Argentan
Sint-Niklaas
Schongau
Lucca
Colmar
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PAST EVENTS 2025 |
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Christmas LunchSunday 21 December 2025 - at Hilton Garden Inn, Marcham Road, OX14 1TZ Being an account by your food and restaurant correspondent
About thirty of us met for a most pleasant lunch at the Hilton Garden Hotel in Abingdon on Sunday 21st December. After circulating with a drink in hand, we distributed ourselves among four tables, carefully placing a card with our menu selection in front of our place, where it was clearly visible. Stella started the proceedings with an update on the health of Michael Matthews, a past stalwart of twin towning, and then a fulsome tribute to ‘Our man on the buses,’ Peter Dodd. I should explain, that apart from organising today’s lunch, Peter is a tour guide in Oxford and has recently featured in a video advert to be seen on the X2 and X3 buses, where we see a group of tourists and, to one side, their guide, Peter. We started with an icebreaker, not the nuclear-powered Arctic variety, but a list of fifteen questions of a twinning nature to be shared with the persons on either side. In most cases these fellow guests were sufficiently well known that this introduction was not needed. So, let’s pull our crackers. A simultaneous action, of considerable dexterity, around the table, led to a satisfying ‘baaang’ and an avalanche of paper hats, jokes, a quiz, warnings about health and safety relating to this Christmas activity and the information that the crackers and contents were made entirely of recycled paper and NO plastics. I was informed that potentially One Million pieces of plastic had been prevented from going into the oceans by substituting sundry plastic knick-knacks in our crackers with a Christmas quiz. This is an interesting and meaningless statement, as it stands, worthy of any politician. Our thirst quenched with wine and beer, the starters arrived to be followed by either a traditional plate or vegetarian offering, as well as something for the piscatorially inclined. (My spell checker didn’t like this word, but I maintain it is correct – languages evolve). Finally, some delicious puddings/sweets/desserts/afters, mince pies and ‘help yourself’ to coffee. In the midst of all this a HO HO Santa and a fetching elf, dressed in green with blonde plaits, appeared to remind us that Christmas Day was approaching quickly. This was, as usual, a most enjoyable occasion, a chance to meet old friends, and make new ones. Our thanks to Peter Dodd for organising the lunch, Stella for her introduction, and the staff of the Hilton for looking after us with efficiency and cheerfulness. But mainly to you all for coming along.
Neil Hancox, 21st December 2025 Evening Meeting: Multilingual GamesThursday 20 November 2025 - at Preston Road Community Centre The plan was for people to have fun playing a variety of games in all five languages of the twinning society so we had one table for Scrabble in French, Cheat in German, Happy Families in Flemish, Spoons in English and Whist in Italian. Instructions and vocabulary were provided for each table and I left it to the participants to sort themselves out. Some games can only have four players but others are more flexible.
I enjoyed it, but then I love playing games even when I do not win. Richard Smart Remembrance Sunday Wreath LayingSunday 9 November 2025 - The Square
Each year, the Society lays a wreath at the war memorial in Abingdon on behalf of twinning, together with a wreath specifically recognising participation in remembrance by one of our twin towns. Remembrance Sunday began with the civic service in St Helen's Church. From the church, everyone processed up West St Helen Street to reach the war memorial for the traditional short service of remembrance. Our chairman Stella Carter laid a wreath from ADTTS, while Norma Queralt laid a wreath carrying a message from Colmar. After a break for the mayor's reception or for coffee, Nikki Henton had arranged a traditional Sunday lunch at the Crown & Thistle for ADTTS participants. For an excellent report of the ceremony at the war memorial, see the Abingdon Blog. Evening Meeting - Wine TastingThursday 16 October 2025 - at Preston Road Community Centre Twenty-five members of ADTTS enjoyed a pleasant evening of wine tasting courtesy of Majestic Wines, Abingdon, and their local manager, Eleanor Maudsley, who introduced us to nine wines, five white and four red. Did you know that your first sip should not be the best, but sufficiently enjoyable for you to continue to keep drinking. Eleanor, who had only been the local manager for a couple of months, was very knowledgeable, explaining to us the subtleties of flavour/taste and bouquet and which foods partnered a particular wine, though some of the wines could be sipped on their own while simply relaxing. The Italians were particularly concerned with matching the wine to the food. In addition, I learnt that if a wine causes a tingling in your nose this is due to the alcohol, while a tingling in your throat is due to the acidity of the wine. To complement our tasting Susan and Nikki had prepared some excellent savoury snacks. We started off with an Italian Spumante, bubbly but drier than Prosecco. This was followed by a Riesling from Mosel and a Gavi la Toledana from Piedmont. The former was a dry wine, the latter not as famous as the more familiar Pinot Grigio. Both were pleasant, though I felt a little thin. My favourite white was a Sauvignon Blanc, from Marlborough, smooth and easy on the palate, though apparently of high acidity. The final white was Icone Vouvray, from the Loire valley. This was a Chenin Blanc, low in alcohol, 11.5%, but too sweet for me.
