2022 edition Leamington International Twinning Society GEMINI FINALLY, after COVID restructions and delays OUR TRIP TO SCEAUX leamtwinning.uk Find us on Facebook My First Twinning Trip A Day in Paris VE Day Art, Baths and Real Tennis IN THIS ISSUE DON’T MISS! Sceaux’s Incoming Visit 21st - 25th April 2023 We need hosts! Contact Sue [email protected] AND BRÜHL VISIT US!

LETTER FROM THE CHAIR 2 Dear Friends, It is wonderful to be able to write my first introduction to Gemini as chair of LITS. It has been a long wait, as it also has been to enjoy our first twinning exchanges since 2019. The trip to Sceaux in May was truly memorable and I hope you all enjoy reading the accounts of the numerous events that our friends organised for us. The celebration of our 50th anniversary as twin towns was well reported in the Leamington Observer and Courier which we always hope will spark an interest from people in the town. We have managed to attract some new members over the past couple of years and I extend a very warm welcome to them. In October, we hosted a party from Brühl which allowed many old friendships to be renewed and new ones to be made. Our guests were certainly delighted with the programme we arranged and have returned to Brühl with great ambitions for our visit next year to celebrate 50 years of twinning. I can confirm that the following dates have been agreed for twinning trips next year, please put them in your diary. Sceaux to visit Leamington April 21st to 25th 2023 Leamington to visit Brühl September 15th to 19th 2023 Please also take note of the articles in the magazine about paying your subs to LITS and making sure that our emails don’t end up in your junk folder! Looking forward to meeting up with you and having another successful twinning year in 2023. Karen MacQueen

3 Annual Subscriptions Your subscription to LITS is due on 1st January 2023, unless you joined after 1st September 2022 in which case your subscription will last until January 2024. The rates are as follows: Single Member £8 Family Member £12 Friend (non hosting) £5 Student £5 The most convenient way to pay is by BACS transfer, the account details are: Account name: Leamington International Twinning Society (if this doesn’t all fit in the box on your online banking just complete as many characters as the box will allow) Sort Code : 05-05-58, Account Number : 45426109 Please use your surname and subs23 as the reference You can pay via the website using go-cardless but they take a 25p admin fee so the Society receives less of your payment. You can also pay by cheque made out to Leamington International Twinning Society and posted to the Treasurer: Steve Crooks, 53 Leam Terrace, Leamington Spa, CV31 1DG We will send you an email acknowledgment of your payment and use this as an opportunity to check that the name, address and phone number details we have for you are correct. YOUR MEMBERSHIP Bob MacQueen

4 We now send all our messages via email using mailchimp, however as this is a mailing service some servers see this as spam and automatically redirect the message to a junk/spam folder. We are aware that this has happened to some of you and also that some of our messages are not opened by all the recipients so we suspect that it could be common problem. Our messages will always have LITS in the subject title and when fully opened will show the LITS logo so you will know it is from us. To avoid the messages being seen as spam please can you add [email protected] to your contacts address book which should then overcome the problem but it is also worth having a look in your junk/spam folder occasionally just to check. If you do find a message in your junk/spam box then moving the message to your inbox can also help to reduce future misdirections JUNK MAIL Bob MacQueen

5 A YEAR IN TWINNING LITS Members

6 Having lived on the continent for ten years - all be it in Brussels several years ago - I was interested when my German tutor suggested that I should consider joining the twinning group in Leamington Spa. I had only attended one meeting on Zoom prior to my first trip with the group, so the whole experience was quite new to me. We travelled in a large coach from Leamington Spa to Dover. We had an uneventful journey across the Channel to Calais, arriving in Paris a little later than scheduled. Our late arrival unfortunately clashed with the central Paris evening rush hour. But this ‘leisurely’ drive through Paris brought back memories of previous visits and gave me a chance to recap on the delights of Paris from a coach. Our welcoming party were waiting for us at the Mairie in Sceaux. I was introduced to my host family - Mia and Dominique - who had recently renewed their subscription to twinning. They are a delightful couple and I look forward to welcoming them to Leamington in 2023. We communicated both in English and French. I was complemented on my knowledge of French, which had lain dormant for a number of years. Our five day trip was packed with an overwhelming series of events to mark the 50th anniversary of twinning between Leamington and Sceaux. We were totally and utterly indulged for the duration of our stay; a fantastic series of events had been planned by the ‘mayoral committee’. Our first day started with a guided tour of a section of the Louvre. Although I had visited the Louvre on previous visits to Paris, this memorable experience will stay with me for a long time. MY FIRST TWINNING TRIP Gayle Southall

