North Ferriby Twinning Reports
Chair's Report for the AGM held on Tuesday February 7th 2023
This year we celebrate twenty years of Twinning.
From the initial idea conceived by Jane Knight and Carole Larroze-Chicot our association has gone on to enjoy a lasting friendship with the people of Le Pellerin.
Faces have changed many times from the early days but some have remained constant and have continued to drive our association forward.
Many of the original people are still members today. Jane has been Secretary and Ann Welbourne, Treasurer from day one. There are also Andrew Knight, Michael Welbourne, Derek and Jacqui Mitchell, John and Rosemarie Halmshaw, Mark and Judith Willett, Mike and Beryl Murphy and Sue Wilsea and of course, our first and second chairmen Bill Deakin and his wife Jenny and Chris Swindin and his wife, Margaret as well as the representative from the East Riding Council, Julie Abraham who are founder members.
Many others have also been in the association for a lot of years and enjoyed multiple visits to the lovely town of Le Pellerin. Many of us have forged friendships which have resulted in extra visits to and from Le Pellerin outside the organised group.
There is a great deal more informality nowadays on both sides of the channel now that we know each other well and new people are still welcomed and seem to fit in seamlessly.
Every visit has seen us grow to love the area more and learn more about it. We hope that this is the same for them. We know that many of our visitors know North Ferriby so well that they need no directions.
Each visit challenges us to find places we haven’t been before.
One effect of the pandemic has been a four year hiatus and so we look forward to this year’s visit with a deal of anticipation and excitement.
Our visitors arrive on Wednesday May 17th. This will be quite late so we anticipate just an evening for settling in with the hosts.
On Thursday May 18th we are hoping the children can visit the schools in the morning and in the afternoon is the tea party.
We have obtained a grant for this from the Wind farm project supported by the Parish Council with the proviso that the whole village is invited. This we will do via tickets which are free. Hosts and members of the association are invited of course, and it is hoped anyone interested in joining may come and meet us. The children’s choir from the North Ferriby Primary School will come and entertain our guests which may hopefully encourage some parents to join.
We are buying in food and the grant will pay for this and the hall.
On Friday May 19th we are visiting Wakefield with the mining museum in the morning and the Sculpture Park in the afternoon.
The last night is traditionally a party night in the Village Hall. We have booked Dr Jive again as he was popular last time.
Food is coordinated by Ann and Michael with contributions of a salad or a dessert from everyone and is free to our visitors but we have to ask hosts to pay to cover the cost.
It won’t be a late night as the bus to the airport is leaving at 5.30 am.
We are holding a meeting for hosts here on Tuesday May 9th. This will go into the details of all these events and answer any questions.
Events 2023
Other events this year will be the annual Tom Clague Walk on March 26th, the quiz with Phil Walker in the Village Hall on April 22nd and the Garden Party at Ann and Michael’s on June 10th.
We also hope to have an event in the autumn.
All events are well advertised both on the website, Twitter , Next door, on Whatsapp , in the Parish magazine and around the village as well as Julia, Mike and all members spreading the word personally.
Events 2022
This last year 2022 has seen us well and truly get back in the saddle after the pandemic.
We held our AGM in February here in the Priory room in person and not via Zoom.
We had a lovely walk around Hotham. Thanks to Alison Peck for stepping in at the last minute to lead, as John had Covid, followed by Sunday lunch at the Half Moon.
We had a very well attended quiz with Phil Walker and a Garden party at Ann and Michael’s, again without restrictions.
We also had a stall at the Christmas Fair on November 27th which was very well supported by our bakers and crafters.
The autumn event was postponed due to potential clashes with the World Cup, but, as many of you will know, we held a very successful Wine Bluff on January 14th this year, organised by John Peck. Thanks to Whatsapp we got immediate feedback and the event was universally praised.
Committee
The committee continues to do an excellent job and I cannot praise them highly enough for the work they put in to organising our events.
