Twinning News for 2010!

Frightening as it may seem, plans are already being made for Twinning activities in 2010.  We are hoping that in 2010 it will be possible to organize another visit from the School Children of Grandchamp, traditionally the first week in March, although this is yet to be confirmed.

We are also in discussions with our friends in Grandchamp about the next Village Twinning Visit when Twinners from Ashton Keynes are due to go to France.  The provisional dates we are looking at are Friday 2nd April to arrive in Grandchamp leaving on Monday 5th April.  This is during the school holidays and is of course you could look to extend your stay but these would be the dates for the official Twinning when certain events would be organized.  Brittany Ferries have not published their schedule for next year so we can't suggest looking at routes and times just yet.

Please have these dates in mind if you would like to be involved in either of these special village events.

Twinners Reunited Soirée
Ashton Keynes Village Hall, Saturday 31st January 2009 7:45pm-later
To say a big “Merci” to Twinners past and present, the current Twinning Team felt that a great way would be to get as many of the people who have been involved over the many years to come together to a big party!

Join us and reminisce about past Twinning visits, bring some of your photos, listen to some French music, eat some French food and of course drink some French wine and beer!

An evening for committee members, past and present and regular “Hosters” who have welcomed French school children and families into their homes and anyone else who would like to come along and learn more about this fantastic village institution.

Some buffet style food will be provided and the first glass of wine or bottle of beer is on us, a bar will be available to purchase additional wine or beer.

There will be some entertainment and no doubt some (short) speeches so we hope you will join us say thank you to everyone and have a great night together.

We look forward to seeing you there ,The Ashton Keynes Twinning Team

Please RSVP to your Twinning Team rep by Saturday 24^th January

A big “Thank you” to all the Twinning Team who helped run the Crêperie Stall at the Ashton Keynes Bonfire night. It was a magnificent effort by everyone involved and in spite of the weather we have managed to raise the better part of £200 to be shared with the School PTA.

If you would like to find out more about hiring our Crêpe Machines, known affectionately as "Janet and Jean", contact Neil Burston, Janet Smith, Ruth Britton or Carol Jones.

Unfortunately we have to announce that there will not be an organized school visit from the Children of Grandchamp in 2009. We have received word that because of various re-organizations in the schools in the town and other commitments they will not be visiting as usual.

This is obviously a tremendous shame as the trip is a huge experience for the French kids and is one of the highlights of the year for many pupils at both schools. On the plus side, we have been having discussions with representatives from Ashton Keynes and Minety schools to see how we can maintain and build links between the schools in both countries and look forward to seeing that flourish over the coming months.

There is the intention to revive the visit in 2010 when Ashton Keynes is also due to visit Grandchamp as a village.

AK French School Day – March 4^th or 11^th (date to be confirmed for a Wednesday in March 2009).

This will be a special event for pupils and teachers from Ashton Keynes and Minety schools and will include some or all of the following activities:

• Kids dress in French fancy dress
• French bingo session
• Learn a French song session
• Beetle drive session
• Crêpe making
• A big communal card with various messages, pictures, photos that we send over just to let them know we are thinking about them
• WebCams over the Internet for a live link up

If you have any other ideas, let us know.

Twinning Day – Saturday 11^th July 2009
We also have plans to run another fun event for all the family with activities to include …

• Boules
• French cricket
• Wellie Chucking
• Crêperie and
• BBQ