Newton Stewart and District Town Twinning Association Details
Newton Stewart and District Town Twinning Association:
Chair: Meta Maltman
Secretary: Caroline McLean
We welcome new members so, if you or your Newton Stewart/Machars based organisation would like to find out more about Marcoussis and similar interest groups there, please contact Caroline at the email address below.
Contact email address: nstowntwinning@gmail.com
History of the Twinning Association
Newton Stewart and the surrounding district became twinned officially with Marcoussis in 2013, with a visit from the Mayor, Olivier Thomas, and a delegation from the town in 2013, when twinning agreements were signed. The opportunity for twinning with Newton Stewart came via Susan Gadouin (Murray), a Marcoussis resident originally from here. The aims of both groups are similar, with the nurturing of friendships and exchanges between individuals and similar interest groups in the two towns being particularly important. A group from NS&DTTA paid a return visit to Marcoussis in November 2014, when further twinning agreements were exchanged. The aims of both groups are similar, with the nurturing of friendships and exchanges between individuals and similar interest groups in the two towns being particularly important.
Marcoussis is located to the south west of Paris and formerly supplied that city with many kilos of strawberries in the early summer months. Nowadays it is better known as the home of the French National Rugby Centre and the training ground for the national rugby team.
What is twinning and why?
Twinning is an important part of French culture and was started after WWII, in order to promote a better understanding between the communities of different countries. As such the local twinning organisation, Jumelages et Amities Internationales de Marcoussis (JAIM) benefits from considerable mayoral and council involvement. By contrast, NS&DTTA is a purely volunteer run association, albeit with the valued support of local authority officers and councillors, together with other locally focussed organisations such as Newton Stewart Initiative (NSI). Marcoussis is twinned with four towns: Newton Stewart plus Waldassen (Germany), Beregadougou (Burkina Faso) and Marianske Lazne (Czech Republic). A small delegation, including Councillor Katie Hagman, represented our area at the celebration of all four Marcoussis twinnings, in November 2018.
Twinning Visits
There have been a number of exchange visits since our two communities became linked. Visitors from France have taken part in Newton Stewart Walking Festival, while Newton Stewart Rugby Club enjoyed a trip to our twin town and were in awe of the training facilities at the National Rugby Centre! Several Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award students have travelled to Marcoussis, their visits helping them to achieve the residential section of their award. Those who took part in the 2014 visit laid a wreath at the Marcoussis war memorial as part of the town’s Remembrance Day ceremony, in the centenary year of the start of World War I. A return exchange welcomed young people from Marcoussis, staff from Dumfries and Galloway Youth Work Service organising their accommodation and programme of activities.
10th Anniversary Celebrations
In July 2023, to mark the 10th anniversary of the twinning of Newton Stewart with Marcoussis, we welcomed a visiting delegation , including the mayor of Marcoussis. Courtesy of Newton Stewart Initiative they were introduced to the many activities and community ventures taking place in our town. A tour of the Machars included the chance for a paddle in the sea at Monreith. The weekend culminated in a civic reception at Glentrool Hive, when our visitors were treated to a Burns’ Supper and gifts were exchanged. One of these was a textile wall hanging, by Linda Woodfield, depicting the beauty of the Galloway hills. This was the inspiration for the most recent cultural exchange, in February 2025, when members of Machars Quilters joined those of Marcoussis craft group, A Dix Doigts, for a combined patchwork exhibition in the Chateau des Celestins, in central Marcoussis.
Visit in 2025
Visit to Marcoussis January/February 2025 by Machars Quilters (MQ) and Newton Stewart and District Town Twinning Association (NS&DTTA)
At the visit by a group from Marcoussis JAIM (town twinning association) in 2023, we presented the community with a quilted wallhanging of the Galloway hills, made by NSI committee member and talented textile artist, Linda Woodfield. See photo above. Following this we received an invitation for quilters in Newton Stewart and the Machars to join those of A Dix Doigts for a combined exhibition of our work at the Chateau des Celestins, 1-2 February 2025, and for others connected with NS&DTTA and NSI to visit at the same time.
