Twinned At Last!
After four years of developing friendship and understanding, Bathford and Kingsdown were finally twinned with Artannes-sur-Indre on Saturday 29 October in Bathford Parish Hall. On this rewarding and exciting occasion, our Chair Maureen Breeze, sends you this message of thanks and congratulation.

It was with such pleasure that I stood at the front of the packed Parish Hall on 29 October and along with Jacques L'HÔte President Artannes Comité de Jumelage, Shirley Beazer, Chair Bathford Parish Council and Sylvain Thimel, Mayor of Artannes, signed the Friendship Charter that has sealed the bond between our two communities.

As you all know - it has been a long but happy journey over the past 4 years to get to this point with great friendships existing between our two communities. I feel privileged to have been part of it.

The ceremony was the highlight of a very enjoyable weekend of activity, skilfully organised by the very committed Twinning Committee and was a huge success. They worked relentlessly for many months to bring all of the detailed planning to reality. Everyone gave beyond that expected and for those of you involved, I am sure you will join with me, in thanking and congratulating them. Thanks and appreciation from our guests have been profuse - there is no doubting that every one of them had a wonderful time.

We hope to display their official gift - an original watercolour of the river at Artannes as well as the signed Friendship Charters, in the Parish Hall for all to see and enjoy.

I would like to offer my grateful thanks to all of the hosts and others who worked tirelessly and quietly behind the scenes. It couldn't have happened without you!

We have a lot to look forward to. The future success depends on each and every one of us. I am convinced that Bathford and Kingsdown have people that will make the twinning work and look forward to being part of it for many years to come.

With best wishes,
Maureen

Notice of Annual General Meeting
The Annual General Meeting of the association will be held on

Monday 5 December at 8.00pm in the Bathford Rugby Club

This will be a short business meeting when our Chair will review the past year. We will also receive and approve the audited annual accounts and elect officers & committee. All interested residents of Bathford and Kingsdown will be welcome.

In particular, we especially invite all members who hosted our French guests to come and give us comments and suggestions following their experiences.
BAR - SKITTLES

Improve Your French?
Carole Berjon - one of our recent guests - seeks a family with whom her niece might spend 6 months to improve her English. She has just finished marketing studies in Paris but comes from Royan. She mentions a willingness to do babysitting which I take to mean she would help with children in a family. The girl can be contacted via her parents' email - robertbilly@wanadoo.fr

However, it might be better to go through Carole, who speaks and writes virtually perfect English - carole.berjon@wanadoo.fr

Have you Enjoyed the Recent Celebrations?
Would you like to meet up again with our Artannais friends?

Join us in Artannes 26 - 30 May 2006 for the reciprocal celebration there.

Let me know, as soon as you can, of an uncommitted interest in travelling to be sure of EU grant (if approved) for travel. While there is no closing date, unless you tell me soon you might miss out on any EU money! Please see my contact details below...