December 2008 newsletter

Dear Members,

Please note the following important dates and information:

1 AGM This will take place at the Crossroads Christian Centre in Homer Lane on Friday 27th February at 7.30pm. There will be wine and nibbles and the meeting will be followed by a quiz.
Please note that membership subscriptions will be due. As notified at last year’s AGM the payment will be £7.50 for individuals and £15 for families. There will also be a raffle. Please bring a prize if you can, be it a spare bottle or box of chocolates that has survived Christmas or any Christmas present that is surplus to requirements.

2 Axminster Twinning Association have invited us to an event they are organising in March, as follows: a social evening with a skittles tournament and a finger buffet, from 7pm on 16th March 2009 at the Harbour Inn in Axmouth. The cost will be between £9 and £10 per person. If you would like to join in what promises to be a very enjoyable evening you can sign up for it at our own AGM on 27th February.

3 Fundraising: as ever, with the visit of our French friends due next August ( Friday 21st to Sunday 23rd) the need for fundraising activities becomes more urgent. We are always looking for fresh ideas for fundraising (and funraising) and for new people to get involved with activities. If you have any ideas please bring them to the AGM. Also if anyone feels they have anything to offer in terms of committee membership please come forward.
We are very pleased to announce that the Carnival Committee has generously given us the sum of £100. This is a very welcome boost to our funds, but there is much still to do.

4 CHRISTAS SOCIAL: As usual this will take place in January, when all of us have a little more time than in the pre-Christmas rush. This will be at the King’s Arms in Seaton, on January 16th at 7.30pm. The cost will be £10 per person. This is less than a month from now, so we really do need you to BOOK STRAIGHT AWAY PLEASE. Bookings with payment should be made to the Treasurer, Avis Hilder at the above address. Cheques should be made payable to Seaton and District Twinning Association.
Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Fund Boost

The Association is delighted to report that the it has received a donation of £100 from the Seaton Carnival Committee. Our Chairman Jeff Day went along to the town hall on 26 November along with representatives of other local groups to collect the cheque and made a short speech of thanks stressing that the Association is not a clique but a but a part of the town, and open to all.

The Association's Contribution to Public Art

The photo below, shows the Association's contribution to the "Windows on Seaton" public art project sponsored by the Town Council (see previous postings for details). It was a great effort, and thanks to everyone concerned.

Windows on Thury-Harcourt

Twinning members and artists Carolyn King and Philip Clayton may be in France at the moment enjoying the good life, but they have responded to a previous plea (see blog entry 11 October) for help with a design for the "Window on Seaton" community art project. In this, individuals and groups in Seaton are decorating the hoarding around the old Racal site by painting views from windows and doors, each one showing some aspect of Seaton. Our Association, to be different are doing a view of France, and Carolyn emailed the above working drawing. The splendid somewhat bucolic scene shows an aspect of the wine harvest. Watch this blog to follow developments.

Community Activity Fair 18 October 2008

The Association was one of forty groups represented at the Community Activity Fair at Seaton Town Hall. The display boards were revamped for the occasion with an emphasis on our last visit to France and our range of activities. We generated a lot of interest, and a number of people expressed interest in joining the Association. Thanks to those who gave up their time to look after the stand and answer queries from the public

Two Events - Community Fair and Windows on Seaton

Advance notice and a plea for help

On Saturday 18 October there is a Community Activity Fair sponsored by the Town Council in Seaton Town Hall between 10 and 3 where about 40 community groups active in Seaton will be there to tell the world what they do. We were there at the 2007 fair (photo) which was was highly successful, and will be at this one as well, publicizing our events, our website and hopefully getting more people interested in joining us. To add a little interest there will be a quiz similar to the one at our last AGM for the public to do with a prize of the fizzy plonk left over from the boules events.