The next red was Barbera d’Asti DOCG, from Piedmont (pictured). This was the strongest wine we sampled at 14.5% alcohol with a high tannin content and was recommended to accompany a pasta dish. It certainly had a strong taste. My favourite was AG Carignan Reserve from Limoux (Languedoc), an oaked wine with 12.5% alcohol. I would describe it as smooth. Interestingly we were told that this grape grew on older vines, which bore less fruit. This was an informative and pleasant meeting. I learnt a lot about wines, though, possibly due to age and my forward taste buds being less effective, Eleanor’s description of taste and bouquet was a little lost on me. Of course, the comments above are mine, others at the meeting will have different reactions and favourite wines. Don’t get me wrong, I do like a glass of wine! Our thanks are due to Eleanor for guiding us through the various wines and their properties and to Susan and Nikki for providing the nibbles to accompany our drinks. Neil Hancox, 17th October 2025 Evening Meeting - AGMThursday 18 September 2025 - at Preston Road Community Centre Members of the Abingdon and District Twin Towns Society (ADTTS) returned on Thursday 18th September after the summer break to Preston Road Community Centre for the first meeting of the twinning year. As usual this was the Annual General Meeting. It provided an opportunity to review the past twelve months, to elect officers and committee, and to consider plans for the coming year. The Society's Chairman, Stella Carter, welcomed to the meeting the Mayor of Abingdon Cllr Rawda Jehanli. Norma Queralt agreed to take the minutes. The business followed the usual format and was despatched thoroughly, but efficiently. The papers for the meeting had been available on the Society’s website for members to see in advance. Stella Carter, in her Chairman's report, described events from twinning during the year. Moving on to the future, Stella outlined the draft programme for the coming year. An interesting series of monthly meetings is planned, as well as the customary Christmas Lunch, Europe Day Meal and summer Garden Party. The Mayor took the chair for the elections. The meeting was happy to re-elect the present Chairman and Vice Chairman and committee. The Society continues to lack a Secretary. Susan Read was elected Treasurer. In her address to the meeting Mayor Rawda Jehanli thanked the ADTTS chair and committee for their work in helping to raise the awareness of twinning amongst the people of Abingdon. In particular the Mayors’ conference held earlier in the year which she felt had been a great success in promoting the town of Abingdon and of its citizens. Maggie Greaney reported on a successful Church Twinning year and on the activities and events of the coming year. Richard gave a brief summary about twinning activities with Argentan this year, and on a French exchange being planned, which he is helping with. There was a general discussion at the end over improving communications with youth in the town and one of our younger members Mark Mcmarrick has volunteered to start an Instagram page and a social media account with photographs. Another suggestion was that someone should go round local groups alerting them to twinning, and Howard felt he could undertake that. The meeting ended at 9.20 pm and was followed by wine and cheese. Treasure HuntWednesday 10 September 2025 (Postponed from 17 July) Following the success of last year’s treasure hunt, Stella, Howard and Peter devised a new one for this year, all based on churchyards in some of our pretty villages in the south of the county. The Treasure Hunters, numbering around 30 in a variety of cars met in Waitrose car park, at 5pm on Wednesday 10th September and were handed a sheet of clues. Off we set, each car planning its own route around the villages, many were stymied by extraordinary traffic jams around Sutton Courtenay and Steventon, following the sudden closure of the Drayton Road due to a gas leak. The weather conditions also presented challenges, with driving rain and strong winds, delays were also caused by accidents on the country lanes.
