Henley, Falaise and Leichlingen Twinning Association

THE Henley, Falaise and Leichlingen Twinning Association is planning its activities for 2024.

The autumn party took place on November 10 in the foyer of the Christ Church Centre.

Sue Fitzsimons and Jess Lewis had worked hard to ensure an eye-catching buffet, which tasted delicious.

We sat at tables of eight and, with the wine flowing and plates piled high, we tackled the 50 questions about the UK, France and Germany that Sue Fitzsimons had set to commemorate 50 years of Henley twinning. They were not easy.

Trevor’s and Jess’s teams were the winners.

This was followed by two short games of heads or tails.

This year’s annual meeting on Wednesday, March 6 will once again be held at Henley Golf Club.

There will be a welcome drink on arrival followed by the meeting.

Afterwards, we will have a two-course dinner. An invitation to the dinner will be sent out a few weeks before the event.

This will be Patrick Fleming’s last annual meeting as chairman following his move to Herefordshire.

Patrick has served on the association committee for many years and this will be an opportunity to thank him for all his hard work and to say goodbye.

Following the revival of the football exchange between AFC Henley and SC Leichlingen last October, when an U13 team from Leichlingen visited Henley after an enforced three-year break, a return trip is being planned for the Easter weekend in March.

The Leichlingen club will be reinstating their traditional annual Easter tournament (Osterturnier) in which AFC Henley is invited to take part.

Other activities will include a trip to Cologne or Düsseldorf, attendance at a Bayer Leverkusen Bundesliga match and a crunch game between the two rival clubs for the Goossens Cup. As always, the players will stay with host families, the accompanying adults in hotels.

This year the people of Falaise are commemorating 80 years since the D-Day landings and the Battle of the Falaise Pocket.

Although we don’t have confirmation from the French yet, we are hoping to plan our visit for May 25 to 28. This is at the beginning of half-term, which will enable children to participate.

A visit from Leichlingen will take place from October 3 to 6.

We are hoping to accommodate most of the guests within families, so we will be asking for hosts nearer the time.

We will also need ideas for inexpensive, non-booked activities to offer hosts and guests within the Henley area.

Our film nights are still on hold as we no longer have a projectionist.

If you would like to be our projectionist, please email Sue Fitzsimons on
suefitzsimons246@gmail.com

Café Parlez meets in the bar of the Relais Henley hotel for French conversation every two weeks on Tuesday evenings and Thursday afternoons. Everyone is welcome.

Please email Angela Lenman on Angela_lenman@
hotmail.com for future dates and times.

The Deutschkreis sessions take place in a variety of venues at 2.30pm. Friendly, interesting German conversation (plus cake) are always provided. You would be very welcome, no matter what your level of spoken German is.

If you would like to come along, please email Sheila Dickie on smdickiebrae@
aol.com or Madeline Fyans on mjfyans@hotmail.co.uk