|
Taking
part in the Burwell Twinning
A few years ago Burwell twinned with the French village
of Lizy-sur-Ourcq and its two nearby hamlets of Mary and Ocquerre. Through the joint
signing of a Friendship pact, Burwell now has a formal link with these villages. What you
probably don't realise is that Burwell and its surrounding villages are twinned
with Lizy. This means that the villages of Reach, Swaffham Prior and Swaffham Bulbeck can
be a part of the twinning.
So what does this mean in reality, what is twinning all about?
Twinning offers you the opportunity to:
Meet people you wouldn't
otherwise meet
Learn things about
France that you wouldn't otherwise learn
Travel to another country
Speak/practise French - if you want to
Be shown around a region of France by a 'local'
Show-off your village and its surrounds to the
people of Lizy
Broaden your children's education
Each year sees one main exchange between the
villages. There are also a few additional smaller exchange trips during the year. The
visits to Lizy usually take place over a weekend and you would stay, as guests, in the
homes of the French. The only cost involved is the transport cost, and if enough people
visit we use a coach. Otherwise private cars are used.
You do not have to speak French, it's
amazing how you can get by and many French speak good English. A party from Lizy will also
come over once or twice a year and stay in Burwell and the surrounding villages. However,
there is no obligation to host a French family. You are still welcome to take part in the
social activities. For example, we have recently hosted the main exchange trip from Lizy
and as part of the celebrations we held a dinner at St Catharine's College in Cambridge.
Our next major visit
is planned for the weekend of August 13 to August 15 . We appreciate that you will only be
reading this at the beginning of August and so will probably not be able come on this
particular trip. However, there will be an exchange planned for the Spring of 2000. |