RUSSIAN CHILDRENS FOLK ORCHESTRA IN SOMERSET

ДЕТСКИЙ ОРКЕСТР РУССКИХ НАРОДНЫХ ИНСТРУМЕНТОВ 

ИМЕНИ Л.В. СОБИНОВА

THE ‘SOBINOV’ RUSSIAN CHILDREN'S FOLK ORCHESTRA

This week the SOBINOV CHILDREN’S ORCHESTRA OF FOLK INSTRUMENTS’ from RUSSIA will arrive in England to play a series of concerts after travelling 3,500 miles by coach from their home town of Yaroslavl , east of Moscow , starting at the Bridgwater Arts Centre on Friday 21st June.

The ‘Children’ are aged between 12 and 18 years and play ‘traditional’ Russian Folk Instruments.

These include:   Balalaikas (prima balalaika, secunda balalaika, alto balalaika, and contrabass balalaika), Bayans (button accordions, standard and bass), Domras (primdomra, altdomra, and bassdomra), Clavichord Gusli, and Percussion (glockenspiel, xylophone, cymbals, washboard, ‘treshchotka’, wooden spoons, and drums).Within the Orchestra there are two vocalists, plus soloists for Balalaika, Contrabass Balalaika, Bayan, Domra, and Xylophone.

The Orchestra is led and conducted by Pavel Sergeev (below)

Friday 21^st June

 BRIDGWATER ART CENTRE, Castle St Bridgwater  

 8pm. Tickets £6

Saturday 22^nd June

PRINCESS THEATRE,Burnham-on-Sea  

7.30pm Tickets  £8/£5

Monday 24^th June

WHITE ENSIGN CLUB, South St Exeter   

5pm £10 (£8 members)

Wednesday 26^th June

ST BARNABAS CHURCH, Oxford  

7.30pm Free Concert

Further information Brian Smedley, Bridgwater International 07772402671

email;-bridgwaterinternational@gmail.com web www.bridgwaterinternational.co.uk

 

BRIDGWATER , UHERSKE HRADISTE & THE EU SEVEN PARTNERS PROJECT

UH delegation in Kings Square, Bridgwater

European Union money fluttered gently into the Bridgwater economy last week as the town became the focus of the latest leg of the EU 7 Partners project. Since 1989 the Czechs have been moving away from the Communist system and embracing Western style capitalist democracy,  the European Union, NATO and  attempting to adapt their local government administration to meet the needs and demands of these goals. So they tapped into their twin town network - of which they have 6 - and of which Bridgwater is the first - having been the first British town to twin with a Czech town after the Velvet Revolution, to see what they could learn. IF they could learn anything in fact....or if what they were doing was good practice enough.

After visiting the German town of Mayenne to study Education and the Italian town of Priverno to pick up tips on Tourism, they came to Bridgwater to try to understand the complicated British local government system....and to see how we'd got on with 'Town Planning', 'Flood Prevention', 'New Nuclear'  'Community impact'  and 'Environmental Health'.........Good choices!

What lessons could they learn??

Barbora translates for Sedgemoor officers Claire & Nick

The group that travelled included 3 senior members of the Uherske Hradiste (UH) council - Stanislav Blaha (ODS/Conservative deputy mayor) Zdenek Prochazka (KDU-CSL/Christian Democrat deputy mayor) and Bronislav Vajdik (CSSD/Social Democrat councillor) plus 8 senior workers from the town planning and architects department and even their Chief Executive Josef Botek. All under the careful tutelage of translator  Barbora Szolonyova.

What lessons could they learn from Sedgemoor District Council, Bridgwater Town Council and Somerset County Council? Well, the first one was why we had so many councils in the first place!!

On Day one they were welcomed at Bridgwater House by Sedgemoor top brass Kerry Rickards (Chief Executive) and Council leader Duncan McGinty who explained how the District Council fits into the jigsaw of Local Authorities - much more akin to the powers of their own Council back home and with a similar Executive Committee system (all of whom appear to be Deputy Mayors). The Czechs toured the Council offices, noting the empty spaces soon to be filled with an influx of County Council workers as the two Authorities begin to share office space , and intrigued by the open planned nature of the floors with their latest 'hot desking' spots allowing for more home working.

