ADTTS Newsletter and Thank You So Much to Nick Marsh Our Guest Editor This Month
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Abingdon and District Twin Towns Society Newsletter May 2021 Guest Editor: Nick Marsh In this edition: Chairman’s Thoughts Forthcoming Events Recent Events, Evening Zoom Meeting - Quiz 100 Days Out from Abingdon – Part 9 May Day Pour les amis de la bonne phrase anglaise — 2 Letters and Greetings from our Twin Towns Interesting link from Abingdon, Virginia Signs of Summer Contact details Chairman’s Thoughts Dear Friends, Hello everyone and welcome to the May edition of the ADTTS newsletter and thank you so much to Nick Marsh our guest editor this month. I am having a lie in this May morning. Often my friend Gloria, also a Twinning member, and I will get up at 4am to make our way to Magdalen College in Oxford to listen to the choir sing from the top of the tower to welcome in May Day. At 6am the thousands of people in the street fall silent and we listen to the choir singing in Latin. It is a tradition that goes back over 500 years. Then the dancing begins! Morris dancers, our traditional dancers, take to the streets, usually dressed in white with bells round their knees and waving white handkerchiefs or sticks. They are accompanied usually by an accordion or violin. We watch and mingle with the crowd and then, if we are really lucky, find somewhere to enjoy a great big English breakfast. Not this year though. Sadly ‘May Morning’ will be virtual, as it was last year. Gloria and I will be very happy to take friends from overseas another year, so think about it! In France your lovely tradition of offering bouquets of muguet (lily of the valley) on May Day can go ahead. Dating back to 1561 when King Charles IX was given a posy of muguet and then offered posies to the ladies in his Court, it is a tradition as old as our own. In the tradition of today I offer you all, and in particular our French friends, a virtual posy of muguet, picked from my garden. Take care everyone and I hope we can all look forward with more confidence. Stella Carter, Chairman ADTTS __________________________________ Forthcoming Events Sunday 9th May 2021 7pm (8pm CET) Evening Meeting – Europe Day - online byZoom Thursday 20th May 2021 7pm (8pm CET) Evening Meeting- Sint-Niklaas - online by Zoom Monday 21st June 2021 8pm Evening Meeting - Drinks Party at Longside, Tatham Road Thursday 16th Sept. 2021 7:30 for 8pm Evening Meeting and AGM, Preston Road CC Europe Day – Evening Meeting Sunday 9th May 2021 – 7pm (8pm CET) Online by Zoom We invite our friends in the twin towns to join with members to celebrate Europe Day. Every year, members of Abingdon & District Twinning Society meet together for a dinner on Europe Day. It's important for us to reassert commitment to a shared European heritage. We do so knowing that twinning friends in other countries similarly mark this anniversary. Last year, unable to hold our customary dinner, we initiated a meeting on Zoom instead. One advantage we found was that we were able to be joined by friends from several of our twin towns. Given its success, we want to do it again this year and hope that we shall have even more guest appearances from across the channel. We are looking for a representative from each town to propose a toast in the appropriate local manner. So please make a note of the date. The time will be 8pm in the UK and 19:00 in Central Europe. We shall email out the details of the Zoom link a few days before. We look forward to seeing everyone! Brian Read _________________________________ Evening Meeting – Sint-Niklaas Thursday 20th May 2021 – 7pm (8pm CET) Online by Zoom The Sint-Niklaas meeting will be themed around our wonderful twin town, Sint-Niklaas, in Belgium. Members are invited to chat about their twinning experiences in Sint-Niklaas. We hope to be joined by people from Sint-Niklaas to tell us what’s happening there and to share their experiences with us. There will also be a short film about Sint-Niklaas, as well as a question and answer session where we can ask our Belgian friends about Sint-Niklaas. As we are unable to meet together in person, this will again be an online meeting using Zoom. Members will receive an email in advance giving details of how to participate. Evening Meeting – Drinks party Monday 21st June 2021 – 8pm at Longside, Tatham Road, Abingdon OX14 1QD We look forward to celebrating the end of lockdown restrictions and meeting together. Although we are expecting the limit for gatherings outside to be lifted from that day we are, however, being prudent and asking people to register. Places will be allocated nearer the time according to order of registering in case there is a limit after all. Ask Nikki Henton (01865 862169) to add your name to the priority list.). __________________________________ Recent Events Evening Meeting - Quiz Thursday 15 April 2021 – Online by Zoom ‘Ave you ’ad you’re second jab, or the ADTTS quiz, 15 April 2021 ‘I’ve just done five rounds with (name your boxer, Sugar Ray or a Rocky up to Anthony J.).’ Fortunately, this contest did not result in physically scrambled brains, merely mentally scrambled ones, and I think those have now subsided into their customary stupor. Of course, the Zoom meeting began with that ‘age old’ question, ‘have you had your second jab yet? Once this topic had been aired and debated, I was proposed by Brian and seconded by Peter to write up an account of the quiz. Very wisely the other 20 or so entrants abstained from voting! Brian Read was our quiz master with the power to screen share and mute, ably assisted by Peter Dodd, who supplied alternate rounds of questions. When we were all sitting comfortably Brian opened the batting with 10 questions, provided by his son, on Oxford and all its many aspects. I was annoyed at getting Prokofiev and Stravinsky mixed up but Margaret managed to identify the buildings highlighted on the city skyline. The winners were requested to put their hands up. We were on a roll Anne and Peter teased us with a glass of wine and a piece of chocolate before Peter took pity on us and tasting and Plasticine, usual subjects for ADTTS quizzes, were off and our knowledge of Abingdon, ancient and modern, on. You learn, forget and relearn – ock is old English for salmon. Now will I remember this? Doubtful. Nevertheless, we were still on a roll. What could stop us? The third round, courtesy Brian, did the trick. Fifteen pictures of twin towns plus a feature from each. As far as we were concerned there were a lot of shots of the walls of Lucca and the ‘caves’ therein. Alas Schongau also has walls and when we were shown another picture from Lucca, we could not recall the name of the very characteristic tower illustrated. Peter provided round four, lots of stuff about foods, etc. For instance, no tomatoes, or love apples, in Worcestershire sauce. An average performance. We were slipping down the field. Brian finished us off with a right hook, metaphorically speaking, to wit our memories of 2020. I over-ruled Margaret on the richest man (it was Bezos not Musk), moral - never over-rule your wife and we sank gracefully out of sight but with our colours flying. Yes, it was an excellent quiz night and our thanks are to Stella for chairing and Brian and Peter for putting it all together and hosting. We will revise for the next occasion. Neil Hancox, with Margaret supplying the answers. 16 April 2021 ____________________________________ 100 Days Out from Abingdon - Part 9 Collated by Stella England , unlike many countries, is not known for its gastronomy. This is such an out of date perception. We really can offer some wonderful food and drink experiences. 81. Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons (20 mins) is Raymond Blanc’s beautiful manor house, restaurant and kitchen garden. He has held Michelin ** for the past 30 years. Fabulous for a special occasion. 82. Marlow (40 mins), is the home of Tom Kerridge. His pub, Hand and Flowers, was the first pub in the country to be awarded a Michelin *. Now it has two. His most recent, walk in pub, Coach, has also been awarded a *. Also look out for The Giggling Squid, a fine Thai restaurant in Marlow. 83. Inspector Morse and Lewis are often seen on television drinking at pubs in Oxford. Buy a book on film locations and do a Morse pub crawl. One of his favourite riverside pubs is The Trout (20 mins), a beautiful pub dating back to the 14th century. 84. Another Morse and Lewis pub is the Victoria Arms in Marston (30 mins). Go to the Covered Market in Oxford and pick up some delicious picnic food and then go punting as far as The Victoria Arms. Enjoy a picnic on the way, tie up your punt and enjoy a drink at the pub. 85. There are many good farm shops around. Q Gardens and Millets Farm are the nearest (10mins) but the country’s most famous, and most expensive, Daylesford, is near Chipping Norton in the cotswolds (45 mins). Chipping Norton also has Diddly Squat, Jeremy Clarkson’s farm shop. Buy a picnic, spot some famous people, and then enjoy the stunning Cotswold countryside. 86. Just one hour from Abingdon is a small town called Bray on Thames. Three restaurants there boast seven Michelin * between them.