CAPPOQUIN CIVIC LINK

St. Patrick's Day 2008

Children from Cappoquin and Modeligo sent Greetings for St. Patrick's Day to the pupils of the schools in Cappoquin's twin town, Chanat la Mouteyre. The French students were delighted to receive a Card each along with  St. Patrick's Day badges kindly donated by Tom Kelleher of Supervalu, Cappoquin. On  Saturday 15th March the children, along with their parents and many locals, were led by the traditional Auvergne musicians, Tournelune, on a "Balade" through the village with many stops for stories and songs, some of which were performed in English by the pupils.

Click on a picture above to see the pictures of the parade in Chanat

The Chanatois had made a tremendous effort to produce very varied and colourful costumes so that the narrow streets were filled with waves of green and orange.The weather was very kind and reached an unseasonal 22 centigrade in the afternoon, a great contrast with the temperatures we have to endure presently in Ireland. The happy throng sang and danced from the Salle des Fetes at the top of the village, past the local school with a stop at the Mairie for a group photo and on to the  Poste des Pompiers and the Eglise where we were entertained with more stories and songs. The parade finished at the Chateau des Milles Sources where the children had a party with food and drink provided by the Comité de Jumelage. The music and dancing continued almost until midnight in the chateau which had been transformed into a little piece of Ireland. Cappoquin Civic Link presented the President of Chanat's Twinning Committee with shamrock on a specially commissioned commemorative plate of Ring Crystal.

In April, Cappoquin will say Cead Mille Failte to Eric Pichon and his family from Chanat as they enjoy a week discovering the local attractions and hopefully more visitors will follow throughout the summer. Plans are also being made by a group from Chanat who are studying English to come over later in the year, possibly after October.

For next year Civic link would like to encourage a group from Cappoquin to travel to Chanat to join in the St. Patrick's Day festivities in our twin town. The Chanatois make great efforts to celebrate our National Feast Day and would be delighted to be able to include again  Irish musicians and dancers as they did last year. Cappoquin does not have a parade locally but no-one could enjoy better "Craic" than was found in Chanat on St Patrick's Weekend this year.

The previous exchange between our communities was in September 2007 when nine people travelled to Chanat where four local Firemen attended the French National Firemen's Congress in Clermont. All enjoyed the wonderful hospitality of the Chanatois and planning for a visit of our friends to Cappoquin in 2008 was begun.

Trois jeunes, Mlles Aisling FENNELL, Clodagh MURPHY et M. Stephen MC KELVIE
étaient encadrés par Mlle Kelley GARDINER et M.Keith DRANSFIELD à Chanat en 2007

The following account of a previous exchange was published in the "Info Express" newsletter of Chanat.

Quinze Chanatois et voisins de la communauté de communes "Volvic, Sources et Volcans" se sont rendus en Irlande à l'invitation de nos amis de Cappoquin.
Après un voyage agréable et sympathatique,·malgré les grèves des transports, ils ont été acceuillis à l'aéroport de Cork par une grande banderole de bienvenue.
Reçus dans les familles irlandaises, ils ont ainsi partagé leur vie quotidienne durant trois jours, s'immergeant dans la culture irlandaise, ses sites naturels, ses bourgs et ses curiosités.
Au-delà du dépaysement, de la différence linguistique, les chanatois ont été unanimement impressionnés par la sincérité et la chaleur de l'accueil amical et familial.
Malgré la courte durée du sejour, chacun est retourné avec une impression de plénitude et de bonheur et c'est la gorge serrée qu'ils se sont séparés de leurs hôtes.
Ce voyage, tout en permettant aux participants de mieux se connaître, leur a donné une occasion unique de visiter l'Irlande de l'intérieur d'appréhender et comparer les modes de vie, les préoccupations, les atouts et les faiblesses de nos pays respectifs.
Quatre jours qui laisseront au coeur des participants de moments très forts, la certitude d'avoir trouvé au-delà des océans, un témoignage d'amitié.
A tous ceux qui n'ont pas encore eu l'occasion de découvrir le "charme irlandais", il ne leur reste plus qu'à manifester leur souhait auprès du Comité de Jumelage et pour prendre patience de se verser un verre de Guinness en écoutant 'Danny Boy' par les Dubliners.

"To the house of a friend, the road is never long".