“We’re back” announced Anne Armstrong at the Welcome Night in Héry, the traditional gathering of French and English with Kia Royale and the Bourgogne speciality gougeres ~ cheesy choux buns. Speeches given, photos taken and an interview by the local newspaper added to the festivities as we celebrated 60 years of friendship between our two communities. A shared meal with wine, music, amazing celebration cakes and dancing followed to cement the fact that we were indeed “back”. The week ahead was going to be a good one!

Nineteen of us arrived in Héry to be met by friends old and new and the realisation that, despite not meeting up for four years, our friendship was as strong as ever. Over the following week, we enjoyed sightseeing with the whole group (Paris and Provins) and with our host families (a whole range of trips including wine tasting, visiting chateaux, wandering around towns and villages in the locality), ate together (including a group BBQ in the rain), shared aperitifs and wine with each other, laughed together as we tried to communicate in French, English and somewhere in between, and generally rekindled the delight in this special relationship between our two villages. As those from the group said:

 “Even without much French it is easy to communicate.”

 “Never a dull moment, even when it rained!”

 “Such fun sampling different sorts of food – and what delicious food!”

“So much to explore and experience from cities to markets, historical sites and the lovely village of Héry itself.”

“Having been many years since I visited Héry, I was apprehensive about staying with a family I’d never met, and travelling with a group of people I didn’t really know,  but everyone was so friendly and welcoming, I would definitely do it again! I would thoroughly recommend the trip to anyone thinking about it!”

“After such a long absence I was very nervous about going back to Héry but from the moment we stepped off the coach it just felt like coming home.  They welcomed us with open arms and it just felt like yesterday since we were last there.  Old friendships immediately took up from where we had left off – proof for me of how different peoples and nations can come together in this world today and simply be happy in the sheer joy of sharing each other’s company.”

“It was wonderful to visit Hery again, with such a warm welcome from old friends. This year I stayed with someone I’d never met before and it was brilliant! What a lovely lady – the seeds of another friendship were firmly planted in a week.”

Our hosts were delighted to see us, loved showing us their area and sharing their traditions, fed us as only the French do ~ lots of courses, lots of cheese and amazing desserts ~ washed down with various wines. We can only express our wholehearted thanks to our hosts for a fantastic week and hope that they can all come over next year.

And now we’re back in Shilbottle and looking forward to celebrating the 60^th anniversary of the first exchange visit next summer ~ a fantastic milestone that we would like to share with our community. Do look out for information about the AMICALE events in the build up to the celebration next year and come along and find out more about the group and how you can get involved starting with our French Café at Shilbottle Community Hall on Saturday September 30^th from 10am.

The AMICALE is open to anyone to join, whether you speak French or not, whether you’ve lived in the area all your life or for a very short time, whether you live on your own, are a couple or are part of a family group ~ everyone is welcome to be part of this amazing friendship between two different but very similar communities. Hope to see you soon!