Newick Twinning Association
Official Visit May 2005
The Official Visit to Itteville for 2005 took place over the Bank Holiday weekend of May 27th-30th. We left The Green, bright and early on the Friday morning. The weather forecast was hot for south-east England; even hotter for France – and so it proved to be! After a long journey down through northern France, interrupted by several “bouchons” around the Paris ring-road, our band of 40 or so Twinners were very happy to get off the coach when we arrived in Itteville just after 7 p.m. We received our usual warm welcome from friends old and new, and everyone was quickly transported to their host families for a welcome opportunity to freshen up prior to an evening meal.
On Saturday morning, we were invited to the “École Jacques Prévert”, which is the primary school in Itteville that has formed links with our own school in Newick. The children entertained us with a number of songs, both in English and French, which everyone found delightful. There was also a display of letters and other work done by the Newick and Itteville children, who are now corresponding with each other. The Twinning Association is so glad that, after such a long time, we have helped to forge a relationship between our schools, and we hope that this will continue and be extended to the secondary school level. We were also fortunate to have one of the Newick teachers, Dave Evans, and his family in our group, and Dave received a number of presents that the French children gave him to pass on to their counterparts in Newick.
Saturday afternoon was at leisure with our hosts, and then in the evening there was a buffet dinner for all the Newick and Itteville participants. Once again, there was a splendid array of delicious food on offer, and we are very grateful for all the hard work put in by the Itteville committee – especially as many people were also heavily involved in arrangements for the Referendum on the EU Constitution that was taking place on the Sunday.
On the Sunday, we had a coach trip to Fontainebleau. We had a tour of the magnificent interior, which also included such interesting items as Napoleon and Josephine’s beds (separate ones, of course!). We also had time to have a leisurely walk around the grounds. Following that, we were taken into the forest, where everyone enjoyed a picnic lunch provided by our hosts. It has become something of a standing joke amongst the Newick Twinners that it always rains when we have a picnic near Itteville, but for once the weather was kind to us and we all enjoyed the hot sunshine. After lunch, we visited the pretty artists’ village of Barbizon.
After an evening meal with our hosts on the Sunday, we all had to be up early on the Monday morning for an 8:30 a.m. departure. Thankfully, the weather was now much cooler, and after an uneventful trip up the motorway to Calais, we all had an opportunity to stock up on French goodies at the hypermarket prior to our return trip through the tunnel and home to Newick.