SOHAM TWINNING ASSOCIATION
|
SOHAM TWINNING ASSOCIATION |
|
| 15th Oct 2005 | Rosemary Aitchison and The Soham Pumpkin Fair committee visit the French Fete de la Courge at Andrézieux-Bouthéon. Read Jenny Fletcher's description of the visit here. Additional photos can be found on the Soham Pumpkin Fair Website. | |
| 15th Apr 2006 | Rosemary Aitchison and Jean-Claude Schalk sign the twinning charter in Andrézieux-Bouthéon. See video and pictures on the Soham Online site here. | |
| 29th May 2006 | Fiona Ross and Jean-Claude Schalk sign the twinning charter in Soham. See video and pictures on the Soham Online site here. | |
| 30th Sep 2006 | A party from Andrézieux-Bouthéon attend Soham's Pumpkin Fair. See some pictures here. | |
| 30th Jun 2007 | Soham were invited to create an English pub at the Fête des bords de Loire. Read all about what happened here, and see some pictures here. | |
| 27th Sep 2008 | The Twinning Association had a small stall at the Pumpkin Fair and raised about £100 towards new town twinning signs. | |
| 9th Nov 2008 | Some French ex-soldiers came to Soham at the invitation of the British Legion. They took part in the street parade and the war memorial ceremony. Some of the Twinning Association members played their part by offering accommodation during their stay. See some pictures here. | |
| 13th Dec 2008 | The Twinning Association raised some more money for the new road signs, but not enough for six to be fixed to the existing welcome signs. (In January the Council agreed to help fund the balance of the cost of the signs and also help with the costs of a simple unveiling ceremony). | |
| 28th Mar 2009 | At long last Soham has been able to add "Twinned with Andrézieux-Bouthéon" to the green road signs at the major entrances to the town. The ceremony was performed outside the Viva centre at 11am, followed by a small reception inside. One of the new signs was unveiled by the Mayor of Andrézieux-Bouthéon, Jean-Claude Schalk, and there were several official speeches. In addition, just before this, the Mayor formally opened 'The Paperclip', the smallest stationery shop in the county. Afterwards there was a celebratory lunch at the Churchgate Inn. The event was widely advertised and was open to the whole public. It was a joint Twinning and Soham Town Council event, and was very well attended. This year also marks our 3rd anniversary, and was also the reason for the ceremony. There are some pictures here. | |
| April 2009 | Soham Village College continued their exchanges with their corresponding school in Andrézieux-Bouthéon. The next will be in September. | |
| 4th Jul 2009 | A party from Soham attended La Fete des Bords de Loire in Andrézieux-Bouthéon, and enjoyed the excitement of the fair, the display by the Camargue Cowboys, the brilliant Gypsy/Flamenco concert in the evening and not least of all, meeting up with old friends. There are some pictures here. | |
| 10th Oct 2009 | A party from the Soham Pumpkin Fair committee attended La Fete de la Courge in Andrézieux-Bouthéon, and demonstrated what can be done to pumpkins and squashes with a collection of household cutlery, kitchen implements and tools. There are some pictures of the results here. | |
| 29th Oct 2009 | Jean Montschien (conductor of the Andrézieux-Bouthéon choir) has another trick up his sleeve. He is also the leader of L'Orchestre Monty, a tango band. When Anne heard them play in France, she resolved to get them a booking in Soham. They performed a very well received concert, and also included a 'tour' of the local area. There are some pictures here. | |
| 5th Feb 2010 | The STA held a cheese and wine evening with a difference at the Viva centre. The evening was a quiz on the theme of cheese and wine, with tastings organised so that teams could try to identify the various wines (from merlot and shiraz to Xarel-lo and Elderflower) and cheeses (from cheddar to ricotta). There was a lot of tasting going on - people must have really wanted to be certain about their answers... | |
| 13th May 2010 | Thirty people came over from Andrézieux-Bouthéon, and were all accomodated in local households. they were entertained with visits to Cambridge and Ely, and were given a guided tour of Anglesey Abbey. Not only did they extensively explore the gardens of the abbey, they also walked around the Wicken Fen nature reserve afterwards before settling down to a well-deserved English Sunday dinner at the Fountain in Soham. There are some pictures here. | |
| 7th Oct 2010 | A party from Soham (including a Journalist from the Newmarket Journal) visited La Fete de la Courge in Andrézieux-Bouthéon, and stayed with local families. A tour of the beautiful Beaujolais district was organised, with a visit to the Chateau de la Chaize and its winery where there was some wine tasting performed. The visit ended at the annual pumpkin fair or Fete de la Courge. Pictures of what went on can be found here. | |
| 22nd May 2011 |
A great time was had by all who attended our very first Car Treasure Hunt held Sunday 22nd May. The
instructions were cleverly worked out and took the teams all around the area visiting the prettiest
of the local villages. It took ingenuity and detective work and all the teams worked very well together
deciphering the complex clues displaying a heartening camaraderie of spirit ! Back at The Ship for the
results and the raffle the winners were announced and we offer huge congratulations to the Cawthorne
family of Poppyfields in Soham: Dad Duncan, Mum Sarah and daughter Bethany. Sadly other daughter,
Katherine, was unable to attend due to being poorly. Well done, and thanks for joining in.
Thanks must be expressed to all those who contributed –
All winners will be announced at the Soham Carnival, 30th May 2011. Photos can be seen here. |
|
| 24th Sept 2011 | Jean-Claude Schalk, the Mayor of Andrézieux-Bouthéon and his deputy Gerard Brot came to the Soham Pumpkin Fair with their wives to celebrate five years of being twinned with Soham. The Mayor gave copies of his book about the restoration of le Chateau de Boutheon to members of the team who carried out the twinning back in 2006, and Anne Pallett, the chair of Soham Twinning Association gave Andrézieux-Bouthéon a hand-decorated plate with a design of St. Andrew's church on it. Photos can be seen here. | |
| 8th Oct 2011 | A small party (John and Rosemary Aitchison, John and Sheila Kirkham and your webmaster to carry the bags). Went to Andrézieux-Bouthéon for La Fete de la Courge, or their Pumpkin Fair. Despite the worst weather for many years we were made very welcome and entertained extremely well. There are some photographs here. | |