SEDGEMOOR & UHERSKE HRADISTE - THE PLANNERS COMPARE NOTES

Getting down to serious talks

Early in 2013 Bridgwater's twin town of Uherske Hradiste gained European funding to help it's workforce investigate Local Government practices in their EU Partner towns. From Mayen in Germany they chose to study the Education system, from Priverno in Italy they looked at Tourist and the Museum service and in Bridgwater they looked at Town Planning and the Environment.

In June this year they visited Sedgemoor District Council - the relevant service provider in these areas for Bridgwater, thus concluding their tour of European Council offices. In October a major Conference was held in Uherske Hradiste to bring together the findings.

The Sedgemoor Delegation + Martin Sevcik

The Bridgwater delegation was led by Conservative District Chairman Cllr Peter Downing from Cheddar and Bridgwater Labour Cllr Brian Smedley along with Senior Planning Officer Nick Tait and Head of the Environment Section Adrian Gardner.

Schools

The Sedgemoor group were able to spend a night in Prague before driving the 3 hours eastwards to the Moravian twin town where they were joined by the German Delegation which included the Burgomeister and 3 Head teachers from the Rhineland towns schools. 

On this occasion there was no show from the Italians as elections had got in the way and the new administration was 're-looking at' the towns apparently extensive list of twinnings.

UH-Azilovy Dum / Homeless hostel

For the Sedgemoor team the visit included not only the usual ceremonial fanfares and touristic 'look at our town and how lovely it is' programme, but an insertion into the rougher end of the townscape and the councils work. One visit included a Homeless hostel, which was essentially a line of 'containers' fenced in and clumped together. One 'inmate' described how they obviously got 'very hot in the summer and very cold in the winter'. And of course there had been protests from the (somewhat distant) neighbours against even siting it near them on what was essentially an industrial estate in the first place.

Environment

Adrian is shown around a typical residents flat

Another visit included a Womens refuge. On this occasion in the suburb village of Vesky which was a remarkable contrast being a several story high Moravian country house run by caring staff and in a pleasant environment. The residents were happy to invite the Sedgemoor officers into their homes, to take photos and even had tea and biscuits ready for us.

The conference itself saw extensive presentations by the Czech Council departments into what they found in their partner towns and how they operated. For the Czechs, Jaroslav Bican and Martin Sevcik, the heads of the planning department in UH found several similarities - noticably the opposition they had run into in the siting of a major supermarket on the edge of town site of a former military barracks and a narrow 14-13 vote to get the development through, yet the conclusions were odd. They admired the 'strategic' perspective of Sedgemoor and it's District overview, because their town, Uherske Hradiste, had to stop it's planning at the town boundaries and couldn't influence it's neighbours - meanwhile in Bridgwater the issue is our town can't seem to influence the wider Sedgemoor District planners NOT to do what they like with our townscape.

Bican & Sevcik outline Czech planning policies

Contrast

But the conference wasn't about trying to say who was right or who was wrong but to compare and contrast , learn-if necessary, and reject where useless.

The UH planners were very impressed by the 'Bridgwater Vision' approach to longterm planning especially it's end target of 2060 and also to the Developer  surcharge on planning in floodable areas to 'build up a kitty for future flood defences'. The Czechs saw this as the Brits taking seriously global warming and environmental change and considered their own strategic and longterm approach comparatively weak. They were also very impressed by the water harvesting scheme planned for the Steart peninsula in the same vein. This controlled inundation was something they would consider for management of the Morava river and nearby floodplains. They were also  attracted to the idea of constant evaluation of the projects and plans and keen to know from Sedgemoor about their approach to wider 'consultation' .

Nick Tait discusses supermarkets

At the subsequent workshops and roundtable discussions both sides got to grips with practical approaches to problem solving and questioned each other on policies and reality. Nick Tait observed that the Czech town plans were far more detailed and prescriptive than the UK ones leaving ours more flexible. In theory. 

Security

It was of course made clear that 'planning' was associated more with the Communist period which involved '5 year plans', and whilst officers appeared to crave this  security, it was an uncomfortable absence in the modern capitalist Czech Republic for fear of this 'association'.

