Jumelages Galway Meeting in Belfast in September 2015
Jumelages Galway hosted a meeting in Belfast from the 16 – 21 September 2015. In all 47 people attended this meeting comprising of representatives from the Bonn Section, Nord Isere Section, La Rochelle Section, Bielsko Biala Section and Swindon, in addition to a large contigent from the hosting Galway Section.
We were delighted and honoured to have Marian Fabian, President of Euro Jumelages, and a great friend of Jumelages Galway for many years, in attendance. The President of the Bonn Section, Peter Backes and Adrian Harney, President of Galway Section signed a Jumelages Partnership Agreement acknowledging the great friendship between our two sections.
This was the first occasion that a Jumelages Meeting was hosted in Northern Ireland and it proved to be a most interesting location. The programme for the visit was exciting with something to suit all interests.
Some people considered the visit to the Titanic Centre to be the highlight, other were very impressed with the guided bus tour along the Falls Road and Shankill. The visit to the Giant’s Causeway and the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge with a stop off in Ballycastle was the highlight for some. Others found the guided tour of Parliament Buildings in Stormont to be most memorable as was the guided tour of Belfast City Hall. We included a trip to Armagh with visits to St Patrick’s Cathedral and the Navan Centre and Fort. Our time in Belfast provided all with an opportunity to meet old friends and make new friends and this is always the most important part of our meetings. The visit coincided with Culture Day in Belfast with extensive street entertainment into the early hours of the morning and we also experienced events at the Culture Day in the small town of Bushmills.
All visiting sections complemented the Galway Section on the excellent and well organised programme. Members thoroughly enjoyed the visit to Belfast which included great friendships, good craic; music, song, good food and whiskey; as well as visits to the top tourist attractions in Belfast and Northern Ireland.
