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Tonnerre visitors welcomed to Nenagh
(10/07/2010)
There was a particular joie de vivre about Nenagh last month when the town once again hosted a successful visit from its twinned town of Tonnerre, with over 30 visitors from the French town spending a week with their host families in Nenagh and surrounding areas.
This year’s visit saw 15 new people come to Nenagh, including the Mayor of Tonnerre, Andre Fourcade, and his wife, Michel. It is the first time since the twinning was set up 20 years ago that the mayor has visited Nenagh, and will no doubt cement relationships between the towns even further.
The Nenagh-Tonnerre Twinning Committee, comprising Tom Ryan, chair, Ber Slattery, secretary, and Tony McCormack, treasurer, certainly had a packed itinerary for the visitors, with the group being given a civic welcome by Nenagh Mayor Cllr Hughie McGrath in the Civic Offices. Mayor McGrath welcomed the group to the town, especially the new visitors and wished them a good visit. He presented them with a scroll to commemorate their visit. Town manager Marcus O’Connor, in fluent French, also welcomed them.
While the group made visits to places to such as Limerick, Galway and Lismore in Waterford, the highlights of the trip were the Irish evening hosted by James Kelly in Una Powell’s, with everybody been entertained by musicians and set dancers and enjoying a fabulous barbecue, and the tour of Nenagh Heritage Centre and castle, led by Arlene White. This was followed by a tour of St Mary of the Rosary Church. Many French people living in Nenagh, as well as French teachers from local schools, took the time to come to Una Powell’s to meet the Tonnerre visitors. The group and their host families also enjoyed a wonderful banquet and more entertainment in the Thatch Cottage, Ballycommon.
Indeed, after his visit to Nenagh Heritage Centre, Mayor Fourcade said he was impressed with the amount of heritage and culture Nenagh had on its doorstep and he had learned a lot about local history. Mayor Fourcade, along with Mayor McGrath, started the Lions Club cycling tour of Nenagh from MacDonagh GAA complex on Sunday morning. The mayor is no stranger to starting cycle events as Tonnerre hosted a stage finish and start of last year’s Tour de France and Mr Fourcade did the honours for that, too.
Following the visit to the heritage centre, Cllr Virginia O’Dowd brought the visitors to Nenagh library to see some of the art on show by local artists. The visitors then spent the afternoon sampling the shops and cafes in Nenagh. Individual host families also took time to show their visitors the delights of Nenagh and surrounding areas, with trips to the Silvermines, Garrykennedy and Dromineer, among other places.
At the banquet in the Thatch Cottage, Tom Ryan spoke of the benefits the twinning had had for both towns, especially from a host family perspective whereby people had made lasting friendships.
He said that the twinning was about people getting to know other people and learning from each other, and he encouraged more people to get involved.
He made various presentations to Michel Verger, chair of the Tonnerre group, on behalf of Nenagh and the twinning committee and also welcomed Josette Boisheau, one of the original signatures of the twinning accord 20 years ago.
Michel Verger spoke on how delighted they were all to be in Nenagh and how much the visit to the town every second year meant to Tonnerre.
He thanked the committee and all the host families for once again welcoming them into their homes and said that he knew that they would all bring a piece of Nenagh back to Tonnerre with them.
Nenagh will visit Tonnerre next July and anybody wishing to get involved and to come along on trip can contact any member of the twinning committee.
Caption: The Nenagh-Tonnerre Twinning Committee and Nenagh Town Council accorded a civic welcome to a group of over 30 visitors from the French town at the Civic Offices last month. Photograph: Bridget Delaney. |
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