Friends make song and dance in field

THE British-Slovene Society celebrated its 30th birthday on Sunday with a picnic in Gillott’s Corner Field in Henley.

The picnickers sat under a Slovene hayrack, Kozolec, which was gifted to the town by its twin town Bled last year.

They were entertained by Šuštarji, a folk music group, and members of the folklore society, Rudija Jedretica Ribno, danced for guests in traditional dress. Both groups had travelled from Bled.

Visitors were also treated to some original bled cream cake as a part of their veselica, village feast, alongside other traditional delicacies.

Accompanying the musicians and dancers were Bled’s Deputy Mayor Iztok Pesrl and former Mayor Janez Fajfar. Other guests included David Lloyd, the former and second ever diplomat for Slovenia, now chair of the British-Slovene Society as well as Evelina-Ferrar, who is a trustee of the society which formed in 1993.

Participants from Henley included Mayor Sarah Miller and town councillors Tony Hoskins and Stefan Gawrysiak. Walkers also stopped to engage with the music and dancing.

Mr Lloyd said: “Every summer we have a picnic and this is the second occasion we’ve had it here, under the Kozolec, the hayrack. This was built 18 months ago by Slovenian craftsmen and has been beautifully crafted in proper foundations. This is very much an emblem of Slovenia.

“We have a lively Slovenian community in the UK, mainly students, some of whom have come over and married British people. We have a carol service in the winter singing a mixture of carols in Slovenian and English, and our main dinner celebrates Burns and his equivalent in Slovenia, Prešeren”.

Janez Fajfar was mayor of Bled for 16 years before stepping down last winter due to health issues. He was involved with the founding of the twinship in 2013, a longstanding friendship which the picnic was also championing.

He said: “We formed the twinship on the basis of the two places’ shared love of rowing. We have a lake which is just the right size and consistent conditions for rowing. We just hosted the European championships with some people from Henley there this year.”

Mr Fajfar says the relationship has continued despite Brexit and says the real challenge is getting younger people involved.

He said: “It doesn’t matter if you’re no longer in the EU, people are people.

“It would be good if we could start some exchanges with Henley and the UK more generally but we need to start with getting young people engaged as they are the future.

“A lot of henley associations have visited Bled. We have sports other than rowing such as winter swimming. We need to start more from our side with visiting you guys as you have a fantastic programme of summer events here in Henley.

“Twinships and friendships like this are so important, it’s a shame you’re so far away, there’s only two flights a day to Gatwick.”

Kathy Mansfield, from Wallingford and part of the Henley Whalers, said: “It used to be held in Nuneham Courtenay and there is normally about 50 people — it’s just so delightful. I think it is such a unique and special thing that Henley and Bled are twinned. ”

Evelina-Ferrar, a trustee who helped organise the picnic, said: “It’s lovely to have real traditional folkloric singers from Bled here.

“People come from all over the UK to keep up traditions, and meet other Slovenians, there are quite a few British Slovene marriages so they often come to these events.”

Councillor Gawrysiak said it was a “special weekend” with the Slovenian delegation. The group also performed on the bandstand in Mill Meadows on Saturday and had a free tour of the River & Rowing Museum.

He said: “They were very impressed with the museum and its architect, David Chipperfield, is actually designing a museum in Bled which will be constructed over the coming years.

“That was a really nice discovery over the tour and it could really help give them a vision of their future museum.”

He added: “The twinning with Bled is very special to me, I was lucky enough to go visit with about 24 others when I was mayor.”