28/11/11….Tea Time in France!

THE people of Thame’s twin town in France were introduced to the concept of Cup Cakes over the weekend, when a group from The Thame & District Twinning Association travelled to Montesson, near Paris, to sell English produce at their Christmas market.

Christmas puddings and home-made marmalade sold out very quickly and by lunch-time on Sunday, several packs of Christmas crackers, a novelty in France, were running out fast, as were packets of English Breakfast tea and Earl Grey illustrating the growing habit of tea drinking among our European friends.

For the second year in succession, the group set up tables and chairs and offered cake and tea (or coffee) to the marketeers, which proved popular, though the cup cakes took some explaining as iced cakes in pretty colours seemed to be a new idea to the French. But since the Thame twinners’ return home on Sunday evening, one student of English at the local secondary school, has asked her teacher for the recipe, so may be cup cakes too will soon be a part of tea time in Montesson!

The Thame team pictures are: (Left to right) Sonja Francis, Liz Barket, Alison Champken Woods, Anita Morvant (a fellow stall holder who lives in Montesson),
Vic Watson, Nigel Champken Woods, Linda Bone, Jeannette Matelot Green (Chair of Thame Twinning and her husband, James Green