The committee is
Janet Aitken Chair
Jane Knight Secretary
Ann Welbourne Treasurer
Julia James Ticket sales and publicity
Mike Booth Ticket sales and publicity
Michael Welbourne Catering
Ann Welbourne Catering
John Holt Webmaster
Jane Knight and Janet Aitken Schools liaison
Jane Knight and Janet Aitken Chat Group leaders
All are willing to continue in their roles for this year.
We work very well together as a team but that is not to say we would not welcome anyone who wishes to join the committee nor wishes to put forward ideas for events or any improvements on what we do now.
Chat Group
The Chat group continues on a fortnightly basis.
We are back down to one group so numbers are very tight and, unfortunately, we are at capacity for fitting around dining tables.
The groups are very well attended and hopefully are enjoyed by all.
We shall see in May if our French has improved.
My thanks must go to Chris and Margaret Swindin for organising their Chat group. They sadly no longer feel able to continue but we all wish them well.
The Future
Looking ahead our membership numbers are slightly down.
The usual problems beset us as with most organisations, namely attracting the younger people who are so busy with work and families.
We advertise and go into schools but there is a reluctance here or perhaps a fear of not being understood or welcomed in a French family. This could not be further from the truth as the French families are always very welcoming and even with a language barrier communication is managed.
The image of Margaret Rant wandering around with her dictionary springs to mind.
The French side are on the whole, a younger demographic. Even though we are out of the EU, English is a very important global language and an essential for international business.
The French are very keen to improve their English and for their children to learn.
Sadly, language teaching does not seem to be a priority here and even then French has to compete with many other languages on the curriculum. Presumably our generation was taught French as they are our nearest neighbours, but nowadays there are many other languages more widely spoken in the world.
Notwithstanding our association is still continuing with great enthusiasm and we are all looking forward to welcoming our guests, new and old to North Ferriby.
Our thanks go to all our members who support the association throughout the year by attending our events and offering to host our visitors.
If you are new to hosting I’m sure you will find it very rewarding.
Janet Aitken
February 7 2023
Secretary's Report AGM: Tuesday 7 February 2023
Good evening!
As Janet has covered the very activities we were organised last year, I will outline what our friends in Le Pellerin have been doing, between October 2021 and August 2022, which was massively reduced from previous years.
The association is chaired by Alain Broussard who led their AGM in September last year with Annie Le Noay as Secretary with Benoit Jaunin joining as a new webmaster.
He began his report by explaining, that the ‘crise sanitaire’ (Pandemic) had severely limited their activities during the previous 12 months.
After several tentative attempts, the Chats groups did not get off the ground last year.
Le Pellerin’s annual ‘Forum des Associations’, an open afternoon event organised by and usually held at the town in September, to showcase the many diverse clubs and groups residents can join, was again cancelled. This normally this provides a good opportunity for all interest groups to promote themselves to potential new members.
However, the structured paid-for English course, limited to a single class this year, which has been running for 5 years did take place. Unlike last year, the course of 20 hours Intermediate level classes took place face to face instead of Zoom with teacher, Brian Best. They are for adults who want to steadily improve their ability in English and learn in a concentrated and formal way, including speaking, writing and reading. Joining these sessions has become a reason for many people to become members of the association
The annual market held in the René Cassin hall, at which the association takes a stall called ‘Stand de Délices Anglo-Saxons’, to sell typical home-made British baked goods such as: fruit scones, cupcakes, flapjacks, chocolate brownies and Bakewell tart was unfortunately also cancelled by the Town Hall who usually organise it.
However the Association was able to set up a stall selling such goods when they organised a Weekend Anglais which was organised to draw attention to and to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their with our village. Participants during the weekend’s festivities were not only the schools in Le Pellerin but also the association of shop owners, the Médiathèque, and the retirement home, Simon Ringeard, who were all invited to take part. Veteran cars were paraded in the streets, but the weekend’s highlight was the evening entertainment in the pub ‘3 Francs, 6 sous’ headlined by the band ‘Docteur Robert 100% Beetles’ who took the capacity audience by storm singing all the well-known Beetles songs. They were effusive in their praise and appreciation of the concert and the whole weekend was deemed a huge success.