We need help in manning the stand. If anyone can spare an hour or so, it would very welcome. Even if you cannot help, still come to the fair. It is free, highly worthwhile, and you are bound to find something of interest. You can watch the majorettes, have a game of chess if you want, or who knows, even win some fizzy plonk

The second event starts on the weekend of the 25 October when the Town Council is organizing a community art project when a series of "views from windows" are being painted by individuals and local groups on the hoardings around the Racal Site in Harbour Road. We have sponsored a window. The particular theme is "Views of Seaton", however the Twinning Association as gained dispensation to do a view of Thury-Harcourt instead. At the moment, we have no artist lined up, and will have to use the "resident" artist so if anybody out there fancies themselves as an artist and wants to have a go, let us know,

If you can help at either event, please contact Avis, Margaret or Clare or email the Association as soon as possible

And the answer is "Court"

It seems hopscotch is played on a court (see previous posting).

For those who are interested, which assuredly is everybody. Hopscotch dates from the time of Rome and in Britain it was (according to Wikipedia) initially used as a training regimen for Roman infantry who ran the course in full armour and field packs, as it was thought this would improve their footwork. In other words is was not a kid's game
And for those interested in the French connection, which again is assuredly everybody. In Thury they call hopscotch "marcelle" (fem)

A French variant of hopscotch is known as Escargot (snail) or "La Marelle Ronde" (round hopscotch). It is played on a spiral course. Players must hop on one foot to the center of the spiral and back out again. A player marks one square with his or her initials, and from then on may place two feet in that square, while all other players must hop over it. The game ends when all squares are marked or no one can reach the center, and the winner is the player who "owns" the most squares

OK next question - what do the French call a hopscotch "court"

Update to Thury's Twinning Website

It has only just been noticed at the website of the Thury-Harcourt Twinning association has been updated (you can find the link on the right under external links). A selection of photos from their archives have been added (found under the heading Diaporama) including the one above showing the inauguration of the EU hopscotch box*** in Thury in 2002. The EU bit comes from squares being designated by countries rather than numbers. (The young man appears to be straddling Austria)

** Does anyone know the correct term for a hopscotch grid/box/set/pitch/ground?

"Holy Relics"

Between the start of the exchange in 1982 and the 25th anniversary in 2007, both Seaton and our Association have received a number of gifts and other commemorative items from our friends in Thury. Some of these now lie in odd corners half-forgotten except by their guardians. For this reason some attempt has been made to catalogue everything. So far, the list is confined to items in the town hall, Seaton museum and Cliff Field Gardens, namely:

Football trophy, enamelled glass plate, and pottery vase in the museum

Twinning charter and framed picture of Thury-Harcourt in the town hall (upstairs landing), and

Park bench with brass plate in Cliff Field Gardens adjacent to the boules pitch

Photos of all these items have been added to this site and can be found by following the link which has been added to the list on the right under the title "Catalogue of commemorative items".

If anyone is aware of any other item not listed, could they let the committee know please. Equally if anyone from our 2007 visit has a commemorative coaster presented at they are willing to donate for display in the museum, could they do likewise.

Seaton Town Council Website

Because the twinning is run by the volunteers of the Seaton and Thury associations and has been for the last 25 odd years, it is sometimes forgotten that technically they do so on behalf of the respective Town Councils. This is perhaps more evident in France, where they get much more recognition, (and often more financial help) from the civic authorities. This became very noticeable after the revamp of the Thury municipal website, which has a page dedicated to their twinning committee as well as the occasional news item. In contrast, Seaton Council's website had no reference at all to Thury-Harcourt. Happily, this omission has now been rectified following a request from our twinning committee . There is now a page about the twinning at www.seaton.gov.uk/twin.htm

Newsletter September 2008

Below is the text of the Associations printed newsletter - much of it is hardly news for those of you who keep up to date with the blog .

The text

Hopefully, you will find a number of items of interest in this issue of the newsletter. We have news of social events, both past and future, and some exciting developments with our website

Blogsite

The old defunct website has been replaced by a new blogsite at the address given above, The blogsite does all that the old site tried to do and more. Its format makes it easy to update on a daily basis and without the need for specialised file transfer software. It contains news of events, the text of newsletters, photographs, links and the occasional exhortation leavened with a bit of whimsy. Go to it and you will find links to online photo albums with over 250 photos of present and historical Thury-Harcourt, past visits and shots from the archives. There are also links to useful sites like Thury’s municipal and twinning association sites and the local French newspaper Ouest–France in case you want to keep up with the local gossip over there. Perhaps the most useful feature is that anyone can post comments, suggestions and features easily.

