsletter click on this link
To see the April 2011 Newsletter click on this link
To see the June 2010 Newsletter click on this link
