MY RAF DAYS AND AFTER | home

KINGSKERSWELL

THE START

Quite by chance in December 1986 my wife Barbara saw a poster in the village library stating the Parish Council would be holding a public meeting to discuss the possibility of twinning and the Devon Twinning Officer would attend the meeting.

As we had enjoyed membership of Newton Abbot Twinning Association for several years we thought we would support the meeting. Alas the elements were against us, it was January 1987 with it’s extreme weather conditions, it was too cold for people to go out at night and the guest speaker was snowed in at Okehampton, so the meeting was cancelled.

STEERING COMMITTEE

September 1987 was the only date the Devon Twinning Officer could make, this saw a successful meeting, quite well attended, and at the end 7 people volunteered to form a steering committee, 2 of these never attended another meeting, the other 5 got down to business. We elected the committee as follows:-

Steering Committee 14th September 1987

Chairman Mr Phillip Sproston Vice Chairman Mr Les Haines

Secretary Mrs Barbara Haines Treasurer Mr John Elliot

P.R.O. Mrs Carole Durston

Committee:- Mrs Alice Channing Mr Frank Channing

The Parish Council gave us £25 to get started, and left us to it.

We thought a town between Torquay’s twin Hamlyn and Newton Abbot’s twin town Besigheim would be ideal but the one we tried for, Neider-Ulm, did not want to come as far as Devon. Barbara our Secretary, received a letter from her contact at the British Council, who arranged these matters, giving details of 2 German towns wanting to twin with a village our size, one set of details was in German the other in English, the choice was easy. So the British Council in London was phoned and asked them to send our details to Lonsee.

FIRST CONTACT

A Letter soon came from the Mayor of Lonsee, asking for a meet, so we wrote back inviting them to send a delegation to visit us for a weekend in September 1988, 7 people came, in two cars.

Left to right, Joseph, Arwed, Ken, Lorraine, Iris, Geisla, Gunther and Barbara, having an English tea and wine from Bovey Tracey vineyards.

Lorraine's Head, Arwed, Werner ( vicar), Peter. Before the Delegation returned home an invitation to visit them in the spring was given.

FIRST A.G.M.

At our first A.G.M., in January 1989 we had a change of Chairman and Treasurer.

1989 Committee

Chairman Mr Les Haines Vice Chairman Mr Bill Emmerson

Secretary Mrs Barbara Haines Treasurer Mr Peter Fuzzey

P.R.O. Mrs Iris Buck

Committee:-

Mrs Hilda MacVicar, Mrs Lorraine Emmerson, Mrs Margaret Coleman, Mr Ken Strong,

Mr Trevor Stokes, Mr Dennis Wilkinson, Mr Phillip Sproston.

CHARTER SIGNING

The signing of the first Charter took place in October 1989, at Forde House, Newton Abbot, lent to us for this occasion by Teignbridge District Council, it was signed by our Chairman Les Haines and the Mayor of Lonsee, Gunter Mack. About 21 people had come from Lonsee and they took in a tour of London before coming to Devon.

Welcome speech from the Chairman Les Haines, Kingskerswell Twinning Association, prior to Charter signing.

Lonsee Twinning Committee Chairman, Gunter Merke, replying with his speech.

The Mayor of Lonsee Gunther Mack, signing the Charter, followed by me in photo below.

The Charter now hangs in St. Mary's Church, Kingskerswell, along with the Lonsee bronze plaque, above and to the right of the North Porch.

Gunther giving me a video of the 1100 years celibrations in Lonsee 1988 and a bronze plaque for our Twinning Association.

I am presenting Gunther with a Dartington Glass candle holder for their Twinning Association.

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In 1994 I felt it was time for a change of Chairman, so I stood down and Dennis Hearn took over as Chairman.

1994 Committee

Chairman Mr Dennis Hearn

Vice Chairman Mr Chris Selly

Treasurer Mr Peter Fuzzey

Secretary Mrs Margaret Jury

P.R.O. Mr Les Haines

Committee:-

Mrs I.Buck, Mrs M.Coleman, Mrs Marie Ball,

Mr K.Ball, Mr M. Criddle, Mr Antony Dixon-Constantine.

In 1997 Dennis stood down as Chairman and Mrs Margaret Jury took over as Chairman and is still in the chair today (2009)

1997 Committee

Chairman Mrs Margaret Jury

Vice Chairman Mr Chris Selley

Secretary Mr Les Haines

Treasurer Mr John Jury

P.R.O. Mr Perter Fuzzey

Committee:-

Mrs I.Buck, Mrs J.Fey, Mrs Pat Burgess,

Mrs Marjorie Lunness, Mr D.Hearn,

Mr B.Schollar.

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The cricket teams, at the school in Kingskerswell.

Newton Bushell Morris, entertaining our friends.

Visit to Exeter for our Lonsee visitors.

Visit to Tintagel.

Taking part in the Newton Abbot fun run, to advertise the Kingskerswell Twinning Association,

and I did the 3 miles, certificate to prove it.

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED TO SEE THE OFFICIAL

KINGSKERSWELL TWINNING ASSOCIATION

WEBSITE, CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING LINK.

www.freewebs.com/kingskerswellta/

or it you would like to become a member, copy and paste the form below onto Microsoft works and print it off, then fill in and send to the address at the

bottom of the form.

KINGSKERSWELL TWINNING ASSOCIATION

MEMBERSHIP/ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION FORM

(Year runs from 1st May to 30th April)

2007/2008

Individual ………£10.00 Couple/Family ……..£20.00

Mr/Mrs/Ms	Surname	Christian Names	DoB

Address ______________________________________________________

Telephone Number ______________________ Ex-Directory? Yes/No

Are you interested in travelling to Lonsee? Yes/No

Would you be able to offer accommodation on visits from Lonsee? Yes/No

Do any of the above speak German? Yes/No

(This is not necessary, but it does help when we are placing people who we know have little knowledge of English.)

Please make cheque payable to

Kingskerswell Twinning Association.

For the address to send the cheque and form to,

please contact the Chairman,

Mrs Margaret Jury on Tel:- 01803 87300.

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