The CCTV control centre was an eye opener, particularly in civil hands and not in the vaults of some all seeing Police Authority....or is it....?

Flooding - to Dredge or Not to Dredge....

Cllr McGinty shows the Czechs around Bridgwater House

Especially important was learning about Sedgemoors  recent Flooding and how it was dealt with. The Czech Republic had just been hit by heavy floods killing 8 people and Uherse Hradiste only 10 years ago was devastated as the Morava river swept through the town centre. At the time Bridgwater people helped raise money  to help - much of which was spent renovating their ancient town library which was encyclopedia deep in floodwater.  In Sedgemoor fields are flooded, dredging - although favoured by many - is an expensive option and we have a coast. In the Czech Republic they have no option but to release their flood water in the general direction of Germany.....

Taking a break from filling their heads with data we took them to 'meet the people'. We chose the George Inn , Middlezoy for a game of skittles and a chat with the locals. But it was back to work when who should they meet but local Councillor Nobby Turner who was keen to put the case for river dredging and even gave them his own precious book on the subject.

Housing lessons

Cllr Fothergill explains Somerset's role in everything

The next day at Sedgemoor they were astounded that the list of Environmental services Sedgemoor provides and has to enforce seemed never-ending as senior officer Adrian Gardner showed and explained slide after slide of trees, ditches, recycling,floods and so on. Similarly a presentation by Housing expert Duncan Harvey went someway to explaining how the Council was succeeding in achieving so many homes in so small an area - and much of it potentially underwater. In UH many of the homes are in blocks of flats extending upwards whereas in Bridgwater what they had seen was green land (marked blue on a map of potential flood sites) and recycled brownfield land blossoming into use to house the almost 50,000 and rising inhabitants of the town. Home ownership or renting, house building, affordable homes and the housing benefits system were all explained sparking even more questions about the councils role in enforcement and the impact on neighbourhoods within the framework of the existing town plans. Whether they were learning lessons or putting thick lines through possible policies was a question for their return.

They'd heard about flooding and coastal erosion - and now they were to hear that a gigantic Nuclear Power station was to be built nearby. Next to the other two. Bob Brown and Claire Pearce explained how planning was taken out of the hands of the local authorities and that this was a Government initiative which they had to tackle head on to get the maximum benefit for the affected community out of it. There would be jobs and better paid jobs plus an influx of workers , many of who would stay and all of who would increase the tax base and give a boost to the economy. There had been a major tsunami in the Bristol Channel, but that was in 1609, several seconds ago in the geological history of the planet. 

They went off to spend some money in Burnham on Sea . And get a good view of the power stations.

Service delivery

Czechs in the Sedgemoor room

Sedgemoor is the most relevent local authority for delivering services - but it's just one of three. So part of their brief was to find out about the others. Alan Hurford, the town clerk, lectured them jovially about the Town Councils role, it's limited powers and it's even more limited workforce. In numbers, not of course in ability or dedication. Experienced Town Councillors turned up to add their input and it became very clear that the Czechs were in a world turned upside down. In the Czech Republic the cities were Tory and the countryside was Labour - but here it was the opposite. Bridgwater, a long term Labour town, had been in the thrall of Tory Sedgemoor since it lost it's borough status back in 1974 and along with it most of it's powers. The out of town Tory majority basically decided what went on in Bridgwater. At the same time however, they noted two further surprises - if local accountability was so important why was voter turnout often as low as 20%. Didn't people mind? And secondly the 'ward system'. In UK councillors were elected for specific wards whilst in their country the Town as a whole voted in the council as a whole on a PR party list basis. Would the result be any different here??

So they went to Glastonbury to climb a hill and think about how Somerset might fit into this.

Accountability .....

