Every year a group of adults visits from Bohars, or we send a group over there. It alternates yearly; in 2013 we hosted a group from Bohars and in 2014 a party of Tarporleans visited France over the May Bank Holiday.
The childrens’ exchange takes place during the holidays at the end of August. In 2014 we hosted children from Bohars.
Adult Visits
What’s involved in hosting? You provide bed and breakfast for your guests. All the other events are organised by the Association – visits, lunch, dinner. The cost of meals, tickets, etc. for the visitors are met by funds raised by the Association. Similarly when we visit Bohars our only cost is getting there, after that we are guests of the kind people of their village.
The adult visits include organised trips, informal meals and a dinner on one evening to which we invite friends and supporters of the Twinning Association.
It’s a wonderful way of meeting people and making new friends from our two countries, and you don’t even have to be able to speak French to join in!
Children’s Visits
For the children’s exchange, we try to place children in a family with a child the same age and sex. Families who are hosting will be expected to provide food and accommodation for a child and to involve the visitor in normal family activities, but also to arrange to meet up in groups with other host families.
When the French children come to Tarporley, we organise a number of joint activities for the French and English children, such as bowling, disco, swimming, or a visit to Alton Towers. The Twinning Association pays for the French children for these events, but we ask for a contribution for any English children who wish to take part, so that friends and family can join in too. On free days families often organise their own outings, at their own expense.