In Calverton, a number of street names are derived from the names of individuals who were prominent members of the village community. So, Collier Road for example has nothing to do with coal mining but instead is named after the Calverton-born John Collier who was a prominent architect who designed a number of premises in the county in the 1860s and 1870s. John Collier was son of John Collier Sr and Sarah Windall. However, two streets in our village, namely Longué Drive and Jumelles Drive, appear to have no obvious local connection. They are instead both named after Calverton's twin village Longué-Jumelles which sits close to the river Loire in central France. Calverton twinning association was established in 1974 by Mr Roy Bliss who at the time was chairman of the Calverton parish council and Monsieur Robert Chatel, mayor of Longué-Jumelles.
It started as a schools exchange program at a time when the possibility of taking a holiday abroad, in this case the France, was becoming a reality. The pairing selection of Calverton and Longué-Jumelles was in part due to the fact that both communities possessed an active mine, producing coal in Calverton, and slate in Longué-Jumelles. Also, population size was very similar and despite Calverton's continuing rapid expansion, the current populations as in 2026 are not dissimilar with Calverton at 7,923 and Longué-Jumelles at 6,583. It was not long until adults from Calverton and surrounding villages would travel by coach to Longué-Jumelles in the Loire Valley to be hosted by a local French family who in turn would travel to Calverton in the following year so their hospitality could be reciprocated. Hosting for those individuals from the UK or France would involve welcoming your guests into your home, providing somewhere for them to sleep, feeding them and taking part in whatever visits and entertainment had been arranged for the four to five days of the visit. Many friendships were established between French and British alike and it would not be unusual for these friendships to last a lifetime and they frequently did, including at least two marriages between members of those communities. During visits there would be a number of outings to local attractions of interest in the visits. There would also be social evenings including a dinner dance. On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of Twinning in 1999 there was a double visit. During our time in Longué some of the British men are tired in inappropriate female garments performed as Spice Girls number wannabe on the stage. Not to be outdone some of our French male visitors performed the can-can in Calverton and Sports hall during the second half of the double visit. It did not matter too much if our French visitors had a limited grasp of spoken English on their trips to Calverton and similarly the ability of Calvertonians to converse in French was not essential. Great fun was derived when conversations were in full flow and attempt at translations being made. There was much camaraderie during the annual visit especially on the coach during the journey to or from France. With the arrival of cheap flights from East Midland's airport to and from France, a less expensive option for travel presented itself, although many involved in Twinning often expressed a preference for travel by coach and ship rather than by plane despite the fact that coach hire was becoming increasingly expensive.
Over the years as the opportunity to take cheap holidays abroad has increased the interest in Twinning as a concept nationally has diminished and Calverton is no exception in this regard. Many of the Twining Association's members are now quite elderly with very limited fresh young faces joining. This is a huge shame since residents of the villages both in Calverton and in Longué do not know what fun and games they are missing. Happily in 2026 attempts are being made to revitalise the school's connection between our two communities, which if successful may result in the resurgence of interest in Twinning. Well in terms of the actual population as I say Calverton very recently has grown quite rapidly. Longué-Jumelles area has not grown to the same extent. At the time that Twinning was established I think the two populations were pretty well matched but now Calverton has gone a little bit ahead as I said at the time. I would say Longué-Jumelles you know it's a little bit more dispersed than Calverton is so the houses in Longué-Jumelles you know yes there is a sector, but it is dispersed over a somewhat wider area. There is a community hall within the village of Calverton and within the village of Longué-Jumelles you know but whether that is historically linked to the slate mine I am unsure. It might simply be there as a community resource anyway so I don't know whether or not it is absolutely linked to the slate mine. In the same way that I was miners welfair was.
And the visitors that come over from there have they given you any indication of you know how they see Calverton?
They very much enjoy their time here they have a desire to actually maintain the link with the friends they have had over many many years. It is something which as I say it could be sad to lose if it diminishes in the way it has been but as I say with this school link there is a possibility that may not happen but I will tell.
I just wondered if you talked about the villages grown Calverton's grown. I just wondered whether they had any views on that side of things?
Well if they have they would sometimes express a little bit of surprises to how rapidly it is growing in recent times but other than that no they see the development over the years take place as a natural process they are aware of the mine within the villages closed down which it did in 1999. So it is something which they are aware of the village itself and the make up of the village, the people in the village. They have always been very content to be part of that community when they come across and we have some marvellous times together.