While driving through the many Welsh towns and the the rest of the U.K for that matter, one might notice a towns sign welcoming you to the their humble society whilst mentioning that this particular town is ‘twinned with’ some other similar community from around the world.
This has been a common practice since world war II where twinning was seen as a way of international collaboration and friendship after years of conflict. A message of peace and future prosperity between different cultures to overcome past differences.
Today we mainly celebrate and highlight the unique qualities of our fellow towns with cultural exchanges of music, language, long coach trips and most importantly, wine, beer and food! The great bringer of peace could not be more apparent than a civilised glass of the finest wine.
Maybe a little late to the ‘twinning’ party but never the less, Newtown was twinned with Les Herbiers, a commune in the Vendée department in the Pays de la Loire region, western France with a population of around 16,000.
There have been many exchanges over the years with activities of music, art, sport, food, language and maybe the main reason I’m writing this post, film!
Once a month the Twinning Association of Newtown meet at Hafan Yr Afon for a social gathering of food, French wine, presentations of recent trips to France topped off with a rare French film to home-in on those linguistic skills, readying oneself for the next visit to the Pays de la Loire region. For those, like myself, whose skill in the language stretch as far as a polite welcome, we can feel somewhat relieved by the films accompanying subtitles.
Of the few collaborations that have occurred with Hafan Yr Afon and the Twinning association, we can confidently say that this is a partnership that is ‘twinned’ with a future prosperity through community cohesion and shared experience with our neighbours both near and far.
If my post has tickled your curiosity and you would like to join us for an evening of social gathering, food, drink and film, then come and join us Friday February 21st by booking your ticket in the link below.
An evening with friendly, chatty people and lovely nibbles from the buffet crowned by a shared movie experience! Just one of the many things that this lovely place offers. There is also an intermediate French class on Wednesday evenings, which provides the opportunity to brush up on language skills that have gathered dust over the years! I now check the Hafan website regularly and have also joined the ‘Hafan One-way’ What’s Up group, which sends all relevant events info straight to my phone, a very practical way of keeping up to date without having to weed through tons of comments.