Devon Twinning Circle. Spring Why Not join us we would love to see you DEVON TWINNING CIRCLE General Meeting Saturday 16 th April 2016

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1 Devon Twinning Circle Home to Home Spring 2016 Why Not join us we would love to see you DEVON TWINNING CIRCLE General Meeting Saturday 16 th April 2016 Devon Twinning Circle General Meeting on Saturday April 16 th It will be held at The Village Hall, Wembury, PL9 0EB. at 2pm. Lunch will be served at 12:30pm at 6.50 a head. The menu will be :- Veg. Soup, Beef Lasagna or Veg Quiche and Salad. Dessert Lemon or Apple & Rhubarb Tart with Cream. Vegetarian option available. If you have any dietary needs please advise well in advance. A reply slip is below. Also directions to the hall REPLY SLIP Please Reply to :-Mrs. Gerry Moore, 1, Chad Road, Heybrook Bay, Plymouth, PL9 0EB I would like to book lunch for person/s at 6.50 a head Please tick here for Vegetarian and state how many Special Dietary Needs?:- Please return this slip with your cheque made payable Wembury Parish Twinning Association to the above address by January 6 th Your choice of main course please tick Lasagna Veg. quiche, Lemon Apple & Rhubarb From Association NAME (If DTC committee member please tick) CONTACT NO.

2 Directions to Wembury Village Hall EITHER: On the A397 from the Kingsbridge side, pass through Brixton then turn left at the Elburton Hotel (start of dual carriageway, first roundabout) onto Springfield Road. OR: From the A38 (either direction), at the Marsh Mills junction take the A374 down the Plym estuary, then first left onto the A397 (signposted Kingsbridge). Turn right at the Elburton Hotel (fourth roundabout) onto Springfield Road. THEN: After ½ mile turn left at the traffic lights onto Reservoir Road (B3186, signposted Wembury). Stay on this road 3 miles then take right turn down hill into Wembury. After ¼ mile go past village shop then Odd Wheel pub on right. (The village hall will be on your left but the entrance is round the back.) Fork left into Mewstone Avenue, first left into Barton Close, then immediately left and into the into the Village Hall car park. If you have SatNav, the postcode is PL9 0EB. Exeter Yaroslavl December Russian Xmas Fayre in Exeter Guildhall An important part of Exeter Yaroslavl Twinning Association year is our Russian Xmas Fayre in Exeter Guildhall. It requires careful planning and organisation, beginning well in advance. We are fortunate that the Exeter City Council allows us to hire the Guildhall, as it a well-sited on the High Street, but we have to book promptly. So right after the 2014 Fayre we booked for 2015 We then evaluated the 2014 Fayre. Which stalls raised most funds, which least? Could we organise things better? Is there anything that we should include or even leave out? We realised that most of our usual stalls had done well: Russian Goods, Home Produce, Bric a Brac, Draw, Tombola and Books. In addition, a new stall Jewellery had done well, so we will include in future. We decided that we must be more proactive in enticing people into the Fayre, by having appropriately dressed people outside, who were not shy about speaking to passers-by. We would also continue to seek new memberships at the Fayre. In 2014 we achieved one new member that way, but we hoped to improve recruitment results in The next step was to restock. Our partners in Yaroslavl have introduced us to a Russian goods wholesaler, so during our exchange to Russia we replenished stocks. The supplier s itemised account turned out to be useful, as we could apply a standard mark-up and label our stock with exact prices. This made it easier for volunteers on the Russian goods stall. A few weeks before the Fayre we sent out a newsletter asking for volunteers to run the stands. An idea which worked well was to designate the addresses of 3 committee members as collection points, where members could drop off any goods they could donate for sale. We held the fare on 12 December, as planned. It was a great fun and we exceeded 2014 takings and achieved some new memberships. However, we learnt some lessons for 2016.

