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Although the calendar says it’s autumn and the clocks have gone back, at the time of writing the mild weather is certainly hanging on - as are the leaves on many of the trees around Verwood! This mild weather was very welcome for our champagne autumn break, when we were able to sit in shirtsleeves outside bars and restaurants in Reims. The winter woollies were certainly needed in the champagne cellars though!

One sign of autumn’s approach is the resumption of our members’ meetings in Club31. Remember, it’s the second Wednesday of each month in the function room of Club31 in Moorlands Road, starting at 7.30. A good chance to meet up with old (and new) friends, enjoy a chat and listen to an interesting talk on local or travel-related topics. Another sign of the year drawing to a close is when subscriptions

become due again. For the 5th year running this has been held at £5 per household, so if you haven’t renewed please get in touch soon.

Finally, the AGM went extremely well again this year. With the exception of Cyril White, who is moving away from the area, all of the officers and committee were re-elected so stability reigns! Thanks to Cyril for his help in the past.

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for 2011/12 are now due. If you haven’t had your new green membership card it’s probable that you

haven’t paid yet. As mentioned above, it only costs £5 per household so please get in touch with your newsletter deliverer or, if you get this by email, John Pettitt number overleaf) to renew.

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Our antiques evening on 7th October was another successful venture for us, with over 40 people turning up to have items valued by our expert from Dukes of Dorchester. Sadly, no new Verwood millionnaires were made, but a good time was had by all. This is an event we will be repeating at some time in the future.

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This year’s AGM once again saw an increase in attendance.  The official business only took about 20 minutes to complete, so we were soon enjoying the coffee and biscuits provided by the committee ladies. After that it was eyes down for the quizgo - a cross between a quiz and bingo reminiscent of the 1970s TV series “Blockbusters”. The AGM also provides an opportunity to see the inside of the Town Council chamber, which houses some interesting and historic Twinning memorabilia. In return for the use of the chamber, we donate the proceeds of the AGM raffle to the Mayor’s charity; this year I was able to present £40.

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The day after the AGM, 39 of us had an early start from Morrisons’ Car Park for a busy but enjoyable Champagne weekend, staying in the heart of Reims and having an excursion to the House Milan Champagne house in Oger. The weather was very kind to us and the autumn colours in that part of France were at their peak. Set off against the clear blue skies it made the weekend that little bit more enjoyable.

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Following the success of last year’s event, we will be holding another Skittles evening in Horton Village hall on 19th January. As last year, tickets will include a hot potato supper and of course entry into the evening’s knock-out skittles competition. Bring your own drinks. Tickets at £8 each are available from Joyce Timpson, so give her a ring on 824469 to register your interest.

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Also coming up in the new year is another new venture - a Variety Dance evening to be held in the Memorial Hall.Make a note of the date now - 17th March (St Patrick’s Day). Ticket prices are still being finalised but a good evening’s entertainment is guaranteed.

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 We’ve already had the first two members’ meetings of the season. The first, at which we collected items for the Rotary Club Shoe Box appeal, was moderately well attended. The November meeting was a very interesting talk given by John Levesley on Pioneering Aviation in the New Forest Airfields 1910-1939. This had a much larger attendance, even attracting visitors from as far afield as Bournemouth with an interest in the topic.

The December meeting on the 14th will be our Christmas celebration. Admission will be free to members, £2 to others - so it’s worth making sure you have renewed your membership by then! The usual evening of seasonal fare, seasonal music, a raffle and a quiz will get you in the mood for the forthcoming festivities.

The January meeting (11th) will see a talk on the Jubillee Sailing Trust and  February’s meeting (8th) we’ll hear about the work of Julia’s House. I hope to see many of you there.

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It has been suggested that, as so many of our members have caravans or motor homes, we should have a long-weekend rally for them in the spring. A venue in the Purbecks has been suggested. If you would be interested in joining in, please let Joyce know on 824469.

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As you know, many of our events are hosted by Club31. The club has taken on the former British Legion premises and has made many improvements, both to the surroundings and to the food. They need more members to enable them to continue the work they are doing in providing Verwood with a firstclass club and venue for events such as ours. Membership costs £15 per year but there is currently a special offer of a 5-year membership for £30 - so no tedious renewals for 5 years! Or for just £50 you can take out life membership. Please consider becoming a member because Verwood needs top-quality facilities like Club31.

