St Germain goes upmarket

Last Saturday was an important day for St Germain du Bel Air.  The Mayor, Monsieur Labrande, invited the village for a walk down to the new Sewerage treatment works.  

This took a little while as there must have been about 200 people in all!

Once there the process was explained to everyone and then we could wander round.

The new 'Sewerage Works' serves the main village (who are on mains drainage) and uses a Reed-bed filtration system to purify the effluent before it is safely discharged into the river Céou.

The Mayor then gave a speech, followed by the regulation 3 other speeches by different invited dignitaries, which then allowed the 'official' opening and cutting of the ribbon !

But this was only the first phase of the day's excitement.  We all strolled back to the vllage hall, the Salle de Fête, which has been totally renovated. Before entering, everyone had to show their vaccination certificate, their Passe Sanitaire, to a security guard, hired especially for the occasion, and have thier hand inked to prove that they had been checked!
 This allowed the Mayor to give his second speech of the day, followed again by 3 other speeches before the second ribbon cutting of the day.

We were all finally allowed in to the hall to start the celebrations with an apéro, serenaded by a 3 piece band!

There was actually no limit to what or how many drinks you could have before everyone drifted into the main hall to find a place at a table. Lunch was a self-service Buffet of salads, cold meats, foie gras (naturally) and cheese, with dessert and coffee to follow.

All the time we were eating the band were playing till eventually some couples were up and dancing!

Despite what you can see in the photos, it wasn't just a lot of old fogeys !

We were so overwhelmed by this incredible display of 'community' that I had to keep explaining to our French friends sitting with us why Sue kept shedding a tear.  I had to explain that Sue was happy/ nostalgic/overcome with emotion when comparing this event with things we used to put on in England some 50 years ago in the village where Sue grew up .  And to explain that we felt this celebration would not be staged there now.

 It is so enriching to live  in a community where you know people and are known, where people take the time to greet you, where people are always ready to offer a helping hand.

These 2 projects have been completed at a cost of over 1 million euros but it shows that, in France, all levels of government are prepared to put money into maintaining small communities, in keeping alive a community spirit so that we are all proud to be St. Germinois !