3 We had better membership material and information about our association on display, but in 2016 we will assign someone to a dedicated information stall. Home Produce went well, but we were frequently asked for marmalade which we did not have. We had insufficient raffle tickets, so the draw was not completely successful Our outside people were dressed as Santa Claus, which was eye-catching, but they needed a louder bell. Conversely, they learned to tell people who said that they that would come back later about the finish time. Once being told that, they often came in immediately. Post-event publicity is important. Not surprisingly, newspapers seem to like good-quality pictures of bright, cheerful people. So we took a nice photo of some young visitors to our event, which was published in our local Express and Echo Newspaper. Peter Barker Chairperson, Exeter Yaroslavl Twinning Association - OTTERY ST. MARY TWINNING ASSOCIATION CELEBRATES 40 TH BIRTHDAY For the Twinning Association, 2016 will be a year to remember, as we prepare to celebrate 40 years of friendship with Pont l Évêque. Although the twinning charter wasn t signed until 1977, negotiations actually began in 1975 and it was in 1976 that the Ottery steering committee, composed of representatives from the town council, local schools and businesses, made its first visit to Pont l Évêque and agreement was reached to link the two towns. Ottery will be en fête in May this year when a party from Pont l Évêque visits from 5 th 8 th May. The town will be hung with bunting, the businesses in the town will dress their windows and, of course, we hope as many people as possible will join the association in extending the hand of friendship and hospitality to our visitors. To mark the occasion, we will be publishing a book of Favourite Recipes that members from Ottery, from Pont l Évêque and from our more recent German twin town of Ilsfeld, have contributed over the past year. We were delighted when the King s School Art Department agreed to work with us and run a competition to design the book s cover. The quality of entries was so high that we have also used the students work for title pages for the various sections. In addition, both Otter Nurseries and Joshua s Country Store have generously offered recipes and sponsorship. With some 40 recipes from our 3 twin towns, it is a wonderful collection of interesting and innovative favourite dishes the book will be available in April, but advance orders (at 6 per copy) are welcome! Please get in touch with me at sylv.g@cholcott.freeserve.co.uk to reserve your copies. Sylvia Gehring,

4 ETC YEAR 2015 A GLORIOUS YEAR! It has been a busy year for Exeter Twinning Circle but we are all proud of what our team accomplished together! The year started with an enjoyable ETC Quiz Party which was followed by Exeter Europe and Twinning Day, DTC Joint Skittles Competition and the ETC Display at Exeter Craft Festival. Having a favourable wind in its sails the ETC brigantine manoeuvred gracefully through a series of festive events, celebrating the Golden Anniversary of Exeter s Twinning with Bad Homburg. Our Exeter group went to Bad Homburg in June and what a visit it was!!! To say the least of the weather! German wine in abundance, tours, towers, castles and much more! Our hosts both Kur-und Verkehrsverein e.v. von 1860 and families made our stay unforgettable. A visit to the Hölderinschule to present English books was most touching, with the children showing a genuine interest in the books which Josie Mardon and John Whitton had so carefully chosen for them. As part of the Twinning Homburg a Guildhall for city in July. ceremonial Councillor the Bad the Charter the celebrations for the 50 th Anniversary of of Exeter and its German twin city of Bad Civic Dinner was held at the Exeter a visiting Civic Delegation from our twin Preceding the dinner there was a signing by the Lord Mayor of Exeter, Olwen Foggin and the Vice President of Homburg Parliament, Mr. Peter Brün of that re-affirms the Twinning link. In September it was a great pleasure for all ETC Members to bid a Very Warm Welcome to our German friends from Bad Homburg! The programme included a heartfelt welcoming reception by the Lord Mayor of Exeter, Councillor Olwen Foggin, in the Exeter Guildhall followed by an Official Dinner at Reed Hall. Among the Dignitaries who attended the dinner were the Deputy Lieutenant of Devon, Mrs Anna Robertson OBE, BA; the Lord Mayor of Exeter, Cllr. Olwen Foggin; Alexander Hetjes, the Oberbürgermeister of Bad Homburg, Karl Heinz Krug, the Bürgermeister of Bad Homburg. The Leiderkranz Germania Choir, who have been exchanging with the Exeter Children s Orchestra for 40 years, were specially invited for this visit to mark the 50 th Anniversary. What an excellent joint concert it was! Bearing in mind that they had had only a day and a half to rehearse together, it could not have been better! A musical leitmotif of jubilee celebrations was picked up by St David s Players when they delighted the audience with their recital of a Gilbert and Sullivan during the visit to Coleton Fishacre.

