Dear SHTA Friends,

“What’s your name, boy?”; “Don’t tell him, Pike!” The memorable and classic reply by Captain Mainwaring in Dad’s Army from1973, in which Philip Madoc, I thought, was great as the U-boat captain putting names on his list. It came to mind when I was looking at reviews of this month’s film, “Ne le dis à Personne” (Tell No One). We’ll be screening this 2006 drama/mystery/suspense film on Wednesday 13th November at the Empire Cinema. The film was directed by Guillaume Canet, lasts 131 minutes and has a 15 rating by the British Board of Film Classification. Here’s a synopsis (one of the shorter ones!) from Rotten Tomatoes:

“An innocent man is on the run after he’s accused of murder and his spouse seemingly returns from the grave in this thriller. Alex Beck (François Cluzet) is a doctor who has slowly been putting his life back together after his wife Margot was murdered by a serial killer. Eight years on, Alexis doing well enough until he finds himself implicated in the murder of two people, with plenty of evidence pointing to him as the killer even though he knows nothing of the crimes. The same day, Alex receives an email that appears to be from Margot (Marie-Josée Croze), which includes a link to a video clip that seems to be recent and features his late wife looking alive and well. Margot’s message warns Alex that they are both being watched, and he struggles to stay one step ahead of the law as a gang of strong-arm men intimidate Alex’s friends into telling whatever they might know about him. Alex’s sister Anne (Marina Hands) persuades her well-to-do lover Hélène (Kristin Scott Thomas) to hire a well respected attorney, Elisabeth Feldman (Nathalie Baye), to handle Alex’s case. While Elisabeth tries to keep Alex out of jail, she learns that her client has a warrant out for his arrest, and Alex goes on the run while he and his lawyer struggle to find out the truth about the murder as well as Margot’s reappearance. Tell No One (Ne le dis à Personne) was based on the international best-selling novel by Harlan Coben.” Cluzet and Canet won the Césars in 2007 for Best Actor and Best Director respectively.

As for our first two films of this season, there will be cheese, biscuits and a bar available from 7.00 pm and the film will start at 7.30 pm. Tickets are £7.50 and to reserve a place for the film please email Jan Cooper on jannicooper@icloud.com. For anyone STILL to pay their annual SHTA Subscription could you please ensure that you do so asap, either by giving a cheque for £12.50 per head to Jan, or by bank transfer: the SHTA bank account number is 42027168 and sort code is 30-90-09. Thanks again, on behalf of the Committee, to all of you who have done just this.

A reminder that, by way of a weekly activity to keep your spoken French up to scratch, there are conversation sessions at Sandwich Library on a Thursday afternoon. These take place from 2.30 – 3.30 pm and are free.

Can I extend a big thank you, on behalf of the Committee, to all of you who have volunteered to spend some of your valuable time on one of the two SHTA Vin Chaud stalls on the afternoon and evening of the Christmas Lights Switch-On in Sandwich on Saturday 30th November. We’ve managed to fill all of the one-hour slots and have 35 of you turning up at hourly intervals to prepare our famous brew, persuade the public to part with their £2.50 per biodegradable cup and tell them what SHTA is all about; what a fantastic response and thank you all in advance.

What is SHTA all about then? Well, by way of a reminder, or if you’re not sure, the aims of our Association, as stated in our constitution, are as follows:

1. to promote and foster friendship and understanding between the people of Sandwich and District and those of Honfleur and France in general.
2. to encourage visits by individuals and groups of all ages to and from the linked towns, encourage the development of personal contacts, and, by so doing, broaden the mutual understanding of the cultural, recreational, educational and commercial activities of the linked towns.
3. to organise fund-raising activities to foster the aims of the Association.

We, as a Committee, have these principles at the forefront of anything we organise for the members and would like to hope that you think we achieve that, at least most of the time!

On that theme, can I please remind you about the annual SHTA Christmas Dinner & Party on Saturday 14th December at the King’s Arms in Sandwich. As in previous years, there will be a complimentary glass of fizz, a three-course meal, coffee & mints and various games and prizes during the course of the evening. The cost per head is £26.95 but, unlike in previous years, there will be a free bottle of wine per table of six. The menu for you to make your choices from is on our website, address at the end of this newsletter. We currently have 36 who have reserved places and, therefore, space for a further 14. I would suggest that you contact me asap if you’d like to come along and enjoy the festive fun SHTA-style!

What else are we up to at the moment?

1. Five of the Committee are attending the Remembrance Day Service at the War Memorial, laying a wreath on behalf of SHTA, on Sunday 10th November.
2. Our Vice Chairman, David Hammond and his wife, Lynne, also a committee member, are attending the Celebration of Achievement on Friday 22nd November at Sandwich Technology School, where SHTA is the sponsor of the Modern Foreign Languages Prize.
3. From Monday 11th November SHTA will have a French-themed Christmas tree in St Peter’s Church as part of the Sandwich Festival of Trees.

Moving into 2020 now and specifically April: Ann Clemence, one of our members, volunteers at the Salutation Gardens and they have a female French student coming to study there for the month of April. Do we have anyone amongst our membership who is able to offer accommodation for the month? If so, do please let me know so that Ann can contact the gardening team. Thank you.

And finally for now, another reminder about the visit to Sandwich of our friends from Honfleur from Friday 29th May – Monday 1st June. On the one hand this does seem a long way off and you haven’t even contemplated Christmas shopping yet! On the other hand there is quite a lot of organisation for a group visit of this kind, so, if you think you’d like to give it a whirl (it’s exactly the type of thing referred to in the aims of the Association mentioned above and you know you’d like to really!), then please do get in touch with Sandra or me.

That’s all for now. I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at Wednesday’s film.

Best wishes, Stuart and the Committee