Funds

The Association manned a tombola stall at the August bank holiday street fair in Seaton as part of our all so important fund raising effort. Next year, perhaps as many as 50 French guests may appear, and we need to provide hospitality for them, and this includes all entry fees, transport, snacks and a formal dinner on our big day out. Fund raising is therefore not just an important issue, it is a vital issue. Thanks then to all who helped on Monday, and thanks to all who provided prizes. After expenses, we made just over £50 (that is not finalised) which all helps but there is still a lot to do. Nevertheless as the French proverb goes "Petit à petit l'oiseau fait son nid" (little by little the bird makes its nest)

Obviously, fund raising is becoming a priority, so please get your thinking-caps on, and come up with some fundraising proposals, especially if it entails a couple of hundred plastic ducks. The Association has had a stock of these for some years.

Future Social Program

Events are
Friday 5 September 7pm
Boules Cliff Field Gardens

Wednesday 17 September 6.30pm
Gerry has arranged another walk. Meet at Musbury Church for a choice of walks to and around Musbury Castle. This will be followed by a get-together at the Harbour Inn at Axmouth around 8.15. As at the earlier walk this year on the Undercliff local historian, Derek Stevens will be on hand to liven up the walk with his historical anecdotes and local knowledge.

Saturday 18 October 10am-3pm
The Association will be manning a stall at Seaton’s Community Activity Fair at the town hall. This is a great opportunity to showcase ourselves to the town and potential members. Any help in manning the stall or in effective presentation will be gratefully received

Christmas Festival- Seaton
Watch this space. The Committee have a few ideas for contributing to the festival in December and details will be forthcoming later

Finally:
We have just heard that Ralph Ravenhall has died recently. Long standing members will recall that he was Chairman of our Association in the early days. The Association remembers the work he did in laying the foundations of our links with Thury Harcourt and promoting international friendship. Our sympathy goes out to his family

From the archives Ralph Ravenhall (on right) welcoming French Visitors to Seaton, date unknown but possibly 1986

Carnival Week 2008 - Showing the Flag

The Association manned (and womanned) a tombola stall at the August bank holiday street fair in Seaton as part of our all so important fund raising effort. Next year, perhaps as many as 50 French guests may appear, and we need to provide hospitality for them, and this includes all entry fees, transport, snacks and a formal dinner on our big day out. Fund raising is therefore not an important issue, it is a vital issue. Thanks then to all who helped on Monday, and thanks to all who provided prizes. After expenses, we made just over £50 (that is not finalised) which all helps but there is still a lot to do. Nevertheless as the French proverb goes "Petit à petit l'oiseau fait son nid" ***

It is not all fund raising of course, we were also there to show the flag, literally so, as the photos show.

*** Little by little, the bird builds its nest

Walk 17 September

Gerry has arranged another walk. This one is on Wednesday 17 September. Meet 6.30 pm Musbury Church for choice of walks to and around Musbury Castle. This will be followed by a get together at the Harbour Inn at Axmouth around 8.15. As at the earlier walk this year on the Undercliff, local historian, Derek Stevens will be on hand to liven up the walk with his historical anecdotes and local knowledge

Pre-1945 Thury-Harcourt

If you have ever wondered what Thury-Harcourt looked like before the war, check out the new photo album of 24 old postcards that has been added to the list of albums to the right. Of especial note is the chateau showing that it was much larger than the current ruined facade suggests and the rather interesting market hall. Both these buildings were casualties of the battle of Normandy in 1944.