The Exhibition
A Dix Doigts (www.adixdoigts.fr) stages an exhibition on the first weekend in February every year, with the spotlight on one of its five crafts each time. This year was patchwork and the theme was sheep, partly as a nod to the prevalence of sheep farming in our area and also in honour of the famous book “The Little Prince”, by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, in which the eponymous prince asks the airman he meets to “Design me a sheep”.
In the event, seven of us travelled to Marcoussis and enjoyed the immense welcome of our hosts! The evening of our arrival saw us at La Sirene, the community run bar, to meet our hosts and members of JAIM over a glass of wine. We were delighted to receive JAIM tote bags from Marion Prigent. They were sure to be useful for future fabric purchases! The focus of our visit was the exhibition at the weekend. Who knew that there could be so many ways of interpreting “Design me a sheep”? Machars Quilters took across seven large patchwork quilts plus sheep themed placemats for our hosts. A wallhanging featuring 56 sheep, some wearing tartan fleeces, was gifted to A Dix Doigts.
There were multicoloured sheep, sheep with fleeces made of buttons, sheep doing Olympic sports, a family of sheep in a tartan field and even a tup (ram) on a set of boxer shorts! Other crafts on show included wool spinning, lace making, decorative painting, cartonnage and glass mosaics. Machars Quilters were each given a beautiful patchwork piece of their choice and a mosaic thistle, by Monique Lepeutrec, was gifted to Newton Stewart and is now proudly displayed in the McMillan Hall.
We enjoyed a meal in the Orangerie on Saturday evening, with members of A Dix Doigts and JAIM. Every time we looked there was another plate of delicious food! Sunday saw speeches of welcome and thanks, in both French and English. As Jerome Cauet noted, the conversation between “The Little Prince” and the airman is a metaphor for friendship, imagination and creativity, which are the core benefits of both A Dix Doigts and Machars Quilters. St-Exupery also shows us that taking the time to get to know each other and to see each other with our hearts and not just our eyes is essential. It’s a value of both of our twinning associations and a huge benefit of visiting each others’ towns and homes.
Aside from the exhibition, Barbara Baste and Annie Vicens took us into Paris twice – Notre Dame looking even more magnificent than before, since its rebuilding after the disastrous fire. A touching statue on display was the copper cockerel which sat atop the collapsed spire. A symbol of France, it was thought to have been destroyed in the flames, but it was found when the rubble was being cleared. What a wonderful discovery! The Dolce and Gabbana exhibition at the Grand Palais showed some truly fantastic fashion creations! This was fashion theatre and not many of the clothes would be wearable in daily life but they were beautiful and hugely impressive for their artistry. Retail therapy was not forgotten and all the quilters returned home with more fabric, for future creations. JAIM knew those shopping bags would be well used!
An iconic fabric is Toile de Jouy, with its 18th century pastoral scenes. Jouy is close to Marcoussis and, although the fabric is no longer produced in the town, we were able to visit the fascinating museum, which traces the history of the factory established in 1760 by Christophe-Phillippe Oberkampf. Quite apart from the many lovely fabrics, it provided an interesting insight into industrial and social history, including the evolution of printing techniques, together with changes in fashion and international trade during the period.
The time we spent enjoying the company of our individual host families was very special, walking around Marcoussis in the sunshine, visiting the Tower of Oubliettes or the National Rugby Centre and, of course, sharing delicious food and wine!
Suddenly it was Tuesday and time to return home, to “Old clothes and porridge”! Here are some thoughts from the Newton Stewart group:
“…. the incredible generosity we were shown by hosts and organisers, their time and effort, the amazing meals and drinks, the lengths they went to to keep us entertained and show off the best of the region.”
“Living with a French family was a fantastic experience and to learn their culture”.
“We were transported and guided everywhere and made new friends”.
“It was wonderful to see my Marcoussis friends again, to introduce Newton Stewart friends to them and to make new friends”.
“It helped improve my limited conversational French”.
Several of us have joined U3A French groups to try and continue this improvement and we have also gained more NS&DTTA members through these connections.
“A TRIP WE WILL NEVER FORGET”
NS&DTTA have a new website!
Newton Stewart and District Town Twinning Association now have their own website which you can find here https://newtonstewarttwinninggroup.wordpress.com/