Newick Twinning Association

Official Visit June 2006

The official visit of our friends from Itteville took place over the weekend of June 3rd-4th 2006. After appalling weather during most of May, we all had our fingers firmly crossed that the Met Office long-range forecast of good weather for this weekend would be correct.

Friday June 2nd

The Itteville coach arrived safely at Newick School at around 7 p.m. on the Friday evening. After greeting our friends and making sure that all hosts and guests were paired up, we returned home for dinner en famille.

Saturday June 3rd

Morning

Our prayers were answered when Saturday dawned dry, warm and sunny. The first event was back at Newick School, where a number of Year 6 children put on an excellent performance of readings, songs and even a brief scene from Romeo and Juliet. These children have established pen-friend relationships with their counterparts at the École Jacques Prévert in Itteville, and it was a particularly touching moment when two of the correspondents met each other in person for the first time.

The Twinning Association is very pleased that, at last, we have helped to establish a relationship between two schools in our communities. We are particularly grateful to Dave Evans at Newick School for all the work he has done with the children to foster these links, and also for arranging the presentation on Saturday. Also, of course, we would like to thank the children and their parents for giving up their time on a Saturday morning. Finally, we are indebted to headteacher, Darren Vallier, for his support.

We were also delighted that M. Pilia, the head of the École Jacques Prévert, visited us, and also M. Brivardis from the secondary school in Itteville. Mrs Joelle Arnold from Chailey School was also present, and we hope that a similar relationship can be established between our local secondary schools.

Afternoon

The fine warm weather was ideal for the activities that we had organised for the afternoon. An Anglo-French stoolball match was held on the Rugby pitch, and a Boules tournament also took place. Others decided merely to relax and watch the cricket match that was in progress. We did try to explain the finer points of the l.b.w. law to our French friends, but we're not sure whether they understood!

Evening

A group of English and French people enjoy dinner

In the evening, we enjoyed a reception and dinner at the Village Hall, followed by a Barn Dance. The band was excellent, and the caller was very patient when trying to explain all the moves of "strip the willow", etc. Everyone had a very enjoyable time.

Sunday June 4th

On the Sunday morning, we all left in two coaches for Lewes. Upon arriving, there was a brief rendezvous with our M.P., Norman Baker, who welcomed the Ittevillois to the town.

Norman Baker M.P. welcomes Michel Fayolle, mayor of Itteville, to Lewes

People could then spend a couple of hours at leisure in Lewes, or participate in one of the guided tours that we had arranged. These went to the castle, up the High Street and down into Southover Gardens. Many of us then browsed in the car boot sale that was taking place in the car park beside Waitrose.

We then returned to the coaches and drove to Newhaven Fort, where we enjoyed a picnic and explored the various exhibitions which show the history of the fort from Napoleonic times to the Second World War.

The evening was spent en famille and several of us had arranged to get together with other hosts and have a BBQ. Sadly, this was the point when the English weather returned to normality, and it rained just at the critical point. However, nothing daunted, we continued to cook the food under umbrellas - to the great amusement of our guests who had never seen un BBQ anglais!

Monday June 5th

Our guests had to be up bright and early for a 7:30 a.m. departure from the Green. It was sad to see them go, and there were several damp eyes on both the English and French sides. Once again, we had enjoyed a very successful weekend, during which we had made some new friends and rekindled many old friendships. We look forward to seeing them again next year in Itteville.