Warm welcome for friends from Falaise

ABOUT 20 residents from Henley’s twin town of Falaise in France were hosted at a reception at the town hall.

The guests, who were staying with host families in the town, were greeted by Mayor Rory Hunt at the event on Thursday last week, and members of the Henley Falaise Leichlingen Twinning Association.

They were presented with a bottle of English sparkling wine from Fairmile Vineyard, a book about Henley and a Henley-themed tote bag in the council chamber.

Among the guests were Cécile Le Vaguerèse-Marie, the deputy mayor of Falaise, as well as a number of Henley town councillors.

Sue Fitzsimons, who chairs the Henley twinning association, said the event was lovely for members of the society to be reunited with their counterparts.

She said: “It’s just really lovely. When they were all getting off the couch in Station Road all the hosts were there and they were all meeting each other and hugging. We have one visit every year now, one from Falaise and one from Leichlingen. Falaise comes one year, then Leichlingen comes the next and when Falaise come here, we go to Leichlingen and vice versa.”

Mrs Fitzsimons, who was a teacher at Trinity Primary School, said she first joined the society to improve her German.

She said: “I love languages very much and I love going to visit the towns over there because they are really hospitable.

“Our members are getting older but they’ve had friendships going ever since we started. The French started in 1973 and the Germans started 1979, a long time ago.”

Her counterpart, Serge Loock, president of the French twinning association, first came to Henley 18 years ago. Mr Loock, who is a retired businessman, said: “Coming here is always a pleasure. I would love to do it for many more years. I have a sort of bond as I worked for British companies for about 27 years before I retired.”

Mr Loock said that the association was excited for Henley members to visit Falaise in 2028 as there are set to be events marking the millennium of the birth of William the Conqueror.

Fabienne Autricque, a chemistry and physics teacher from Falaise, stayed with Henley residents Anne and Edward Sandars.

She said it was her first time visiting Henley and she was looking forward to exploring the town.

Ms Autricque said: “I find Henley very cute and very typical. In Normandy we have a lot of rain, like in England, so when it is sunny we are very happy.”

Angela Lenman, from Henley, said she always looked forward to hosting. She said: “It’s wonderful to have our visitors from Falaise. They come every year faithfully, and we love having them, welcoming them and finding something new for them to do each time.”

Roy Mawdesley joined the society more than 15 years ago with his wife Marion, who worked as a French teacher.

He said: “We’ve been doing exchanges for many years and have visited both towns many times. It works very well and it has been good socially.”

Cllr Hunt said: “It’s absolutely brilliant to have them here, particularly in this day of difficult global cooperation. Having good relationships with our European neighbours is a really important thing.

“We’ve had our twinning relationship with Falaise for 50 years now and that’s a real testament to the friendship between the two towns.”