We were very pleased to welcome representatives from all three of our twin towns for the Remembrance Weekend in Bicester. Three came from Czernichów in Poland and four each from Essarts-en-Bocage in France and Neunkirchen-Seelscheid in Germany. All were hosted for the three nights by various members of our Twinning Association in their homes, and a fairly full programme was organised for the weekend.
After settling in with their hosts on the Friday afternoon, all guests and hosts were welcomed by Val Pearce (BDTA Chairman) and her husband Brian to a traditional British fish and chip supper.
With the relatively large number of people it was all a bit of a fun squeeze but meant that all were able to chat together in a relaxed manner throughout a pleasant evening.
On Saturday the group caught the bus from the park-and-ride into Oxford, and the morning was spent showing our guests round the sights of the county capital and trying to explain the unusual system of colleges at the university. Most of the group took a tour on a sightseeing bus to begin with, so that they could listen to the commentary in their own language. This was followed by a light lunch in the Weston Library after which the group split up to explore the town at their own leisure and preference.
Photo © Debbie Pickford
Bartłomiej Tyrlik and his son Szymon from Czernichów particularly enjoyed their visit to the Natural History Museum. Others carried on on foot to visit colleges, parts of the town inaccessible by bus, or to do a bit of shopping before taking the bus back to Bicester. We were very lucky that the weather remained mild and dry.
Photo © Mark Weightman
After a short rest for the guests back home with their host families, it was time to go to Debbie Pickford’s house for the now traditional Pickford Saturday Evening Supper. Debbie had put in a lot of work during the week preparing everything for her guests. The food was, as always delicious.
Photo © Marta Dziedzicka
Some of our guests had visited us before or had met some of us in their home towns, and it was good to be able to catch up with their news. Others were in Britain for the first time and we were very pleased to be able to get to know each other better.
Here is Debbie (on the right) in her kitchen sharing a glass with Andrea Dallmann from Neunkirchen-Seelscheid.
Sunday was, of course, taken up with the solemnities of Remembrance. We all assembled on Market Square for the Parade, two minute silence and the laying of wreaths. A representative from each of our twin towns laid a wreath alongside those presented by our Chairman and many other dignitaries of the town and garrison.
From the Market Square we all walked down to St Edburg’s Church for the Remembrance Service.
After the service we proceeded to the Officers’ Mess at Bicester Barracks to be guests of the Garrison Commander for lunch. This was a very welcome show of solidarity with our friends in France, Germany and Poland. A number of speeches, at times very moving, were made to reinforce the importance of these international ties, both in the past and present, as well as the future.
The event was also attended by Alisa Russell, Mayor of Bicester; Dr Paul Wheatley, Deputy Mayor of Bicester; Miranda Markham, Deputy Lieutenant of Oxfordshire; and our Member of Parliament Calum Miller.
The final event of the weekend was an evening gathering at the home of Sandra Nicholson and Krys Kazmierczak for wine and cheese and another opportunity to get to know our friends better, both new and old.
We hope all our visitors took home good memories of the weekend and thank them for coming all the way from their respective home countries to share in our days of Remembrance.