5 Before the year came to a close Exonians made ETC proud yet again. In October John Winterbottom was bestowed the position of Honorary Alderman of the City of Exeter and in November Express and Echo announced the nominations for their annual Pride of Exeter Awards 2015 among which Josie Mardon was put forward as City Ambassador. ETC grand finale of the Glorious Year of 2015 was our Christmas Party. It is loved very much by ETC members and has its own dish of the season Brenda s salmon! They say A Good Beginning is Half the Work. How true it is! Having started the year on a very active and positive note we finished it with strength, having built on our achievements and consolidated our position. European Health Insurance Card Just a reminder check that your European Health Insurance Card is up to date (you ll find the date in the right hand corner of the card) Renew your EHIC for free at Unofficial websites may charge if you apply through them Devon Twinning Circle Travel Insurance Europe only Up to 4 days 5-7 days 8 to 14 days 15 to 21 days 22 to 31 days Adult Child All Prices include Insurance Tax Terms and conditions apply for those years old For more information you are asked to contact the Insurance officer. Mrs. Pauline Knowles, 43, Greenway Gardens, Tiverton, EX16 5JL dennisknowles123@btinternet.com

6 Scoriton and Buckfastleigh Twinners rally round after Paris terrorist attacks. Last autumn when Anne Goulborn, Chairman of the Scoriton and Buckfastleigh Twinning Association, and her husband Martyn booked a January holiday in Paris, they had no idea of the events about to unfold. We had arranged to stay at a flat overlooking Boulevard Voltaire, not far from Charonne metro station, says Anne. We d been before and love the area a real cosmopolitan mix. But the terrorist attacks on November 13 th rocked France and the rest of the world. Four of the atrocities took place near the Boulevard Voltaire, including the massacre at the Bataclan Theatre where 90 people lost their lives. The security situation deterred some tourists from visiting Paris but Anne and Martyn, in common with many others, stuck to their plans. They have been stalwarts of the Scoriton and Buckfastleigh Twinning Association for several years, forging strong links with their counterparts in Fontaine-Henry, a small village in Normandy. The President of the Fontaine-Henry Twinning Association joined other French friends in applauding Anne and Martyn s decision. So in early January the couple headed for Paris, wondering what the atmosphere would be like in the aftermath of the attacks. People were still in a state of shock, just trying to get back to normal, says Anne. Naturally the locals were reticent to discuss what had happened. In fact one of the attacks was very close to where we were staying. Two gunmen had killed 19 people at La Belle Equipe, a popular restaurant run by four women just around the corner in the Rue de Charonne. Heightened security in the capital was still evident in January. We noticed it particularly at tourist hotspots like the Louvre and the major train stations. In general we found the police and military presence reassuring and unobtrusive. Were they concerned about their safety while they were in Paris? It was sobering to think one of the gunmen had actually run along the street outside our flat, says Martyn. The first couple of times we travelled on the metro it was at the back of our minds but after that, like everyone else, we just got on with it. Visiting the memorial at La Place de La République was particularly poignant. We were both moved to see how many people were there, all ages, religions and nationalities, honouring the victims. At the time of the Paris attacks, messages of concern and condolence had flowed across the Channel to Fontaine-Henry. Our close contact with our twinning friends in Normandy really brought home the personal nature of the tragedy, says Anne. Many of them have family working and living in Paris who could have been caught up in the attacks. When tragedies like this happen it is easy for people to become insular, to put up the barricades, says Martyn. It s good to show support and let people know that problems like this transcend national borders and affect us all. So what was their lasting impression of the trip to France? Paris is Paris and nothing can change that, says Anne. As always we were struck by the city s energy, dynamism and irrepressible joie de vivre.