The conference came to it's wash and brush up session and Nick Tait was pushed behind the main michrophone to give the verdict of the UK jury. Very impressed by the barrack development and it's perceived 'regeneration'  but on the whole hoped that 'we'd all learned from each other and the co-operation would continue into the future as a practical example of the benefits of our twinning'.

Barbora and Pavel share a glass of Moravian vino

The Moravians then let us let our hair down. Which isn't easy with a bald patch as it may never return.

Thanks to the UH council for organising the event and to Barbora Szolonyova for her 24 hour assistance.

Somerset Ambassadors of Song Sing Out Across the Danube

A few years back, natural voice practitioner Yvette Staelens founded the Voice of the People Choir at the Bridgwater Arts Centre to help people find the singing voice that she believes everyone has inside them. For almost as long, we have taken these musical ambassadors to the four corners of Europe to meet other singers and prove that songs, smiles and a cheery disposition are universal.

This year we did Hungary. 

Flying out to Budapest from Gatwick the 48 strong group from all over Somerset landed into lovely sunny autumnal weather. Which was just as well as it had been bucketing down icy rain only the day before. Met off the plane by globetrotting nutjob Cllr Smedley, they stayed the first night at the Hotel Benczur in the leafy streets around the 19th Century Andrassy Avenue, next to the  evocative Hosok Ter (Heroes Square). 

Anytime,Any Place Anywhere

 Köszönöm

Under Andrassy runs the European mainlands first underground railway. Petite, yellowing and inches from the surface it should take 10 minutes to get to the centre of town. Not tonight though as there had been an accident and replacement busses were suddenly waiting for us at the Octagon (formerly Mussolini Square, due to Hungarys war time alliance - but tonight no trains ran on time...).

Several Hungarian supporters of the Bridgwater-Sarvar link were waiting in the centre for us. Well, in the Hard Rock cafe as we were so late, but they dashed out to show us around the waterfront area of downtown Pest with the stunning views looking towards Uptown Buda.

Juggling 'something'

 Szívesen

The next day the sun shone brighter and we took a tour of the main sights of the city. Starting on Buda's castle hill the group burst into song around the Fishermans Bastion and St Matyas Church, then again down the Siklo Funicular to Clark Adam Square. More singing. This time not especially entertaining the crowds who mistook them for the queue to the Funicular and waited patiently in line next to them. Lesley entertained everyone with some juggling. Nobody, not even the horticulturalists knew what exactly she was juggling, but hundreds had fallen from the trees nearby. 

Crossing the Chain Bridge we wound up at St Stevens basilica, then split up for lunch. Then arranged to meet at the Parliament Square to set off out of town. 

 Bocsánatot kérek

A couple of councillors

Sarvar is some 3 hours from Budapest, and everyone was happy to jump into it;s famous Spa and Wellness centre where they were offered a range of treatments including putting hot stones on their backs and various flavoured fruit massages.

That evening we went to the Nadasdy Restaurant where we were welcomed by local Councillor Zsolt Nemeth and his famous palinka (that's an apple brandy) (which  'for purposes of recognition' has pictures of him on the bottles). He gave Yvette one. The portions were stupendous. But lest this descends into a Carry On script, I refer of course to the meals.Phwoar lumme etc.

On the saturday we went to the nearby town of Celdomolk and were greeted by the Deputy Mayor who spoke of the wine growing tradition and invited us to the nearby volcano. Which was  extinct. Or 'probably' extinct. A big EU subsidy had built a massive building that taught you everything you wanted to know about volcanic eruptions. And then it was 'Carry on Up the Community Centre' for the highlight of the weekend -the concert!

 Hogy hívják?

Tommy Tucker speaks (Hungarian) to the world

The Lizst Ferenc Choir were a professional bunch of singers, uniformed and using sheet music. Voice of the People complimented them perfectly. And then did their set. 

The performance was not only terrific, it was incredibly moving in places. Apart from Yvettes enthusiasm for the power and inate talent of people wherever and whoever they are, you suddenly had to wake up and think 'bloody, hell this is a group of  ordinary people from Somerset singing to the world with voices they never knew they had and not holding their own but bringing the house down.' And that's an achievement for everybody involved.

Neptune blesses a passing choir ion Vienna

Both choirs took the stage together in an unrehearsed , spontaneous and quite lengthy, rendition of the Spanish Adios Amigos. Then they had some wine. Then they went off to the Spa again.

