Growing friendships in gardens and schools

BREXIT rages on but Thame’s european connection thrives through friendship and cultural exchanges, even down to its youngest residents.

Following another successful, annual trip to Thame’s twin of Montesson in France recently by Thame’s Twinning Association, a Thame primary school has been presented with a selection of French story books, a gift from its partner school in the French town.

The children of Yr 3, at John Hampden School, Thame, explore their French gift of books to help them learn about France and its language

Last Friday, September 27, Year 3 pupils from Mrs Laura McRonald’s French class at John Hampden Primary school in Thame, were presented with a wonderful selection of story books and picture books, brought back to them from Montesson, reciprocating a similar gift from John Hampden school, taken to Montesson by ‘Thame twinning’ members. The English story books were presented to Madame Nathalie Lacroix, who teaches English at École Élémentaire Ferdinand Buisson in Montesson, just before the Thame group left Montesson for home.

Highlight of this year’s road trip to Montesson for the Thame contingent was a visit to the artist Claude Monet’s garden at Giverny, originally planned and planted by the artist himself to resemble an ‘Impressionist’ painting, a garden including the actual Pond Lily pool and Japanese bridge, tunnelled these days with dappled green planting, that featured in Monet’s famous work depicting that very scene.

Visitors to Monet’s garden at Giverny, take shelter from the hot, September sun

The house and studio have recently been sensitively developed into a musuem, every room in the house, decorated as it would have been in his day, filled with objects that belonged to him, furniture, dinner services, and all around the walls, photographs of his family and friends and scenes from his life, and paintings, some his own and many Japanese works of art – a country he was facinated by.

The annual, communal rictual of eating a little meat pie, resembling a flattened sausage roll, took place later in the early evening, in a park in Montesson accompanied with wine, all part of the festival of the pâté à la Carmen, which includes a street carnival on the Sunday morning. The reason behind this yearly celebration isn’t completely understood by the locals themselves, but a suggestion of its origins can be found here LINK

A convivial shared meal on the Saturday evening revived flagging bodies, for the day had been very hot and sunny. Here representatives of the French, some German and the visitors from England – our’s being the Chair of Thame and District Twinning Association, Linda Emery – spoke of each other’s deep feelings for the continued friendship that continues between their countries, in Thame’s case, we have been twinned with Montesson for 18 years.

If you would like to discover more about Thame & District Twinning Association, visit the facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ThameandDistrictTwinningAssociation/ and look out for details of the up-coming quiz night.