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Your Officers are:

The next newsletter will be the March 2012 edition. 

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Hello, it’s me again! Summer is traditionally a bit quieter on the Twinning front because of the holiday season, but this year we seem to have more going on than ever before.

First of all, don’t forget our afternoon tea meetings at Club 31, at 3.30 pm on the second Thursday of each month. That’ll be 9 June, 14 July (when we might celebrate Bastille day!), 11 August and 15 September.

At the time of writing, it is too early to report on our visit to Champtoceaux but everyone is very much looking forward to it and we just know that there will be an exhaustive (and exhausting) programme laid on for us.

In this newsletter you will find details of this year’s summer outing, our autumn weekend break and - believe it or not - the dates for NEXT YEAR’s visit from the Liederbachers, I won’t pre-empt them in this column so please read on.

Finally, let’s hope that we get a decent summer this year (who said “for a change”?) and I wish you all a happy summer season.

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This year’s Companion Dog Show was held on 21^st May. As usual, all the hard work making preparations for the show and making sure the classes were where they should have been for judging was done by our long-term supporters Dave and Audrey Palmer.

The weather was kind to us and the event was again well supported, with 263 entries involving 116 dogs on the day. The BLT sandwiches and lovely home-made cakes provided by our catering team went down extremely well, as did the tombola and trade stands. I think everyone who came  - dog owners or not - enjoyed themselves.

Once again, my thanks to Dave and Audrey for this valuable event.

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Once again Brian has organised a first-class SUMMER OUTING for us on 6^th August. The programme is to take the coach from Morrison’s to Poole Quay where we embark for a cruise along the Jurassic coast to Swanage Bay, where we pause to watch the weekly firework display from offshore before returning to Poole. As is customary, a fish & chip supper will be served on the outward journey. Cost of the trip is £25 per person. To book please give Brian a ring on 822299.

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This year’s autumn weekend break will be 28^th - 30^th October. We will be going to Reims, capital of the Champagne region. After the comfort of last year’s hotel we are again going for the luxury end of the market and are staying in the Grand Hotel Continental, set in a former mansion in the centre of Reims. Included in the trip is a visit to a champagne house with 3 tastings. There will also be leisure time in Reims to explore its 4 UNESCO Heritage sites and numerous other sights, historic buildings and museums.

 Cost of the trip, including 2 nights bed and buffet breakfast, all coach and ferry travel and gratuities is £175 per head. If you want more information or a booking form please call Terry on 822959. This trip is already over half-full, so if you want to join us don’t wait too long before booking.

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It has been suggested that the Twinning may wish to participate in the shoe box scheme organised by Verwood Rotary Club to provide Christmas presents for underprivileged children. We are currently working on a format to involve this at our October members’ meeting. We recognise that to fill a box individually can be expensive but if we can collect just a few items each and pool them to fill, boxes for a girl and a boy each aged 8-11the cost would be less onerous. Suitable personal gifts such as small toys, small items of clothing, toiletries and especially educational items. The boxes will be collected and then distributed to children in Albania, Montenegro and Tanzania in time for Christmas.

So could you all please start collecting suitable items to bring to the October meeting.

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Yes, we are booking dates for 2012 already!

Please note in your advance diary that we will be entertaining our friends from Liederbach from 24^th to 28 August next year. That is the August Bank Holiday, so they will have the opportunity to visit the Rustic Fayre on Bank Holiday Monday.

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The Boules season is already under way and we are practising hard every fine Thursday evening at the Boules pitch on the Recreation Ground. On the second Thursday this of course co-incides with our tea afternoon in Club 31, so why not join us for a cuppa and a cake, then come and gently work off those calories on the boules pitch?

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Still looking for last-minute ideas for a gift for your hosts in Champtoceaux? How about a set of coasters that allow you to insert your own photographs? Here are some photos you could use: the originals are available from me at no charge, but you’ll have to work out how to print them 63mm square! Email me at my personal address or through the web site for copies.

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Your Officers are:

The next newsletter will be the October 2011 edition. 