Seaton Carnival Week - Street Market and Boules

The Association will be involved with two carnival events
Saturday 23 August 12-2 pm Cliff Field Gardens
The Association has accepted a request from Seaton Carnival Committee to host a boules event at Cliff Field Gardens as part of the Carnival Week. It will be a sort of taster event and, - try a few ends, "how do you play", etc. and will form part of a series of events during the day along with other things such as a fancy dress competition and pebble, face and pavement painting. Accordingly there may well be a number of children having a go. We are pleased to have the opportunity to be able to contribute towards the success of this years carnival campaign.
Anybody who wants to come along and help out will be most welcome. We will be there with publicity, and will hopefully raise our profile some more.

Monday 25 August 8-12 (approx) Street Market on the Esplanade. We are running a tombola stall to raise funds using the items bought and donated by members as part of our twinning visit to Thury in May. We aim to set up at 8am ready to open at 9. Help is always welcome so please contact Rose Tidball or Clare Jones if you can help in manning the stand or have any more prizes (not just French ones) you can donate.

2008 visit - French Newspaper Coverage

For those that missed the local French newspaper coverage of the 2008 visit, a link to the appropriate web page has been added to the list of links on the right. The visit was unusual in that this time no less than seven Seaton twinners travelled independently, and all turned up at the Thury Town Hall in time to welcome the main party. Those with a wry sense of humour will note that the paper Ouest-France chose to lead with a picture of Seaton's Association chairman Jeff Day being warmly welcomed by .... argh hum..., his own vice-chairman.

Committee Meeting 13 August and Agenda Items

There is a committee meeting on 13th August at 7.30pm at the Crossroads Centre. If anyone would like to put an item on the agenda please let the Secretary know as soon as possible. This applies to anyone, not necessarily just committee members. The committee is always keen to hear the views or ideas of all our members (or indeed non-members) so get your thoughts on fund raising, events, publicity together please

Photo Gallery

The blog has been changed to allow better access to the photo galleries by adding links to individual collections held on the web. These links are permanently displayed in the right hand margin. The previous small slide shows have been deleted because of technical problems of compatibility with the web storage

More photo albums have been added including archive and event photos and records from our 2004 visit. All these are accessible through the links. Some of the 2004 photos tie in quite nicely with the last posting about the Liberation Memorial

Liberation Memorial and Interpretation Board

Because many of our french hosts live in isolated hamlets outside Thury-Harcourt, there is limited opportunity to explore the town. Those who went in 2004 may remember visiting the planned site of memorial to the liberation of the town sited where the British 59th (Staffordshire) infantry division first came in sight of their objection, but may have missed visiting it later after its completion. Hence this photo. The interpretation board gives a account of the battle, and shows photos of the aftermath with much of town centre destroyed.

More details of the board with close-up photos can be found on the very worthwhile site

www.normandie44lamemoire.com/versionanglaise/fichesvillesus/thuryharcous2.html

The site also covers many of the sites visited during our visits in 1994 and 2004 which coincided with the the 50th and 60th anniversaries of the D-day landings

Social Events

First a reminder that the next social event is boules at the town's boules pitch at Cliff Field Gardens at 9:45 on Tuesday 15 July, weather permitting. There will be the usual supply of bucks fizz to refresh oneself.

Secondly, a few ideas for social events based on french food have been put forward, and the committee is keen to hear from everybody, so if anybody has suggestions or wants to arrange a snail tasting or anything else, please leave a comment

Kings Arms (2) Blog photos query

The blog came up a few times in discussions. One query was about the slide shows within the blog such as that of Thury which shows very small pictures . The question was "how to access the slide show photographs and see them full screen?" In answer to this I can only say that I am sure there must be a very elegant way of doing it, but I am still feeling my way at the moment, and the only way I can think of is the link to http://picasaweb.google.com/Seatontwinning which will give access to all the photographs on the public folders. Crude but it seems to work. Try it!

Social evening at the King's Arms 2 July or think of a title for this picture

17 people turned up at the social evening at the Kings Arms, including a new prospective member, and the usual suspects. It was good good to see some of a newer members and representatives from far flung corners. Our title is after all Seaton and District, and we are accordingly proud that we have many supportive members from outside the metropolis of Seaton town.
Peter Motson exhibited the attached photo, which is just asking for a caption. Any ideas?