7 Our Louvre experience was followed by a delicious lunch on a floating boat on the Seine. Then followed a walking visit of the central highlights of Paris with my host family: the Sorbonne - where they attended university - and the surrounding streets of the inner city ceremony, The next day - Sunday 8th May - we attended a WW1 official ceremony which we were informed had lapsed, but was reinstated by President Macron. The mayors and ex mayors of Leamington and Sceaux officiated at this ceremony. There was a further very moving visit to another WW1 ceremony with an English bugler. Lunch was arranged for us that day at a chateau and lunch was followed by a very interesting visit to a war museum. The following day we walked around the stupendous grounds of the vast chateau of Sceaux. Another sumptuous evening followed with a choir and more delicious food and wine.

8 DOs AND DON’Ts Michael Cox It is great to welcome some new members to our merry ranks, not least those who braved the backlogs and joined us for their first twinning trip to Sceaux this April. Having travelled avec les twinners since I was in a pushchair – a memory Bob MacQueen has reminded me many many times – I thought I would pass on some tips and tricks to twinners new and old. 1 DON’T FORGET YOUR SUITCASE In my eagerness to have some dinner with my hosts, I managed to leave my suitcase on the coach. This proved somewhat challenging; the next morning, in the baking Parisien sun, I had to purchase a new t-shirt from the Louvre. So don’t get so hungry that you end up leaving your bags; eat plenty before arrival! 2 THERE’S ALWAYS FISH & CHIPS Bizarrely, on the ferry back, we were told by one of the ship stewards that the main restaurant was closed. We would have to be content with sandwiches! A quick march right across the boat proved successful and some of us managed to grab a much needed hot lunch of fish & chips after all. Never fear, fish will always be here! 3 DO GO TO THE SHOPS! If you get the chance, trips to the shop are a must! I was particulary proud of my purchase of Parisien Gin - which is undoubtedly a rarity nowadays! As mentioned above, gift shops are well stocked these days and are able to fufill requriements from the basic to the bizarre. And the department stores, like the Galeries Lafayette, do tend to have gorgeous roof top bars with splendind vistas.

A DAY IN PARIS 9 Saturday morning, we were told we would need to get up early as we were to visit the Louvre in central Paris. We had a swift petit-déjeuner and set off to catch the train into the city. A quick change of trains and we arrived at the Louvre. After a short wait in the courtyard by the famous pyramid, we were collected by our guide and were able to enter the building by a side entrance avoiding the large crowds which had already built up. We started our trip in the medieval Louvre where you followed a walkway around the old city walls, which have been rebuilt in the lower ground floor of the museum. There are Greek, Etruscan and Roman antiquities, Egyptian pharaohs and ancient Arabic art forms. We had a very informative talk from our guide and it was very good to visit a part of the museum which is not as popular as some of the other galleries. We were then taken through a series of galleries ranging from paintings from France, Great Britain the United States, Italy and northern Europe. Roman antiquities and sculptures from Europe as well as the gallery containing all of jewels and costumes from French aristocracy. We had – of course – a visit to the Mona Lisa and this was the culmination of the tour where there was a huge crowd and a long queue in order to see the painting. Bob MacQueen

10 We were then told that we are going to have a meal in central Paris; we set off walking along wondering where we were actually going to go. As we approached the Seine, we began to wonder if we were going to be on a boat, and indeed we were!. We boarded a large Bateau Mouche which was equipped with rows of tables. We set off along the Seine and were served a delicious four course meal whilst enjoying the iconic views of Paris from the large windows. After we disembarked, people split into groups; some going to see another exhibition and the others just walking around to view the sites of Paris. Thank you to our hosts in Sceaux for organising a very enjoyable day with a surprise meal and a memorable start to the celebrations of 50 years of twinning.

REMEMBERING WWI 11 On the day after VE Day, Monday 9th May, we were taken by coach to La Ferté-sous-Jouarre for a remembrance ceremony at the World War I Memorial. This vast stone structure commemorates over 3,700 British and Irish soldiers with no known grave who died in this area during the Battle of the Marne in 1914. The soldiers were part of the British Expeditionary Force and are all named on the huge memorial. Nearby, on each bank of the River Marne, we saw two further memorials, commemorating the Royal Engineers who built a floating bridge there under heavy fire on 9th September 1914. The ceremony was attended by the deputy Mayor of la Ferté-sousJouarre, and a representative of the tourist office as well as some local ‘anciens combattants’. Jack Bonté installed enormous French and British flags as a background to the ceremony and national flags were also held by standard-bearers. I had the privilege of wearing the medal that my dad had received for taking part in the Battle of Normandy in 1944 and for that reason, I was asked to hold the British flag, which was a very great honour and a very moving experience. Sue Staddon

