Clare goes to Chatillon and brings home the Cups!
Over 50 Clare residents made a return visit to Chatillon in July as part of the growing relationship between our two towns.
A 50-seater coach packed with our Under 14 Clare Town Lions and a group of students from Stoke College travelled to Chatillon for a four day visit. The programme started with the World Cup Final on a large screen and finished with the 14 July celebrations for the French National Holiday. In addition to visitors from Clare there were also guests from Italy and Bulgaria which made the events a very rich cultural and sporting mix.
The organisers had managed to attract substantial EU funding for the 4 day event and so the coach travel was free of charge and much of food during the week was also provided by our hosts.
One of the major events of the week was the European Market where Clare traders and residents had provided Suffolk food and drink specialities and we had a wide range of tourism leaflets on display.
During the week a painting of Clare Church was presented to the Chatillon Art Group from the Clare Art Club, and a similar gift was sent in return. It is hope that this will lead to exchange visits between the 2 groups next year.
The main ambition during our trip was of course to regain the 2 trophies which had been won by the Chatillon U14 team during their visit to Clare in April. Our boys were absolutely marvellous and played a very entertaining and fair game which was a pleasure to watch. Their efforts were well rewarded with a very exciting 3-1 victory which means both cups have come home to Clare.
A more solemn part of the visit was he 14 July parade through the streets led by the Fire Brigade and followed by the drum majorettes, the brass band, war veterans and a great number of the residents of Chatillon. At the local war memorial, representatives of each of the countries laid a wreath of commemoration.
On a much lighter note, the local organisers had created a "Jeux sans frontieres" with teams from England, France, Italy and Bulgaria participating. Given the the Clare party was the largest, we were able to lend some of our boys and adults to the other teams in order to make up the numbers.
It has to be said that the english players threw themselves wholeheartedly into the spirit of thegames and the Clare team were clear winners on the day. Here, Gary Harker can be seen catching eggs in a mixing bowl which is strapped to his head while standing on a wobbly board.
A very warm note of thanks goes to the marvellous team of organisers in Chatillon who worked tirelessly for months to prepare such an excellent programme. All the youngsters who went along on the trip need to be congratulated too. They were great ambassadors for Clare, taking part in all the activities with the right spirit and always well behaved. They were a credit to themselves, their school, their football team and to Clare.
The visit was a great success and there are discussions underway for cultural exchanges for the Clare Art Club and also for music in Clare Church for next year.
Date : 05-08-2010
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