Animated Slide show of twinning Visit 2008

The moment everyone has been waiting for - the latest muvee at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bs4qBdpUObg

Highly Enjoyable Walk 25 June

Gerry laid on a added treat to the walk along part of the landslip during the first walk of the season. Twinning Association member and local historian Derek Stevens was there to regale the group with sparkling stories and anecdotes of the war years and other times, all delivered in broad dialect.
Many people will know Derek from his regular "The view from the country" column in the Marshwood Vale magazine, and the stories certainly added piquancy to the walk. It was not that difficult after his vivid descriptions to imagine marauding Focke-Wulfs skimming over cornfields or the deafening roar of massed Lancasters passing overhead at 50ft. Afterwards the party was joined by Gail and enjoyed a pleasant drink at the Harbour Inn at Axmouth.

No date is fixed for the next walk, but watch this space

photos Derek describes the Lancaster raid, and then on the landslip

Thury-Harcourt the animated slideshow

If anyone has had problems accessing the site recently it may well be because of botched attempts to embed a video. Safer to follow this link if you want a animated slideshow to get the atomsphere of Thury
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezBw5mrp0x0

Newsletter June 2008

Newsletter June 2008

Dear Members,
Please read this newsletter carefully as it covers events going through to September.

1 Gerry has arranged another social walk for Wednesday 25th June. Details are as follows:

An easy walk out to the landslip, 1h to 1h15 minutes in total.
Meet at 6.45pm at the top of Steppes Lane in Axmouth (where it levels out and joins the green lane to the landslip on the right). Afterwards to the Harbour Inn in Axmouth for an informal social evening/drinks/food.
If the weather is wet it will be postponed until mid July, date to be notified later if so.

2 Following the very enjoyable visit to Thury-Harcourt, we would like to give everyone the opportunity to get together again soon and enjoy each others company. This applies to all members of the twinning not just those who went on the recent visit. If you were not able to go this time it will be all the nicer to see you again now. If you did go it will be a chance to share photos, exchange stories and enjoy memories as well as catching up with old and new friends. It was good to see so many new members enjoying the visit and we hope we will all get to know each other better. To this end, there will be an informal gathering at the Kings Arms in Seaton on Wednesday 2nd July from 7.30pm. Just turn up and enjoy yourself.
3 There will be a series of friendly matches at the boules pitch in Cliff Field gardens as follows. Beginners are welcome as well as more experienced players. Boules are provided.
FRIDAY 4TH JULY 7PM
TUESDAY 15TH JULY 9.45AM
FRIDAY 1ST AUGUST 7PM
FRIDAY 5TH SEPTEMBER 7PM
4 French photo competition. To enter, get your photos to Graham Jones by post, by email to
seatontwinning@yahoo.co.uk, by bringing them to a social, or by any other means you can devise. If you don’t want to enter the competition but still have photos you would be happy to share, we would love to have them as Graham will compile a CD of photos and videos as a souvenir of the visit. This will be available to purchase for a modest sum to raise money for the visit of the French next summer.
5 Not many people know this, but the souvenir enamel coasters which were given to us by our French hosts at the dinner on the Saturday evening were manufactured in the enamel factory in Thury-Harcourt and followed a design by Gerard Gehanne, a member of the Thury twinning association. So take good care of yours, if you are lucky enough to have one!

If you have any queries, ideas or comments please don’t hesitate to contact me or any member of the committee. Hoping you enjoy the summer (when it comes back), and that you make it to as many events as you can.
Yours sincerely,
Clare Jones on behalf of the committee.

On the trail of the lost plaque

Stop Press The Twinning Committee have confirmed that that they are writing to their French counterparts to try and find out what has happened to the missing plaque. If it is lost efforts will be made to produce a replacement

Loss of plaque on oak at Thury-Harcourt

Seaton presented Thury with am English Oak. Spot the difference between the view above taken 2008 and that of the left taken in 2006, apart from two years growth in the tree that is. The plaque which is the only reference to the gift has disappeared

There is clearly a need for a replacement and all ideas for a more long lasting feature are welcome