12 Later we enjoyed a delicious lunch in the beautiful surroundings of the Chateau des Bondons hotel, then on to the Museum of the First World War at Meaux. This is a big, modern museum including battlefield recreations, tanks, aircraft and many small everyday items which enabled us to understand more of this painful period of history. It had been an informative, moving and thought-provoking day, a reminder to us all of the horror that war inflicted on Europe in the past and which is still suffered in Ukraine in our times. How right and appropriate it is that Leamington and Sceaux have renewed our vows of friendship so that we can play our part in promoting peace and understanding between our towns and our countries.

13 The excursion to Herefordshire for our visitors was a great success largely due to the perfect weather and the splendid autumn colours. After the coach driver managed to access the narrow driveway we arrived safely at historic Hellens Manor near Ledbury to be greeted by free range hens and tumbling dogs. Our young guides soon appeared and offered both German and English versions of the house tour Both groups were delighted with the tales of ghosts and royal visitors and thrilled to be close up to paintings by great masters. The lunch of homemade asparagus quiche and apple and plum crumble was very well received. After a wander through the formal gardens and woodland by the house we left a little later than planned to explore Ross on Wye. Once again the driver had to deviate to find a wide enough access to the car park, but the group were able to visit the historic market house with its exhibition of arts and crafts before inspecting the huge hill top church and strolling through the gardens created by local benefactor John Kyrle. There was a view of the river Wye below but not enough time to follow the riverside trail. That could be for another visit, perhaps with LITS members next year! WEST COUNTRY IN THE SUN Margaret Begg

14 The German group gathered at the Pump Rooms for a guided tour of the art gallery. The curator described the collection and the way it was displayed to half the group, while the other half went round the West Midlands Art Group’s special exhibition and selected their favourite for the People’s Award. The museum heritage display attracted attention as it describes the history of our town from early beginnings to the current day. Our next visit was to the Real Tennis Club in Bedford Street which Matt Fattorini, a club member, described as “the oldest club in the world”. We were shown the attractive period rooms in the building and admired the trophies, silver racquets and cartoons on the walls. Hunting, golfing and card playing were the favourite pursuits of the club members, but despite it having the air of a gentlemen’s club, ladies were admitted in 2012. The highlight was the chance to see top class players in action on court with balls bouncing off walls and collecting in gulleys. The scoring was too complicated for us to master in one visit, but everyone shared the excitement of the competition. ART, BATHS AND TENNIS Margaret Begg

15 This year´s visit to our friends in Leamington was special. Following the long absence of visits, both by LITS and FBS, the decline of COVID provided the opportunity to meet in person again. Sigrid and I stayed with Carolyn and Jonathan who suggested to take advantage of the good weather and spend Saturday in the countryside. As we all are members of the National Trust, we chose to go to Long Mynd and get a glimpse of Wales without having to show our passports. Over Cornish pasties and a cup of tea we sorted the routes suitable for hikers from those designated for bikers and set off. The way up the mountain resembled the ascend to Mount Snowdon that we had done a few years earlier. Having reached the top we were rewarded with magnificent views and the surrounds covered in blazing autumn colours. Our path followed an ancient trail which has been used by traders, farmers and other travellers since Roman times. There were sheep grazing as well as some ponys accustomed to the hardy environment by the looks of their skins. Descending on some rocky trail we arrived in the village of Church Stretton where we sat down in the garden of a café to enjoy a well earned cup of tea. This day was a perfect start into a “twinning weekend” filled with lots of activity. OUR DAY WITH HOSTS Malte and Sigrid Wolff

Chair, Karen MacQueen, [email protected] Vice Chair, Michael Cox, [email protected] Hon. Treasurer, Steve Crooks, [email protected] Membership Secretary, Bob MacQueen, [email protected] Sceaux Co-ordinator, Sue Smith, [email protected] Brühl Co-ordinator, Margaret Begg, [email protected] Comm Member, Caroline Dempster, [email protected] Comm Member, Colin Beadle, [email protected] Town Council Rep, Cllr Amanda Stevens, [email protected] THE LITS COMMITTEE leamtwinning.uk Find us on Facebook WELCOME TO OUR NEW MEMBERS Telgarth Badger • Paul Carter • Peter Corkhill • Nollaig Doughan • Penny Hughes • Colin Quinney • Tessa Simpson • Tony Bray • Gayle Southall • Graham Smith