France/ Four volunteers raise awareness of their village

The Contres d'hier et d'aujourd'hui association has just been created on the initiative of several local couples. Its aim is to raise awareness of the village, which is part of Saint-Cosme-en-Vairais (Sarthe).

Saint-Cosme-en-Vairais has a new association. Following a recent inaugural general meeting, the association Contres d'hier et d'aujourd'hui has been created. Its aim is to enhance the appeal of the village and attract even more visitors.

This association was born out of the desire of the four couples in the village who take on the task of illuminating the church and wash-house during the festive season", admits Stéphane Chaumier. He adds: "By federating into an association, we hope to expand our activities and apply for grants to finance our projects to enhance our village.

Numerous projects

Volunteers will continue to develop the end-of-year illuminations. "We're also going to put up a big Christmas tree this year. We want to decorate the mailboxes of village residents, set up a permanent exhibition in the public park about the Bisson family who left Contres for Canada, and enter into a partnership with theassociation Patrimoine du Vairais for certain operations, create a fresco on the water tower and propose a different decoration for the washhouse for each new season of the year", explains Stéphane Chaumier.

Call for volunteers

At present, the association has four members. But the volunteers know that there's strength in numbers. So they've just launched a membership campaign. We hope that many people will join us," says the volunteer.

In the meantime, the board of the new association can count on the support of the Saint-Cosme-en-Vairais town council. All the more motivation for the volunteers, who will soon be getting to work on the illuminations and end-of-year decorations. We hope they'll attract a lot of visitors again," concludes Stéphane Chaumier.

The board is composed as follows. President: Stéphane Chaumier. Vice-President: Michel Bretteau. Treasurer: Sylvain Gordien. Secretary: Michèle Rocton.

Source: www.ouest-france.fr/