Latest News - January 2025
Film Nights
We continue to enjoy our French film evenings on the last Sunday of the month at the Pangbourne village hall. The film for February will be on Sunday the 23rd, and it will be Caché, also known as Hidden; it is a 2005 neo-noir psychological thriller written and directed by Michael Haneke and starring Daniel Auteuil and Juliette Binoche...You would be very welcome. £7 a ticket.
Doors open at 6.45 pm and the film starts at 7.30 pm. The bar opens for a glass of wine, beer or soft drink before the film.
Film programme for this season.
23/02 Hidden
30/03 Demoiselles de Rochefort
27/04 Sarah’s Key
Art Cafe
We also look forward to our fundraising Art cafes in Whitchurch in 2025.Our first one will be Saturday, March 29th. Please let me know if you can help on the day or bake a cake to sell.
French Exchange from Houdan
However, the most important date in the future will be in May when our friends from Houdan will visit. The dates have changed slightly, with the 1st of May (Labour Day) falling on a Thursday. This means that the French will have a bank holiday and they will arrive that evening. Most people in France will take a “pont “ day off on the Friday to bridge the gap to the weekend and they will return home on Sunday the 4th of May . We will have activities to keep them busy on the Friday and tennis and bowls to play on the Saturday this year.
Please contact us if you would like to host this May. We will undoubtedly need more hosts this year and you do not need to live in Pangbourne or be able to speak French. We recommend the weekend to everyone. It is very sociable and a fantastic way to make new friends. or maybe you would just like to join in with some of our activities to see if the exchange might be for you in the future. Membership is free and open to people of all ages.
infopangbournetwinning@gmail.com
We hope to see you at one of our events soon.
Summer fete 2024
A team of volunteers took it in turn to support the committee at the fete stall this year. Many wines were poured and crepes cooked. Congratulations to the winner of the Big cheese raffle with a prize of a fabulous voucher for the Pangbourne cheese shop.Thank you to everyone who helped on the day. We managed to make almost £600 to add to our fundraising in order to host our friends from Houdan next year.
Summer Sunday walk and lunch-Sunday 6th August.
A group of hardy walkers set off from the car park at THe Old Boot inn in Stanford Dingley on a surprisingly sunny morning. After almost two hours in the Berkshire countryside they arrived back ready for a warming Sunday lunch.
They were joined by eight more for a delicious lunch in the teepee at the Old Boot. A great chance to catch up and enjoy a beautiful summer morning.
Twinning weekend April/May 2023
Over 50 visitors arrived in Pangbourne for a fabulous rendezvous weekend of fun and friendship. With a trip to Royal Windsor, Tennis matches and a Try your hand at English bowls session. The weekend culminated in a wonderful meal together in the village hall.
September 2022 visit to Houdan
32 of us aged between 20 and 84 clambered onto the coach to venture through the tunnel to visit our friends from Houdan just to the west of Paris.
We were treated to a fabulous weekend of friendship, great food, wine, a beautiful visit to a chateau and a huge village fair that took place all weekend.
A friendly tournament of tennis took place on the Houdan clay courts with a rather chaotic boule game taking place nearby. Congratulations to Amanda and Robbie from Pangbourne tennis club for their success.
Why not join in the fun when our lovely friends travel here for the return match at the end of April 2023?
We will be looking for hosts to accommodate couples families or single people in their homes for 3 nights. Speaking French is not a requirement.
2022 trip to Houdan September 23rd -26th
We are now booking seats on the coach for the long weekend to Houdan in France in September.
Planned activities include a day visit to Paris. Time to stroll around the town fair of St Mathew that takes place over the weekend (music, dancing, stalls and fireworks) A fun tennis tournament and the grand finale of a Garden Party for all.
Why not join us? There are seats available on the coach. All accommodation will be provided by our friends in Houdan. You do not need to be able to speak French.
Email lkilsbysteele@btinternet.com
SALSA EVENING
A fabulous evening of Salsa music and dancing took place in the Rosewood hall in the Pangbourne club on the 6th of May.
Magnificently led by Russell our instructor and his lovely wife Hella we learned a few new steps and very soon we felt confident enough to put the steps into short routines and eventually into a full dance. It was certainly a very sociable evening and we would like to thank Russell and Hella and the staff at the club for all their help.
Une belle promenade à travers la magnifique campagneOn Sunday the 10th of April, an intrepid group of walkers set off on a fabulous "promenade" through the beautiful Oxfordshire countryside which included some lovely views. This was followed by Sunday lunch at the King William 4th pub in Ipsden near Wallingford. A few more members joined us for the reasonably priced and hearty meal. I'm also reliably informed that the Breakspears beer was particularly tasty.
The countryside at Ipsden
FRENCH film nights.
Our very successful film nights will be taking a break now that the clocks have gone forward. We are hoping that the village hall will be fitting new blackout blinds to the windows of the main hall so that we can continue with these cultural Sunday evenings in the near future.
We hope to start up again in May or June. Watch this space!
Annual General Meeting
We held our A.G.M. in March online.
Nigel Suffield-Jones has decided to step down as Chairperson but he has kindly agreed to stay on the committee. Mike Power has retired as treasurer for the second time. We would like to thank both of them for all their hard work on the committee.
Nigel, Steve Harris and Russell Morse will continue on the committee and will be joined by John Steele and Lauren Kilsby has become Chairperson.
Do contact us to join the committee and bring some fresh ideas to the team.
Fete des Rois supper at the Ferryboat Inn.
Many of our members enjoyed a very successful “Fete des Rois” evening last Friday hosted by the Ferryboat Inn at Whitchurch. The French-themed menu provided excellent food and everyone enjoyed a slice of the Gateaux des Rois, A king cake, also known as a three kings cake associated in many countries with Epiphany. A fève such as a figurine, is hidden inside the cake.. Cathy became queen for the night as she found the traditional Feve figure in the gateaux, Congratulations Cathy !
Art Cafe 2021
We are up and running again . We have held our first successful event at the Art Cafe in Whitchurch. Providing tea, coffee and cake for the villagers of Whitchurch and Pangbourne. We hope to have a new date for a Saturday for the next one soon.
We also met as a group for a sociable countryside walk and delicious Sunday Lunch in Beenham
