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CHAIRMANS NEWSLETTER - DECEMBER 2007
Dear Friends,
As 2007 draws to a close, we took back on another eventful year for the Twinning Association. Walking along the seafront in Le Crotoy in the hot June sunshine seems a long time ago now! As well as the trip to France, we have also had our fundraising events during the year which enable the association to subsidise both the visit to France and the hosting of our French friends when they visit us here in Newton Longville.
We are planning further events for the New Year to top up the funds prior to les Français visiting us in June, which is the biggest expense for the Association to bear during the two year cycle. Therefore, we will be counting on your continued support.
Our AGM will be held on Saturday 2 February 2008 in The Village Hall and wilt be followed by a quiz and hot supper.
A number of our long-serving committee members have decided to step down this year, and we are therefore in need of at least three more members. However, in addition to the committee members, we can also (and hope to) co-opt further willing people (this can be done at any point in the year without approval at the AGM).
Being on the committee realty is good fun, and we really do need some replacements for those people who are stepping down. The association has been able to heavily subsidise the twinning weekends over the last few years thanks to your support and a strong committee who have worked hard to put on a very varied range of events to attract as much support as possible. However, if we cannot replace the committee members who are stepping down, we will have difficulty in keeping up the success of the Twinning, which would be a real shame.
If you are at all interested, please talk to either myself or another existing committee member to find out more about what it involves and to answer any questions you might have. In brief, we meet about 8 times per year, the meetings are as informal as we can make them, and if we can keep the committee a reasonable size, there is not much additional work.
Casino Night - Saturday 13 October
This was another completely new event for the Twinning, and appeared to be enjoyed by those who attended. Trevor Jones provided a superb MC for the evening, and thanks again to him for “volunteering” his services. Thanks also to the Terry and Cleone Goddard for their efforts on the cocktails - these got the evening off to a very good start!
From a financial point of view, the evening was a tremendous success, netting the Association a profit of around £700 to put towards next year’s twinning weekend. Thank you to all those of you who supported us at this event, and hopefully it was an enjoyable way of doing so.
French conversation groups
After postponing the start of these groups due to my various travels for business, these eventually started at the end of November. We have met twice so far, and will be continuing in January.
Anyone else wanting to join in would be more than welcome. Please contact me for more details.
Twinning weekend 2008 - Friday 30 May - Sunday 1 June 2008
Plans are continuing for next year’s visit, with the Saturday day trip likely to be something more local to limit the time we spend travel Using. We have yet to finalise exactly what we will do, but watch out in the next newsletter for more news on this.
If you are not currently twinned with a family and would Like to host a French family/couple, please let me know so that I can let Nelly and the French committee know. It can be quite difficult to find new French families sometimes, so the sooner we know the better.
AGM and Quiz - Saturday 2 February 2008, Village Hall
The AGM will take place on 2 February 2008, and as usual wilt be followed by a quiz. The AGM will commence at 7.3Opm - please come and support us. This is also your chance to raise any issues or give any ideas to the committee. Hopefully, some of you will also volunteer to join the committee...
Entry to the quiz will be charged at £6 for adults (£3.50 for children). This includes a hot supper. We are also resurrecting the French Tart Competition, whereby you can enter a home-made tart and there will be a prize for the best one (judge to be announced). The tarts will then be eaten as dessert.
Please also let us know in advance if you want to enter the competition, so that we can gauge numbers.
French Quiz
The first quiz in the last newsletter only produced one response! However, I am pleased to say that all the answers were correct, and therefore our deserved winner is Pat Martin (whose answers I have included below). Your prize is on its way - well done! I will try one more quiz (on a Christmas theme) in this newsletter:
3. What type of cards do the French traditionally send for the Christmas season?
4. Vin chaud is something you might drink at a marchE de noel - what is this?
Finally, I would like to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Joyeux Noel!
Gareth Norris
Chairman
E-mail: NLTwinning@hotmajl.co. uk
Tel: (07887) 984 068 (weekends and evenings only please)
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