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

Dear SHTA Friends,

There is an almost believable reason why the January newsletter has morphed into the February newsletter: Sandra and I went to Paris and Versailles to celebrate her birthday and we were obliged to stay rather longer than planned owing to Eurostar’s cancellation of trains due to the inclement weather. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

Following our extremely enjoyable January film, ‘Intouchables’, we’re looking forward to the next on the list: we shall be screening ‘Un Prophète’ on Wednesday 13th February, as usual at the Empire Cinema in Sandwich. Here’s a review of the 2010 film from the Guardian:

“(Un Prophète is) a blisteringly powerful prison-gangster picture from the French director Jacques Audiard. It comports itself like a modern classic from the very first frames, instantly hitting its massively confident stride. This is the work of the rarest kind of film-maker, the kind who knows precisely what he is doing and where he is going. The film’s every effect is entirely intentional.”

 And the film critic Roger Ebert sums it up thus:

 “The movie, one of this year’s foreign film Oscar nominees, follows the life of Malik, a young Frenchman of Arab descent, who enters prison as a naive outsider and is shaped into an evil, adult criminal. He wasn’t born evil; he was born a shy, passive loser. Prison made him all that he can be. He seems an unlikely protagonist for a prison movie. Played by Tahir Rahim, he’s skinny, insecure, trying to raise a moustache. He’s behind bars for unclear reasons; he claims he’s innocent, although it doesn’t matter. Prison efficiently strips him of privacy and self-respect and serves him over to the Corsican gang that controls everything behind bars through violence and bribes.”

 ‘Un Prophète’ won an incredible 9 Césars in 2010, including the award for Best Film.

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.

Those of you chomping at the bit to write the remaining film titles in your Member’s Card need wait no longer! Here are the names for films from February to May:

Wednesday 13th February:      Un Prophète

Wednesday 13th March:           Les Visiteurs

Wednesday 17th April:             The Singer

Wednesday 15th May:              Monsieur Lazhar

As you will have read in December’s newsletter, we have decided to start a system whereby SHTA members can hire a DVD previously shown on a film night at the Empire, either one we’ve screened since last September or dating back several years. You can do this for a mere £5: SHTA committee member, Siobhan Hughes, has compiled a record of all of these DVDs and will be able to send you, through the post, the film you wish to see in a Jiffy bag (to be posted back to Siobhan afterwards). If you’re interested contact Siobhan at shivhughes@hotmail.com.

Prior to our January film the SHTA calendar year began with a Newcomers’ Get-together at the King’s Arms on Thursday 10th January when the committee were delighted to meet and have a drink and chat with 19 people who have become new members of SHTA during the course of the past year (this didn’t include a further 7 new members who said they would have liked to attend but weren’t able to). They now have some idea of what they’ve let themselves in for!

A week later, on Thursday 17th January, Sandwich Library hosted us for the introduction of ‘Une Heure de Conversation’: seventeen people, 11 SHTA members and 6 other members of the public who had responded to the Library notice, came along for a fairly informal session of French conversation. Two further Thursday afternoons (2.00 – 3.00 pm) have seen similar numbers where around four separate groups allow those participating to lead the conversation where they choose; there’s only one basic rule: ‘il n’y a pas de Brexit!’. Do come along if you’d like to.

One point of information which I’d like to pass on to you is that we have agreed to sponsor the Modern Languages Prize for 2019 at Sandwich Technology College. We have done this a couple of years ago and the College has asked us if we would like to resume our sponsorship which we are only too happy to do; therefore, we shall be donating £50 for the award of the prize.

Looking ahead now to SHTA social events and dates for your diary, some highlights are as follows:

• 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. Steve Laslett and Siobhan Matthews are kicking things off with the first Chez Nous on Friday 22nd February. If you would like to offer a date and suggest how many guests you could cater for, please let me know.
• Committee members, Lynne and David Hammond, are organising a ‘Boules & Bangers’ evening: it’ll 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 obligatory 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.
• Last year we took a coach load of SHTA members, family and friends to Calais and Wimereux for a day-trip; this year we are planning a similar venture to Calais and Saint Omer on Saturday 18th May; further details will come your way very soon but the likely price per head is £25, so let me know if you’re interested.
• I’m pleased to say that the number of people wanting to take part in our Visit to Honfleur has risen to 29, so there are 19 places remaining. As you probably know by now, this particular exchange, from Thursday 20th – Sunday 23rd June, celebrates the 60th anniversary of our link with Honfleur so it promises to be rather special. Again, if you’d like to be involved please do get in touch with me.
• Our Vice-Chairman, David Hammond, has been very active on securing publicity and media coverage for SHTA: our local free magazines are both starting to include features about our activities and the East Kent Mercury last week had a photo and article publicising our recent New Members’ Get-together. As they say, read all abaht i’!

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

Best wishes, Stuart and the Committee