SHERBORNE DOUZELAGE NEWSLETTER AUGUST 2009 ALTEA 35TH CONFERENCE with Janet Parsons I began writing this article in the The formal proceedings began with a vibrant and bustling city of Valen- lecture on Town Planning, an inter- cia a few days after the Altea Gen- esting presentation which suggested eral Meeting, my mind still a ca- that towns and cities have lost the cophony of images and impressions link with nature and proposing that of so much we all shared in the safe spaces are needed where people splendid surroundings of the Palau feel at ease. Altea Centre d’Arts. Here are some of them. It set the tone for the meeting, one with a distinctively Mediterranean Altea, an attractive and delightful flavour, led by the warm and engag- small white town, not unlike the ing style of our President, Ed Weber. ‘pueblos blancos’ of Andalucia, sits between mountains and orange Cont. page 2 groves of the Sierra Bernia and the Mediterranean. Our scenic conference hall Our hotel gave us plenty of scope for informal gatherings and relaxa- tion under the palm trees, where we exchanged views and ideas with delegates and new friends from the 21 towns who travelled to the 34th Douzelage General Meeting. Words limit the visual impact of the Conference Centre where the for- mal meetings were held – we de- scended a flight of stairs into an auditorium bathed in sunlight and enclosed on three sides by glass, with a stunning backdrop of moun- tains. If inspiration was lacking the setting certainly provided it. PAGE 2 SHERBORNE DOUZELAGE AUGUST 2009 ALTEA 35TH CONFERENCE with Janet Parsons Centre d’Arts was transformed We welcomed a delegation from into a style and ambience resem- Marsascala in Malta to their bling the Dorchester hotel. first General Meeting and it was The tapas kept coming, the wine good to see their enthusiasm flowed … and then the band be- and obvious pride at being voted gan to play. They were superb into membership of Douzelage. and created the perfect atmos- An application had been re- phere for dancing until after mid- ceived from Siret in Romania, night. But there was one mo- who will join us next year, when ment that I think all of us found we meet in Susice in the Czech profoundly moving, when we Republic. stood for the EU anthem from Beethoven’s Ode to Joy. This Although there was no Youth perhaps encapsulates the feelings Meeting this year, we were which we were able to take with joined by a number of young us from such a memorable occa- delegates and it was reassuring sion. that there is a clearly an inter- est and desire in Europe to Janet Parsons maintain and secure the future of Douzelage. As the sun began to set at the Altea the descent into town end of the first day, we wan- dered through the cobbled streets of the old town, crowned with its blue domed church reminiscent of the Greek is- lands, to spend an enjoyable evening at a Pizza Restaurant. Inevitably some of the high- lights of our visit were the lunches, ‘al fresco’, with jugs of Sangria flowing freely and gen- erously, and set in wonderful surroundings with congenial company. The climax for me was the final dinner when the Palau Altea PAGE 3 SHERBORNE DOUZELAGE AUGUST 2009 ALTEA - A SLOVAKIAN PERSPECTIVE We are the primary school teachers from Zvolen. We had heard a lot about Douzelage, read on a web page and our students have taken part in one of its projects. We arrived at the Douzelage Conference in Altea in order to find contacts for our future partnership with schools from Douzalage countries, as others have done in the past. So we were very pleased to see The Zvolen girls with our new and feel the warm welcome from friend from Malta every town delegation, which showed a special spirit flowing everywhere. It was clear that all those people share long results was even more interesting. friendships and partnership. Discusions did not lead straight to Pleasant atmosphere of the two conclusions, but looking for them working days, interesting people helped to understand different town and live discussions made us situations and different national belong to this happening and specifications. suddenly we understood what makes everybody around so We have taken part in a variety of proud of Douzelage. international projects up till now, and all the enthusiasm, which we could feel We were offered lots of in Altea, makes us work even more in possibilities of international this area. We were very much taken cooperation. There were many and touched by all the Douzelage interesting ideas and members‘ enthusiasm and will to work presentations filled with to make new partnerships