And on Thursday they went to County Hall, being met by Chairman Cllr Fothergill and deputy leader Cllr Hall. Strategic functions were the county remit including the highways, education and regional planning - in Czech Rep these were government functions or arms length agencies. The numbers appeared vaster - wards bigger and the reach of accountability that little more strained. David Hall explained that one of his key policies was to bring superfast broadband to Somerset. And at that point the internet failed and he couldn't show the County promotional video.

Back to Sedgemoor and a keynote presentation by top planning officer Nick Tait. This was the Czechs main topic and they wouldn't let poor Nick go back to work as they kept him talking and answering questions - 'How do you make sure the public are with you with these developments?' , (he explained the extensive consultation processes they engage in) 'Why do you build houses in floodzones?' (He explained the Flood levy that will contribute to an eventual barrage) 'Are your policies popular?' (He handed over to Duncan McGinty....)

Anglo-Czech jamming at the Bridgwater Art Centre

Turning to the Art Centre to spend some more money in they had a little sing-song, as Czechs often do. Moravian folk songs celebrating the devotion to whichever one horse town you came from, the loveliness of horses and how Anicka, Katerina, Lenka or Pavla is the only possible girl possible for the singer, mingled with the Blackbird song , Drink up thee Cider and the Beatles.

On the Friday they had another shock in store. There was another level of local government they'd forgotten. That was the Unitary Authority - which maybe Sedgemoor, Bridgwater and Somerset should have voted for after all. Luckily Bristol up the road was one of these and also had a directly elected Mayor who could choose his own cabinet. So they paid a visit. Another piece of the jigsaw fell into place. Not to mention Bristol had only just defeated Uherske Hradiste in some European Floral contest in Belgium recently and by half a bitter point.

Another level..

Bristols Deputy Mayor Gollop explains Unitary Authorities

Before they left they met some councillors  and community activists at a garden party hosted by Chairman of the Bristol Greens, Alex Dunn and to which Tory Deputy Mayor Geoff Gollop and Bristols twinning officer Alix Hughes also attended. Bombarded with facts, home grown radishes and brochures from the Bristol Civic Society the Czechs slotted in that last bit of learning, went shopping and flew home. Now the ball's in their court. Was this any use to them?? Next step is a conference in Uherske Hradiste in October when experts from each of the countries meet up and promote their own districts best practice and put their communities on the wider map of European Economic development.

Coastal Mist, City Heat and Jamaican Reggae: Ceske Budejovice students introduction to England in 2013

Czechs on Tour

For a long time now, Eva Kordova has brought students from Ceske Budejovice to Bridgwater, offering as it does that ideal bridgehead into an England you could only dream about in the books of Enid Blyton, the films of Malcolm Muggeridge and the mind of Nigel Farage. But is that fair? No of course it isn't. But Anglophile Eva keeps on coming and we keep on trying to show her the real England. So here comes 2013's version.

Flights from Prague to Bristol are late night. So despite a strong tailwind, the group still didn't get into Street Youth Hostel until midnight. And went straight to sleep. In everyones dreams.....So the programme proper started first thing next day. 

Glastonbury tour

It's a perfect location to wake up to is Street Youth hostel on a hill overlooking Glastonbury Tor  and East facing so it's midsummer sunrise is even more spectacular.  So first off, up the Tor. In the experienced company of Bridgwater Czech Slovak Friendship Society treasurer Simon Hann....who...despite living in Somerset all his life had never actually been up the Tor. Luckily the route involves walking UP and then walking DOWN. So that was fairly easy.

Yarn marketeering

Wells, another mid morning treat for an introduction to Somerset, saw them gasping in awe at the Harry Potter images conjured up by the medeaval Vicars close, bell ringing swans and the film location for Hot Fuzz (Типа крутые легавые in Russian).

And Bath. There's a nice place too. And still the rain held off. Even allowing time for a visit to Cheddar Gorge on the way home.

Tonight home was Minehead youth hostel. Set amongst the foothills of the foothills of Exmoor and up a dark and mysterious forested bumpfest of a road, the hostel was exclusively ours for the night. So to top off the Somerset theme we all had a Mexican style burrito and enchillada buffet.

