FUTURE EVENTS

Day trip to Ardres: 15 November. Wine tasting, guided tour of 17th century town and Christmas shopping. (See article).
Special Meeting to ratify 2009 subscriptions: 29th October, The Ark, London Road, Southborough at 7.00 p.m..
AGM: 15th March 2009 at Salomon’s Centre

TWTFA events will be held at St Johns Church Centre, St. Johns Road at 7.30pm.: Please contact Christine Phillip on 01892 513944 for further details.
- Ightham Mote - Life Upstairs Downstairs:, 29 October.
- Richard Milton introduces his new book “Best of Enemies Britain & Germany”: 18 November.

Please, please can you send articles, information, photos etc. for the next issue to robert@prance.org.uk

Please note: SHDOFA now has its own web site; http://shdofa.com It’s still in the development stage and your comments, suggestions and contributions will be very welcome so please get blogging!.

Editor: Jackie Prance, 17 Harland Way, Southborough (01892 517324)
SOUTHBOROUGH HIGH BROOMS AND DISTRICT OVERSEAS FRIENDSHIP ASSOCIATION

TWIN OAKS NEWSLETTER
Autumn/Winter 2008

www.shdofa.com

CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE

The bad news is that the summer weather has been very disappointing. The good news is that it has been much sunnier for SHDOFA with an excellent trip to the Abbaye de Valloires and a splendid barbecue in the lovely garden of Robert and Jackie Prance. My thanks to every one involved in organising these two very successful events.

Sadly all the hard work involved in organising the 13th and 14th Sept trip to commemorate the Armistice to end World War 1 was wasted when a fire in the Channel Tunnel prevented us from travelling to France. Mireille our secretary, Bob our Treasurer and Colin our President all tried every which way to make it possible but it wasn’t to be. I am very grateful to them for their tireless endeavours. I also feel very sad and grateful to our colleagues in Lambersart for everything they did on our behalf. We are all pleased that the ceremony went ahead even though the group from Viersen in Germany arrived late, having been delayed by officials at the Belgian border.

Not going to France on that weekend did mean that we were able to attend the Southborough Past and Present Exhibition held in the Royal Victoria Hall. Maurice Verrall provided a splendid display to promote SHDOFA. Our thanks to him and Jackie for manning the stall and a big thank you to SAKA for letting us share their table.

We still have one more trip this year to look forward to: a day trip to Ardres on Saturday 15th November. Food, wine and Christmas shopping. Don’t miss it!

Best wishes Colette Marsh

ARDRES – (Not so ‘ard to get to)

On 15th November a number of members will be off to Ardres, just 25 minutes south of Calais, for an official tour of the town, a spot of wine tasting and the chance to do some Christmas shopping at Cité Europe on the way back. Hopefully, we will also be joined by some of our Lambersart friends. We are assured by the coach company that there should be no problem with the Tunnel this time so it’s all systems go. The trip has proved very popular and is now fully booked but it is quite likely that it will be repeated next year in view of the demand for places.

The tasting, to be accompanied by cheese and pâté, will take place in the cellars of ‘Boursot’s Wine Collection’ just off the cobbled Place d’Armes in the centre of this 17th century town. The guided tour of the town will be conducted by a guide from the Tourist Office. A full report of the visit will appear in the next Newsletter. In the meantime, for further information on Boursots and on Ardres itself, it it worth looking at these web sites:

http://www.boursot.co.uk/index.html
http://www.ardres-tourisme.com/intro.htm

90th ANNIVERSARY OF THE ARMISTICE

Despite all our efforts, the fire in the Channel Tunnel the previous day prevented SHDOFAs English contingent from joining the French and German participants (who came from Lambersart’s other twin town of Viersen) for the 13th September weekend of Armistice commemorations organised by the town of Lambersart and Amitiés Internationales. We have, however, received reports of the event and a very moving experience it must have been.

In addition to seeing a traveling exhibition staged in Lambersart by la mission Mémoire et Patrimoine, the combined group visited Vimy Ridge and other memorials and cemeteries at Lambersart, Péronne, Lorette, and Neuville-Saint-Vaast. Three wreaths were laid at the tomb of the unknown soldier, one British, one, German and one French. One of the Viersen councillors, Hans-Henning Von Bassewitz, whose wife is French, spoke of his grandfather who was killed in 1914. He also made the point that ‘we are different nations but we have the same values and the same culture’.

