French culture provides food for thought

For the fifth successive year the Brest Twinning Panel invited us to take part in their annual trip to France as their guests. The members are individuals who share a passion for all things French, and they meet up a few times a year for a get-together. Their French counterparts do a similar thing, and come to Plymouth in May for a similar experience.

Our intrepid students this year were four Year 13 students and two Year 11 students. They were all quite apprehensive but excited as we gathered at Plymouth ferry port for the night crossing. Bright and early the following morning we were met at Roscoff by a coach which took us to the main fire station in Brest (our reputation must have preceded us!). Here we had a lovely breakfast of croissants, pains au chocolat, crępes, far breton (a local speciality) and buttery biscuits as we wandered around being introduced to the families we were going to stay with. Then we got back on the coach for a tour of the surrounding villages, which all had as their claim to fame an “enclos paroissial” which was a sort of parish church with a surrounding wall, within which were also the ossuary (they keep the bones here), the cemetery, the Calvary and the arched gate. Some of these churches were incredibly beautiful.On our return to Brest we were formally welcomed by the Assistant Mayor in the town hall in the centre of Brest. Then we all went our separate ways with our families, only to meet up on Sunday morning for our return journey to Roscoff and on to Plymouth, via a very posh restaurant where we were treated to a rather nice meal. We were met at the ferry port at about 10.00 pm by our own families, tired but elated by an unforgettable experience. The members of the twinning panel complimented me time and time again on the exemplary behaviour and attitude of our students: I too would like to say thank you to them for making my job so much easier.