WELCOME TO THE PANGBOURNE TWINNING ASSOCIATION
If you are interested in all things French, visiting France, speaking French and making friends with like-minded people. and you live within travelling distance of Pangbourne village, you are welcome to join us.
We enjoy a longstanding biennial exchange with the people of the beautiful medieval town of Houdan to the west of Paris.
We hold social events, fundraising days and enjoy fun activities together and we aim to meet on a regular basis.
There is no membership fee; simply volunteer or offer to help at one of our fundraising events.
Just contact us at infopangbournetwinning.org for more details
NEWS -September 2026
I hope you have had an enjoyable summer. We usually have a quiet break in August, but with our summer Art Café and the Pétanque competition, the group has been unusually busy, and we have had great fun.
Alongside the fabulous new season of French films, scheduled for the last Sunday of each month at the Pangbourne village hall, your committee are planning a mixture of an Autumn fundraiser, a social walk and Sunday lunch, and the traditional Epiphany/Fête des Trois Rois dinner that we have in January. Do come along, join in, bring some friends or meet new ones and help us make a little more money to host our lovely French friends next May.
Dates for your diary
Sunday 4th October - Sunday walk and lunch (meet at 11am), followed by a Carvery meal.
Maybe at The Queen's Head, Bradfield, but this will be confirmed.
Please let us know if you would like to join us.
If you would like to come just for lunch, please contact us to book your place.
Sunday 25th October- Film night – Doors open at 6.45pm . The film starts at 7.30pm
Souvenir (Souvenir) (2016)
In 1974, Liliane (stage name ‘Laura’) was France’s entry into the Eurovision Song Contest, which was won by Abba. Today, she works anonymously in a pâté factory. Her work is dull, but then she meets Jean, a curious and aspiring young boxer, and her dreary life is transformed as he challenges her to make a remarkable career revival. She is tempted to relive her brush with fame. This is a fictional love story and ‘feel good’ film with music, It stars Isabelle Huppert and Kevin Azais.
Saturday 21st November –“Line dancing” evening. Come and learn the steps, enjoy a drink or two and take part in a fabulous evening at the Purley barn in Purley. Doors open at 7pm. Dancing starts at 7.30pm. Bring your friends and have a go. Western dress optional.
Tickets will be available to buy online: £15 p.p. or contact us by email infopangbournetwinning@gmail.com
Sunday 29th November- Film night –
Courted (L’Hermine) (2015)
Michel Racine is the feared President of the Assize Court. As hard on himself as he is on others, he is known as the ‘two-digit judge’ because his sentences always exceed ten years. Icy and unfriendly, his world is shaken when he discovers that one of the jurors on a murder trial is a woman (Ditte Lorensen-Coteret) with whom he had a relationship six years earlier. They had become estranged, despite his love for her, and she is perhaps the only one to have witnessed his kinder side. This award-winning films stars Fabrice Luchini and Sidse Babett Knudse
Friday 8th January-Epiphany dinner-
Fabulous Social evening with a 2-course meal, games and quizzes. More details to follow.
We look forward to seeing you soon.
infopangbournetwinning@gmail.com
RECENT EVENTS
Three-way motorcycling adventure. May 2026
As a new venture for our Twinning Association we organised a five-day joint motorbiking tour of Berkshire, Hampshire, and Wales with riders from Houdan, France and Gross Schneen in Germany (which is twinned with Houdan) and Pangbourne.
The three nationalities sat down for a sociable barbecue before the group set off on their tour. The group spent three wonderful days exploring the fabulous biking routes of Wales, and after over a thousand miles on the road in exceptionally hot conditions, our French and German motorbiking friends continued their onward journey across the channel.
Thank you to all the hosts who volunteered to accommodate our guests and gave them such a wonderful welcome and to Francois Durand and John Steele, who organised the tour.
French Exchange to Houdan
However, the most important date in the future will be in May when we will visit Houdan. We will travel on the 1st of May (Labour Day.)
Please get in touch with us if you would like to join the visit this May. You do not need to live in Pangbourne or speak French. We recommend the weekend to everyone. It is very sociable and a fantastic way to make new friends. Or perhaps you would like to join in with some of our activities to see if the exchange might be a good fit for you. 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 2025
A team of volunteers took it in turns 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.
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
