I don’t know which is the bigger pile, the leaves stacked up outside our front gate or the Christmas cards on our coffee table, waiting to be written!

Don’t you think this is the best time of year for the plane trees? Bleached white bark with barely a leaf left on them – nude and quite majestic!
I think Autumn in the P-O is prettier than in any other part of the world. The sky is as blue as it was in full summer, the sun at midday casts a summer evening glow over everything and of course that glistening icy mountain, defining our life here.

Yesterday, as I walked along, an acorn dropped on my head – this probably explains all of the above!

Andy Paton

I’m sure many of you will remember Andy Paton who died a few weeks ago. He was known to quite a few people as he drove his ‘little white van’ which advertised CSF on its sides. Penny has written a nice tribute to him on the Forum.

Training courses

Our Training Lead, Rob Houghton, is setting up a couple of training sessions for Active Listeners.

27 & 28 February & 19 March
The first one will be an Initial Training Course for people who want to become Active Listeners. The venue has not been decided yet as Rob wants to get an idea of numbers before booking somewhere.

He is also considering a Refresher Course for Active Listeners. It will be run in each of the departments so P-O volunteers should not have far to travel. It will be 3 days, like the Initial Training Course, but the volunteers themselves can decide whether they want the course to run over 3 consecutive days, one day a week for 3 weeks, or 2 evenings a week for 3 weeks.

Anyone interested in either course should contact sud-robintraining@cancersupportfrance.org

Christmas cards

Our Christmas Cards are now on sale. Click on this link and have a look OR come to CERET or LAROQUE for the Drop In – see below. If you order online we will try our best to get them to you before Christmas.

Drop Ins

Wednesday 6 December, Pablo’s Bar, Céret, 10.30

Monday 18 December, Café des Artistes, Laroque des Albères, 10.15

There will be no Drop In at Prades this month