and live personal contacts. This unique a life in Douzelage. We believe we atmosphere did not cause any gained there the power for our future barriers or working problems. work, project cooperation and Although there were varied inspiration for organizing some opinions on many topics, making interesting meetings here in Zvolen. Cont. page 4 PAGE 4 SHERBORNE DOUZELAGE AUGUST 2009 THE ZVOLEN GIRLS IN ALTEA The working sessions in the day time were followed by the evening relaxation in Altea with its white narrow streets leading from a magnificant church typical with its blue roof to the seaside with its palm promenade. The amazing traditional Paella taste as well as cool sangria drink, exotic fruit on trees unbelievably so close to us, we could even pick it up while walking along the road, beautiful flowers, all of this means exotic fantasy for us. The closing ceremony was filled with enthusiam, fellowship and friendship. These wonderful feelings we brought back home and we have it on our minds every time we talk or remember Douzelage. The Douzelage family, we are in. Thank you. Alena Feriancova Zuzana Laszloova COME AND PLAN YOUR TRIP PAGE 5 SHERBORNE DOUZELAGE AUGUST 2009 BASIL IN ALTEA I was fortunate enough to be everybody should have time to under- invited to a Douzelage meet- stand, think and speak, if you want ing in Altea, Spain. the best results. After a short flight and a Much happens in a year; you can’t quick drive through Valencia rush or postpone things and expect at midnight we arrived at the them to turn out alright. You could see hotel. Each morning that fol- clearly that lots of different views lowed, had the same ritual of were involved, evoked by the national being woken up by the sound of the sea softly touching the beach. During breakfast on the fol- lowing morning the first greet- ings were exchanged. All the British were about to leave, some teambuilding had to be done at the golf course. Most of us spent the day dis- covering the twin village of Altea for the first time. The old town is a really idyllic ref- Brainstorming with delegates from uge, containing narrow Meerssen streets, white walls, invitingly looking restaurants and small and cultural backgrounds. shops. The culture meeting was more like a big session of brainstorming. It’s sub- As soon as you felt you were jects ranged from education, culture on a holiday, work started. and integration, to Roman society that Three types of meetings were binds our history. Also I noticed that if held, a general meeting, a you put education before the word culture meeting and a IT ‘meeting’, that teachers from all coun- meeting. tries will collectively flock to it. I liked At first I thought that the gen- hearing all these different ways of eral meeting was progressing thinking and problem solving. too slowly for my taste. How- Cont. page 6 ever later I found out that PAGE 6 SHERBORNE DOUZELAGE AUGUST 2009 The meeting made me realize how much we can learn from each other. The IT workshop was hard work, setting up a service that connects us across Europe. You need to make it interesting, up to date, infor- mative, accessible and you need a handful of the right peo- ple that can make the effort. But the thing that I enjoyed most was having just 120 peo- ple together from 22 countries. Conversing, listening to sto- John, Martin and Michael ries, sharing food and drinks, listening to ideas for IT having a good laugh about cul- tural habits and listening to advice. WHAT NEXT IN IT? The Douzelage is a prime ex- As Basil has said in his article, the IT ample of how important it is Workshop in Altea was indeed hard for various people to work to- work, but under the leadership of gether. It will take some sweat, John Petterson, assisted by Martin but the end result is an enrich- Six and myself, we received many ment to the lives of every per- useful ideas from the 20 or so son involved. delegates attending. Since then though it has all gone quiet. For all the people that are sceptical about a Europe, However I know that John is working please forget the negatives and quietly in the background, finalising think about the possibilities. his guidance as to how easy it is to We have to offer so much for keep up to date your websites using each other, much more than we Typo 3. can imagine. Don’t neglect it. However if it goes wrong, re- Perhaps also you are one of the mem- member the following: “Be end- ber towns, who have not yet told us lessly patient and endlessly who is your co-ordinator. This is forgiving.” essential info, if we are to have a consistent informative approach.