Just Watchet

Walking over the hills to Dunster the next morning the Czechs were assailed by an elderly woman who had been in love with Czech(oslovakia) since meeting Czech pilots in the RAF in the second world war and couldn't have been more overjoyed or welcoming to her village if she tried. Apart from that Dunster doesn't really open very early so the Czechs wandered the cobbled streets like some pacifistic invading army looking out for the first clotted cream of the day.

Later in Watchet they had fish and chips. I looked on in scorn through my salad bap with extra cucumber.

Pub Fayre-Bridgwater Mayor

A slight visit to Taunton saw the rain come down. Well, I've always thought it was overated. So off we came to Bridgwater. Where the sun always shines. A quick guided tour of the town-it's rebuilt wall, famous second hand record shop and of course a traditional English pub. This time 'The Duke' (of Monmouth), where they had a traditional Somerset ploughmans and were met by Mayor Dave Loveridge and Mayoress Shirley to welcome them. And then we had skittles, pool and a pub quiz - so that's the leisure habits of Britain today in a nutshell. Nigel the drivers team won, demonstrating the unity, determination and purpose that can be achieved by the working class acting concertedly and in the face of 3 other teams all captained by high flying academics. And Simon.

No Dumplings No Cry

with Troy Ellis at Bridgwater Art Centre

The evening in Bridgwater was a riot. And not in the traditional Bridgwater way. We took them to see a genuine Jamaican reggae band at the art centre. Good choice in these madkip days of multicultural scaremongering. It didn't take much for singer Troy Ellis to get the Czechs up on the stage and singing and dancing along. See that's the sort of evening that makes this all worthwhile.

Next day we were off to London -an exciting multicultural melting pot of excitement. (oh we stopped off at some old stones in Avebury on the way). Greenwich is also a great place to see London for the first time. Climb the hill to the Observatory and you get spectacular views of the Thames, the city and the whole skyscape. But accommodation for us was in Holmbury st Mary. A little village in the Surrey hills where the Great Train Robbers apparently buried a large chunk of their as yet unfound loot. And hot dogs. Well, they didn't bury the hot dogs, that's what we had for tea.

London to Lulworth

Sunday is as good a day as any to have a whole day walk around the capital. And off they went, stopping only for an 'all you can eat for £5 chinese buffet in Chinatown', then being picked up at the end and whisked back to Holmbury.

"Say Cheese"

Monday saw the group head West again, this time down to the Channel coast. Lulworth to be precise. Cliff walking, coastal mist and chalky footsteps introduced them to Dorset. Thatched cottages, white horses and a moderately good road system guided them on to Weymouth and Maiden Castle and jacket potatoes awaited them at the end of it. Or whatever the local term is for 'people from Dorset'.

And then they went home.

SANDINO SOCCER UPSET AS BRIDGWATER INTERNATIONAL SINK WITHOUT TRACE

Bridgwater International Cup losing Senior team

Every year Bridgwater International enters a team or two for the Bristol-Nicaragua twinning festival the 'Sandino cup', which pits international(ish) football teams against one another in a sunny playing field in the grounds of Ashton Court. This year we entered two teams Bridgwater international and Bridgwater International Juniors (who were marginally younger).

The bad news started when it became apparent that self-declared 'star player' Councillor Smedley pronounced himself temporarily unfit and within several minutes was asleep on the touchlines.

Dicky

Enter the Dicky

More bad news followed as traffic chaos on the M5 delayed the arrival of the junior team and master of all trades jack of none 'Dicky Weaving' , who was meant to be playing for the seniors.

Never mind. Time and Sandino waits for no one in particular and so off they went. 3 Slovaks and 2 Brits kicked off and within 14 minutes had lost 5.1 to Dynamo Henleaze. Meanwhile on the adjoining pitch, the Juniors still hadn't turned up so their first game against St.Werburghs Hotspurs was lost by default. 

is

And so it went on, until finally Dicky and the 7th cavalry arrived. Bridgwater Juniors clinched a sensational 1.0 victory over Real Madras and Bridgwater Seniors held the mighty Arno's Vale Academicals to a 1.1 draw.

