The first half of 1984 was spent
planning for the ceremony in May. A splendid Charter had
been prepared on vellum by a local artist, Mr E Darner,
and our local MP, Mr Robert Adley, had agreed to
attend.
Verwood Carnival Committee was celebrating
its 50th Anniversary with a special programme which our
members helped to sell beforehand. The programme contained
the order of events for the official ceremony, with
information about Champtoceaux in English and French.
For further information then please use the
following links.
On
the 10th May 1985 a group of
Verwoodian’s embarked for
France
, and the next day the official and final part of the Twinning was completed in the school hall, with buffet and
concert laid on.
A feature of this event was that the
French had invited their German twin town Niederheimbach
am Rhein to join in the celebrations.
Gifts were exchanged all round, including
a handcrafted wine barrel from Niederheimbach, and
these are now displayed in Verwood Library.
Opportunity
was taken at the party to "sound out" the
Germans about completing the triangle of twinning with us.
A large number of their members showed interest, but their
Mayor was against it on the grounds that, Verwood
being much larger, they could not accommodate many
visitors. However, friendships were formed and exchanges
have since been enjoyed.
For further information on this visit then
please follow the links.
The picture below shows Dr Elsie Martin,
Mme Ann Seguin (wife of Dr Bernard Seguin, who still
practices in Champtoceaux), Mr John Felton and in the
bottom corner can be seen the current (2005/2006) Mayor of
Verwood, Mr Mike Daymond in his halcyon days at Dr
Seguin's house in Champtoceaux.
The Annual General Meeting in 1985 saw a
major change in the officers of the Committee. Mr G
Thorne, after serving as Chairman for four years, and Mr R
Bishop, Treasurer for the same time, were replaced by Mr J
Palethorpe and Mr R Curd, respectively; Mr L Roberts
continuing as Secretary, having replaced Mrs C Thorne
earlier in 1983. The members of the Committee were now:
Mesdames J Brown, D Curd, 0 Roberts and D Saville, Messrs
G Atyeo, S Clifton, M Daymond, G Higley, D Hockaday, G
Oakley, G Thorne, J Wadge and F (Bill) Williams.
The new Committee then started on plans
for 1986 and, hoping to enlarge the scope of twinning, all
the clubs in Verwood were contacted by letter in the hope
of getting other social and sport connections organised.
The result was very disappointing and no further
approaches were attempted.
Early in 1986, Twinning signs were erected
at all the main entrances to the parish, viz: Three Legged
Cross, Ebblake, Romford and
Edmondsham Road , and were paid for by the Civil Parish
Council.
In the summer, the Committee had a stall
at both the Carnival and the Rustic Fayre. A feature of
the latter was the serving of wine and crepes prepared by
the ladies, "slaving" over hot camping stoves.
This attracted the Three Legged Cross members, who have
been such good supporters ever since.
In July three Verwood Families received
three families from Champtoceaux while a fourth hosted a
visiting French youth.
In August the Verwood Methodist Youth Club
visited Champtoceaux ( This report by their leader John
Wadge)
.
|
In August the
Methodist Youth Club was very privileged to be the only group to
visit our twin town, Champtoceaux this year.
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"We left on
Thursday night before August Bank Holiday in two fifteen-seat minibuses
via the Poole-Cherbourg Truckline route, having spent an hour in the
pouring rain fitting all the tents and luggage onto the roof racks.
Arriving in
Champtoceaux at
two o'clock
on Friday afternoon, the first task
was to feed the thirty members of the group with what
was to become our staple food for lunchtimes - French
bread, cheese and pate, followed by fresh peaches.
We camped on
land adjoining the Sports Centre and were given access to the toilets,
washrooms and hot showers in the Centre,
The weather was
reasonably kind and we made visits to
Nantes
, including the cathedral and
hypermarket, Pomic on the coast and the local area.
Contact was made with the young people of Champtoceaux
and one evening a five-a-side football match was
arranged with the local team, which ended in an
honourable draw.
We travelled back
in the wake of the hurricane which hit
England
on Bank Holiday Monday, the ferry
arriving at
Poole
three hours late after one of the
roughest crossings imaginable.
The camp, our
most adventurous yet, was most successful and introduced many more of our
members to the advantages of twinning. We hope that there will be more
reciprocal visits between the two communities in the future."
In February, we started our series of
National theme socials with a French theme, and these have
continued ever since, with food imaginatively organised by
Daphne Saville with the assistance of a few wives.
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Verwood
and Three Legged Cross Twinning Association - UK
