1987 : Visit from Champtoceaux with the 'Le Val Chantant'.

      

  Le Val Chantant                    Verwood Concert Brass

In May the year was enlivened by a visit which included 'Le Val Chantant' with their director Nicole Chaussade, an adult choir from the Champtoceaux area, when we hosted 107 visitors. The Leisure Centre was hired and Verwood Concert Brass agreed to take part in the concert. The whole evening was a huge success, the singing most professional, and many people said that our Concert Brass had never played better; standing ovations being the norm. (A recording exists of this concert and it is hoped that when it is digitised and permission received that it can be included on the site.)

Niederheimbach

The following month, June, if you happened to be in Potterne Park you may have seen an International Football match - England v West Germany. No you wouldn't have seen Hoddle or Muller, but you may have seen Jon Palethorpe or Gunter Grimm in a Verwood v Niederheimbach match when Verwood was visited by their football team, which was great fun. Fortunately for us, several of them wished to be accommodated in a hotel in Boscombe, which eased the hosting problem.

The Niederheimbach Football team with guests and hosts on departure.

Wild West

In July, Julie Wadge Joined a Scout camp, with other young people from Champtoceaux.

"Destination Champtoceaux Wild West."

AGM

The Committee was saddened in March by the sudden death of our secretary, Leo Roberts, a founder and committee member and secretary for four years. The vacancy was filled by Judy Higley. This very busy year ended with the AGM when two new members, Brian Bowey and Barrie Habgood, were elected.

1988 : Visit to Champtoceaux with the Ringwood Pipe Band

Select for more information on this 1988 visit to Champtoceaux.

We paid an official visit to Champtoceaux, accompanied by the Ringwood Pipe Band, which proved to be very popular, especially when they marched through the streets. Not only were the pipers popular with the French, but the French must have had a strong influence on the Pipers, for the weekend saw an apparent Scottish retreat from beer and whisky in favour of the products of the vine. This visit marked the honouring of our town by the official naming ceremony of the Rue de Verwood.

At the end of August, a small party of 13 people from Verwood travelled to Niederheimbach to repay the visit of the footballers the previous year. They were treated to locally made wine, trips on the Rhine, a visit to a beer cellar and an evening of beer drinking and dancing at the village festival. 

The usual two 'theme' parties were held in the Spring and Autumn, and we had a very enjoyable evening in June on a boat trip up the River Frome from Poole to Wareham . Peter Strugnell and Roy Homer joined the committee in place of Mike Newham and George Oakley at the AGM.

1989 : Initial Contact with

1989 was a quiet year with the usual fundraising activities. The only significant event was an approach by the English Speaking Society of "Liederbach am Taunus", a town situated some 15 miles west of Frankfurt towards Wiesbaden.

AGM

It was at this AGM in October that our hardworking Chairman, Jon Palethorpe, resigned, and the Vice-Chairman elected in his place. The Committee was now: Chairman: Geoff Higley, Vice-Chairman: Brian Bowey, Treasurer: Ron Curd, Secretary: Judy Higley, Minutes Secretary: Jenny Brown, Members: Dorothy Curd, Buster Davies, Mike Daymond, Doris Hopkin, Roy Homer, Hilary Noble, Jon Palethorpe, Olive Roberts, Daphne Saville, Peter Strugnell, Gordon Thorne, John Wadge and Bill Williams.