However, many interesting church graveyards were visited, including All Saints Church in Sutton Courtenay where Eric Blair aka George Orwell is buried, St Andrew’s Church in Letcombe Regis where a Maori captain was buried, and St Mary’s Church in East Hendred where a Dame was buried. Like last year, the treasure hunt finished at The Wheatsheaf in East Hendred at 8pm, in time for dinner, where we enjoyed a superb meal, with extremely large portions, which was followed by the counting of the marks and the prize-giving ceremony. During the counting process we were lucky enough to be overheard by Fr. Matthew Topham, priest of the Roman Catholic St Mary’s Church in East Hendred, who then gave us a most interesting talk on the church and on the history of the Dame in the graveyard, whose gravestone was the subject of one of the challenges. “Dame” being the honorific for an English Benedictine nun. First Prize went to new members Alison and Dave, who scored maximum points. A huge thank you to the organisers for putting together such an interesting and enjoyable challenge. NM Garden PartyThursday 26 June 2025 - at St Ethelwold's House and Garden, 30 East St Helen Street  Our annual ADTTS Garden Party took place on a sunny evening in the beautifully kept gardens of St Ethelwold’s House on Thursday, 26th June. Around 25 members gathered to enjoy a variety of home-made canapés, including prawn vol au vents, quiche and asparagus rolls, to name but a few. These had been prepared by the skilled hands of Nikki, Lorraine, Rosemary, Stella and Susan. They were accompanied by appropriate beverages such as prosecco and a mocktail made by Stella served from a bar manned by Howard. As the sun went down the air became somewhat cooler, but not enough to halt lively conversations amongst the members as they enjoyed refreshments in the delightful garden.
A good time was had by all and thanks are due to all who contributed their culinary, organisational, and bartending skills, which made it such an enjoyable evening. NM Evening Meeting - The History and Etiquette of Afternoon TeaThursday 15 May 2025 - at Preston Road Community Centre
For our evening meeting in May at Preston Road Community Centre, we heard from guest speaker Shaun Todd about the origins and traditions of the traditional English Tea Party. This is a subject that Shaun has become an expert on. He shares his knowledge and enthusiasm by giving talks to raise money for Dogs for Good. This is a UK-based charity that trains dogs to help adults and children with physical disabilities and learning disabilities, children with autism and adults with dementia. Indeed, Shaun’s talk was fascinating. He told of the origin of afternoon tea as an opportunity for ladies to entertain together – in tea dresses, without corsets! We learnt how to use a napkin (never a serviette) and how to fold it on one’s lap. He detailed the correct order in which to add cucumber sandwiches, scones and cakes to a cake stand. Is it jam or cream first on a scone? (Let alone, how to pronounce it.) Shaun displayed some relevant objects, such as sugar tongs, tea cosy and cake forks. (Left-handed forks do exist.) The muffin warmer was actually recognised by one of our members, being the proud owner of one. Then there was the moustache guard cup or attachment to protect waxed whiskers from hot tea or coffee. Fittingly, the evening concluded with everyone sitting down to enjoy delicious sandwiches, scones and cakes (notably Susan’s parsnip cake). Europe Day MealFriday 9 May 2025 - at The Cosener's House, 15-16 Abbey Close
One of the highlights of the twinning year is the annual meal together to mark Europe Day. It is an opportunity to express our support for Europe with shared values and to identify with European friends. This year, we were delighted that members and friends would again be able to celebrate at The Cosener’s House. Appropriately, the chef had devised for us a meal to highlight some European specialities. There were four or five attractive alternatives to choose from for each course. They included, for example, Travers de Porc au miel, Sauerbraten, Mushroom Bourguignon, Classic Crème Brûlée and German Cheesecake (Käsekuchen). Our thanks go to Nikki Henton and Peter Dodd for the organisation of this popular event. Evening Meeting - Visit to the Little Basement MuseumThursday 17 April 2025 - at 4 East St Helen Street
