Weekend of Firsts Sharing values and culture at all levels.
Tour of the Town
Mayor Thomas Joly of Verrières-le-Buisson arrived on 20th October for his first visit to Swanley. Having enjoyed his first journey on the Eurostar, he headed to his first engagment which was hosted by Swanley Town Council CEO Steve Nash and his team, together with the Swanley Twinning Association Chairman and a few of his team. Their first link was with education and the Orchards Academy, St Marys Rd.
With the sun shining, the next day began with Chrissy Hudson showing M. Joly the town, starting with the old High Street and Station Road. Then up through the centre, finishing at the Link.
The council offices provided an open and stimulating setting. Within no time at all ideas on how to develop links for all parties grew and grew. The day finished with a trip to a pub and an evening meal.
verrieres-le-buisson.fr/
The Mayor was taken by the multi-purpose use of the Link building and felt that a similar facility would be useful in Verrières. With the clouds gathering, it was a quick departure, which offered M. Joly another first; sunshine, high winds and heavy rainfall... all in an hour! The British weather never lets you down. How could he return to Verrières without getting wet...
Swanley Twinning.org.uk
Weekend of Firsts Coals to Newcastle What more could we offer our French guest than a trip to an English vineyard. 10 minutes outside Swanley, the beautiful village of Shoreham is the home of The Mount Vineyard.
What an enjoyable 3 hours in a fantastic setting. Wine tasting, a platter of charcuterie and cheeses. M. Joly’s favourite tipple was the white ‘Flint Key’ and we were happy to send him home with a bottle.
“It was with great pleasure that Swanley RFC welcomed Thomas Joly, along with Lesley Dyball and a number of other Swanley Town councillors to our playing field, on the 21st October. Our opposition was Tunbridge Wells and the game resulted in a win for Swanley 21-12 . Thomas was very pleased to be presented with a Swanley Rugby tie as a gift for him to remember us by when he returns home. Later that evening a party from Swanley RFC attended the Mayor of Swanley’s Charity Ball which was great fun, where the theme was James Bond. There was an auction for the Mayor’s charity, which was heavily contributed to by the rugby club, which shows our commitment as a club to Swanley town and of course Anglo-French relations!” John Aitkenhead . President Swanley RFC.
“ Swanley RFC is a very young club, having been formed in the Summer of 2017 and it was an absolute pleasure to welcome Mayor Thomas Joly to our match. Fortunately, I am fluent in French and spoke with M. Joly to explain the game of rugby to him. However, Thomas was also fluent in English, so we had the bizarre situation where he spoke in English and I spoke in French! He thoroughly enjoyed the game, especially as SRFC won. After the match, Thomas posed for photos with the players and had a good chat with them. It was an absolute pleasure to host him and we spoke about SRFC perhaps doing a tour to his home town. Verrières-Le-Buisson does not have its own rugby club, so touring to a nearby town seems to be the way to do this.” John Davis-Ashdown, SRFC Club Ambassador.
S W A N L E Y
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Swanley Twinning.org.uk