Bexhill twinship progresses

The trip is the first half of an exchange, and follows on from the Mayor of St Aubin de Medoc's visit to Bexhill in December.

Town Mayor Cllr Patrick Douart, whose mother, sister and brother-in-law still live in the French town near Bordeaux, is looking for host families.

He said: "When I was made Mayor last year I thought, along with the Chartered Trustees of Bexhill, that it would be a good idea to start a relationship with a town in France with a view to becoming twinned."

11 French visitors will arrive on Sunday, May 17 and spend four days here.

The group, consisting of adults aged 56-60, has been learning conversational English from Cllr Douart's sister.

CIlr Douart said: "I am looking for host families for these 4 days. The host families will be invited to visit and stay with their guest(s) in St Aubin de Medoc in September.

"The idea is that the host family will take them around and show them the area, do some shopping. Then these people will be invited to the French town some time in September.

"So it's for people who have a knowledge of French and like France and would like to be invited by the people back to St Aubin de Medoc.

"Should you be interested in taking part in this first exchange, please contact me on 733254 (mornings) or E-mail: [email protected]."

Cllr Douart spoke of his hopes that the relationship would cement into formalised twinship, saying: "The Chief Executive of Rother District Council and myself agree that it's best to start a relationship and organise some exchanges and sports events before we offically twin. There's no point doing it if the intention is not to carry on."