General Information (2005 visits info here )
Darley Dale is twinned with Onzain, a small semi-rural town in the heart of the beautiful Loire Valley in France, amidst the royal chateaux of the French Renaissance. The town has a population of about 3,000 and it is a tourist area with hotels, restaurants and campsites. The Loire Valley produces good wines, red, white, rosé and sparkling.

There are clear parallels with Darley Dale, which lies in the Derwent Valley on the edge of the Peak District National Park and nearby has its own famous "chateaux" - Haddon Hall, Hardwick Hall and Chatsworth House.

Like Darley Dale, Onzain boasts a number of thriving clubs and societies and close links exist between the two towns.

The twinning arrangement celebrated its tenth anniversary in 1999 and during that time over 1,000 Darley Dale people have been involved with the twinning in various ways, often taking part in organised visits, including:

• Hosting visitors from Onzain
• Dancing
• Table tennis
• Church contacts
• Darley Dale band
• Schools contacts
• Boules
• Football

A committee of local people runs a Twinning Association on behalf of the Council. The Council, which still helps fund the Association, started the twinning and the current Mayor is always President.

More information about twinning is available from:

Neil Swift - 01629 732469
Sandy Doyles - 01629 733662

Visit Onzain online at http://www.ville-onzain.fr

Onzain is also twinned with Flein in Germany. A three-way link does not exist at present but a friendship is being forged between Flein and Darley Dale.

Programme of visits for 2005

The Twinning Associations in Darley Dale and Onzain have arranged the following visits for 2005, based as so often in the past around the themes of football and music.

Annual football visit - May
The annual football is at the end of May again, this time with our players visiting Onzain. The group leave on 26 May and return on the 30th. Rob Annable and his colleagues are as ever working hard on the arrangements. There will be teams representing the Under 15’s, Under 14’s and Under 11’s. Parents are welcome to go with the teams.

Visit by the Onzain Choir - October
The Onzain choir will visit Darley Dale in October, a return visit following the very successful performances by the Fishpond Choir in Onzain in October 2003. The visit will take place from 11-13 October.

Dancing - and fishing - October
There will be a visit to Onzain by the Essential Energy dance in October, to perform there. This will be over the weekend beginning 21 October to coincide with half term. Local fishermen from Matlock and District Fishing Club may also join this visit.

This looks like a good programme after a quieter year last year and will give us a busy month in October!

Contacts:
Sandy Doyles: 01629 733662
David Brunt: 01629 583662

Visit Flein online at http://www.flein.de/

Annual General Meeting Minutes. 13th June 2006.