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 Cookham
Twinning 2008
Friday
31st October 2008
Click
on photo for larger image
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2008,
it was the turn of Cookham's French twin to visit Cookham. A group of
around twenty people travelled from St Benoit in France by both plane to
Stansted and by Eurostar to St Pancras.
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Arrival at Maidenhead
Station
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The French visitors were picked up from
Maidenhead station and taken to the Old Swan Uppers, who had their launch
weekend with their new landlord. The French loved it with the live music,
English beer and also small tasters of such things as sausage, mini
hamburgers and cheese soufflés.
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In the Old Swan Uppers
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Sunday
morning with the hour change several visitors went to St Elisabeth's
Catholic church in Lower Road, where a special welcome had been arranged
for them. Lunch was at Little India by Cookham Station. The French tend
not to have Indian restaurants so they were a bit tentative about the
spicy food, but soon got used to it and managed to empty several of the
buffet dishes.
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Lunch at Little India
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After a three course lunch and coffee there
was then a Treasure Hunt around Cookham. This included collecting various
items including a pair of stockings or tights, although the visitors were
not exactly sure about the translation into French. The clues were handed
out in the restaurant and everyone made up teams of from two to five
people, there had to be at least one French person and one Cookham person
in the team. The Treasure Hunt, organised by Peter Bysshe, finished with a
cream tea in his home in High Road.
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Getting Ready for the
Treasure Hunt
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In the evening an International Evening had
been organised at the Pinder Hall. There was an Italian three course
meal along with entertainment followed by dancing. The hall was decorated
with French flags and Union Jacks with lots of red white and blue
balloons, so looked very bright and festive.
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Setting up for the
International Evening
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There was a well stocked bar and the meal
was supplied by the Italian shop Palmieri's in Furze Platt and everyone
agreed it was absolutely fantastic. The tables looked lovely with blue and
red tablecloths and white serviettes. A programme had been beautifully
designed by artist Gail Dorrington and had been written in French and
English organised by Penny Bysshe.
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The Well Stocked Bar and
Stage Manager Colin Jackson tries the pasta
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After the anti pasto there was an interval
for Genevieve Usher to sing a medley of songs in English. French and
Italian accompanied by Graham Barker on the keyboard. Genevieve has a
beautiful voice and gave a real professionalism to the entertainment.
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Graham Barker and
Genevieve Usher
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There had been one glitch in that John
Hedger, who had agreed to be the MC, had been called a few hours before to
be told that a new grandchild had arrived four weeks early and was in
intensive care in St Thomas Hospital so he had to rush up to London.
However Timmy Mallett stepped into the breach and became MC for the
evening. Before the entertainment the results of the Treasure Hunt had to
be announced, however as there had been a tie for first place there was a
knock out competition to find the winners. This consisted of a complex
game including clothes pegs and blindfolds. There was a comment that any
video of it would be banned from U-Tube.
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MC Timmy Mallett and a mad
knock out game
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The meal finished and the rest of the
entertainment started. Firstly there was the Happy Tappers from the
Amethyst School of Dance. They did two appearances and brightened up the
stage with their wide smiles. The Happy Tappers were followed by the Take
4 Singers, a Barber Shop Quartet who are members of the Thames Valley
Chorus who also did two appearances.
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The Happy Tappers and the
Barbers' Shop Quartet
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After the Barbers Shop Quartet there was a
magician, Alan Gapes from Cookham Dean. Alan made balls appear and
disappear with several falling over the floor, along with floating silver
ball, cut ropes that mended themselves and rings that somehow linked
together with help from members of the audience.
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Magician Alan Gapes
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The next item was singing by the French
visitors, however there was a surprise entertainer in the shape of Rolf
Harris introduced by Timmy Mallett. Rolf was en plein forme and
sang in French and got everyone to join in, told jokes in Franglais and
even got Billy Mallett with a didgeridoo on stage.
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Surprise Entertainment
from Rolf Harris
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Rolf had come in just before the final
entertainer which was Valerie Coupeau from France, so she had a difficult
act to follow. Valerie sang a French song followed by Titanic, a very
amusing part of which was Timmy Mallett doing breast stroke across the
back of the stage. Valerie had a lovely singing voice and would have done
well in the X Factor. She brought the house down when she finished.
It was then time to push the tables back and clear the room for the
dancing.
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Valerie Coupeau Sings and
then Everyone Prepares for the Dancing
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Monday there was a trip to Oxford where
there was an official guide to show everyone around the city. The guide,
Chris Lloyd, also happened to be a walking friend of Michael Cameron-Wood
who happened to be one of hosts. It was a lovely day and the only
complaint was that everyone had to come home before seeing more. The day
was organised by Keith and Sue le Page both of whom had been to university
in Oxford. The group were shown round Keith's old college Exeter and Keith
said although he had been there for three years he found out things about
the college that he did not know. Chris Lloyd also gave the impression
that Oxford would not have existed if it had not been for the French which
pleased the visitors.
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Oxford Centre of Learning
- With thanks to Joel Blaud for the photo
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Monday evening was dinner with the hosts
and several got together for the last evening. Tuesday morning it was time
to leave on the 9.23am train to Paddington after what seemed a very short
time, although an awful lot had been packed into the time the French were
in Cookham.
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Au revoir et à bientôt
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Everyone left happy some having made
new friends and others met up again with old ones.
Cookham
Twinning has French classes you may like to join. Also there will be a
visit to France next year, so if you want more information about Twinning
call 01628 525130 or email twinning@cookham.com
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Cookham
Twinning 2008
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