The final activity before the summer holidays was a collective pic-nic on a hot day by the Canal de la Martinière on July 2nd. This was enjoyed by association members and as well as many others from other local organisations who had taken part in the ‘Weekend Anglais’ . Alain remarked that this event brought together many from the Association who had not met for a long time because of Covid.
He concluded by the announcement that after 3 attempts, the visit from Le Pellerin to North Ferriby would actually happen this year from 17-21 May and that everyone was very much looking forward to it.
As we also look forward to welcoming our guests in May after such a long delay, it remains for me to thank you all
for your continued support and we hope to see you all during their visit.
Jane Knight
Secretary
Autumn Newsletter 2023
Welcome to the North Ferriby Le Pellerin Twinning Association’s Autumn Newsletter.
I hope you all had a good summer and as I write, the weather is better than it has been for weeks.
The committee has met to discuss our plans for 2024.
I’m sure after this year’s successful visit from our French friends you are keen to go to Le Pellerin and enjoy their hospitality.
After discussions with Alain we have agreed to visit from Wednesday May 27- Sunday June 2. This is to accommodate anyone who has to keep to school holidays and in the hope that perhaps some children from both North Ferriby and South Hunsley may be tempted to join us.
The committee has also been busy planning our next village events.
A combination of things has made us decide on Saturday January 27th for our annual quiz.
Last year’s Wine Bluff was very successful and it seems that a date in January lifted everyone out of the winter blues.
The village hall is quite booked up during the autumn and also for the Christmas Fair, which is great news for the village, but means that we will now be having a stall at the Spring Fair rather than Christmas and of course, we will still hold our AGM and our Spring Walk.
We also have sufficient funds thanks to very little expenditure during the pandemic, so can relax in our efforts to raise money.
Interestingly, Le Pellerin is holding a North Ferriby Event in October and we have passed on information from the Heritage Day booklet which should prove useful to them.
Dates for your Diary 2024
Saturday January 27th Annual Quiz with Phil Walker
Tuesday February 6th AGM (provisional)
Saturday March 16th Spring Fair
Sunday March 24th Tom Clague Walk
Wednesday May 29 to Sunday June 2 Visit to Le Pellerin
Further details will appear via our usual outlets as we get closer to the events. Also all relevant email addresses are found on the Website as well as photographs from both our recent activities and those in Le Pellerin.
Janet Aitken (Chair)
Chair's Report for the AGM held on Tuesday February 6th 2024
Introduction
Our twentieth year of Twinning with our friends from Le Pellerin was a very enjoyable and successful one with the highlight of course, being their visit to us in May 2023.
Even though it had been four years since we had seen them it felt like no time at all.
We welcomed many old friends and some new faces too, including five young people.
I believe everyone thoroughly enjoyed the hospitality they were given in North Ferriby.
Events 2023
We began the year with a very successful Wine Bluff, a splendid and well attended evening.
We had a muddy walk around Welton Water in March, followed by Sunday lunch at the Half Moon.
We held our annual quiz in April which also was well attended and very enjoyable.
The visit took place in May, highlights were the Afternoon Tea Party in the Village Hall and the day out to Wakefield.
The Afternoon Tea Party was an event funded by the Wind Farm Grant supported by the Parish Council and our association.
The whole village was invited and many people came who were, either interested in village events or in meeting our French visitors or to hear the children from North Ferriby Primary School Choir sing. Their performance was enjoyed by everyone and our visitors were touched by their rendition of a French song. The tea bought by Ann and Michael was much appreciated by everyone, especially the children.
Both the Primary school and South Hunsley were also kind enough to invite the French children to experience an English school day. We very much appreciate the efforts of both the staff and children to ensure that they had a good time.
Our visit to Wakefield was also enjoyed by our visitors. Both the Mining Museum and the Sculpture Park interested them.
Ann’s accident was unfortunately a difficult end to the day, but what was uplifting was the way both the French and the English worked together to help her. True entente cordiale and Twinning in action.
In August we held our Garden Party at Ann and Michael’s. We all had a very enjoyable, relaxing evening.
