A New Twinning Year Begins!
After 12 months of dedicated work, Alexia Papin and Jane McLean are now back in their home towns for a well-deserved rest!
It is now time to welcome the two new ambassadors and this year it will be two gentlemen; Rory MacDonald from Wigan and Grégoire Humeau from Angers. Both are very pleased to represent their towns and are from now on ready to carry on the excellent work their predecessors began.
Grégoire has taught French for two years in the United-Kingdom and loves to travel. He has worked and lived in Greece. Rory also speaks several languages as he has worked in Spain and taught English in la Martinique, a French department in the West Indies. Both of them have also volunteered in charities helping asylum-seekers, Rory with the Red Cross Refugees Services in Leeds and Grégoire with France Terre d’Asile.
“I’m very proud to represent our great city of Angers in Wigan!” says Grégoire. “It’s my first time in this part of England and I have to say that Northerners are very friendly and welcoming! My biggest challenge now is getting used to the Wigan accent!”
Rory thinks “it’s exciting to become an ambassador for Wigan. People in Angers are really interested in the borough and it is an honour to be involved with the town twinning.” But he’s also facing a little continental worry; “The biggest problem so far is trying to get used to the French keyboard layout!”
A bientôt à Angers ou à Wigan !
See you soon in Angers or in Wigan!
Should you have any questions, ideas or comments about the twinning, please don’t hesitate to contact Grégoire! Contact details are below.
Wigan delegates have been to Angers
Every year, Wigan welcomes an official delegation from Angers in July during the International Jazz Festival. In return, Angers welcomes Wigan delegates at the beginning of September during a famous festival called the ‘Accroche-coeurs.’
During four days, from the 8th to the 11th September, people from all of Angers’ twin towns come together to participate in different working sessions and to share their ideas about common subjects and themes. This year, Mayor Joy Birch and her Consort Mr. Albert Bradley, Councillor Susan Loudon (Portfolio holder for Children and Young People’s Services) and Mr. Nick Hudson (Corporate Director-People in Children and Young People’s Services) went to Angers to represent Wigan.
This trip to Angers gave the occasion to sign an agreement between the Children and Young People’s Services from Wigan Council and the French National Education in the Angers region. The delegation was welcomed to Anne Dacier Primary School in Angers for a ceremony to celebrate the signature of this agreement. French children did a short performance in English to welcome the Wigan delegates!
This agreement is a great opportunity for French and English schools which will help them to find a partner school to exchange with in their twin town. Thanks to it, school exchanges between Wigan and Angers will become easier and more concrete.
For more information about the school agreement please contact the Ambassador from Angers at
angers@wigan.gov.uk
or by phone at 01942 489 193.
End of one year ... Beginning of another ...
Alexia and Jane
Twin town ambassadresses Jane McLean and Alexia Papin know all good things must come to an end; they are currently preparing to return to Wigan and Angers after their busy year in office serving in each other’s home towns.
Alexia Papin, Ambassadress from Angers in Wigan says: “It was a great experience for me. I met some very nice people here in Wigan. I will never forget how people welcomed me twelve months ago. I would advise everybody to have this kind of experience!”
This year has been a great opportunity for both of them to improve their language skills, experience working in another country and most importantly, to develop the exchanges and partnerships that have kept the twinning alive since the signing of the official charter in 1988.
Jane McLean, Ambassadress from Wigan in Angers says: “I feel very proud to have been Wigan’s ambassadress for the year! I think that Alexia and I have helped to make some great things happen with the people of Angers and Wigan this year and we have set the foundations for others that will continue once we have left.“
This year, a lot of projects were created and some others continued to be developed. Wigan borough welcomed in April two big exchanges with the Junior football tournament in Shevington and the Dance folkloric exchange in Wigan.
It is time now to welcome two new ambassadors for 2011 - 2012. Grégoire Humeau will be the ambassador from Angers in Wigan and Rory McDonald will go to Angers to represent Wigan borough. A great opportunity for them to discover their twin town and continue to build the strong links between Wigan and Angers.
“A bientôt à Angers ou à Wigan !
See you soon in Angers or in Wigan !”
Don’t forget if you have any ideas of exchanges with Angers and if you would like some information about the twinning please contact the Ambassador from Angers in Wigan at
angers@wigan.gov.uk
or by phone at 01942 189 193.
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 detailed in the following document:
Angers Twinning Association
The next meeting will take place on
Wednesday 15 February 2012
at Leigh Town Hall between 6.30pm and 8.00pm.
To find out more details please contact the Ambassador from Angers.