On Thursday 17th April we had an outdoor meeting of the Twin Towns Society. We were lucky enough to be invited to the Little Basement Museum in East St Helen Street by the owner and excavator Mike Russell. The museum has been a project for Mike for many years since he bought the building as a shop, firstly for sub-aqua gear then skateboards and after various other reincarnations it is now a hairdressers shop. The basement currently houses a museum charting the history of Abingdon for thousands of years, from the first settlements to the present day. Amongst the many other things Mike excavated are … the well going down to the Thames, many interesting artefacts, bones, shellfish, clay pipes and evidence of fires used for cooking, oak timbers and stones from Abingdon Abbey. The excavations are beautifully displayed in cabinets. Two groups of ten people came, they were either members or people associated. Two people came who walked in Colmar and two others who helped as walk leaders when we had the walk weekend, the rest were committee or members. It was a nice atmosphere. It was a very interesting meeting and we thanked Mike for his time and for preserving a special part of Abingdon for all of us. We repaired to the Punch Bowl afterwards for a sociable drink. Norma Queralt Mayors' Conference4 - 7 April 2025
Under the broad heading “Growing the Bonds of Friendship”, ADTTS hosted the 2025 Twinning Conference for delegates from our twin towns. This conference is held on an annual basis in the various twin towns, in parallel with a separate Mayors’ Conference held at the same time. The programme started on the Friday evening with the Mayor of Abingdon, Gabby Barody, welcoming all the delegates to both the Twinning Conference and the Mayors’ Conference at the Cosener’s House. While the Mayoral delegates stayed for dinner at the Cosener’s House, our Twinning Conference delegates went to the taproom of our local brewery, The Loose Cannon, for supper and a taste of local beers. The conference itself took place on the Saturday in the Guildhall, Abingdon. It started at 8:45 am at the Twin Towns signboard with a proclamation from the Town Crier and a welcome from the Mayor. The first morning session was entitled “Understanding each other” where the delegates of each town and organisation told us about themselves and how each society works in a 5-minute presentation. The second morning session looked at “Strengthening links and forging new links” where representatives from local clubs and societies in Abingdon came and gave us a short talk about their activities with the hope that this could lead to new links being forged between our towns. These activities included Table Tennis, Running, Drama, the Arts and Ukulele playing, where Howard, representing the Bakehouse Strummers, finished his presentation with a spirited rendering of “Singing the Blues”. After an excellent Ploughman’s Lunch organised by Stella we recommenced in the afternoon with “Ideas for non-traditional twinning” in order to increase the scope of twinning to encompass new ideas for twinning associations to adopt. Later in the afternoon the delegates went to St. Ethelwold’s Garden for the Peace Pole Celebrations. This was the first anniversary of the Abingdon Peace Pole – “Let’s Build Bridges Not Walls”. The event included readings, live music and circle dancing, and was accompanied by excellent refreshments. For Saturday evening the Mayor of Abingdon, Gabby Barody, had invited the delegates from both conferences to a dinner at The Cosener’s House where speeches were made and presents exchanged and delegates from both conferences mingled with each other. Many delegates were travelling back on the Sunday, but a variety of activities were on offer for those who remained, including watching the bell ringing in St Helen’s church, hosted by Brian Read, a trip to the White Horse with Richard Smart, and tours of Oxford with Phil Addison and Peter Dodd. At 5 pm Stella hosted a sumptuous Tea Party in the English tradition at her home, at which over 30 people enjoyed a lavish spread of traditional English cakes, biscuits and sandwiches, elegantly served on exquisite and skilfully crafted cake stands. Nick Marsh Evening Meeting - Witchcraft in Abingdon and OxfordThursday 20 March 2025 - at Preston Road Community Centre Tom McDonnell gave us an intriguing talk featuring lots of anecdotes about witches, witchcraft and assorted matters in Oxford and Abingdon. He said that his interest in the paranormal had been spotted as a five-year-old at school and, as far as we could tell, had not diminished since. In alterations in 1980 to the White Horse pub in Broad Street, workman discovered a broomstick, and