Events in 2024
This year we began the year with the Quiz. Ticket sales were slow, initially as many people were either on holiday or didn’t want to come out in the bad weather. However on the night we had a very creditable 54 people thanks to Julia’s excellent advertising. The quiz by Phil Walker was very much enjoyed by everyone and of course the excellent supper and drinks too. We used our new card reader for the first time and this was deemed a unanimous success. Thanks to Mike Booth for setting it all up and for all the others who got to grips with it so quickly and efficiently.
On March 6 we are giving the Year 5 and 6 children French breakfast. Anyone who can help on the day please let us know as we need many hands to serve. We also do singing and vocabulary games with them. The hope is to encourage their interest in French culture and language.
Our next event is the Annual Tom Clague Walk which John will lead and will be in Holderness, with lunch at the Stag’s Head in Lelley. Julia and Mike are taking orders and money beforehand as all meals must be pre-ordered.
On March 16th we are taking a stall at the North Ferriby Spring Market. We will sell home- made French inspired bakes and crafts as well as promoting the association. If you can help either by baking or selling contact a committee member.
In May we are very much looking forward to our visit to Le Pellerin, our first since 2019. We will be holding a pre visit meeting beforehand. This will be on Tuesday May 14th at 7pm in the Priory Rooms.
Ann is liaising with Mary, in France to place us with our hosts.
In the autumn we are planning a Games Evening. This is a new idea for us and we envisage tables of four all playing a different game for fifteen minutes, before changing for a different game. We have suggested Scrabble, Whist, Articulate, Dominoes so far but please suggest more or better ones. We think possibly up to six different games with a supper half way through. Mark Willett runs a similar event for the Social Club and has offered to help.
Another suggestion has been a Wine and Cheese Bluff. This would be a combination of the popular Wine Bluff with a Cheese Bluff too. Margaret Rant has offered to run the Cheese Bluff alongside John Peck with his wine expertise.
Our Garden Party will be held as usual at Ann and Michael’s on Saturday August 17th at 5pm.
Chat Group
We meet on alternate Thursdays and we enjoy practising our French accompanied by the odd glass of wine and a few nibbles. It is not intended to be a clique but it is difficult to expand when there are only two of us to lead the sessions. We hope everyone who does participate enjoys and benefits from the group.
The Future
We are looking forward to our visit in May. As I have said in previous years, the French are on the whole younger than us and therefore still using English at work. This is not the case for us and so the same motivation is not there.
Historically we learnt French at school but this is no longer the case. This may be one of the reasons we cannot persuade young families to join us although we really try to encourage the schools. As I have already mentioned we provide a French breakfast at the Junior School every year and the pupils from the Pierre and Marie Curie College have sent Christmas cards to, hopefully begin some correspondence between the schools.
We can attest that good relations with our neighbours in France is a positive influence on all our lives in many different ways.
The Committee
The Committee has seven members, all with designated roles. They work extremely hard to enable the events to run smoothly and work especially hard when there is a visit.
We are lucky that there have been few changes and so everyone is comfortable in their role. However this does not mean that anyone wanting to join us or contribute in any way would not be very welcome. All of us are willing to continue in our roles but if anyone is interested in joining the committee let us know.
The committee as it stands is
Chair Janet Aitken
Secretary Jane Knight
Treasurer Ann Welbourne
Publicity and Ticket Sales Julia James and Mike Booth
Catering Ann and Michael Welbourne
Webmaster John Holt
Schools liaison and Chat Group leaders Janet Aitken and Jane Knight
Conclusion
Last year got us firmly back into the saddle and we hope that this year will be equally enjoyable. We all enjoyed our first event of the year and look forward to the rest of the year’s calendar of social and fund raising events. We also of course, look forward to our visit to Le Pellerin in May.
Janet Aitken (Chair)
6 February 2024
Secretary's Report AGM: Tuesday 6 February 2024
Good evening!
The Le Pellerin Association have their Assemblée Générale in mid-October and President Alain Brousssard’s opening remarks were that activities were finally beginning to happen again after two seasons affected by the pandemic. Three main events took place: top of their list was their visit to us in May, as well as a hugely successful Dr Robert concert in April and the English classes was re-instated.
