Guildhall meeting called to set up formal twinning association to cement friendship link with Barfleur

A MEETING at Lyme Regis next week is excepted to say “oui” to setting up a French twinning link.

The resort is hoping to formalise its partnership with the Normandy fishing port of Barfleur some time next year.

Now the steering group will hold its first annual meeting in The Guildhall on Thursday, October 6, when it is planned to appoint officers and set up a Lyme Regis Twinning Association to take the scheme forward.

Anyone interested in joining the group is invited to the meeting which starts at 7.30pm.

The steering group was formed just over a year ago, and since then a party from Lyme Regis has visited Barfleur, and some two weeks ago six Barfleur residents made the return visit.

Sheila Poupard, chairman of the Lyme Regis steering group, told The Herald: ”We would be delighted to see as many people as possible at the annual meeting. There is no need to speak fluent French, just a desire to get to know a small town in France and to meet its very friendly residents.

“We hope that many organisations in Lyme Regis such as schools, the sailing club and the RNLI may wish to form links with similar groups in the delightful coastal village of Barfleur.“

* Barfleur originally contacted Lyme Regis Town Council to ask about the possibility of twinning two years ago. A town meeting then resolved to progress the plan and the steering group was formed.