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| Eva samples Beer |
In 1992 Bridgwater twinned with Uherske Hradiste…but it was
a close run thing as at the same town the South Bohemian town of Ceske
Budejovice also made a similar request. That’s how popular we were. We had of
course already committed to UH so on June 18th that year we became
the first British Czech post velvet revolution twinning. But that didn’t stop
the boys and girls from Budvar keeping up their Bridgy link. Every year since
then they’ve sent over their students on tour programmes which we’ve called ‘Practice
your English in England’. The main
conspirator in all this is English teacher and anglophile Eva Kordova and this
year naturally they came again.
The easiest way to Somerset from the Czech Republic is
flying from Prague to Bridgwater International Airport (Lulsgate, Bristol) –
but sometimes the cheapest is Prague to one of the London airports. So this
time , spotting a cheap flight to Gatwick, Eva chose that one. Which meant
myself and fellow councillor Ian Tucker, who has already circumnavigated the
globe on numerous occasions as a matelot,
drove up one bright Summer morning to
collect them and bring them back to the land of loveliness itself. Well, after
a winter of rain a bit of sunshine was rather welcome.
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| Lost Czechs |
Minehead and Chips
Stopping for a break at the Avebury stone circle – the only
stone circle with wifi in the middle of it (c/o the pub there) we reached
Somerset by mid evening. Minehead in fact. There’s a lovely youth hostel there.
Badgers feast off the remnants of your evening meals, deer wander fleetingly
through the forests and squirrels join you for breakfast.
That first night however we had fish and chips. That saved
cooking. And where better to eat them
than on the sea wall looking directly at Port Talbot.
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| Found Czechs |
Dead Bohemians Ditched
The following day we sent them all off on a trek over Exmoor
to Dunster –which they liked – so we thought we’d set them an orienteering challenge and give
them a few maps and loose them on the Quantocks. Which was exactly what
happened. We lost them on the Quantocks.
Well it seemed a good idea on paper. Starting at Lydeard Hill and with
Dead Woman’s Ditch clearly marked as a destination it just meant you had to
follow the contours and you’re there. So they didn’t. They descending crow like
in a straight line, which took them down into thick forest, a wooded and
streamed valley and several hours longer
than we hoped.
Finally, while the Quantock ponies had almost completely
eaten Ian’s minibus, they appeared from the opposite direction. Phew. Not lost
after all. And what better reward than an afternoon’s shopping in Bridgwater.
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| IQ levels put to the test |
How do you spell France?
Next up on the British cultural tour was a pub quiz. The
kids of course weren’t pub age but the ‘quiz’ is becoming a fad in modern
Czecho so we thought we’d run one for them.
And to make it more interesting each of the 4 Czech teams was provided
with at least one English Cultural Attache – of varying degrees of helpfulness.
The Czech kids joined in enthusiastically and competitively…and in the great
British spirit of things. Cheated. Well,
of course in my day we never had phone apps that could recognise the name of a
tune just by humming into it…..so mixed feelings on that one….should people be
able to use ALL modern options at hand?? Marathon runners be given Triumph
Bonnevilles? Wrestlers be given chain saws??
Not sure . The Juries out. (is it eckerslike the cheating little sods).
So after a lovely traditional British chilli in pitta bread
meal provided by Purple Spoons Kate Gardner (which hopefully they choked on
whilst fighting back the spasms of guilt) it was off back to Minehead.
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| Interesting places to see as Ian prevents a child crossing |
The crooks and nannies of Dorset
One of the best things about Bridgwater is how ideal it is for visiting other places. From
Bridgwater we could easily taken in Wells and Glastonbury and even get down to the South Coast for a
swim in the (still too cold for them)
English Channel as it forms the cosy Jurassic nooks and crannies of Lyme bay.
The little port of Beer has a very well equipped youth hostel. And that doesn’t
just mean a telly where we could watch the world cup. Although it did. And we
did. A perfect self catering kitchen where we
cooked a traditional English meal of largely Mexican origins and let
them wander off to Branscombe in case any ocean going cargo ships had beached
and could be pillaged clean by the ‘finders keepers’ locals.
Then it was further west. A sunny drive to Plymouth, which
had a nuclear submarine paying a visit. Luckily, one of ours. If the Czechs
ever built any nuclear submarines – look out Slovakia!! (well, keep your eyes
open for periscopes in the Danube, Bratislava maybe…)
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| Enter the Squirrel.... |
Dartmoor or less
Hotter and sunnier even was Dartmoor. A perfect place to be
in gorgeous blue skied sunshine and summer warmth. Dropping the group at
Postbridge, stocking up with supplies from the local shop (there is just one,
and it is ‘local’ – they even slapped clotted cream on my ice cream-but don’t tell
Jana) they headed off along the river Dart until they joined us drivers at the
nearby (but not too near) Bellever Youth Hostel.
Bellever is a very well situated hostel right on the edge of
the forest, alongside the river and slapbang in the middle of the moors. They
pride themselves on their closeness to nature. They even have a ‘wildlife
viewing area’ well, a ‘window’. Ian was
able to engage them in conversation for most of the night with his tales of
seafaring adventure, battling the 3 nosed spiny terrorfish of Guatemala, boarding ship to ship with cutlasses in mouth,
grappling hooks tight in the rigging. Well, they didn’t know at the time it was
a French cross channel ferry.
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| 'Wildlife viewing area' |
London and out
And then it was all over. Well for us anyway. We drove them
up to London (stopping at Bath en route)
and left them at Holland Park – another well located hostel and the most
central of the YHA stock. Good for them for the many walking tours of London
they’d mapped out for themselves for the next few days. Sadly, it’s going to be closing soon.
These cultural-awareness-English-language-practising-on-tour-residentials
have been a feature of Bridgwater
International for over 20 years now and remain ongoing, open to any Nationality
and a good way to get to know Britain. So diaries are open for the rest of this
year , next term and 2015.
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