Out of the blue and from Down Under, the email couldn’t have come at a more auspicious time.
Christine Putland and Steve Grieve (far left in top picture) from Goolwa, South Australia (the only Cittaslow town in the whole of Australia) wrote to Aylsham Cittaslow (the only Cittaslow town in England) last month saying they would like to visit.
And the connection doesn’t end there.
Slow Food member Sue Margarson, who was part of the welcoming party, discovered that Steve’s great grandmother had worked as a shop steward in the large jute mill run by Sue’s family in Scotland . . . and an Aylsham architect who had a connection to Steve through a colleague in Adelaide (see side panel).
The arrival of the Australian couple, who were on a holiday tour of Europe, coincided with the 20th anniversary of Aylsham as a Cittaslow town and the monthly Food and Craft Market.
“We thought it would be interesting to meet the Aylsham committee to exchange stories of our respective experiences,” said Christine Putland, Vice President of Cittaslow Goolwa Inc, formed in 2007 and the first member outside of Europe.
At a reception hosted by Aylsham Country Market at the Town Hall, they were welcomed by a small group of members including the Town Clerk, and the chair and vice-chair of the Council.
This was followed by a personal tour of the town presented by Jayne Andrew of the Heritage Centre before enjoying a pub lunch at The Black Boys where gifts were exchanged. Aylsham gave a package of mementoes from the Heritage Centre and Aylsham received a collection of indigenous wood craftwork.
Christine thanked Aylsham for “being such generous hosts and warm hospitality”.
“It was so interesting to share our common interests and compare our different ways of approaching the Cittaslow principles,” she said.
“Until now, we had not understood that there needed to be a direct link to the Slow Food movement.
“The market was particularly interesting for us. The indoor/outdoor arrangement obviously partly reflects the different weather patterns, but also the indoor space facilitates a warm and welcoming community meeting place.
“Looking around the town, there is little mention of Cittaslow itself, but so many shops refer to locally sourced and Slow Food, so there appeared to be strong links. This coherent approach is something we could do better in Goolwa as some of our vendors are not fully on board.”
The visitors, who had stayed at The Ironmongers, travelled on to Llangollen and Mold, the only other two Cittaslow towns in the UK.
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