apart from sweeping the floor, we all know what those were used for – with today’s traffic they could be due for a comeback. Was this find linked to the Godstowe witch burned in Broad Street in 1650? In the 1820s and 1830s there was a branch of the Hell Fire club in the city. At their meetings there were twelve places but only eleven attendees. Guess who the remaining place was for? In 1831 Edward Lee Trafford of Brasenose College summoned the devil to one of these meetings, was pulled through the bars on the window of his room and found dead. It is more likely that his demise was due to an excess of alcohol. The Pitt Rivers Museum has a witch bottle in its collection. Don’t open it! The idea was to entice the witch into the bottle, which contained pins and urine, and imprison them there. Elias Ashmole, he of the Ashmolean, was obsessed with witchcraft and was friends with Arthur Dee, son of the noted astrologer John Dee who was favoured by Queen Elizabeth I. In 1557 an Oxford man called Roland James uttered some unfavourable opinions of the Queen and ended up in the stocks. During his trial he cursed the men involved and afterwards many died of a mysterious illness. Colleges featured in several other stories. John Quimby, of New College, fell out with the master of the college who accused Quimby of heresy, imprisoning him in the college tower, where he starved to death. The master, an unsavoury character, had his come-uppance, dying a few years later. A ghost is occasionally seen in the college grounds. Another feud involved Robert Parsons, a Jesuit and Adam Squire, both of Balliol. Parsons claimed that Squire was a witch (warlock) and Squire died soon afterwards. During the siege of Oxford in the Civil War, Charles I lodged at the top of the Bodleian Library and one day observed Falkland, one of his generals, using a book to foretell the future. The King tried it and noted that it predicted his premature death. His ghost is said to haunt the building. In 1539 three local women from Abingdon were accused of witchcraft by a member of another family and were imprisoned. However, investigation showed that it was a made-up charge, the women were acquitted and the accusers ended up in jail. Many of these events reflect the unpleasant side of human nature, for instance the desire for a scapegoat when things do not go as planned, and Tom reminded us that witches were often old woman with a knowledge of herbal medicine and other healing techniques which were used for good, not bad purposes. So, what do we make of it all? Before the meeting, when collecting some wine from the ‘bar’ I picked out a glass from the case and noticed a small spider in the bottom of the glass. I carefully shook the spider onto the safety of the floor. One can’t be too careful. As always, we finished with refreshments, a tasty bowl of soup and bread courtesy of Susan and Nikki. Neil Hancox Reaching Out - Twinning Dance FestivalSaturday 22 February 2025 - 4 pm and 7.30 pm at Amey Theatre Reaching Out was born in November 2023 in Grenoble to commemorate 80 years since the event of 11 November 1943 when 1500 people gathered in Grenoble to celebrate the 1918 Allied victory of the First World War which resulted in 600 arrests and 369 deportations to concentration camps.
This extraordinary spectacle was performed by a host of different dance ensembles, the majority of which were enthusiastic young dancers, including groups of amateur and professional dancers from Oxford and Abingdon, as well as from further afield, with dance groups from Wroclaw in Poland and from Grenoble in France. The underlying aim of the event was to show how friendship and understanding of different cultures and backgrounds can develop through participation in dance and music. The performers included groups from the Amand Alder Dance Academy, Oxford Youth Dance, the South Oxford Dance Academy, Mana’Dance and Spirit of D Lays from Grenoble, the Wroclaw Musical Collective from Poland, and the Reaching Out Voice Quintet. Stella Carter, Chair of Abingdon Twinning, and Cllr. Lorraine Oates representing the Mayor of Abingdon Evening Meeting - Language GamesThursday 20 February 2025 - at Preston Road Community Centre For our evening meeting on 20th February, the advertised speaker cancelled at short notice. We took the opportunity to enjoy “Language Games” instead. Richard Smart organised challenges of interacting in other languages. The result was a fun time for all. For refreshments, we enjoyed Howard’s Kir Royale and Susan’s potato canapés.