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Welcome to the first newsletter of 2011.  I hope your year has started well.

We are deep into our programme of members’ meetings and the last of the season will be on 9^th March in the Function Room at Club31 in Moorlands Road. As well as speakers from the Verwood Fairtrade committee, we will also be holding a Bring and Buy sale, so why not bring along that unwanted (by you) gift and see if it is of interest to anyone else.

Just because this is the last Members’ meeting of the season doesn’t mean we’re neglecting you. As I mentioned in the last newsletter, from May to September we will be holding monthly informal afternoon teas at Club 31, on the second THURSDAY of each month. We aim to start at 3.30pm. We won’t be hiring a room, so there will be no admission charge. Just bring enough money to buy your tea and cakes and perhaps a raffle ticket.

Also fast approaching is our visit to Champtoceaux. Our French friends are still working on the programme for us, but we do know already that we will be received in the Parc du Champtolud in Champtoceaux and the soiree will be held in Drain. One thing is for sure, we’re in for a busy and exciting time.

Finally from me, you may have noticed our new logo and letterhead, which features at the top of this newsletter. I am grateful to Alison Bartlett (John & Avril Pettitt’s daughter) for designing this for us.

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How lucky we were with the weather for our visit to the Brussels Christmas markets. The weekend was the only one in December when we had a break in the snowy and freezing weather. So we had a very pleasant drive to Dover where we arrived in time for a leisurely coffee before embarkation onto our P&O ferry to Calais. It was obvious from the snow lying in the fields that northern France had been suffering similar weather to us in the run-up to the weekend, but an event-free journey found us in Brussels by late afternoon and checked into our very luxurious hotel - the Sheraton. Friday evening and Saturday were spent exploring the many Christmas attractions in Brussels - markets, son et lumiere, street decorations, chocolate shops and Christmas beers. On Sunday morning we left Brussels and drove the hour’s journey to Bruges, where in addition to yet more Christmas markets there was a magnificent display of ice sculptures (see photos). The only disadvantage was that these, of course, were kept in a marquee with a constant temperature of -5^oC! The show was well worth it, though. And so on to Calais and our ferry home, arriving in Verwood by about 10pm after a memorable weekend.

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A reminder that there are amendments to make to your 2010-2011 (blue) membership card. The date shown for the start of the boules season should read 5^th May. Also, instead of the coffee morning on 11 May, we will be holding our first afternoon tea meeting on Thursday 12^th May - also the date of our second practice evening for boules.

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There are still a few members who have not paid their 2010-2011 subscription. If this is you, your membership will lapse and this is the last newsletter you will receive. To avoid this disappointment all you need to do is to get in touch with John Pettitt or Sandra Grove (details below or on your 2009-10 pink card) and let them have your £5 as soon as possible. Better still, make it £10 and you’ll have paid for next year as well!

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This year’s members’ meetings started with me showing some pictures of Normandy in 1944, taken during the allied invasion, with views of the same scenes today. It was surprising how little some of the roads have changed - equally some views were unrecognisable having been completely rebuilt after the ravages of June 1944. This show was held in the restaurant at Club31, as they had double booked our usual room. As compensation we got free tea and coffee and the alternative accommodation was generally acceptable. February’s talk saw the return of Damien and Penny Buckley, alias Les Deux Cyclistes, this time regaling us with the story of their north-south journey through France. Once again, a very interesting and fascinating adventure.

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Bookings for the French visit are going well, at the time of writing all but 4 seats on the coach have been filled. If you’re coming, please remember that the balance of your fare is payable by 15^th April, so please get your money to Joyce in good time.

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You may be interested to know that we have the following events still at the planning stage:

• Our companion Dog Show, scheduled for 21^st May this year;  
  (Select Here for full Details)

• A summer outing;

• A new season of Members’ meetings, starting on Wednesday 12^th October;

• Another long weekend in Europe in the autumn, probably late October. 
  This is likely to be a real Champagne event, so watch this space;  
  (SEE BELOW)

•  A repeat of our successful skittles evening in November; not forgetting of course

• Café René at the Rustic Fayre.  
  

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Your Officers are:

The next newsletter will be the May 2011 edition.