60 years of friendship is celebrated between Northumberland and French villages

Shilbottle has been twinned with Héry, a village in a rural area about 80 miles south east of Paris and close to Auxerre, since 1963.

A party of 19 people is heading to France to celebrate the diamond anniversary of the first exchange, as both villages welcomed the other country.

Chairman Gill Bray said: “We are looking forward to celebrating this very significant achievement with our friends in Héry. After marking the 60th anniversary of the first visit to France this year, we look forward to welcoming them in Summer 2024, when we will mark the 60th anniversary of the first visit to Shilbottle.”

Gill adds that June Raynal first had the idea of creating “a kind of twinning” between the two villages and the association was described as one “of fostering friendship and a closer understanding between our respective communities”.

It was first for young people from Shilbottle to experience travelling at a time when overseas travel was much more costly and much less routine than it is today.

Anne Armstrong, who was the previous chairman of the association, and member of the party visiting Héry this month, said: “I’m sure that if I hadn’t gone to Héry my life would have been very different.

“I have had a very international life, both working and living abroad, in several different countries, and that curiosity and love for ‘all things foreign’ was awakened by my visits to France with the Amicale.

“It also showed me that there is much more to a country than just the language which we have to learn and the different things that we can buy. There is a people, a culture and a way of life to be lived and embraced – and if we can do that, we can enrich our own lives in immeasurable ways.”

Over the years, more people from Shilbottle and around have joined and have expressed their enjoyment of the opportunity to have a very different kind of holiday that makes them feel part of an extended family, rather than being a tourist.

New members are welcome to join – for further information, contact Gill Bray by email at [email protected] or visit their Facebook page.