 Viszontlátásra

And that evening saw more wine, beer and large plates of Hungarian food being consumed. This time local teacher Ildiko turned up with her guitar to teach them a Hungarian song. Mr Nemeth sang the praises of Yvette and the Choir while Cllr Ian 'Tommy' Tucker could relax after his third performance of a speech in Hungarian. And then was told that one of them had been filmed by Hungarian TV and was being broadcast to the Nation that night. He had another glass of wine.

The following day the group trekked off to Vienna with the assistance of local guide Gabor and had a relaxing tour of one of Europes most beautiful cities before catching the late afternoon flight back home.

Gabor 'tells it like it is' (and later bursts into song)

The reception in Sarvar and the groups programme had been organised with the hard work of local helpers Beata Kovacs and Mr Nemeth, and the partiicpation of Beata's students Berci and Balint  helped everyone understand where they were that little bit more.

 Nem tudok magyaru

Cllr Smedley on the other hand was off to Prague and decided to save his last 2 euros by walking 4km to the Meidling train station then get himself a nice cup of coffee. Which he did. And then proceeded to spill all over himself.

All Change in Priverno - But Bridgwater Links to Continue

Angelo Delogu-New Mayor of Priverno

A few years back we made contact with the Italian town of Priverno in the Lazio region just South of Rome when we met their people in Uherske Hradiste, their and our Czech twin town. The Mayor Umberto Macci, had been a regular attender at the UH wine festival and during his time in office had clocked up over a dozen link towns around Europe. In May this year he went the way of many Berlusconi acolytes and the Left swept to power in Priverno suggesting that they would be doing away with most of Macci's international links. Bridgwater International administrator Brian Smedley hurried down there to put a word in for Somerset.

New Mayor of Priverno is 34 year old Angelo Delogu, a Labour rights Lawyer from the Sinistra Ecologia Liberta Party (Green Socialists basically) who won office with the backing of the centre left Partito Democratica (Democrat Party). His deputy Mayor is Anna Maria Bilancia (PD).

Priverno

Angelo is dynamic, friendly and popular. He lives in rented digs in the ancient centre of Priverno and seems to know everyone he meets on the street. During the visit Italy was hit by torrential downpours and Priverno was hit by Mudslides -Angelo was out on the streets on the spot helping deal with the looming catastrophe.

Anna Maria Bilancia (Deputy mayor of Priverno) at the new Roman museum

Smedley said "It became clear quite quickly that the new Mayor and his Council wanted to not only continue but develop their link with Bridgwater and much of our time was spent discussing ways to make the link work for both communities and concentrating on clear and achieveable goals."

Bridgwater

Bridgwater were planning to take a youth football team-Rhode Lane Wanderers, across next autumn - Priverno would organise community teams of the same age for them to play against and a social programme to help foster understanding plus some joint coaching sessions . 

Priverno were keen to send Italian students to England to either stay with families or take part in English language courses or summer camps. Bridgwater International agreed to facilitate this.

Bridgwater College wanted to send their media students to Italy to visit the Cinnecita film studios, Priverno would supplement the trip with their own media students and organise social events to encourage an environment for best interaction.

Priverno were keen to look at the English Local Government system and consider solutions to potential problems that they are increasingly facing -such as flooding (Priverno is situated just above the ancient pontine marshes, reclaimed from the mosquitos in the 1930s) but also at cultural and educational link ups ; they are particularly proud of their newly opened Roman history museum based on the site and surviving relics of the ancient Roman town of Privernum.

Bridgwater was keen to send it's community choirs over to the land of song to meet singers and sing and perform together. Priverno has several choirs that were very keen.

Nearby Oasa di Kufra on the Med

Finally both sides wanted to promote tourism. Priverno is less than an hour from Rome (which is 2 hours from Bristol) and the train costs a mere 5€ to get there!  A short drive to the coast is the beach hotel of the Oasa di Kufra, whilst in the Appenine town of Priverno there are  several B&B's and at leas tone sizeable Agrotourism project the Regina Camilla.

Twinning

We agreed that both our towns were ideal jumping off points for the touristic riches of the surrounding area. From Bridgwater you were in easy reach of the Quantocks, Exmoor, Cheddar Gorge, Wells , Glastonbury and the English Channel resorts whilst in Priverno you were a similar distance from the Mediterranean, the second world war sites of Cassino and Anzio and of course the Eternal city itself.

