East Bergholt and Barbizon Twinning Association – Twinning Benefits August 2025
A.s advised to the Council previously, when the concept of twinning was first established, its primary values
were defined as ‘friendship, co-operation and mutual awareness between the peoples of Europe’ and with
this in rnind, the key benefits of the Barbizon Twinning for East Bergholt residents can be summarised as
follows:
o Art and culture –
For the two communities, the strong links with their respective famous painters
were key to the beginnings of the twinning prograrnnne in 1978. To this day, the connection
between John Constable and Jean-Francois Millet (among others) rernains an important part of the
experience of both British and French alike. We are able to experience how the respective
cornmunities promote their artists, and East Bergholt residents can gain an insight into the extent
to which john Constable was an important influence on the Barbizon School of naturalist painters in
the earlylmid-1gth centurY.
e Young people – An excellent opportunity for the increasing number of families in East Bergholt, to
enahle parents and children to travel abroad together in a safe and cost-effective manner, to
establish new friendships, while sustaining existing ones, experience a different culture and cuisine
and, of course, practise a foreign language “……..”and to encourage links between our respective
schools.
o Social inclusion – Participation in the twinning vislts has been, and continues to be, encouraged
from all residents of East Bergholt, driving friendships not only between the hosting or visiting
families from Barbizon, but also among the local community members involved. Equally, fund-
raising activity such as the annual Quiz helps to bring people in the village together, makes use of
local amenities and hopefully encourages new panticipants to get involved. ln addition, there is the
benefit to local businesses and other community organisations – the Community Council, Constable
Hall, a local catering firm, a local garden centre, the EB Bowling Club and others were all involved in
various aspects of the recent visit from France.
There is an established pattern of biennial visits which has been in place for several years now, and both
the UK and French Associations believe it works well. The Barbizon Association receives relatively generous
local authority funding, but for East Bergholt, the biennial arrangement means there is some time to raise
the funds required to pay for hosting the French visitors, or for subsidising the transport to France for as
many local residents as possible.
A key aspect of the preparation for the May 2A27 visit frorn East Bergholt to Barbizon will be the focus on
encouraging as many young people as possible to become involved, building on the high proporEion of
young people in the May 2025 party which visited fronn France. Critical to this approach, particularly as
inflation continues to bite, will be the ability to offer free transport to under 18’s and subsidised places for
adults. This was very successful for the 2023 trip and we were really pleased to have many more young
people taking part. As such, while we shall work towards increasing the overall current participation level,
we shall also, hopefully in cooperation with the recently established Council Young People’s Committee,
continue to place emphasis on engaging with this particularly important sector of the East Bergholt
community
The East Bergholt Twinning Association Committee will continue to raise funds wherever possible and to
deal with the practical planning and operational aspects of the visits. We really appreciate the help we
have received from the Parish Council in the past and hope that it will continue to help us to ensure this
worthwhile cultural exchange can continue.