La cérémonie des vœux

The mairie popped in this afternoon. He wanted to know if we were going to join the ‘Cérémonie des vœux’ this evening. We felt that it was more than a request, so we dutifully agreed to go. It was to start at 18.30, and we were due at our friends for dinner at 19.00, so we would need to explain we may be a little late.

We headed to our little town hall, not expecting very much at all, but surprisingly there was actually quite a large number of people present, probably around 40, and considering our village has only approximately 220 inhabitants, we were suitably impressed.

The mayor kicked off, introducing the achievements of 2024, which included some renovations to the little town hall (which included new windows) and the introduction of a restricted speed limit of 30km/hour within the village.

After this he briefly mentioned the report that had been delivered in the autumn, with regard to the cost of repairing and renovating the church.

He then Introduced a local government representative, to share some details on financial support for the village. This was less cheery, because, as far as we could understand, it is all now spent or accounted for. Lastly they shared details on a new medical or doctors surgery to be created in Essoyes.

It was all very interesting to learn more about what happens on a local scale, and it certainly brought the village together and hopefully focussed them all on the challenges ahead.