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The 20th Anniversary Visit to Verneuil 19-21 September 2008
27 participants huddled around our coach at the Shelford Memorial Hall at 6:30 am on Friday morning (too early, many people thought, but necessary). A nice coach it was, equipped with toilets. Paul, our seasoned driver, immediately set the tone on board by telling us his "toilet story". The toilet door was three steps down from the main seating area but was not to be confused with the exit door: once, a lady passenger had inadvertently opened the wrong door and had fallen on to the motorway!
We were originally supposed to take the Eurotunnel but the fire which had damaged it a few days before our departure forced us to resort to the good old ferry. Our booking was cancelled so we were put on the next ferry an hour later. The ferry was swarming with people but the sea was calm and the sun was shining so many of us enjoyed having lunch and relaxing on the deck. In fact, gorgeous weather had been ordered for the whole weekend especially for us, as the French pleasantly boasted.
Thanks to our driver's experience, we managed to arrive exactly on time, despite the late ferry. All the new Twinning members (mostly Catherine's students of French) felt a bit apprehensive about meeting their host family. And now, the large group of French families was there, enthusiastically waving a British flag! Only two families showed up late to pick up the guests in their care but the good-natured atmosphere brushed off any concern.
The French ushered us inside the beautiful Manoir Salomon de Brosse (one of the famous Protestant architects in 16th century Verneuil) where Kir royal (crème de cassis and champagne) and Biscuits roses de Reims (traditional accompaniment for champagne) were lavished on us while many happy meetings and chats took place. The rest of the evening was spent with our host families who had all prepared excellent dinners. The only Muslim participant was given halal meat and a special effort had been made to please the vegetarians (always a headache or casse-tête for the French, who generally are not keen on veggie diets). One participant had the good fortune to be taken to Chantilly by her hosts: she was quite impressed by the grandeur of the chĊteau until she learned it was in fact the stables of the chĊteau! Chantilly is home to the Living Horse Museum (Musée vivant du Cheval).
Saturday unfurled a seemingly endless string of activities. We started early, at 9:00am, for a briskly paced walk around Verneuil; organised by le Club Cyclo-pédestre. Our French group leader kept pressing on: "Plus vite!"(Faster). No wonder, she is used to walking a grand total of 5000 km a year! We enjoyed the great weather. We stopped in front of the ruins of the ChĊteau de Verneuil (built by M de Brosse, also the architect of Palais du Luxembourg, in Paris) where Christine Pineau (of les Amis du Vieux Verneuil) shed light on the fate of this chĊteau, originally given as a gift by King Henri IV to one of his mistresses, and later dismantled by Prince de Condé, cousin to the king, and overly protective of his own chĊteau in Chantilly...We returned through the woods, where a hunt was on to track wild boars which are becoming a pest for Verneuil gardeners.
We then joined the non-walkers group (who had been given a tour of the town by les Amis du Vieux Verneuil) inside the Musée de la Mémoire des Murs. Its curator, Thierry Ramond, son of its founder, gave us a fascinating account of the collection of wall inscriptions and graffittis, quite possibly unique in the world.The participants took special interest in deciphering scrabblings left by English corsairs taken prisoner by French ships in the 17th and 18th centuries, and in the remarkable memorabilia of World War 1. It was noted that Royston Cave was the only place which had declined authorisation to take the imprints of its inscriptions.
Lunch, courtesy of the French, was in Senlis at Le Gril des Barbares. The mediaeval setting, under vaulted ceilings, was magnificent and the meal pleased everyone, including the vegetarians. The afternoon was spent strolling along the quaint (and yes, sun-drenched) streets of the old town: some took the horse carriage tour (free on that day because it was the Heritage week-end, Journées du Patrimoine), others did a guided tour, others shopped (French cheese, hats or books..., others yet just lazily sipped drinks at a café terrasse. Upon returning to Verneuil, we all had to hurry to spruce up for the soirée held in the Manoir Salomon de Brosse, profusely decorated with flags. A gifted group of young ladies, including one of Mario's daughters, treated our ears to "ne of the best flute concerts" (in fact recorders). It was followed by the usual indispensable speeches, both national anthems, and then the exchange of our 20th anniversary gifts. The Shelford Twinning Association presented their French counterpart with a beautiful elm bowl made by an Essex craftsman (with a pedestal created by Bernard Pearl). The Maire, Christian Massaux, was given a bottle of single malt and the book Some Shelford Lives and Robin Starte had the opportunity to say a few words about his own page in it. The French Comité de Jumelage gave us a superb painting by Thierry Ramond of scenes in Verneuil. The dinner followed and everyone present had a lovely time chatting in French and in English or in franglais.
Sunday morning was leisurely, spent with our hosts. A number of our participants were taken sightseeing and a few witnessed the reenactment of La Route du poisson (the Fish Route): in the olden days, fish from Boulogne was brought to Paris 2 or 3 times a week, by horse carts (the horses were changed frequently at relays).
At 2:00pm, it was time to gather at Rue de l'Egalité parking. After the last photos, we had to take leave of our hosts for the journey back to England. We made good use of the two leftover bottles of excellent Bordeaux from Saturday's feast and finally reached Great Shelford around 9:30pm.
The participants were unanimous in saying it was a very full but a very interesting weekend and they all enjoyed being a part of the special Twinning spirit, veteran members and new members alike. Long life to our Twinning!
This report is compiled by Catherine Pinchetti, based entirely upon comments by a number of participants
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