A group of 5 people from the Göttingen YMCA were in Cheltenham at the beginning of April for a few days developing links and possible exchanges with Cheltenham YMCA. The group together with the Cheltenham YMCA chairman and trustee had a reception with the Mayor on Wednesday 2 April. Cheltenham YMCA are considering a bike ride to Göttingen in 2015.
Pittville School visit Annecy
A group of 16 pupils and 3 teachers from Pittville School visited Annecy from 30 March to 4 April to link with the St Michel School. The visit was facilitated with a grant of £1,500 from the Twinning Association’s ‘Inspiring Young People through Twinning’ scheme, which aims to stimulate young people’s interest in international languages and cultures to help them with current and future education. The group spent 2 days in their link school, as well as having a boat trip on the lake and a reception at Annecy Town Hall.
Elections in Annecy
Following the second round of municipal elections in France on 30 March, the previous Mayor of Annecy, Jean-Luc Rigaut, was re-elected as Mayor of Annecy for a further term of office with 45.10% of the vote and will be represented by 33 elected members out of the Council of 45. A letter of congratulations was sent to the Mayor of Annecy from the Mayor of Cheltenham.
University Link
In March Prof Joachim Ahrens from the PFH Private university in Göttingen visited Cheltenham for a day to attend a meeting arranged for him to meet with Roland Kaye the interim Dean of the Business School and David Dawson Head of the School of Business and Management at the University of Gloucestershire, to discuss linking and exchange of students via the Erasmus programme. The PFH university already operates this scheme with the University of Worcestershire and are keen to try and develop links with the business school in their twin town’s university.
Summer work in Annecy 2014
Two summer work placements are on offer to young people this summer to improve their French language ability and to gain confidence and experience by living and working in a different country.
Cheltenham Borough Council in conjunction with its French twin town are offering the opportunity of paid employment for 4 weeks within the Municipality of Annecy to two young people aged 18 years or over. A good level of French is desirable (A level) and is ideal for those wishing to improve their language before further studies at university, or wishing to brush up on their French to assist with job potential. The placements on offer are for the month of July and further details of the two posts can be found here.
Interested students should send the Twinning Officer their CV with a paragraph about why they would like this opportunity by 11 April. Selection and interviews will be held at the beginning of May.
Winter Olympics here we come!
Local residents Stephen Meyer and his son Alex are off to Sochi shortly for the Winter Olympics. The pair will be supporting the GB bob sleigh team and are very much looking forward to seeing Cheltenham’s Russian twin town. A celebratory send-off with members of the Cheltenham Twinning Association was held in the Mayor’s Parlour with afternoon tea and cakes and the Twinning Officer gave Alex two of the Sochi Winter Olympics’ mascots. The Chairman wished them a safe and enjoyable trip and asked them to come back with loads of photos to share with us all.
Summer stay in Annecy for 14-17 year olds
The Rencontres Européennes 2014 is a two week stay in our twin town of Annecy for 14-17 year olds wishing to improve their language skills in a fun and friendly way with other European young people. This exciting stay will this year take place from Thursday 31 July – Friday 15 August and gives young people the fantastic opportunity to develop language skills, whilst enjoying the arts, sports, cultural and other fun activities with youngsters from around Europe in the beautiful town of Annecy. See more about the Rencontres on the Annecy website. Download the Rencontres leaflet and the application form or contact twinning@cheltenham.gov.uk.
Twinning Association Quiz Evening
A very successful and fun quiz evening was held on Friday 24 January in St Andrews Church rooms. More than 50 people turned up to test their knowledge on some challenging but interesting questions set by Councillor Diggory Seacome. There was a good spread of cheese and wine, and together with the raffle, over £250 was raised for the Twinning Association fund. Thank you very much to everyone who supported it.
Visitors from Weihai
The Mayor, Cllr Wendy Flynn, welcomed a small delegation of four visitors from Weihai Municipal Archives Bureau to the Parlour on Tuesday 5 November. The group presented the Mayor with a Chinese tea set, met members of the Twinning Association and Weihai Link and were handed a collection of slides by the sons of the founder of the Weihai Link, former Honorary Alderman Jim Pennington. The visitors from our Chinese twin town had a brief tour around The Wilson, our newly refurbished Art Gallery and Museum, before heading back to London.
Twinning Association wins award
On Friday 11 October, Cheltenham Twinning Association was honoured to receive the Cheltenham in Bloom 2013 Visit Cheltenham Hospitality Sector Trophy for all its efforts in receiving visitors from our twin towns and in particular from Göttingen this summer. The committee was delighted with the award of a substantial crystal trophy and framed certificate which was presented by the Mayor of Cheltenham and Sue Adie of Cheltenham Tourism to members of the Association Executive Committee. The trophy is on display in the twinning cabinet in the foyer of the Municipal Offices. Read the full press release.
Cheltenham International Partnerships 