1. A Photo Evening of the recent visit of Saint Nazaire is to be held at Peter & Iris's house on Saturday 11th May. Starting at 7 p.m. Everyone welcome.
2. We have received an invitation to visit Saint-Nazaire in September. 17th - 19th. Anyone who might be interested in joining this visit, please contact a committee member.
3. The Visit of Landkreis Rotenburg is now in doubt. We hope to have more information soon.
As of today, FTA members will benefit from the following discounts:
10% discount for your members' family trips, outside of the exchanges organised by the Twinning Committee, with their vehicle or on foot.
20% discount on
the public group rate for the Twinning Committee's foot passenger trips (from 10 or more people).
10% discount on
the public group rate for the Twinning Committee's trips by coach.
for more information please contact the Chairman.
On Saturday December 9th, fifteen members of the Association met at the Princess Pavilion to celebrate Christmas with a Christmas Coffee morning. It was good to sit down and chat with everyone and enjoy the variety of fancy dress and costumes that members had concocted. The costumes ranged from a snowman (Steve) to a Bavarian dancer (Mike - who else?). My personal favourite were Helene as some sort of elf in nightwear and Grenville the grinch but everyone looked fantastic.
We were entertained with a Christmas ‘mastermind’ quiz that Steve had meticulously prepared. Only eighteen questions. Either Steve thinks we are all related to Albert Einstein or he made a conscious decision to ensure we felt like dummies. I’m not sure which but it was good fun and I was in the winning team that managed marginally over 0%! It was really entertaining - especially as Steve had to fight to make himself heard above the cacophony of a recorder band playing Carols at the other end of the room. Well done Steve! Steve not only volunteered to set the quiz but also provided the prizes for the winning team.
The prize, a bottle of Prosecco, for the best fancy dress went to Steve .Thoroughly deserved it was too.
On Thursday 12th October we eventually established a video link with Saint-Nazaire. Eight members of FTA were present at Peter and Iris's house for the introductions and initial chat between our committees. The 40 minute Zoom slot certainly zoomed by and we had to say farewell too soon.
It was decided that Saint-Nazaire will send a small delegation to Falmouth at the end of March to coincide with the commemoration of Operation Chariot. They will probably spend a few days more with us than the official delegation , cementing our friendship and organising a pathway forward.
On Sunday 24th September, fourteen members of the Falmouth twinning Association met for lunch at the Falmouth Golf Club's 'Above the Bay ' restaurant.
Those attending were able to chose from an extensive menu that, as well as Sunday lunch favourites like roast beef, also included other options like haddock, trout and vegetarian.
Everyone that attended enjoyed their lunches, and eat their full. The portions were gigantic and the accompanying vegetables were lovely.
It was great to touch base with members and lovely to see so many twinning stalwarts there.
We met at 12.30p.m. and it was close to 3 p.m. when we trudged our weary, bloated, ways back home.
Poor Harold missed the lunch because he wasn't feeling too good. Hopefully he's recovered and we wish him the best.
French Flying Visit
On Sunday 18th June thirteen members of the Douarnenez Jumelage visit Falmouth on the last leg of their English language course visit to Cornwall. They arrived about noon, parked their two minibuses outside Peter and Iris’s house and, after exchanging library books, went down to the Sea Shanty Festival. Most walked but other had to be taken in one of the minibuses. After enjoying a few shanty group performances and meeting Clair Ingleheart from the Femmes de La Mer, they headed for the Harbour Lights for fish’n’chips (what else?) and the stunning views from the restaurant.
The group returned to Peter and Iris’s around 4:15 p.m. for a glass of wine and nibbles. However, most of them couldn’t face wine after the fish’n’chips so copious amounts of tea, cola and coffee were drunk. Jenny, Nigel and June and Harold joined us for a very lively and entertaining sojourn. We relived the crepe-making evening in Douarnenez in photos and videos. The French, unsurprisingly after the Harbour Lights, hardly touched the finger buffet but they could not resist the Cornish cream tea that Jenny thoughtfully produced. They disappeared off the plates as fast as Jenny could cut the scones and dollop the jam and cream on.
Peter presented the three Frenchmen present with a Cornish tie each and the ladies with a town badge. Although Francis and the others seldom, if ever, wear ties, they did try them on for an historic photograph.
Some of the discussions, obviously, drifted around the future of the twinning exchanges between Falmouth and Douarnenez. Members on both sides were in favour of it and, after a fervent meeting between Francis their twinning head honcho and Jenny, our membership secretary, Jenny was far more optimistic about our future. Francis said we must keep in touch.
The afternoon went on a bit longer than originally planned and the French finally left around 6:20 p.m. to wind their way back to Plymouth and the overnight ferry to Roskoff.
On Thursday 7th May, Peter and Nigel met with Simon Penna, the head of parks and gardens, to site the new granite plaque that marks the tree planted to commemorate 30 years of twinning between
Falmouth and Douarnenez in Brittany.
The plaque was purchased from twinning funds held by the council on behalf of the twinning association. It is hoped to have a formal unveiling at a later date. With the mayor, councillor Steve
Eva and representatives from Brittany.
the simple inscription reads ' This tree commemorates 30 years of friendship between Falmouth and Douarnenez'.
the 30th anniversary was in 2013 when the first tree was planted. That died and was replace with the Scots Pine that is now healthily thriving there.
A student from Rotenburg, Maike Schuppe, uncertain of what she wanted to read at university, decided to take a 'gap year' and travel. After working in the Headland Hotel in Newquay for eleven weeks, she arrived in Falmouth for a three day visit that was first planned during our trip to Germany last year. mainly because she had heard how beautiful Falmouth is.
During her time here she stayed with Peter and Iris who showed her the sights including Pendennis Castle and the Maritime Museum. Maike also sampled our culinary delights including Fish'n'chips and pasties.
Maike has vowed to return, hopefully with the May delegation.
A party of French children from St. Jean Primary School, Douarnenez visited Falmouth between 3rd and 5th June. The party spent a wet Tuesday morning at Pendennis Castle and, after a picnic lunch, visited the National Maritime Museum in the Afternoon. They spent Wednesday at St Francis School, had a barbecue in the evening and left after breakfast on Thursday.