But then it all turned to shit and they all lost the rest of their games finishing bottom of their respective groups, now with the prospect of playing each other in the supplementary competition for losers the Shit TrayTrophy. 

Sadly it wasn't to be. The Juniors went down several nil to the Easton Cowboys and the Seniors went down at least 3.0 to Red Star Bedminster.

Man of the match, Steve 'no goals' Miles

rubbish

On the positive side, much money was raised for Nicaragua, chimichangas were eaten and enchiladas donned as inappropriate headgear, whilst on the negative side one Bridgwater player was banned - although we're not sure whether this was for hitting someone or for not hitting one particularly rubbish referee.

STOP PRESS;- SENSATIONAL 'MATCH FIXING SCANDAL' INVESTIGATED.

Shortly after the tournament finished with  the surprise and frankly pathetic defeat of both Bridgwater teams, for who the organisers had to invent a new category of 'more than last' , revelations as to the role played by two apparently innocent and apparently female 'supporters' of the Bridgwater side present on the day. After extensive investigations by our team of experts and his mate Dave, it was shockingly revealed late last night in a kebab shop that the two nominally innocent 'groupies' were in fact multi billionaire Russian oligarchs working for the neo Stalinist Red Star Bedminster team who are currently in the pockets of top Putinista bathroom fittings magnate and UKIP donor, Frodo Tokalotashajt. 

former KGB 'match fixing' operatives at work

Laszlo and Dennis Grunszch, pictured left , told our reporter "Ok, so we paid Mr Dicky to throw the game, it's no secret now, but he knows we are holding his favourite toupee, the keys to his treasured Sinclair C5 and his poodle Trevor in a remote location in Vladivostok-so what would you do in his position? Ey? Big boy?" 

Answers on a postcard.

HUNGARIANS DROP IN ON A SUN-DRENCHED LA CIOTAT

Hungarian, Hungarian, French, Hungarian, French, Hungarian, British

Most Somerset towns are twinned with French  partner towns in nearby Normandy. Just pop across the channel and you're there. Not Bridgwater though. Oh no, we're twinned with a town in the South of France. Having said that, La Ciotat is just as easy, if not easier , to get to as any Norman twinning and , in fact, far more rewarding. While you're packing your car , driving to a Channel port, booking a ferry and driving off the other side, you can be popping up to Bristol airport, flying over to Marseilles or Nice and within 4-5 hours you'll be as much in La Ciotat as you would have been in Caen, Rouen or Bayeux. And it's sunnier.

La Ciotat was Bridgwater's first twinning. 1957 in fact. In recent years we've taken footballers and choir singers over there with the help of their Council and it's long established 'jumelage' committee. Lately, we've been trying to push the idea of 'triangulation', whereby Bridgwater has several twin towns, and our twin towns also have several twin towns, so why not introduce them all to each other. It can only be good for tourism, international friendship and economic development.

'a pretty balanced delegation'

Eszther on the Quayside in La Ciotat

So that's why in May 2013 we took across a group of people from Hungary. Zsolt Nemeth, a local councillor from Sarvar, his daughter Eszther, 'teacher of the year' Beata Kovacs,  from the Sebestien Tinodi High school and her daughter the lawyer Orsolya, seemed like a pretty balanced delegation.

Flying in to Nice from Vienna, it was less than 2 hours down the sunny coastal autoroute past Cannes and St Tropez to La Ciotat where gorgeous weather reigned supreme. The best hotel for us these days is the Croix De Malte, a delightful family run place that holds up to 70 people and a stones throw from the seafront in the centre of the town.  

'internationalisme'

Croix de Malte does great meals and we invited some friends from the local Partie Socialiste

Jean Louis and Zsolt share a toast

to join us to discuss current affairs and internationalism. And of course to make new friendships. Jean Louis LeSavre has been to Bridgwater many times and first came here in the early days of the twinning. "I don't speak English" he insisted. And then continued to speak near perfect English for the next 3 days.  Said Zenafi , known as 'the Capitaine' apparently because he owned a boat slightly bigger than himself, is the Chairman of the PS in La Ciotat and Laurent Karouby, a special needs teacher, the director of Communications, made up the host delegation who looked after us so well for our stay.

