CONTACT 2026
“ Contact” is the name given to our long-running European Exchange with Rotary Clubs from France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland.
This time the “get-together” was in France. Click the picture to see an informal photo-album of the event or read more for a fuller story of the event.
A group of 15 Banbury Rotarians and partners, including current President Nigel Randall and incoming President Mark Hughes, joined around 100 fellow Rotarians from Germany, Italy and Switzerland to visit our French “contact club” during May 2026. The official visit to the Rotary Club of Villefranche en Beaujolais fell between Thursday May 14th and Sunday May 17th (being the traditional date of the Ascension Thursday Bank Holiday across much of northern Europe). However, given the extra distances to cover compared to our European counterparts, many of the Brits left home on Monday 11th May!
Of those travelling from the UK, 7 opted for the “Brits on Tour” road trip and headed out through the Channel Tunnel from Folkestone on Le Shuttle, with a couple of overnight stops. The remaining 8 travellers journeyed by a mixture of trains and planes, some taking in various stopovers to extend their stays.
Our eventual rendezvous point was the Hotel Plaisance in Avenue de la Liberation, where those of us not staying with French host families enjoyed a comfortable 3-night stay. As is traditional on the first evening of any Contact visit, our group was separated and taken off to various homes or restaurants by our hosts, for smaller group dining and a chance to meet Rotarians from other nations.
On Friday morning 3 coachloads left the hotel at 9am prompt, for a walking tour of Old Lyon (listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site). The trip included a tour of the "Traboules". The name is from the Latin "trans ambulare" (pass through) and these are shortcuts linking streets through one or more buildings. This was followed by the stunning Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière and the Gallo-Roman Museum and Ancient Theatre. Being Brits though, we just had to take our own weather system along and enjoyed a full-on soaking whilst trying to cross the main bridge back over the river Saone to our lunch spot. After our whistle-stop tour we were whisked back to our hotel for a swift change of clothes and out for dinner.
Dinner on our second night was served at the wine estate Domaine Albert, located in Pommiers, in the heart of the Beaujolais and Pierres Dorées regions. This was an everyone together event, which included one of our members receiving the honour of becoming a Beaujolais companion! The Ordre des Compagnons du Beaujolais is an esteemed French organization dedicated to promoting the wines of the region.
On Saturday morning it was a case of donning our walking shoes for a guided trek up The Roche de Solutré, a limestone escarpment just west of Mâcon. Occupied by humans for at least 55,000 years, it has attracted media coverage since the 1980s, when French President François Mitterrand began his annual ritual ascent of the peak. It was a tough hike for some of us but worth the effort for the views it afforded. This was followed by wine tasting and lunch in a vineyard, being in the heart of the Pouilly-Fuissé wine appellation!
The Saturday evening Gala Dinner is always the culmination of a Contact visit and the venue Salle des Échevins (a former hospital) did not disappoint. With over 160 hosts and guests assembled for a night of fine wining and dining it was clear to see that the entente cordiale is alive and well, as the whole assembly joined together to sing a moving rendition of John Lennon’s Imagine.
Contact 26 was another fabulous annual event, which is unique in the world of Rotary in bringing 5 nations together, as it has every year (other than 2020) since its inception in 1948. The baton is now handed over to our Italian friends in Biella for Contact 2027.