Dear SHTA Friends,

Having been in touch with you all twice already this month, I feel this may well be a rather short newsletter; we’ll soon see!

One principal reason to contact you is to advertise our next SHTA film. We shall be screening ‘Les Visiteurs’ on Wednesday 13th March at the Empire Cinema in Sandwich. The film was released in 1993 and directed by Jean-Marie Poiré. It has a classification of 15 and lasts 105 minutes. Here is a summary:

“Godefroy de Papincourt, Count of Montmirail (Jean Reno), is a 12th-century Gallic knight who finds himself transported to 1993, along with his dim servant, Jacquouille la Fripouille (Christian Clavier), when a wizard’s spell goes awry. Startled and perplexed by modern technology, Godefroy and Jacquouille run amok, destroying cars and causing chaos until they meet Beatrice de Montmirail (Valérie Lemercier), an aristocratic descendant of the nobleman, who may be able to help them get back to 1123.”

IMDb reviews the film thus: “…they have done a tremendous job with the English subtitles (translating a kind of ‘medieval’ French into a comparable type of old English modern swearwords included). In fact, the job is so well done, that we had a lot of laughs just by comparing the film’s verbal antics to the translation. It is quite clear that a lot of effort had gone into this. Sometimes the conversations are fast and furious, so it’s worthwhile to see the movie a second time.

While Time Out says: “This quixotic time-travel movie comes on like a lunatic blend of Time Bandits, Tati and Benny Hill. …Shot in the verdant hills of Languedoc, this caper is likely to appeal more to fans of Will Hay and Mr Bean than those of Monty Python. Exquisite period detail and sophisticated effects.”

‘Les Visiteurs’ was the Number 1box office film in 1993 and remains the 5th highest grossing French film ever. It was nominated for 9 Césars and won the César for Best Actress in a Supporting Rôle. The publicity for the film used the tagline “Ils ne sont pas nés d’hier” (they weren’t born yesterday).

If you’d like to see the film please email Jan Cooper on jannicooper@icloud.com. As usual, the cost per person is £7.50 which you can put in an envelope marked with your name and post through Jan’s door at 56 High Street Sandwich. Cheques, by the way, can be made out either to Sandwich Honfleur Twinning Association or SHTA.

• Apart from next month’s film, what else can we all look forward to? ‘Une Heure de Conversation’ continues to take place at Sandwich Library on Thursday afternoons, 2.00 – 3.00 pm. Inevitably numbers vary from week to week but there are generally around 10 to 15 coming along for a chat in French. Do feel free to join us if you’d like to.
• As reported earlier this month, our ‘Boules & Bangers’ evening will be at the Anchor in Wingham on Thursday 23rd May starting at 6.30 pm; for £15 you will get two courses, including, of course, the bangers, although I’m sure there will also be a vegetarian/gluten-free option too. There will be teams with numbers limited to 24 and, no doubt, prizes! I’d suggest you get your names in early to avoid disappointment.
• As last year, we’re proposing to have a series of ‘Chez Nous’ dates where SHTA members offer their hospitality and cooking skills to a defined number of guests. They should receive £8.50 from each guest which should include wine. If you would like to offer a date and suggest how many guests you could cater for, please let me know. Having said all that, Sandra and I are offering one such occasion without the food and without the requirement for any money! We will be holding a drinks afternoon on Saturday 1st June at 122 St George’s Road Sandwich from 1.30 – 5.30 pm. All you will need to bring is a bottle and yourself. Please let me know asap if you’d like to come.
• Also as I’d mentioned in the last newsletter, this year we are planning a group trip to Calais and Saint Omer on Saturday 18th May; the price per head is £28, so let me know if you’re interested.
• Pierre Jan, the President of the Honfleur Twinning Association, has been in touch with me to explain some details of our Visit to Honfleur from Thursday 20th – Sunday 23rd June. One particularly special part of our time there to celebrate our combined 60th anniversary will be to assist in the inauguration of a new road in Honfleur to be called ‘Rue de Sandwich’! There are now 33 people signed up for the 4-day trip, so 15 seats remaining. If you’d like to be involved please do get in touch with me.

That’s all the news for now folks. Hoping to see you soon,

Best wishes, Stuart and the Committee