On Monday morning  we had a tour of the 'Route des Cretes', a spectacular cliff top road between La Ciotat and Cassis - temporarily closed due to the potentially incendiary nature of the flammable sagebrush  and high winds (le mistral was just dying down). But our buddies knew a different route and so we came at it from the Cassis direction first. From atop the cliffs - some of the highest in Europe, you can see azure seas as far as the eye can squint and tranquil bays either side of the massif.

Making Education links

Seeking out further helpful links we visited the newly established FRENGS language school, run by  Anglophiles Sebastien Lombardo and Gregory , who had met in Bournemouth and although not natives of La Ciotat, had moved there to set up their school. They helped us out for the afternoon with a guided tour of the city. They were particularly interested in our plans to take Media students to la Ciotat. After all, the first ever moving images were filmed in the town - the Lumiere brothers 'train entering a station' was filmed at la Ciotat station. Sebastian informed us of his own connection to the momentous event - "The railway lines came from St Etienne - and so do I!".

Their student Joelly was keen to practice her English on us and whisked away the Nemeths for a drive around the bay to Bandol and St Cyr Sur Mer, giving them a personalised tour.

'Keeping up Civic appearances'

Afterwards, it was time to meet some 'civics'. So it was off to the Town Hall where head of

Patzlaff and LeSavre-strong supporters of 'le Jumelage'

International Links Guy Patzlaff was waiting for us . He was very happy to welcome groups from any nation, and pointed Mr Nemeth in the direction of the Marseilles Chamber of Commerce in order to develop some of his ideas for business co-operation  between France and Hungary. With the involvement of our friends from Frengs, plus Mr LeSavre and Mr Patzlaff we had a general discussion about future link projects between our communities.

And so it was time for some Moules.  You can't visit France without trying some moules-frites. Mussels and chips. Yum yum i say.  Though maybe twice in a day is a bad plan. 

Vive les Moules-Frites

Zsolt & Said , while Francois Hollande looks on

On our last day we were invited by our PS friends for a little drink in their office to celebrate Europe , multi-culturalisme , le jumelage and to discuss the challenges ahead for us all. In Hungary they have neo-Nazis in uniform holding anti Jewish demonstrations openly on the streets of Budapest and in Britain we have the Europhobic neanderthals of UKIP  seeking to bring back smoke-filled pubs, put gay people back in closets and make sure migrant workers feel unwelcome, wreaking havoc in the polling booths and web forums. So any message that suggests that might be a slight step backward has to be a good thing. So we all drank to that.

Our informal visit had been a success, we had made some new contacts, spread a little international co-operation, contributed to the local economy and hadn't got drenched by the unseasonal rain. Until the last day in Nice...

BRIDGWATER COLLEGE FILM AND MEDIA STUDENTS VISIT HUNGARY

Welcome to Hungary

It was only a year or so back that we started to develop links with Hungary. This came about through a meeting with Hungarian councillor and turkey magnate   Nemeth Zsolt from the town of Sarvar at the Uherske Hradiste wine festival. He introduced us to school teacher Kovacs Beata  from the Tinodi Sebestian High school and thereafter the links simply flowed.

Well, Kovacs Beata is like saying Smedley Brian, but the Hungarians seem to like  things that way round, so this year I got Media teachers  Hughes Vanessa ,Woods Laura and De Francesca Mino to take College Bridgwater over there with 33 eager students.

Flying from Gatwick to Budapest the students were met off the plane at Ferihegy (Ferenc Liszt) airport by Ferenc the bus driver   and his bus (probably also called Ferenc). And Smedley Brian.

meltwater

It wasn't as cold as we thought it might have been and the snow generally hung in ploughed up patches on the edges of fields, which were equally dotted with vast limpid pools of meltwater. 

