SIR,

I am writing to express my gratitude to everyone who was involved in making Monmouth Children's Language Festival such a huge success last Saturday (16th July).

It is the generosity and willingness to participate in events like this that make Monmouth such a great place to live.

It gives it the warmth and sense of community that was noted and appreciated by the representatives from the European Commission who attended the language festival.

Twenty-eight shops joined in and hid flags and bears in their windows for the children's flag hunt, the Savoy Theatre hosted a free screening of Asterix and the Vikings, PGL facilitated games for the children in the morning on Chippenham despite the rain, and Twf ran a baby rhyme time session in Welsh.

Donations were received from Springfield Cider and Wye Valley Apiaries, among others.

Monmouth Town Council were incredibly supportive and assisted us in meeting the tight time frame for organising the event in the Shire Hall.

This ensured we were eligible for entering elements of the wider European campaign for early language learning, like this year's art competition.

The Mayor and other town councillors attended the language festival, as did David Davies, and we are grateful to all of them for making the time to support us.

It was a great honour to be selected to represent the UK in a campaign such as this and the level of attendance and support from local families prove their willingness to learn foreign languages.

We hope to be able to continue the momentum launched by this European campaign and that it will be possible to run future events and to engage with other organisations and schools.

Learning about other languages and cultures is an enriching experience and when it can take place in a fun and relaxed environment like this will, we hope, open many future opportunities to the young people of Monmouth.

Ceri Poyelle

(Sur le pont... Language Learning)