Visits
Visits to our Twin Towns
Chippenham Twinning Association's main activities each year are the annual exchanges with our twin towns.
Frequency of Visits
Representatives from La Flèche and Friedberg visit Chippenham in alternate years and Members
of Chippenham Twinning Association travel to either La Flèche or Friedberg. These visits alternate so that if La Flèche is visiting Chippenham in one year,
we visit Friedberg that year and the following year the visits are the other way round.
What happens on a Twinning visit?
Visits last a few days. They can be a hectic time but they are always fun. There is a programme of
activities including excursions and social events, but allowing private time for hosts and guests to spend time in each other’s company.
Visits usually last between 3 and 5 days and a typical visit format would be:
• On arrival in Twin Town - Informal welcome reception where visitors and hosts meet and receive detailed
information about the programme for the visit. Light refreshments are often provided at this event.
• Usually one or more sightseeing trips will have been arranged which are open to both visitors and hosts.
• Sometimes the programme will include a concert given by local musicians or some other form of entertainment.
• On one evening there will be a meal - with or without entertainment. Sometimes these are very informal and
sometimes more formal.
• Quite often hosts arrange for their friends and family to join them and their visitors for an informal meal
or party.
• Free time with hosts is included so that visitors can get to know their hosts better or visit places not
included in the programme.
• Visitors are also able to spend time on their own if they wish.
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Hosting a Visit
As well as visiting the towns of Friedberg and La Flèche, in return we host them as visitors when they come to
Chippenham. Although it is mainly Association members who act as hosts during these visits, we do encourage
non-members to be hosts to our friends in Friedberg and La Flèche.
Hosting visitors from Chippenham’s twin towns of La Flèche in France and Friedberg in Germany should be
an enjoyable experience, providing the opportunity to meet people from a different country and learn something
of how their life differs from ours. However, the thought of having someone staying in your home who you have
never met before can, understandably, be very daunting. Lots of questions may come into your head like
‘Will they speak our language?’, ‘What if we don’t get along?’, ‘Do they eat the same food as us?’, ‘What
do I have to do to look after them?’, ‘Will it cost me a lot of money?’.
The following sets out to answer your questions and give some idea of what you would be committing to
if you agreed to host. Hopefully it will also offer reassurance and persuade you that hosting could be
both a worthwhile and rewarding experience - and fun too!
Matching Guests to Hosts
Chippenham Twinning Association takes great care to try and match hosts and guests as closely as possible.
Before you agree to host either an individual or family you will be asked about your preferences. For
example how many people would you be prepared to accommodate and of what age? Must your guest(s) be non
smokers? Can you accommodate a disabled person or someone with limited mobility? How fluent do they need
to be in English? Many, you may be pleased to know, speak English fluently. Can you cater for any special
dietary requirements they may have? Are you able to accompany them if they want to go sightseeing in the
local area? You also have the opportunity to tell us of any special requirements you may have. We then
use this information with that provided by the visiting town representatives and allocate visitors to
hosts. We will then give you information about your guests along with their contact details (if we have
them) and you can then get in touch with them directly if you wish. It is more normal, though, for the
guest to contact the host directly and 'introduce' themselves.
Costs Associated with Hosting
The length of a visit usually ranges from three to five nights, always including a weekend, and you would be
asked to provide accommodation and food for this period. You may also want to take your guests out
sightseeing or to a local pub etc. It is normal for the host to pay for this although very often the
guest will offer to contribute and it would be for you to decide whether or not to accept the offer.
The Twinning Association will organise a programme of events for the visit which often includes a trip
out on one day and a meal of some sort (formal or casual) on another. The Association will fund the cost
of the guest at anything we organise. We hope you would want to join in
our programme, although you do not have to, and you would be asked to cover just the cost of your own attendance.
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Format of a Visit
Typically the visiting party arrives in Chippenham around 5pm and there is a welcome reception.
The location for this varies but in the recent past we have used Abbeyfield School. Hosts and guests meet
and have some light refreshment
(glass of wine/fruit juice and nibbles) before leaving together. At this reception guests will be given
a ‘goodie bag’ containing a programme for the visit and some local information. The ‘goodie bag’ will
also contain a copy of the programme for the hosts although they will have been made aware of its content
before the visitors arrive to enable them to plan their private time with their guests in advance.
What activities you undertake with your guests is entirely up to you. However, where the Twinning
Association have programmed an event (trip out, meal etc.) we do ask that, wherever possible, your
guests (and hopefully yourselves also) attend. If you personally do not wish to come along on the
programmed event, we ask that you make arrangements for your visitors to be taken to the meeting point
for that event and collected from there afterwards.
Visits usually end on either Monday or Tuesday morning and we ask that you ensure your guests get to
the departure point in good time so as not to delay the start of their journey home.
Would I be expected to join the Twinning Association if I host?
No – although, of course, we hope you would want to as we have a full and varied programme of social
events throughout the whole year. Some are limited to members only but, where an event is open to
non-members, there is a preferential rate for members.
How often does Chippenham receive visits from La Flèche or Friedberg?
The short answer is “every other year”. La Flèche last visited in 2005 and will visit again in 2007.
Friedberg will visit in 2006 and again in 2008. A group from Chippenham last visited Friedberg in July 2005
and the next visit is planned for and again in 2007. The latest Chippenham visit to La Flèche was in April 2006
and the next will be in 2008.
Will I be expected to host again?
We hope you enjoy your hosting experience and make good friends with your guests. However, if you
don’t want to host visitors from La Flèche or Friedberg again, you don't need to do so.
Similarly, if you enjoyed hosting and want to do it again but, for whatever reasons, would rather host
a different family in the future this can be easily arranged.
Hosting does not commit you to taking part in Chippenham Twinning visits to La Flèche or Friedberg.
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Last Update: 16 June 2006
Webmasters: Margaret Barrett and Nigel Thomas
