France/Twinning between Le Mas-d'Agenais and Biesheim: elected representatives unanimously in favor of relaunching school exchanges
14 elected representatives from Le Mas-d'Agenais and 10 from Biesheim met for an extraordinary meeting of both town councils on Saturday August 16.
14 elected representatives from Le Mas-d'Agenais and 10 from Biesheim met early Saturday afternoon, August 16, in the municipal park of the town hall, for an extraordinary meeting of the two town councils, chaired by the two mayors: Claude Lagarde and Gérard Hug. Such is the tradition, part of the program of festivities for the renewal of the twinning oath since 1969. The agenda for this extraordinary town council meeting included the 2029 twinning, school exchanges and the Venteuilh gîtes.
All elected representatives were unanimous in their support for the revival of school exchanges. "Although directives from the French Ministry of Education have temporarily suspended exchanges since 2024, it is now essential to relaunch this dynamic and breathe new life into our joint projects," said Gérard Hug. Why not propose an ideas competition for young people to imagine the future of twinning? I'd like to encourage teachers to get involved in this educational process".
Gîtes
Other ideas were put forward during the meeting, such as the possibility of organizing exchanges outside the school setting, to avoid the constraints of the Académie.Other ideas put forward at the meeting included the idea of setting up exchanges outside the school setting, to avoid constraints with the Académie, but also to consider setting up exchanges with the Amicale laïque youth center. "A youth center is being set up in Biesheim for 11-18 year-olds", confirmed the Alsatian mayor.
The Venteuilh gîtes are managed by a syndicate made up of the two communes, while rentals are partly administered by the Gîtes de France association. Total rental income in 2024 amounted to 35,047 euros. For the period from January1 to August 8, 27,296 euros in revenues were recorded, for an occupancy rate of 30%. Interior renovation work on the last three gîtes (La Pie, Le Geai, Le Mésange) cost 16,000 euros.
Source: www.sudouest.fr/