Priverno station- 5€ south of Rome

Anyone wishing to help us develop these links can contact us at bridgwaterinternational@gmail.com. Both sides agreed that co-operation would continue 'with a view to a twinning'. But at this stage "treat it as a courtship..." suggested Angelo. At which point I went down the pub and watched the football.

AUTUMN IN PRAGUE WITH HARMONY 303

On the Charles Bridge

For many years we've taken singers from Somerset to far flung destinations to sing with people of many Nations. This autumn we took a group of singers from several choirs scattered along the A303 'trunk road to the tropics' off to the Czech capital Prague to sing with our old friends the Labyrint choir who had visited Somerset earlier this year on a barnstorming tour. Largely of barns.

Harmony 303 are mainly women. They'd be the first to admit that. About 30 of them. But with an enthusiastic 4 man bass section. Fronted by the energetic and enthusiastic Caroline Rigby they sing songs from around the world and a few from Somerset. Which these days is included in that.

Cosy

In the Hotel Arlington

We stayed at the Hotel Arlington in the Liben district of Prague, right next to the O2 arena and the Harfa U.S style shopping mall. A friendly, affordable and cosy hotel run by the delightful Veronika and her hard working staff, the Arlington is just 5 stops on the metro (yellow line) to the City centre.

We had a supply of  local helpers on hand to guide the group around Prague including 2 Ondrejs, a Gabbi, a Bara and a Dana. Gently strolling around the Old Town Square area, across Charles Bridge and up to the Castle the group got to know the city and after a while could cope with the transport system themselves.

Easy

Martin Lauer on the bass with his band

Dana, an experienced Prague guide, told them the history of the city, Gabbi, a former resident of Somerset and who has married a Somerset bloke, made them feel like they'd never left  Martock and Ondra took them to what he considered the best restaurant in Prague. It turned out to be KFC, but 'horses for courses' - which isn't the best expression when considering restaurants these days....

Reeling and rocking at the saturday night fish fry

The Sensational Martin Lauer Band, well, Martin and a few mates he'd forced to turn up and play with him, entertained the group on the first night in Prague at the Hastalsky Dedek bar, with their easy listening jazz ballads with the occasional unexpected treat when their beardy ttrumpet player got out his ukelele and played a bit of Ivan Mladek. Not a double entendre in Czech terms.The band played on into injury time and the Harmonistas got up and danced. 

Lovely

Sunday night and it was off for the big concert at the Mother Teresa Community Centre in the edge of town suburb of Haje. Some excellent publicity and promotion from Labyrint had led to a large turnout to see the choirs perform. Labyrint are a classically trained close harmony group led by the classically trained Lenka Charvatova, a kind of cross between the Red Army Choir and the Swingle Singers, and of course everything they put their vocal chords to turns to gold, especially outstanding being a falling descant version of Michelle. And everybody loves a bit of Beatles.

Harmony 303 won over the audience from their opening sentence as they introduced themselves in near perfect Czech to the people. Applause followed song followed humourous double act between Caroline and Czech interpreter Petr, followed song followed applause followed more of the same as the audience took the Somerset singers to their hearts and  cheered loudly. A small Czech girl was delegated to present Caroline with a lovely flower ( which proceeded to survive the metro and plane journey back)  and the two choirs celebrated their evenings work with a meal together in a nearby restaurant.

It was only a short break but another milestone in cultural links between Somerset and the Czech Republic.

HAT-TRICK HERO TURNS THE TABLES ON TOP CZECH OPPOSITION AS FOOTBALL COMES HOME TO BRIDGWATER

7.Smedley kicks a football as a Czech fails to keep up with him 

It was like a scene from a Biblical epic. Or at least one of the better performances by the great Leeds United squad of the 1960's. After 5 years of defeat after defeat at the hands of Czech Factory team Altech there were suddenly 'No more years of hurt' as Bridgwater International refound their form and smashed their twin town opponents into the hallowed (and slightly undulating) turf of Cranleigh Gardens. "Without a shadow of a doubt the performance was simply down to the genius of one man, centre forward Brian Smedley" said Centre forward Brian Smedley, after the game.