Their committee remained largely the same as last year but with four first time visitors to us last year taking roles: Stéphanie Mazars, Gerhild and Gérard Cardin and Benoît Jaunin.
All the associations in Le Pellerin are invited to be represented at the annual Forum des Associations organised by the Town Hall at the beginning of September. The purpose is to introduce their groups to residents and hopefully attract new members. Alain reports that after two years of this not taking place, they were pleased that they did recruit new members and several others rejoined after the pandemic had shut everything down.
Two English courses were set up last year. Brian Best teaches an intermediate class at 7.30pm on Tuesday evenings and a new teacher, Lisa Crowley, runs a course for beginners on Saturday mornings at 10am. These are formal classes for serious learners and the students pay the teachers for them. They take place in the designated room which the association has in the middle of the village.
In December, the annual market held in the René Cassin hall was once again organised by the Town Hall after two years’ gap. The association takes a stall called ‘Stand de Délices Anglo-Saxons’, to sell typical home-made British baked goods such as: fruit scones, cupcakes, flapjacks, chocolate brownies and Bakewell tarts. It is deemed to be another useful event for the association to introduce residents to the existence and purpose of twinning and needless to say the homemade goodies are extremely popular and sell out fast.
In partnership with schools and other institutions in Le Pellerin an evening with Dr Robert, a tribute Beatles band, was planned which attracted over 100 people. The band was incredibly popular and the evening was a huge success. Members provided cookies, Gérard Cardin made hotdogs and Jacqueline Martin contributed pizzas. Alain reflected that future events could run more efficiently if tickets were sold in advance, there were more electric sockets (strange) and they had the use of a card reader, which we have also recently discovered.
The rest of Alain’s report on their meeting was a reflection of the ‘haute qualité’ programme we had organised for the 32 visitors and how we had achieved a good balance between time spent on group activities with free time with hosts during the visit. He remarked that the last visit had been to Le Pellerin in 2019, so this was the first real contact in three years.
He also made mention of Ann’s broken hip, caused by a fall in the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, and was pleased to inform all that she had recovered well after her emergency surgery.
As we also look forward to visiting Le Pellerin once more this year at the end of May after such a long delay, it remains for me to thank you all for your continued support and we hope that more of you may decide to join us.
Jane Knight (Secretary)
6 February 2024
Draft Minutes of the 2024 AGM
Minutes of the North Ferriby Le Pellerin Twinning Association
2024 AGM
Tuesday 6 February 2024 at North Ferriby Village Hall at 7.00pm
Apologies: Hilary & Gordon Brocklehurst, Helen Huntington, , Sheli& Stephen Barr, Linda Hardisty, Jane Booth, John Knox
Present: Janet and Glenn Aitken, Michael & Ann Welbourne, Andrew & Jane Knight, Julia & Gareth James, Belinda & Tony Hookem, Derek & Jacqui Mitchell, Mike Booth, John & Alison Peck, , Rosemarie & John Halmshaw: John & Beverly Holt, Margaret Rant, Elizabeth Clague, Sue Wilsea
1 The Chairman, Janet Aitken, welcomed members to the 2024 AGM.
2 The approval of the Minutes of the AGM held on 7 February 2023 was proposed by Julia James and seconded Andrew Knight
3 The Chairman, Janet Aitken, delivered her Annual Report
4 The Secretary, Jane Knight, delivered her Annual Report
5 The Treasurer, Ann Welbourne, delivered her Financial Report for the year ending 31 December 2023
6. Election of Officers
The Chairman announced that all the current officers were prepared to stand again but that the committee would welcome further members. The re-election of the current committee was proposed by Margaret Rant and seconded by Gareth James.
7. AOB
· The Chairman invited those present to contact any member of the committee with any ideas for events we could organise, especially the Games evening planned for the autumn, or anything about the Association in general
· A Cheese and Wine evening was proposed and will be considered
· Volunteers were requested to attend the primary school breakfast on March 6th and the Village Hall Spring Fayre for making French bakery products to sell and man the stall on March 16th
The Chairman thanked Members for attending and the meeting closed at 7.45pm when refreshments were served.