Those of you who idle away your time looking at the club calendar will have noticed that Hardelot Kite Festival is in September this year. It is on 26th/27th September, the same dates as Wattlehurst Steam rally.

Those of you who have been around for a while will know that Bill, Matt and I like to pop over to France every so often - to fly kites, eat some fine food and restock the wine cellar.In the past, we used to also have a Christmas dinner, but trying to organise it usually meant we ended up having Christmas dinner at any time other than Christmas, and usually a few years late!

For about the last 4 or 5 years we have popped over to France to combine our Christmas festivities with some other kite activity. For the last 2 years we have invited other club members to join us for Christmas lunch and a bit of kite flying.

This year it has been suggested that we combine Christmas lunch with our annual trip to Hardelot Kite Festival. For those who have not been before. Hardelot Kite Festival is one of the smaller French beach festivals - smaller in terms of attendance, not size of the beach!So I suspect we will go over on Saturday 26th September. As usual, it is up to individuals to make their own travel arrangements, just let us know if you are coming, so we know to let you know if there are last minute alterations (plague, tempest, swine flu, etc.) If you have not been to Hardelot before, it is just south of Boulogne and easily accessible by road. There is ample free parking by the beach.

To make life easier this year, you may be aware that LD lines have started a ferry service from Dover to Boulogne. Bill ad I used this for our trip to Berck festival this year and were most impressed. They are now adding an additional "fast ferry" increasing the number of crossings and reducing the crossing time, but still very economical. Hope to see some new faces on the beach and in the restaurant. Families are welcome!