Dear SHTA Members & Friends,

I hope that you’re well and that the driest March in over 60 years isn’t followed by an equally wet April; the signs are promising so far.

In Honfleur, Normandy and France:

Keen gardeners will no doubt be interested in the 19th Passionnément Jardin during the Easter weekend (Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th April) which takes place in Honfleur’s Jardin Public de Boulevard Charles V (also known as “Le Jardin Retrouvé”)

This is a renowned spring event in Normandy, where 80 professionals and garden enthusiasts will provide a colourful display in a public setting.

April is the perfect time to visit the Jardin des Personnalités, a beautiful garden dedicated to famous figures who have contributed to the cultural heritage of Honfleur. In April, the garden bursts into life with a riot of colourful spring blooms, including tulips, daffodils, and hyacinths. Visitors can stroll through the garden’s winding paths, admire the vibrant flowers, and enjoy the peaceful ambiance of this unique outdoor space.

In France Pâques (Easter) is celebrated in much the same way as it is in England although Good Friday (Vendredi Saint) is not regarded as a public holiday. On Easter Day the French traditionally cook a large Easter meal with a leg of lamb (gigot d’agneau).

In France, it is not the Easter Bunny that distributes Easter Eggs but magical holy bells (with little wings) called ‘les cloches de Pâques’ – that have been blessed by the Pope.

The Easter Bunny, by the way, derives from the tale of Ostara, the ancient Germanic goddess of the spring transforming a bird into a hare. The hare then responded by laying coloured eggs for Ostara’s festival.

The Roman Catholic Church forbade the consumption of eggs during Lent (le Carême) so it was tradition to have crêpes on Shrove Tuesday (Mardi Gras). At the end of the 40 days in which hens continued to lay eggs there was a surplus that needed to be eaten – hence the popularity of Easter Eggs although traditionally these would, of course, not have been chocolate ones!”

Many thanks, as usual, to Vice-Chair, Mark Moorhouse, for the introduction above.

What’s happening in the Sandwich Honfleur Twinning Association?

Our next social event is the French film for April; this month at the Empire Cinema we’ll be screening ‘L’Enfant Sauvage’ on Wednesday 16th April. This 1970 historical drama is directed by François Truffaut, one of the founders of the French New Wave.

The film is based on a true story. It takes place in 1798, when the wild child of the title – a boy of about age eleven – is discovered living like an animal in the woods. He can’t walk upright or speak, and he appears to be deaf. He quickly becomes a celebrity freak, and some lazy doctors decide that he’s beyond help, but Dr. Itard (François Truffaut) starts to take an interest, believes that he can civilise the boy, whom he calls Victor, educates him, and his love and patience pay off.

It’s likely that Truffaut, who loved films and loved being a film director, was looking at the relationship between actor and director. So, in casting himself as Itard, he saw the character as a kind of director, working with an actor, shaping his performance and pushing it in demanding and even cruel directions for the sake of great art.

The film’s running time is 90 minutes and it has a PG classification.

If you’d like to reserve your place for our film in April please send me an email on stuartpjones100@yahoo.co.uk. Admission to film nights remains at £7.50 per head and priority will be given to members who book in advance. You can pay in advance online to SHTA, account number: 42027168; sort code: 30-90-09. Alternatively, you can pay by cash or card on the night at the cinema.

Our two remaining films for the 2024-2025 season are as follows:

• Wednesday 14th May : ‘Coup de Chance’, a 2023 comedy-drama-thriller, written and directed by Woody Allen. A young married woman runs into an old school friend and is immediately smitten. The two friends grow increasingly close, eventually leading to infidelity and even a crime.

• Wednesday 11th June: ‘Va Savoir’, a 2001 romantic comedy-drama film directed by Jacques Rivette, and entered into the 2001 Cannes Film Festival. The story of the three couples in the film has two principals who perform each night and follows the structure of a Goldoni comedy, in which couples undergo misunderstandings and attraction for others until the final resolution.

We’d like to thank all of you who suggested film titles for the 2024-2025 season and invite you to do the same for our 2025-2026 programme. As you know, we try to include a full range including some new and some from the past; historical, comedy, romantic, mystery and drama. Many thanks in advance if you’re able to contribute.

One week after our June film those who have signed up for this year’s Trip to Honfleur will be departing on the morning of Thursday 19th June. The group of 45 will be leaving Sandwich and heading for our beautiful twin town to spend three nights with their Normandy hosts. If you are amongst the 45, your details have been sent to the Honfleur Committee for the process of arranging hosting.

As preparation for our visit, there will be a Pre-Visit Meeting at St Mary’s Church in Sandwich on Wednesday 21st May from 7.00 – 8.00 pm. This will be an opportunity for those in the group to meet each other, go over the itinerary and to ask any questions.

A reminder that the cost of the trip is £140 which is due to SHTA by the end of April. You can use the same payment method as for film nights; our bank details are above at the end of information on this month’s film. Alternatively, you can make a payment to SHTA by cheque or cash to Steve Laslett, our Treasurer, at 104 St George’s Road, Sandwich.

Above is your SHTA Committee in their normal weekend attire! More accurately, this was at St Mary’s at the Halloween-themed joint Sandwich & Honfleur function back in the Autumn. Carly Cooper was off creating a witch’s brew, but, in case you can’t make out who’s who:

Back: Steve Thomson; Steve Laslett; Mark Moorhouse; Stuart Jones; Rick Ratcliffe.

Front: Siobhan Matthews; Christine Ratcliffe; Sandra Jones.

Prior to this year’s Trip to Honfleur and our June film, you’ll no doubt want to be in Sandwich on either Saturday 7th June or Sunday 8th June if not both for the 2025 version of ‘Le Weekend’. Organised for many years by Steve Laslett, the latter has decided to step down and our very own Mark Moorhouse has taken on the baton. If you think you’d be able to help towards organisation in advance or during the weekend itself, please do contact Mark or one of the SHTA Committee. The range of jobs include arranging shop window displays, contacting French traders, being the MC for stage acts, and being a marshall. On Mark’s behalf, a big thank you in advance.

The traditional SHTA Bangers & Boules Tournament takes place this year on Thursday 24th July at The Anchor Pub in Wingham. The clue is in the title for this event: there’s a round-robin tournament of the game of ‘boules’ or ‘pétanque’, followed by a meal inside the pub which includes sausages & mash with onion gravy and seasonal vegetables (or vegetarian option). It’s a chance to spend a relaxing few hours with other members, playing the game and chatting; so, if you’d like to take part, let me know as soon as possible since the numbers are limited to 16.

As announced in the March Newsletter, we have a change of venue for this year’s SHTA Christmas Dinner & Party: this year it will be held at The Bell Hotel in Sandwich on Thursday 11th December. I would encourage new members amongst you to sign up for this event (as well as longer-term members of course!), which is consistently a major highlight of the festive period. The upstairs dining room will be devoted solely to our SHTA group and can cater for 60-70 people. With all sorts of other competing events around this time of year, let me know sooner rather than later if you’d like to attend please.

That’s all the news for now; we look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at the Empire Cinema on Wednesday 16th April.

Stuart, Mark and the Committee.