Market Harborough celebrates 60 years of twinning with Halle
International twinning is alive and well in Market Harborough!
This year is the 60th anniversary of twinning between Market Harborough and Halle from Belgium. The first meeting between the two Round Tables was in May 1964 when 8 Round Tablers from Halle, 4 with their wives, visited Market Harborough and as the original Round Table minutes say “The Saturday evening May 16th will take the form of a Dinner and Dance at Springfield Lodge (price 15/-)”.
The twinning has continued since 1964 with each Club visiting the other every alternate year and it was Market Harborough’s turn to host this year. We always “home host” so the first task was to find beds for all the visitors – Tablers, 41 Club members and partners - not an easy task and, as usual, some last-minute changes were required.
The weekend started with us meeting the Belgians off Eurostar at St Pancras and taking them on a tour of some of the parts of London tourists generally don’t see. They were wowed by Borough Market (but not British beer).
And, if you want a free panoramic view of London, go to the bar on the 32nd Floor of the Shard – when you go, make sure you go to the toilets where you will get a slightly different view of London!!
Traditionally, Friday night involves dinner parties where members of Market Harborough 41 Club hosted Belgian and Brits at their homes.
Around 40 people were involved in the dinner parties, so the logistics were, as usual, challenging.
Saturday during the day was a trip to Bradgate Park a National Nature Reserve in Leicestershire, home to some of the oldest rocks and fossils in England – a bit of a harsh statement about some of the members of Market Harborough 41 Club but there you go!!
Saturday night was a traditional English event – Bollywood followed by a curry and, of course, some Saturday Night fever.
On Sunday we waved our visitors goodbye and took a breather to recover before the 61st Twinning meeting in Belgium next year. Our visitors claim we are the oldest Twinning association in the world – ARE WE?
