Meylan visit to Didcot
12 to 14 April 2002
The long awaited visit by our friends from Meylan finally took
place on the week-end beginning 12 April 2002.
About 25 citizens of Meylan arrived at Heathrow airport early on the afternoon
of Friday, 12 April to be met by the Chairman of the Association, Cheng Lee,
and a Tappins bus. On the way from the airport to Didcot there was a short
visit to Windsor, where they saw the castle and the queues of people paying
their respects at the tomb of the Queen Mother.
The Mayor of Didcot, Jeremy Goff, Town Councillors, members of the Association
and hosts were waiting to welcome our visitors as they arrived at the Civic
Hall at around 5:30 pm. In between short speeches by Mayor Goff and M.
Gnansia (deputising for the Mayor of Meylan), hosts and guests paired off
and had a light snack provided by the Town Council. Friday night was spent
with hosts and their guests becoming acquainted.
Saturday was a busy day!
The Mayor of Meylan, Mme Tardy, arrived on an early morning flight and reached
Didcot around 9 a.m.. Mme Tardy had been unable to come with the main party
the day before due to a prior engagement but had got up at the crack of dawn
to reach Didcot at the earliest opportunity. She and Jeremy Goff spent the
morning discussing issues of common interest to our two towns, seeing various
aspects of Didcot and sharing ideas on ways of working together.
For the rest of the Meylannais, there was a trip to Oxford and a programme
of tours around the City, visits to colleges, shopping and lunch in a pub
or café. All arrived safely back in Didcot later in the afternoon,
tired but having had a very enjoyable day.
After a couple of hours to rest and change it was time to get on the move
again. This time St Birinus School was the venue for a Civic Reception to
officially welcome the Meylannais to Didcot followed by a barn dance. In
front of an audience of around 100 the Mayors of Meylan and Didcot made rousing
speeches of welcome and thanks. Both Mayors extolled the virtues of twinning,
which enables people of different nations and cultures to meet and develop
an understanding and shared their hopes and wishes that the links between
Didcot and Meylan will continue to grow stronger. Mme Charrier, on behalf
of the Meylan Twinning Committee, generously presented gifts to the members
of the Didcot Twinning Committee and Dr Cheng Lee, on behalf of the Didcot
Twinning Committee, presented Mme Charrier with a photograph album as a souvenir
of their visit to Didcot. All present raised their glasses to toast the
continued success of the Didcot-Meylan twinning.
The evening then moved up a gear with the barn dance. This was highly successful,
in good part due to the excellent band Reel McCoy who got everyone up on
their feet and, at times, thoroughly confused!! A buffet dinner and wine
provided the much needed refuelling to keep up the energy levels!!! Many
thanks to St Birinus School for allowing us to use their hall and to Mr Alan
West, the school caretaker, for all his help.
Despite the late night on Saturday, Sunday had to be an early start
as sadly our guests were due to leave Didcot at 11 a.m. to catch their flight
home. However, before that there was one last event, a tree planting ceremony.
With great ceremony, two trees were planted by the two Mayors near the entrance
to the Millennium Wood. A plaque was placed near the planted trees to serve
as a reminder of the tree planting event and of our commitment to our twin
town.
There was then just time to go back to the Civic Hall for a final cup of
tea or coffee before our guests boarded their bus for Heathrow.
After all the planning and worrying, the visit by our twin town, Meylan,
went extremely well and without any major problems. Everyone had a good
time and made new friends. The difficulties of the last year are behind
us and the twinning between Didcot and Meylan is on a much stronger basis.
We now need to start planning for the events coming up in the next 12 months.
These include a sports event for the youth of Didcot, Meylan, Planegg and
Gonzales to be held in early November in Meylan, and a return visit by Didcot
to Meylan, which will probably take place in some time in 2003.