Twinning Club Visit of  Downham Market to Civray, August 2006
The 30th year of the two club’s association started with not so much a meeting but more of a homecoming, for such was the welcome given by Civray to the Downham contingent for this years cultural exchange. Long standing and new members were all greeted and made to feel most welcome.

31 Jul. After a night settling in with our hosts some of us had time to wander about Civray, we chose to explore the little streets of very old stone houses the flower decorated bridges crossing the Charente river and the two town squares one of which has it’s own babbling water feature, we enjoyed sitting outside one of the café’s, drinking coffee and soaking up the local ambiance.
In the afternoon we motored to Champniere where we were greeted by the Mayor outside a small  church.  We entered the church and found ourselves in a time warp.  The wall areas had been covered in paintings dating back to the middle ages.  The nave ceiling and walls were similarly decorated, but at a much later time, about 16th century I believe!  The gentleman giving a lecture on all the painting had researched his subject well and was fully acquainted with the meaning of every part of each painting, and gave a most interesting description of each figure in the huge murals. Glynn Howells was hard pressed to gather thought and précis an interpretation, often when trying to gather breath the conductor was off again before Glynn could get the words out.  No matter, it was fascinating. On entering the bright light of day we ambled about the delightful village, which appeared to have remained little changed for many years.  On then, to where the villagers had set aside a large area and building as a museum to record Rural Life.  A steam engine many tractors and much farm machinery all restored and useable – inside we were given an audio visual presentation on the machinery actually being used  by the local people, both young and old.     We then went to a room by room setting depicting life in the late 1800’s, giving visual and spoken word of what was going on both inside and outside each room, including the baying of dogs and howling of wolves to the accompaniment of a child’s cries from the crib. The final setting was a tabloid of sound and vision being a graphic display of the difficulties farmers faced in the early 1900’s when trying to reap the crops during war – a very graphic and sobering display depicting the stupidity    

of war.  Once again entering the calm fresh air we were refreshed with drink and biscuits, again addressed by the Mayor. Some of us were able to thank the Englishman who, with great pride, had conducted us around and was a part of the museum team, before we were gathered up and driven home.

1 Aug.  The Market areas of Civray were buzzing with activity as we explored the many stalls before going to the Town Hall for a Civic Reception by the Mayor and his team. It was nice to be welcomed in a relaxed and very welcoming manner, many of us he remembered.    A good selection of biscuits and a flow of most pleasant liquids ensued.
After lunch we left for Melle.   Once again our driver was Laurent who expertly negotiated the many smaller roads, we passed through very pleasant farming countryside spreading in either direction as far as the eye could see, with very little apparent housing and illustrating just how large a country is France eventually arriving at the site of a Silver Mine.  For many years hardly  a tree could be seen for miles around Melle, they had been used to heat and fracture the rock to gain the silver content. The highlight of our preliminary talk before entering the mine was when some of us were allowed to mint a coin in the old fashioned way with a club hammer and die punch, I was lucky enough to be able to make two, albeit out of lead and got one presented to Tinker Taylor.  We then proceeded into the silver mine where we stooped, scraped and bumped our way though a series of tunnels and mini caverns of great interest, to finally emerge into strong sunlight.  Surprisingly all were present, we then wandered around an area of specialised garden where plants were grown for the colour dies that could be produced from them, before walking around town to look at three of it’s churches.  Some of us who were faint hearted, lazy or just incapable got back on the coach. We made our way into the last church to be visited and found cold stone vantage points and continued our viewing of ancient stonework from a sitting position. The two ex builders then pondered the question of why water should be allowed to enter the church when on a sloping site, which was all rather pointless because the wisdom of our findings could not be passed on to persons who might  take note!  This ended by being shepherded back to the coach when we went off to another area where we were given free time to walk about and view the Town from another aspect.  The water feature with fountains and a bridge going nowhere, was where we stopped, of great interest and the non-walkers amongst us were grateful for the opportunity to rest awhile at a pavement café and enjoy the local café au lait.

2 Aug.  By Coach to Angers today.  This was  the area where armies collected in the 1400s.  A huge castle like structure was erected which dominates the Town and was considered totally impregnable, having very high steep sides and being surrounded by a moat.  Used as a prison and collection ground for the armies that converged on Angers.  Each Knight or landowner etc in the Loire valley had the responsibility of providing troops when asked, but for a period of only forty days which time started from leaving their home ground till their return, it was these troops who camped on the open ground of the castle type structure high up above the town.  A special building has been constructed on the site to contain tapestries depicting the Book of Revelations from the Bible.  These date back to the 14th century and were used to decorate the Officers tents when in battle.  Fortunately they were rolled up when not in use, hence the survival of so many which have been painstakingly repaired and are now displayed. They were woven by highly skilled craftsmen men using wooden looms at each point the colour thread being changed as necessary to arrive at the ultimate picture.  Our guide was again someone who had studied his subject well and gave us a glittering and informed explanation of most of the hangings.  Being a German teacher he did extremely well to explain all in English and sometimes French.
Leaving the castle we crossed the busy thoroughfare and walked to the Jeanne Laval Hotel where we had a pleasant lunch supported by  copious quantities of red wine and fresh bread.  This set us up well for the short  trip by coach onto the Town Train – a rubber tyred set of open sided carriages pulled by a tractor made to look like an engine.  Then the rain started, many of us wished we had underwater cameras to record the staggering amount of interesting architecture of buildings with arches, gateways and turrets.  The rain was clean but very very wet.  No one seemed to mind all of us were having a great time with many a cultural exchange to people we passed. One particularly memorable, was from from two ladies sitting in a bus they smiled and wished us well   -  I think -well there was glass between us!
Not over yet folks for now we conveyed to the Cointreau distillery What an amazing place, quite fascinating – again our guide was top drawer material and made our visit memorable.  Afterwards we then enjoyed a glass of sparkling cointreau spritzer, which was very enjoyable and refreshing, we then raided the