The last weekend was special one for the I for India community, with our Christmas markets visit to Lille in privately hired coaches on the Eurostar. This newsletter is a post event update of this very successful and enjoyable event.
What begins well, ends well… as with all our events, all our patrons kept their time promise and started arriving by 8 am on the Saturday morning at the St Pancras International rail terminal. To allow for a smooth checking in, seat numbers were allocated and the physical tickets distributed to all patrons well ahead of the journey date. Also, all little groups were carefully considered and seats allocated accordingly so all groups (men, women and children) had their best and most familiar company alongside in the journey to Lille.
The trip attracted patrons from all corners of London and even further afield – for instance Colchester, Newbury…. a good 60 miles or 2 hours from Kings Cross. This clearly shows the commitment and eagerness of our patrons to join in the community fun despite the physical distances – thanks once again to all our patrons for their unflinching support to our events which helped us deliver another packed and successful event.
The 90 minute journey to Lille seemed like a breeze with the patrons engrossed in catching up with their mates or making new friends and acquaintances at the start of this journey. The patrons also received a surprise welcome and visit from our very own Santa on the Eurostar, who greeted everyone on both the coaches and distributed goodies to all the children on board.
The market town of Lille was very conveniently placed, with the main Christmas markets square only a few minutes walk from the rail station. The market town was in full festive mood, with amusement rides, games and a whole host of interesting stalls for food, arts and craft, etc. Furthermore, there was also a busy High Street leading to the Christmas Market square and a large mall just outside the station, so enough to keep our patrons busy the entire day.
What worked really well was that there wasn’t a fixed routine for the group to follow at Lille, which meant patrons could spend spent the day at their own pace, interest and group of choice. We re-convened at the station back in the evening at around 7:30 pm, here again thanks to the time discipline of everyone which allowed us all get through immigration and board our coaches at 8:30 pm. By the time of the return journey, most people knew everyone on board and many had made a number of new friends and acquaintances from the day in Lille. We also had a timely arrival back in London, concluding a very memorable and festive day.
From start to close of the journey, we were blessed to have a very smooth day without any hiccups or incidents, even the weather at Lille was good for what was a day largely spent outdoors. Our thanks again to our patrons for all their support and co-operation to make this another successful event !!