Twinning Association Of Pontardawe Cymdeithas Gefeillio Pontardawe
With the fine weather, there were lots of visitors to the Ponty Summer Fest this year, With our stall, selling t-shirts and fantastic art work, we were able to attract interest and share the brilliant stories from our exchanges, as well as raise funds for our visit next year. Good Work everyone!
Our Locmine friends arrived in Pontardawe about 6 pm on Saturday evening amid a typical welsh downpour which featured strongly throughout the visit. Our friends were introduced to their host families and were spirited away for a lovely evening meal and rest after their long but comfortable journey. On Sunday, those brave enough to ve
nture out in the rain, went down to the Wales’ National Airshow in Swansea Bay. Some families planned their own activities with walks, kayaking, Roller Derby and shopping on the cards. There was much to see and do in the Airshow, with many intersting stalls and displays of military equipment to climb on and explore. However there was a distinct lack of aerial activity due to the poor weather! Not being beaten by this turn of events, the children put on a fantastic paper airplane show following the group picnic which was kindly hosted by Swansea University
The soiree was held later that evening in the Glynclydach Coach House, with live blue grass music with a few guest appearances. It was a brilliant event with over 110 people celebrating everything Celtic and enjoying the great company. It was lovely to see the large group of children and teenagers playing, singing and socialising together in the true spirit of twinning friendship. On Monday, after a minor hiccup and quick dash by Martin, we visited the beautiful Castell Coch. It was great to explore immaculately preserved castle and climb the spiral staircases. A quick journey to the centre of Cardiff for a late lunch and a spot of shopping and back home for a meal and an evening of fun with our frie
nds.
Tuesday, with yet more rain, we cancelled our walk around Pontardawe with a tour by the historical society, opting instead with a small talk and film in the arts centre, with delicious home made welsh cakes and cream teas from the cafe. Our friends then got on their bus and left Pontardawe at about 2 pm amid another great downpour!
It was a very successful visit and a big thank you to the host families and committee members for all your hard work. Our friends thoroughly enjoyed their time with us and are looking forward to hosting us in the future.
This Saturday, 15th August, we will be raising money and spreading the twinning joy at the Ponty festival. Look out for our stall and don’t forget to buy a famous twinning T-shirt!
We meet every month on the last Thursday of every month in the Cefn Llan Community centre at 7:30 pm. If you would like to be added to our email listing for the latest news. Please get in touch on the contact us page.
Our friends from Locmine arrived on Friday afternoon, after a good journey, by coach and ferry and a peaceful sleep in their cabins. It was home for a meal and a rest, with a short drinks reception to officially welcome our friends to Wales. The following day we were shown around the Neath Port Talbot Council chambers, where the council kindly gave gifts to the children who were there. We then headed to Catwg Primary School, Cadoxton, Neath. The school is twinned with a local school near Locmine and the school choir performed a medley of songs in English, welsh and sign language which was greatly enjoyed by all. The children enjoyed performing for the French children and their parents and hope to join us in future twinning events. Over the next few days we enjoyed trips to local sites such as the 1940s museum, Penderryn Whiskey Distillery and Big Pit. Our main evening event was held in the old Town Hall, Neath with delicious food, local entertainment and a good chance to get to know our French friends. It was a short but busy trip
My family and I had visited France a few times staying in the usual touristy destinations, but we felt we’d never experienced “Real France” In the Pontardawe Festival, we were invited to join a group holiday with a difference to a small town in Brittany called Locmine. A few short months later, we boarded the coach in Pontardawe with lovely mix of people including families, students, and groups of friends young and old. After a relaxing night sleep in our cabin in the overnight ferry crossing, we completed our journey by coach to Locmine where we were met by our friendly French host families. It didn’t us into their home and made us feel like part of their family
We rejoined the group for a range of daily trips to explore Breton life, which of course included great food and fine wine. We visited the beautiful coast line, historic walled towns like Vannes and Lorient, local festivals and walks in the countryside. We also went to a fantastic museum which contained mechanised animals that you could ride including a 20 meter tall elephant! My 6 year old son, really enjoyed the activities, and was soon happily playing with the local children and spending time with our host family. Our hosts organised a final evening gathering for the whole group, with delicious food, live music, dancing and much toasting to our new good friends.
This year, I invite you to join us for this all inclusive holiday. Fund raising throughout the year allows us to keep our prices down to an affordable level for all sized pockets. Please Contact us (link to page) to register your interest
This coming year, we would like to raise money to continue to work of the Association. So far, the suggestions are a pub quiz, curry night, treasure hut and stalls at local events such as the Ponty Summer festival. We also hope to make and sell items like promotional shopping bags with our Twinning Logo on. If you have any brilliant ideas or would like to help out, come along to one of our monthly meetings which are held in the Cefn Llan Community Centre on the last Thursday of every month at 7:30 pm. Refreshments provided.
Nearly 50 members came together to celebrate St. David’s Day and raise money for the Association. Lynne and Clive made a fantastic cawl, with an army of supporters providing delicious cakes, French and Welsh cheeses and other tasty treats.
Trevor provided a challenging pub quiz of all things Welsh which was hotly contested, but in the end was won by Lynne and Clive by the tie break question by correctly guessing how many likes our Facebook page has.
The prize was a welsh rugby ball, signed by rugby star, Shane Williams. All in all, it was a great night, with excitement rising about seeing our friends from Locmine in a couple of months.
If you love Wales and would like the opportunity to show others what makes this country so special, join the Twinning Association of Pontardawe and host a visitor from Brittany in July.
We warmly invite the young and young at heart, singles, couples, students and families with children to get involved and celebrate all things Celtic with a full programme of events, busy day trips and brilliant evening entertainment.
The ability to speak French is not a requirement and host families are carefully matched to enable visitors to enjoy the experience of short term emersion in Welsh family life. Whether you are able to host 1 person or a family or would just like to come along to our social events, please contact us (link to contact us page)
Tour Dates: 11th – 14 July
Hi All,
Our friends from France will be coming to see us from Saturday July 11th – Tuesday July 14th. We are in the process of planning a busy programme for their trip. If you have any brilliant ideas, would like to host some friends or just want to come along to an event, we’d love to hear from you.