Dear SHTA Friends,

The highlight of May in Honfleur is the 163rd Fête des Marins– every Pentecost Weekend the Honfleurais prepare and dress in their finest attire in anticipation of this celebration of the sea and sailing, upon which the soul of our twin town is founded.

On Sunday 19th May, Mass will take place at Saint Catherine’s Church, in the heart of the sailors’ quarter, which will be decorated for the occasion. Then the blessing of the sea takes place in the Bay of Seine, all of the boats engaging in the event leave the port in a parade and a ceremony takes place in the middle of the estuary.

Monday 20th May will be the focus of the Fête des Marins, the procession during which models of boats are carried from the main square to the Notre-Dame de Grâce chapel located on the heights of Honfleur. This moment of celebration and music is the most awaited, participants wear their customary sailor top and join the crowd for a joyful walk.

The information above about this month’s important weekend in our beautiful twin town comes from Mark Moorhouse, SHTA Vice-Chair, for which we’re very grateful.

Film lovers amongst you may be interested to know that this month sees the Cannes Film Festival running from 14th – 25th May on the Côte d’Azur. It’s just been announced that French actors, Omar Sy and Eva Green, have joined the jury tasked with selecting the winner of the Palme d’Or, the festival’s top prize, from a selection of 22 films.

On the subject of films, the next SHTA offering at the Empire Cinema will come your way on Wednesday 15th May. It’s a 1972 comedy-drama directed by Luis Buñuel entitled ‘Le Charme Discret de la Bourgeoisie’. The story revolves around a series of dreams which concern six different individuals. They politely express their outrage towards their interrupted attempts to have a meal together. IMDb rates it at 7.8 out of 10 and Rotten Tomatoes at 88%; the film won a whole raft of critical awards, so I’m sure that it’ll be well received by our audience. We thank Adrian Tottenham for suggesting this film last year.

Since recent film nights have been very popular, we would ask you again to reserve your places in advance. Priority will be given to people booking prior to the night of the film and arriving without a reservation may not guarantee you a seat depending on the numbers on the night. To do this please contact Stuart Jones on 079896 95129 or by email on stuartpjones100@yahoo.co.uk to secure your place. Do your best also to arrive at the cinema between 7.00 and 7.15 pm.

The cost of a seat is still £7.50 per head and can be paid online in advance to SHTA (account number 42027168; sort code 30-90-09); alternatively you can pay by cash or card at the cinema on the night.

A reminder that our one remaining film for the 2023-2024 season, which you’ll also find on our website, sandwichhonfleurtwinning.org.uk, and in your Member’s Card, is on‘Un Long Dimanche de Fiançailles’ on Wednesday 12th June.

Furthermore, with the next film season of 2024/2025 now on the horizon, we have already started a list of potential films to show from September onwards and would be delighted if you had suggestions of film titles to add to the list, so please do get in touch. Some of you have already done so for which we’re very grateful.

Last week it was lovely for the Committee to meet a number of our New Membersfor a get-together at The King’s Arms. Reasons cited for joining SHTA were, as you’d expect, many and varied but a central theme for many was a wish to visit our beautiful twin-town of Honfleur. We’re scheduled to go as a group to Normandy next Summer and will invite our members to sign up for that exciting trip later in the Autumn.

Beforehand, however, we’ll be entertaining our Honfleur friends over here from Thursday 31st October – Sunday 3rd November. To date, we have the capacity to accommodate 40 people but do need further hosts. If you think you’d be able to accept a single person or a couple from Honfleur for three nights please do let me know asap.

With the forecast predicting 19 or 20 degrees and some sunshine in about 3 weeks’ time, we’ll be holding a ‘Pique-Nique’ on the Quay Green on Monday 20th May. The plan, such as it is, will be to meet around 12.00 midday to eat our own lunches and spend a relaxing hour or so in the company of fellow members. Should the weather be looking ominous, I’ll email you to suggest an alternative day, but the Committee looks forward to seeing as many of you there as possible.

As mentioned via this means last month, we’ll be having a stall at ‘Le Weekend’ on Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th June when we’ll be promoting SHTA and all that it offers. Although two couples have said that they can be present for an hour, we have a further ten one-hour slots to fill. Although Committee members will do some of these, we’d very grateful if you were able to give us an hour of your time on the SHTA stand. Please let Stuart Jones know if you’d like to be included in the team of volunteers for an hour or even two between 10.00 am and 4.00 pm on either the Saturday or Sunday. Many thanks.

Obviously this newsletter reaches you a month nearer in time than the last one to the SHTA Annual General Meeting on Thursday 18th July in the Jury Room at the Guildhall. As in previous years, there will be a summary of the past year and election of a new committee for the forthcoming year. If you’d like to know even more about what SHTA does and/or have a say in how it happens, please do consider standing for election yourself. Any questions, don’t hesitate to ask.

And finally, a reminder to brush up on your boule-throwing technique: this year’s SHTA Bangers & Boules Competition will be on Thursday 25th July at the Anchor Pub in Wingham. As last year, a round-robin format will guarantee you a minimum of four games before the winners are revealed and celebrations with Bangers & Mash in the upstairs function room. Please contact me to let me know you’d like to take part.

That’s all the news for now. We look forward to seeing you soon.

Best wishes from Stuart, Mark and the Committee