I’m not sure this is the right category to start this thread but I’m sure someone will move it if not!
This is really for people new to living in France or who are struggling to integrate into French life, or are feeling isolated so the rest of you, please forgive me if it’s not appropriate to you.
We’ve become increasingly aware over the years that Anglophones, especially retired ones, can have difficulty in integrating into their local village/town society. We’ve come to the conclusion that some of this is because they are not aware of the importance of Associations in French social life. They don’t exist in the UK in the kind of form they are in France and hence either people don’t know about them or they are wary of them, not knowing what they are or how they function.
Associations, for those who don’t know, are an important structure in France and are supported by the local Mairie, to a greater or lesser extent depending on the Mairie. They are created to provide facilities/activities/interest groups of various sorts and have official recognition. In the case of our commune, the Mairie actively supports them to the point of giving grants to get them going.
Younger people moving to France, especially with children, are likely to be very aware of Associations, since these are the organisations that provide after school activities for children, mainly, but not entirely, sports-based in my experience so far.
However, there are usually lots of ones covering activities for adults, from former combattants groups, through support of the elderly, to photographic clubs, dance groups, choirs…you name it! They are all the sorts of things that exist in other countries but not all under one structure umbrella (so easy to find out what exists). It is also fairly straightforward to create one if your interests aren’t covered. The Mairie will support/ publicise it.
What prompted this post is that we had a stand for our French/English conversation group a week ago in our village Forum des Associations and yesterday at the local bigger town. Despite the fact that there are, apparently 100 British citizens in the village and this was the time when all Associations got together in the sports centres to show off their wares, I spotted not one Brit in the village one apart for the members of our little group who came to help on the stand. The same happened in the bigger one yesterday. We found one Australian who made it clear he wasn’t interested in us - fair enough - and that was it.
Just to say that, if you are new in France or not-so-new but haven’t been really aware of Associations, why not go to your local Mairie and ask for a list? Ours produces a nice booklet with descriptions and contact details in but I haven’t so far come across a Mairie that doesn’t have at least a list!