Henley Falaise Leichlingen Twinning Association

THE last few months have been very busy for the Henley Falaise Leichlingen Twinning Association with our visit to Germany, summer party, pétanque afternoon and visit from Leichlingen footballers.

We are now looking forward to welcoming 39 French guests this weekend and will finish off the year with a cheese and wine quiz evening for our autumn party.

This year’s visit to Germany (the first since 2019) was a well-organised and enjoyable event and included a few days in Münster followed by a few days with hosts in Leichlingen.

The group of eight who chose to travel on June 4 spent three very enjoyable days in Münster during which we had a guided tour of the town, visited the lovely Hülshoff Castle, had a boat trip to an open air museum and visited the Picasso Museum.

We were also treated to dinner in the oldest brewery in Münster and a bowling evening at our hotel.

The remainder of the group travelled to Leichlingen on June 8 and we all spent an enjoyable few days in the company of our hosts.

During this time, we had a train trip to Düsseldorf, where we visited the Parliament of Nordrhein Westfalen, walked by the River Rhine into town and had afternoon tea in the Rhine Tower.

The highlight of the day was the visit to Parliament, which included a 360 degree presentation followed by a question and answer session with a very energetic junior MP.

Unsurprisingly, the effects of Brexit were discussed at some length.

This was a very successful and memorable visit.

On July 23 we held our summer party in Harpsden village hall.

On arrival, we mingled over a glass of Prosecco and this proved to be an ideal opportunity to catch up with old acquaintances and meet new members.

This year we decided to indulge in an afternoon tea and what a magnificent spread we had.

We all thoroughly enjoyed the wide choice of sandwiches followed by home-made scones with jam and clotted cream as well as various cakes. Tea and coffee were in plentiful supply of course.

A most enjoyable
afternoon.

The association’s annual pétanque tournament took place on September 23 at the “Boulodrome” of Wallingford Sports Club.

Fifteen people, including three children and a 90-year-old, took part and we were fortunate to have fine weather.

After a leisurely lunch, three sets of pétanque games were played under the expert and very friendly guidance of members of the Wallingford club.

The “winner” was Liz McEwen and the runner-up was her granddaughter, Tess.

This was a very enjoyable afternoon and it made a small profit for the association.

In early October, a party of 14 footballers and accompanying adults from SC Leichlingen descended on the town for the 40th exchange visit with AFC Henley U13s (the first one was in 1983).

The visitors arrived on the Thursday and the players were picked up by their host families while the adults went on to their rooms in the Catherine Wheel.

After spending the Friday in London, including a visit to Chelsea Football Club, the players got back in time for the traditional crunch match under lights at Harpsden.

Henley won 6-0 and were awarded the Dukes Challenge Shield by Mayor Kellie Hinton at the post-match reception in the village hall.

The visitors spent the Saturday on the river and at a Maidenhead FC home match and were then invited to a party at Henley Cricket Club in the evening.

They were delighted with their time in Henley and departed exhausted but happy on the Sunday.

A return visit will now be arranged for next Easter in Leichlingen.

On Saturday we welcomed to Henley a party of 39 people from Falaise, who stayed with host families until Tuesday.

There was a mayoral reception in the town hall, a visit to Stratford-upon-Avon, a visit to the Bremont works, a tour of Henley and a 50th anniversary dinner at Shiplake Memorial Hall.

Our autumn party will be held at the Christ Church Centre on Friday, November 10 from 7pm. This will be a cheese and wine evening with a quiz. The film nights are currently on hold as we no longer have a projectionist.

The Café Parlez has now moved to the Relais Henley hotel (the former Red Lion) with great success.

We had 10 attendees at a recent meeting and everyone seemed to enjoy the new surroundings.

The next meeting will be on Tuesday, November 14 at 7.30pm. If you would like to attend, please email Angela Lenman at angela_lenman
@hotmail.com

The Deutschkreis (German conversation) sessions take place in a variety of venues at 2.30pm.

Friendly, interesting German conversation (plus cake) is always provided. You would be very welcome to come along, no matter what your level of spoken German is.

Please email Sheila Dickie on smdickiebrae@
aol.com or Madeline Fyans on mjfyans@hotmail.co.uk

Sue Fitzsimons