Richard explains: The idea of this evening was to get people to have fun playing Scrabble, Cheat and Happy Families while using a foreign language to communicate. There were also word searches in Russian, Finnish and Arabic with a hidden message in English saying something like ‘Richard is a lovely person’. To play Cheat you only need to know 15 words so the vocabulary was available in French, Russian, Polish, Italian, Arabic, Finnish and German. People tend to be a bit shy of using an unfamiliar language so I bullied some people into playing in Russian and Arabic, but I think they enjoyed it. We played three rounds of about 25 minutes each before stopping for refreshments. This was when people had a go at the wordsearches and I was amazed at how quiet the room became. I think people had fun, several people have learned phrases like ‘liar’ and ‘two tens’ in Russian and Arabic and you never know when phrases like that might come in handy. Evening Meeting - QuizThursday 16 January 2025 - at Preston Road Community Centre
Ensure brain is in gear before opening mouth or putting pencil to paper. It’s an old saying – I first met it when I started working – but still true. The scene, twenty-five of us arranged in five teams ready to have our quizzing brains probed and prodded, our powers of immediate recall and observation tested, and our taste buds tickled by those quizzical quizzers, Brian Read and Peter Dodd. The first decision was a team name, based this time on a fruit. Bananas came to mind for us, since while a good source of energy (and potassium) you do slip up on the skins. As a starter each team received a sheet of the names of tube stations on the Circle line, only in anagram form. While solving these we were tested with ten questions on history – history of 2024. E.g., what date was the general election? Ur, um, June, no July. It wasn’t July 9th, but we got a point for the month. As someone once said, ‘A week in politics is a long time.’ The same thing, in some convoluted way, goes for my memory. Meanwhile anagrams of tube stations fell steadily to the expertise of Nick Marsh. Next a sheet of outlines of countries and ten, unconnected, flags. A wild guess at Belgium but less success with the flags, Taiwan not Chile, etc. Brian had been busy with his camera, and now he tested us all with ten details of monuments and sites in the town. Some we had seen but could not recall where, others were new to me at least. But you also had to state the meaning behind the object. I certainly learnt a few new facts. Hope I remember them. Now it was tasting time, sausage flavours to be precise. We were given six alternative sets of ingredients and four random samples of sausage. This was a winner for the Bananas – full marks. However, when the ADTTS archives are opened in 50 years’ time the truth will be revealed, apart from Aberdeen Angus beef – so tasty that I took two pieces, the rest was guesswork. One more round to go. Twin towns and European facts, which country is the best for high employment and a long life - Andorra – which country has the highest per capita incidence of plastic surgery - Spain. Despite failing on both of these questions the Bananas topped the league and were rewarded with tubes of Smarties. Refreshments, other than snippets of sausage, were called for. Susan Read had produced delicious pizzas, not shop made stuff, but the real thing starting with homemade dough and on to excellent toppings. If only I had had less tea, I could have done even greater justice to these. While eating and drinking, to restore our brains of course, Peter Dodd had one last task for each team: build a model of the tower in Lucca, the one with greenery sprouting out of the top, using lollipop sticks, Sellotape (scissors provided), a sprig of rosemary, and ingenuity. Ours was more like that tower in Pisa, maybe after an earthquake. You can’t win ’em all.
A great evening, on a cold night. Our thanks to Brian and Peter for testing questions, Susan for the homemade pizza, Nikki, Margaret and Stella for distributing food and wine, Howard behind the bar and to you all for good company and for coming along and supporting a fun evening. Neil Hancox, 17th January 2025 |
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