Being the 21st Anniversary of the Bridgwater-Uherske Hradiste twinning, Czech co-founder Antonin Machala had agreed to bring his company football team Altech over to Bridgwater for the Fair. And also to play a couple of matches against old rivals Bridgwater International and Sedgemoor Unison. Confident as they were, despite lacking several of their usual key players, and having just travelled 24 hours across Europe by coach, Altech were raring to go and had already brought along 2 barrels of Czech beer for the 'inevitable' celebration.

1.Altech (blue) v Sedgemoor Unison (white)

Spartan Legends

For 10 years, Sedgemoor Unison had travelled to different foreign destinations with Altech on an annual basis and played mini tournaments against the local teams - Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro etc. But the main event on these occaisions was the Altech v Sedgemoor match. However, in recent years Unisons trips had petered out into a welter of bath chairs and middle aged ambience. So this time Altech were surprised to see a fully formed and fit body of Spartan legends waiting for them on the Victoria Park playing ground.

Unison had a couple of secret weapons this time round. Rob Semple, fresh from saving someones life at the Fair, was fit,fast and furious and put Sedgemoor into an early lead while Matt 'Basher' Weston, fresh from moving someones furniture, devastated the Altech defence with a string of well taken goals.  Despite a brave fightback by the still sleeping Czechs the game ended 7.3. "The English are back" noted a bemused,but inwardly pleased, Machala afterwards.

Fatboy

2.Altech (blue) v Bridgwater International (white)

But it wasn't all over yet for the Czechs. After a night out at the Bridgwater Arts Centre where a lavish feast of fatboy proportions weighted down by litres of moorish Pilsner beer, prepared Altech for the next match. To their dismay that was to be 10am the following morning in Cranleigh Gardens against a revamped Bridgwater International team which this time included several people who could play football.

3.Hot footballing action as both players miss the ball

For years now Bridgwater International have formed scratch teams from the groups of various tourists who have travelled with us to Uherske Hradiste and played against Altech on their own factory pitch, always losing by cricket scores. But this time it would be different.

Goalhanging

The rain stopped on cue and the drizzle parted like a curtain for the opening act and off went the Bridgwater team quickly taking the lead as a miskick by Stevie 'Steve' Miles fell at the feet of the goalhanging Smedley who pounced like a leopard waiting for the traffic lights to change tapping the ball across the goal line.

Lightning fast wing action from former quite good player Alan Hurford saw another cross into the centre, another miskick from Miles , again the ball fell at the feet of Smedley and, without the aid of his glasses, a chip over the small fat goalkeeper and Bridgwater were 2 up.

4.Hurford, about to 'nutmeg' a Czech

Cannonball

Altech fought back valiantly but were outclassed by the skillfull  Bridgwater midfield, the fierce Bridgwater attack and the dirty as anything Bridgwater back 4. The game mashed backwards and forward with 2 more goals from the home team then 2 replies from the Czechs until finally the hat trick came via an edge of penalty area shot from Cannonball Smedley, well, from the evidence of the pictures it looked like he had swallowed a cannonball, with the final result a devastating 5.3 victory for the Bridgwater team. Councillor Smedley said after the game "I'm 55 you know".

There was nothing left for the Czechs to do except visit Bridgwater Fair, eat a massive pot of Slovakian Goulash, made by Slovakian Goulashateer Milan Hajster, drink yet another barrel of Czech beer and join the Mayor of Bridgwater, Dave Loveridge, in the Town Hall for acknowledgement of a great 21 years of Twinning.

5.In desperation to even get a single goal Miles gets dirty

Misery

But the misery didn't end there. On the Sunday the Czechs were forced to watch the Stoke City v Norwich game. A scintillating 1.0  snooze in the park for the East Angular team, before heading home.

6.Antonin Machala with wallplaque

Bridgwater and Uherske Hradiste were the first British and Czech towns to form a twinning link after the Velvet Revolution  and had signed the oath back in 1992. In acknowledgement of Antonin Machalas consistent support and good natured optimism from foundation to humiliating football defeat, the Mayor presented him with a 21st anniversary commemorative wallplaque and his co-founder, Cllr Smedley, with the match ball. Which he then ate.

7,2,3,4 Photos by Andy Slocombe
5,6 by Jana Branecka