Haslemere & District Twinning Association

Sylvia Tibbs and Michael Bawtree

Though there is some debate about the exact date for the start of the Twinning movement

it really took off soon after 1945, aiming to build links and exchanges between towns and

their citizens in order to promote greater friendship and understanding after the years of

conflict. The Haslemere Association started in 1985 when a link was established with

Bernay in Normandy. In 1991 Horb am Neckar in Germany was twinned with Haslemere.

Since then a steady pattern of reciprocal visits has taken place and this year members of

the Association will be hosting visitors from Bernay in Normandy in April and in June we

will be going to visit our friends in Horb.

The visitors from Bernay this year, 46 people including 10 under 18s, will all stay with host

families in and around Haslemere for four nights, arriving and leaving by coach together.

This is the largest number that Haslemere has ever hosted and local families have been

very supportive in finding extra room in their homes to accommodate all these guests.

During the visit some entertainments have been arranged by the Association for all the

visitors, such as a cocktail party at a private address, a canal boat tour on the Basingstoke

canal and a celebration dinner at Milford Golf Club. This programme allows plenty of time

for the Haslemere hosts to arrange site seeing and other activities of their own choice.

Language does not need to be a barrier; many of our Haslemere hosts speak some French,

though others do not and many of the French speak little or no English. This does not seem

to spoil an otherwise happy visit. Needless to say, most of the German ‘twinners’ are

proficient in English.

The reciprocal home hosting which is the norm for Haslemere has created many strong

individual friendships, with families in Haslemere, Horb and Bernay remaining in contact

throughout the year and visiting individually as well as through Twinning. This is not

necessarily the pattern with other twinning associations, where visitors are sometimes

accommodated in hotels. Experience indicates that this does not produce such robust

connections because interactions remain largely group rather than family based.

In between the French and German visits the Haslemere Association runs some popular

events for the local membership. The Haslemere Association is very largely self-funding,

so annual events such as a ‘Bastille Day‘ BBQ, a light-hearted but rigorous Quiz night and a

New Year drinks party are substantial contributors to the fundraising needed to ensure

that our French and German visitors can be appropriately entertained.