Heroes Square in Budapest

Staying at the Benczur hotel -in a great location just off the main Andrassy thoroughfare, we were able  to have a night wander around the nearby city park and Heroes square, past the ridiculously inappropriate 'Museum of Agriculture' - a converted castle, and back before midnight surrounded by steaming lakes of vapour that showed you;re never too far from a thermal spa in Hungary.

Next day the students from Sarvar travelled up to Budapest to join us. Todays highlights included a visit to the MTV studios - that's Hungarian as in Magyar TV -not the music channel of world renown and a skyline tour of the Buda hills on the Presidential palace side of the Danube.

chicken

Lunch time and shopping in the town centre Vaci street area allowed the staff to sample the delights of Hungarian  chicken and honey salads while the students headed for the magic that is KFC.

Hungarian Parliament across the Danube

The afternoon saw us visiting the Hungarian Parliament - a magnificent building right on the banks of the river, but which now costs money to visit. It didn't just a few months back. I opted to sit this one out quietly in a roadside cafe, where I was entertained by the delightful spectacle of 3 French girls screaming constantly at the Hungarian waitress that she'd robbed them while the poor girl/possible robber attempted to go about her business serving people. This lasted about half an hour whereafter the French decided to give up and promised to be back tomorrow.

An evening meal at the hotel was followed by a night on the town. Hungarian students Balint, Istvan and Berci were with them at all times in case of major incidents such as inadvertently ordering a mixed sauna instead of a KFC bargain bucket.

 Trabant

Donald Campbell aims to set a new land speed record

Morning rolled round and we rolled off. Along came Ferenc in the Ferencmobile  and within 30 minutes we were at Memento Park, the place where the anti-communists took all the communist statues and put em in an anti-communist statue museum and charged all the people a dollar and a half just to see'em. Well, you don't always know what you've got till it's gone. However, in this case it had been over 20 years since the collapse of Communism and none of the Hungarian students really knew much about why the statue museum was there in the first place. So Mino and Vanessa demonstrated 'the good old days' by trying to fit into a Trabant.

Next stop was the Korda Film studios. Lots of famous Hungarian film people of course. Bela Lugosi to name just one. So the film students had a guided tour around the film sets and afterwards mingled with the throngs of extras, of whom there were none, in the studio canteen. And ate chicken.

The Hungarians sing in Hungarian

Across the vast icy puddly snow drifty wastes of Hungary the bus trundled for a couple of hours before arriving in Sarvar - the delightful little town with it's quaint middle European houses, charming folk customs and the castle where Elizabeth Bathory who went on to murder 300 peasant girls  lived.

chicken

That evening we had a party at the Tinodi Sebestian school which involved singing Hungarian songs and being treated to several promotional films of Hungary, Sarvar and wellness spas. Who'd have thought the Hungarians had invented the biro, the rubik cube and the detachable chicken! The highlight of the evening was a fiendish quiz set by Hungarian students which would have gained the winners in any other country a Mensa award or an entrance exam to a top University. The winners on this occasion attained the top award of 'large cream cake'. Which would have probably satisfied Leonardo Da Vinci and put him off his inventing at an early age. If only achievement was properly rewarded!

The sunny village of Cak

The next day the HungoAnglo students headed off by Ferencbus to the nearby town of Szombathely where they interviewed the editor of the local newspaper 'Vas Nepe', who complained about the dumbing down of the newspaper industry and the pressures on budgets and the increase of unemployment. And gave them several hundred small cheesecakes for better contemplation.

palinka

After dinner at a local school, they headed into the Austrian borderlands and the small village of Cak - famous for it's ancient wine cottages and modern wines and palinka (brandy) - an especially interesting strain produced by Mr Nemeth which featured a portrait of his charming daughter Eszther on each bottle.  An evening meal in Cak sponsored by Mr Nemeth was followed by an evening break in central Szombathely and then back to Sarvar.

The final day saw the group headed off to Vienna -just 2 hours away on the same Danube. Guided by the sprightly Gabor, the group visited the Schonbrunn palace and the ancient city centre before heading off to Vienna airport  and back to Gatwick.