Denmead
Twinning Association
Denmead
Twinning Association
The Town of Saint-Georges-lès-Baillargeaux
For the past 30 years Denmead has been twinned with a town in France and for those of you who don’t know where or who we are twinned with, it’s the town of Saint-Georges-lès-Baillargeaux which is a commune in the Vienne department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in western France. If you are rubbish at geography; look at a map of France, that’s just above the centre of the country and to the left, somewhere roughly 10km from Poitiers!
The town gets its name from the first Christian church and there’s also a link to the dragon slayer (St. George), which is not inappropriate! The Baillarge part of the name denotes its’ strong link to spring barley. Although more developed than Denmead, St. Georges has a town hall, although we are a very similar sized population wise.
This relationship between us is celebrated by the annual exchange, which switches each year, so the next (sadly postponed due to Covid19), is due in Denmead in 2021. Please see click here for further details.
Our 2019 Visit
Just before the D-Day 75 commemorations, around 40 people from Denmead went for a long weekend on our annual exchange, which is hosted alternate years by each village.
During our time there, a whole range of events was arranged for us beginning with a reception and a wonderful meal. It was there that we gave our hosts a huge, delicious fruit cake made by members Malcolm and Ann Davies, followed by some hilariously animated sea shanties, including ‘What shall we do with the drunken sailor’.
We enjoyed a whole day excursion to see how Cognac is produced, and of course, sampled, followed by lunch on a river boat and a visit to the town of Angoulême. As with times that are thoroughly enjoyable, the weekend passed very quickly.
Also, during the year the association hold a variety of social events in the village – some for everyone and some for members only. The idea of them all is to meet other people from the village and to have fun. The social events include musical ones (line dancing, Welsh evening, WW2 evenings etc), quizzes, suppers and dinner (some with cabaret), walks, horse races, as well as the annual boules match against Emsworth Twinning, held around the date of the French national (Bastille) day; and is eagerly competed!
Full details of future events can be viewed here.
You may be relieved to know that speaking French is not essential – some do and some don’t (from both villages). It is also the best way to learn a language! All ages are welcome.
Throughout the year there are also numerous other fund-raising and social events, so Twinning is great fun and you can learn a lot too, so why not become a member? Interested? See the website here or contact Patrick Binks on 023 9226 2912.