Perhaps, more than anything, this was an occasion for the young French and German participants to say what they felt. The annual Armistice commemorations don’t often involve our youngsters for whom both world wars are a matter of history which they learn about at school. The following are some of the answers to the question, ‘Is peace a utopia’?
Clearly people were touched by the sincerity with which they spoke to their large audience:

“Peace is important. After the visit to Péronne, Vimy etc., we can really understand that.” - “If, 90 years ago, there had been exchanges between the young people of different countries there wouldn’t have been the war.” – “In 1946, the creation of the UN, countries promised each other eternal peace. Why then the conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan. Algeria, Morocco, Indo-China, Georgia, Tibet and so many others? Why not use dialogue instead of weapons? We don’t go to the ballot box to choose what war we would like to see on TV.”

In response, the mayor of Lambersart, Marc-Philippe Daubresse, said that “at Lambersart, peace is no longer utopia but a reality for all time”.

This was a wonderful project conceived by the Lambersart branch of Amitiés Internationales and on which work began back in January. It was a great idea to include the children of all three countries as a central theme and a great shame that SHDOFA was not able to be present and play its part.

PAST AND PRESENT EXHIBITION

 
With the support of SAKA we were able to share a stand at Southborough’s Past and Present exhibition in Victoria Hall on Saturday 13th September that attracted a good turnout of people to look at many photographs and other items of interest from Southborough’s past. The present was represented by several local groups including churches, youth, amateur dramatic groups and the cricket club, all showing their achievements and future plans. There was also a large television screen continuously showing interesting recordings of events that have happened in Southborough over the last few years.
 
Our stand showed photos of the 15th anniversary celebrations both here and in Lambersart together with information on our twin town and the twinning charter. As well as showing the townspeople what our Association stands for. One of the main purposes was to attract new members and we await the outcome.
 
Several people showed interest and took membership forms together with newsletters and Lambersart brochures. My thanks goes to Jackie Prance who looked after the stand while I had a break and Brian Dobson of SAKA with whom I shared the work load of erecting and dismantling of the stand.
 
Maurice Verrall

SUMMER BBQ

As we have come to expect, the weather forecast for August Bank Holiday was awful, so again we had to prepare for the worst. Although it was a little wet to start with it wasn’t only the barbecue which heated up as the afternoon progressed. Eventually it was possible to venture outside and an excellent afternoon was enjoyed by all, including the dog who successfully managed to convince his admirers that he hadn’t been fed for a week. Thanks to everyone who helped with cooking, preparing salads and desserts and clearing up. And a special thanks to Pat Heyward-Young for another brilliant raffle. The event was not only great fun but also raised £373 in total.

OUR ACTIVE MEMBERSHIP

In case you haven’t spotted our Honourary Founder President and former Southborough mayor on one of your visits to the gym at the Sports Centre in St. John’s Road, here is Daisy Fletcher putting us all to shame and showing us how to use the rowing machine. The wonderful news is that Daisy is back on her feet again. The next time we try to cross the Channel to Lambersart is Daisy going to row across?

PAST AND PRESENT EXHIBITION

With the support of SAKA we were able to share a stand at Southborough’s Past and Present exhibition in Victoria Hall on Saturday 13th September that attracted a good turnout of people to look at many photographs and other items of interest from Southborough’s past.

 
The present was represented by several local groups including churches, youth, amateur dramatic groups and the cricket club showing their achievements and future plans. There was also a large screen television continuously showing interesting recordings of events that have happened in Southborough over the last few years.
 
Our stand showed photos of the 15th anniversary celebrations both here and in Lambersart together with information on our twin town and the twinning charter.
 
As well as showing the towns people what the association stands for including exchange visits by various groups and social activities one of the main purposes was to attract new members.
 
Several people showed interest and took membership forms together with newsletters and Lambersart brochures and so it is eagerly awaited if it proved worthwhile.
 
My thanks goes to Jackie Prance who looked after the stand while I had a break and Brian Dobson of SAKA with whom shared the work load of erecting and dismantling of the stand.
 
Maurice Verrall