7 DTC Skittles The third annual DTC skittles competition is taking place on Saturday June 25 th There are 2 Cups to compete for. It will once again be held at the Waie Inn, Zeal Monachorum. Starting at 1pm with a cold finger buffet then play will start at 2pm. The buffet will be paid for by the Twinning Circle. Teams will consist of 5 players and will cost 5 a team. This a fun afternoon and you don t have to be an expert player. The aim is to get DTC associations together and enjoy a social get together. There will also be a draw and quiz. Besides the 2 cups there s a prize for the highest scoring man and lady. The lowest scoring person will take home a nicely decorated wooden spoon! Last year we had some new teams and we would like to have a few more this year. Entries need to reach me by June 1 st. Pat. Skittles - Entry Form Saturday 25 th June 2016 Please reply to Mrs Pat Sherwood by June 1 st Littleover, Dean Street, Crediton, Devon. EX17 3EN Tel: sherwoodpuk@yahoo.co.uk We would like to enter team(s) Twinning Association. Number of people for the BUFFET Please advise if any dietary restrictions Team entry fee 5. Cheques made payable to Devon Twinning Circle. A DOLL STORY Cullompton Twinning Association From Eric Brown About 45 years ago my mother and I made several Topsy Turvy Dolls on the theme of Cinderella and Cinders. We sold some at Church fetes or made them to order for friends, and they proved to be very popular. Time rolled on and we moved on to other things and many years later, after my mother had passed away and I moved to Devon, I thought I might make some more. I did not bring the pattern with me and so searched on the internet to find a copy. I remembered it was a Woman's Weekly pattern, but their archives did not throw up anything. I found something similar on another website, although these

8 dolls were based on the Nursery Rhyme, "There was a little girl who had a little curl, etc", with a happy girl one end and a sad one the other. I made quite a few for family and friends, even making some for Twinning friends in Ploudalmezeau. In a strange twist of fate, about 4 years ago, my daughter was planning to visit and said she had a bag of bits of material and haberdashery that she had after my mother (her grandmother) had passed away. On checking through these bits and bobs, lo and behold there was the original Cinderella/Cinders Topsy Turvy doll pattern from all those years ago, a bit faded but still usable even after 40 years or so. I was thrilled with the find and set about making more of the dolls. Next year, 2017, will be the 40 th Anniversary of Twinning between Cullompton and Ploudalmezeau and we thought it might be a good idea to make Topsy Turvy dolls with a Breton girl one end and a Devon girl the other. Friends remembered that I had been making these dolls and asked if I would design these, one to be given to each French family who visit us in 2017 as a special memento of our Twinning friendship. I adapted the Cinderella/Cinders pattern and made a prototype, the Devon girls' costumes incorporating the county colours of green, black and white, and the Breton girls in black with lace trimmings and lace headress. A small group of us got together to embark on the project to make around 25 dolls. We meet every so often, but usually we make them at home in our spare time. To date I guess we have made around 15 dolls, so hopefully by May 2017 we should have made enough to present to our French friends at the Anniversary celebrations. Thank you to those that responded to my request and have sent articles in. I hope you have enjoyed reading this Newsletter. Please keep the articles coming. Ideas being shared, how you have entertained your twinning guests, raised funds etc.and remember you will be entered into the Monica Sanders Competition and could win 50 + another 50 if judged the overall winner of the year. Please send articles, reports, photographs by to:jeanaplin@live.co.uk by post to Mrs J.Aplin, 13 Crowden Crescent, Tiverton, Devon. EX16 4ET

9 Devon Twinning Circle Officers and Committee Addresses Chairman Mr. Dennis Knowles, 43, Greenway Gardens, Tiverton, EX 16 5JL Vice Chairman. Mrs. Pat Sherwood Imm.past chairman.mrs Josie Mardon, Heimat, 35, Woodwater Lane, Exeter, EX2 5JY, Secretary Mrs Pat Sherwood, Littleover Dean Street, Crediton, EX17 3EN Treasurer Mr. James Stewart, St. Mary s, Forches Cross, Bovey Road, Newton Abbot TQ12 6PU Insurance officer. Mrs. Pauline Knowles, 43, Greenway Gardens, Tiverton, EX16 5JL Newsletter Editor Mrs. Jean Aplin, 13, Crowden Crescent, Tiverton, Devon. EX16 4ET Committee Members Mr Philip Worsfold, 8B, Whitnage Road, Sampford Peverell, Tiverton EX16 7BU Mr. Maurice Mardon, Heimat, 35, Woodwater Lane, Exeter, EX2 5JY Mr. Anthony Barlow, 43, Church Street, Kingsbridge, TQ7 1BT Rob Hooper, County Hall, Exeter Mr. Michael Mansfield, 16, Truro Close, Burnham on Sea, Somerset, TA8 3JE Mr.Bob Bradshaw, The Old Post Office, West Hill,Ottery St. Mary, Devon, EX11 1TR Lindsay Hyslop, 30, Woodmans Crescent, Honiton, EX14 2DY Mr. S. Philp, Highlea, First Raleigh, Bideford, EX39 3NJ