Festivals turn up the heat on the Angers-Wigan twinning
As both Wigan and Angers have no shortage of summer events we thought we’d let you know how the summer festival season brings Angers and Wigan closer together.
Every July, Wigan’s famous International Jazz Festival is the occasion for a delegation from Angers Council to visit the town in order to meet with their counterparts. This is the chance for different departments of the two councils to exchange ideas and experience around a certain subject. For example, previous year’s visits have centered on improving tourism and recycling policies. This year ‘disability’ was the hot topic, with Angers’ councillors visiting Platt Bridge Community Centre to meet the disabled theatre company “More Than Words”, as well as the association “Embrace Wigan and Leigh”, and representatives of both councils presenting the initiatives and facilities already in place in their town.
This exchange of information and the discussions that followed allowed both towns to see how provision for disabled people could be improved. During the weekend, there was also time for the delegation to explore Wigan and the surrounding area and to take in some of the jazz concerts of course! The delegation from Angers were delighted with their visit, despite the rain, and found it to be both extremely productive and interesting.
A delegation from Wigan Council will make a return visit during Angers’ biggest cultural event of the year, the ‘Accroche Coeurs’ festival, which takes place this year from the 11th-13th September. It is a weekend of street theatre and performance that takes over the whole town. This year’s theme is ‘Angels and Demons’ so if you plan to visit Angers at this time, expect to see a lot of fairy wings and devil horns! The theme to be discussed by the councillors during this visit is climate change and each town’s policies concerning this, with the delegation also to visit sites related to this theme.
As well as being good fun, you can see that summer festivals are also an important moment of exchange between twin towns, a chance to get together and exchange ideas and experience.
As ambassadresses, these delegation visits are often the busiest periods of the year. Leading up the event, there is a lot of preparation and organizing to be done. We are always on hand to translate whether before the visit, translating presentations and speeches that will be given, or during, interpreting conversations and discussions. We also prepare a folder of information about the twinning, the town and the programme so that the delegation is up-to-date on the goings-on in their twin town.
When you’re out and about in Wigan around the end of the month, you may well hear some French voices! A group of 45 ‘Angevins’ will be visiting Wigan from 20th to 27th August. The OCIA (Office of International Cooperation in Angers) and Angers Twinning Association have been coordinating visits for many years and now it’s the French’s turn to visit Wigan. They will be staying with host families, a chance for both parties to make new friends and learn more about another culture. You could get involved in future visits by contacting the Angers Twinning Association who meet once a month, see the “French Activities in the Borough” webpage.
Sport takes the lead in Wigan-Angers Twinning
21 years since the start of the twinning between Wigan and its French twin town, Angers, the idea of ‘exchange’ has evolved. The first exchanges involved schools, but nowadays the twinning can apply not only to education, but also to culture, leisure, business and to sport.
For 2008-2009, your Ambassadresses, Heather Thompson (from Wigan) and Aline Domeau (from Angers), have decided to highlight the sporting potential of their towns.
Not only do links between sport teams help to promote the twinning between our two towns, but they are also a great opportunity to raise the profile of lesser-known sports and attract new players.
The first upcoming exchange involves the South East Lancashire Orienteering Club. They invited ASCEMA, a running club from Angers, to participate in a regional competition that will take place at Haslingden Grane on 27th September 2009. Over the course of a few days, runners from Angers will be discovering Wigan and the English way of life thanks to their hobby.
The next project, which is still in the early planning stages, will be around American Football. 2009 marks the 20th anniversary for the Yankees SCO from Angers. What better way to celebrate a club’s birthday then with a twinning? For that reason they invited the Standish Raiders (juniors) and Lancashire Wolverines (seniors) to Angers to celebrate with friendly matches and other activities in order to introduce “Angevins” (people from Angers) to American Football.
In addition to these projects, others are already arranged for 2010! The first one is also a celebration: the 90th anniversary of L’Intrépide Angers Football Club. The club is in touch with Shevington Football Club (which has recently been awarded the FA Charter Standard) who wanted to do an exchange with a club from Angers. The details of the exchange are still being discussed, but Shevington FC’s junior teams are most likely to visit Angers in May 2010 for an “Anniversary Tournament”.
