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 Scout and About in France - 'A
Weekend to Remember'
After forty years in the business of school travel, Euroculture achieved another milestone with our first Scout Group visit to France. Forty
Scouts from the Apollo Explorer Group, Gravesend District, crossed the Channel to
Normandy for the 2006 Remembrance weekend with some extra special events
arranged by Euroculture.
On 11th November, after joining locals at a
church service, the Scouts laid a wreath at the War Memorial before being
welcomed by the Mayor of Bernieres at a reception at the Hôtel de Ville.
The following day, the group explored the Normandy Beaches and then met and
exchanged pennants with a local senior Scout group in the city of Caen. The
Scouts stayed at Bernieres, one of a selection of centres available in this region. Euroculture are already busy planning the
Scouts' 2007 overseas adventure!
The Scout
Leader's Journal - Remembrance in Normandy 2006
"On Friday 10th November 2006, 44 Explorer Scouts and leaders from Apollo and
Kipling units met at Hopehill, the district scout camp site in Gravesend, Kent,
at 7.30am, for the start of our remembrance trip to the Normandy beaches. It was
cold as we stood expecting the normal scout trip bone shaker with no radio and
no heating. We were pleasantly surprised when into the site pulled a brand new
executive coach with all the mod cons, DVD player with plasma screens,
tea/coffee machine and air conditioning. We set off for the channel tunnel. It
was a good job the coach had rear wheel steering as it was a squeeze to get big
coaches on board the Shuttle.
 On the way down to Bernières we watched the film the “Longest Day” to help put
us in the mood for what was to come. It was a long drive down through France and
it was not until about 8.30pm that we finally arrived at our youth hostel.
Thankfully our evening meal was ready and waiting for us. Every meal was a 3
course spread. The best thing was no cooking or washing up!
On Saturday morning we all walked down to Juno beach. On the way down we could
see some bullet holes left in the buildings. On the beach we took our shoes off
and waded out into the sea. We then turned round to look back at the gun emplacements that the troops would have faced so many years ago. Finally we went
and looked around the gun emplacements where a French Canadian veteran came and
spoke to us.
We returned to our youth hostel to get ready for the church service and parade
with the Mayor only to find out that the vicar was sick and the church service
was cancelled. So off to the beach again, in uniform this time, to have our own
impromptu 'Scouts Own' by the beach memorial and lower our flag for the 2 minute
silence. We then took part in Bernières’ wreath laying ceremony back at the
church before going to the Mairie for drinks and nibbles and exchanging gifts
and having lots of photographs taken with the Mayor and the soldier cadets.
After lunch we were off again, this time to Gold Beach to see the gun in
placements overlooking what was Mulberry Harbour. Here we meet some more
veterans who took the time to talk to us. From here we went on to the Omaha
Beach and cemetery where there are over 9500 American soldiers buried. On our
way back to the youth hostel we watched “Saving Private Ryan” which really
started to make things more real. In the evening we went to see a local scout
group in Caen. They seemed a little overwhelmed to see so many of us but made us
very welcome.
 On
Sunday morning we went to Sword Beach where Lord Lovett commandos came ashore on
their way to relieve the troops that had landed at Pegasus Bridge. At Pegasus
Bridge we walked around the glider landing site and were astonished at how close
they landed to the bridges. We walked across the bridge to the famous cafe and
met Madame Gondrée who was only 6 years old at the time of the landings. She
invited us all into her café and talked to us about what it was like under
German occupation and what is was like to be liberated. We then had a guided
tour of the Pegasus Bridge museum to see and hear more about the operation.
Finally we drove up the road to the British cemetery at Ranville where there are
over 2500 British troops buried. Here we looked for a grave of a solider with
our own surname to leave our poppies on. This was extremely moving as some of us
found graves of soldiers with the same initials and the same age. Those that
could not find their own name looked for a relative’s name or the grave of and
unknown solider. Everybody left there with a tear in their eye and so many
memories that will never be forgotten.
Special thanks go to:
Derek and his team at Euroculture who helped plan and organise the trip, Andy from Buzz Line coaches for driving us round France and introducing us to
Madame Gondrée who took us into her home and then took time to talk to us all."
Andrew Martin (E.S.L. Apollo)
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