And finally a project launched during summer 2008 (thanks to James Smith and Céline Réveillard, former ambassadors) involves the winners of both the ‘Wigan Club of the Year 2008’ and the ‘Greater Manchester Club of the Year’, Tyldesley Water Polo Club. The club’s senior team were promoted to Division 1 of the National Water Polo League at the end of last year after finishing top of Division 2. The exchange, due to take place in 2010, will involve the club’s youth team. Paul Costello, Tyldesley’s social secretary and Dennis Price, the youth team coach visited Angers Water Polo Club at the beginning of the month so they could discuss the exchange and visit Angers’ facilities. This exchange will involve friendly matches and both clubs hope it will raise the profile of this minority sport amongst people from both Angers and Wigan. Away from the swimming pool it is also an exciting opportunity for the young players to experience another culture and make new friends.
As you can see, these sporting links between Angers and Wigan are beneficial to the clubs in many different ways. As well as being a chance to exchange ideas about tactics, technique and training, the players can experience a different culture and people. The exchanges often give rise to long lasting friendships. These sporting links really are a fantastic opportunity for the budding athletes of our two towns.
So if you are a member of a sports club, have been inspired by this article and would like to meet and exchange with your French twin town, please contact your Ambassador from Angers (details below).
On your marks, get set…go!
Twinning Tapestries: For 20 years Angers and Wigan stitch links
2008 marked the 20th anniversary of the twinning between Wigan and the French city of Angers. To celebrate this anniversary, a local community group from Wigan called the Daisy Chain Stitchers created two tapestries celebrating the two towns.
Angers is famous for its medieval and contemporary tapestries. The Angers Castle is home to the Apocalypse Tapestry which is a representation of the Apocalypse of John according to the Bible. This tapestry was made during the 14th century and has been on display in the Angers castle since the 15th century. The capital of Anjou, Angers also welcomes the Jean Lurçat and Contemporary Tapestry Museum: the museum's collections bring together works of textile art from the 1950's right up to the most contemporary creations.
Therefore, the Daisy Chain Stitchers wanted to commemorate the event with a stitching project of twin tapestries, under the assistance of textile artist Elizabeth Smith. There are two twin tapestries: one representing Wigan and the other representing Angers; these tapestries include photographs from the twinning since its commencement. The artist and the stitchers drew their inspiration from the decorative bricks of Wigan Borough as regards the tapestries’ red colours. The project has been sponsored by the Coalfields Regeneration Trust and supported by Wigan Council.
Since the beginning of October, the tapestries have been on display in wall cabinets at the Grand Arcade in Wigan, near George Formby’s statue (located in the alley leading to Millgate Car Park). The Twinning Office would like to compliment the stitchers and the artist for their wonderful work. It took them more than 20 sessions to create these two pieces of art, and the result symbolises perfectly both Angers and Wigan...as well as their friendship and twinning that has linked them for the past 20 years.
If you are interested in joining the Daisy Chain Stitchers, they meet every Tuesday afternoon at: Clifton Centre, Poolstock Lane, Worsley Mesnes, Wigan WN3 5HN. For more information, please contact Marjorie Latham, secretary, on 01942 234 880.
Leigh French Circle
Fancy learning and practicing your French in a relaxed atmosphere with a glass of wine? Then why not come along to the Leigh French Circle. See our French Activities in the Borough page for more information on Leigh French Circle, forthcoming meetings will be taking place at Leigh Sports Village's Sixth Form College, room 128, starting at 7.00pm as usual. The next meetings dates, speakers and topics are:
- Next meeting date to be confirmed.
Angers Twinning Association
Every meeting starts at 6.30 pm and ends at 8.00 pm:
- The next Angers Twinning Association meeting will take place on Wednesday 25 August 2010 at Leigh Town Hall.
- The following meeting will take place on Wednesday 29 September 2010 at Wigan Town Hall.
To find out more details please contact the Ambassador from Angers.
