Les Petits Oiseaux

Wow.

What can we say? It was just an epic trip!

​ We still pinch ourselves at being involved in such a thing so we felt it fit to tell you the story about how our relationship with our French friends came about; things do tend to happen for a reason. We found out about the Levenmouth Twinning Association when we were asked to perform for French visitors to the area; word had got out and it was felt that our performance would work for such an occasion so we, of course, happily obliged when Linda Judge and Blair Denwette came a knockin'! We obviously thought this was going to be a small affair and showed up in our usual shirts, jeans, boots and hat; little did we know that the lovely Carol Fitzgerald of Lazy Sunday had put on an epic spread of fantastic locally sourced food and drink in her absolutely stunning venue for over twenty guests . . . including a mayor! The guests are from Bruges, which is a town right next to Bordeaux; it is not the Bruges that you perhaps first thought of, however, it is a very special place all the same! So . . . we went on and did our thing and throughout the evening the phrase "when you come to France" was uttered by a number of the visitors we spoke to about the future of the twinning. Due to the way we fell into this wonderful gathering we never thought for a second we would be come an integral part of the twinning journey; it has really been such an amazing thing to be a part of for more reasons than one. One of the main reasons, for which we are so grateful, is meeting these two!

Corinne and her daughter Jane hosted us on our first visit to Bruges after we met Corinne at the event we mentioned above. None of us had any idea just how amazing this relationship would turn out . . . they are literally family to us now in every sense of the word! Without them, we certainly wouldn't enjoy our time in Bruges as much; they bring so much light to our lives and we are truly grateful to ever have crossed paths. Corinne and Jane have become huge supporters of our music and it is great to have them at our shows over in France singing along to the words! Jane is also the mastermind behind Jape; she is a fabulous artist and is currently working with us on the crowdfunding campaign we are running at the moment to fund our next album and to raise awareness about the spectrum of mental health. It also feels like Jane is never away from Scotland, which is great because we get to show her what an awesome country this is when she is here!

As well as meeting a new family, we have had some tremendous experiences that have been kindly organised for us by Magali Blasot, who is the Vice President of the twinning committee in Bruges. She never appears to stop pouring herself into the project and ensures the best of hospitality and activity when we visit. Here she is donning our official logo t-shirt!

One of those arrangements was with a lovely man called Pascal who took us on what can only be described as the best date in the world to Saint Émilion. We visited historic buildings, were treated to a picnic lunch in the sun, taken for crémant and macarons at Cordeliers Cloister and than whisked to a sixth generation organic vinyard for a private wine tasting. It was all rather perfect and Pascal is now commonly known as 'The Boyfriend'. Here is a photo of Pascal doing what he does best!

Another amazing experience we had was working with two schools delivering music workshops and performances; this is where and why the song 'Charlie Is My Darling' became the unofficial anthem of Bruges. One of the nicest parts of this was being able to teach some very young children the words to this song and have them sing along with us in their class; it was just magical! It was also great to see some of the older students getting involved when we visited them; we of course ended up playing cover songs with them and having a whole bunch of fun! Here is a photo of Vivienne giving 'Sweet Child O' Mine' a bash with the class!

Our most recent visit to France (last weekend) although seemingly short, was packed full of awesomeness. We went over to perform at a Burns' Supper and to support the art exhibition that featured the beautiful work of Karen Denwette. We were actually 'poached' too by another twinning committee and we did our first performance for them in an absolutely outstanding and very old church right by the sea; it was for the committee of Andernos-les-Bains who are twinned with Scotland's very own Largs. They very kindly took us out for a lovely meal that evening; it was nice to see how another twinning committee approach their work and spend time in another beautiful area of France too.

A wee update on our campaign is that we have reached 40% of our funding target; we still have a huge way to go, however, this is a great milestone to reach so far. Thank you to all of you who have pledged so far; we hope you are enjoying the updates and there is another heading your way this weekend too that we very much look forward to sharing! If you haven't pledged and would like to be a part of the making of our next album, click the big button below to be directed to our project; you will also be privy to all of the exclusive behind the scenes content we are creating for those who pledge. The video above is an example of one of those updates, which was shared publicly on this occasion so the twinning committees could access it. There are another seven updates that exist and many more on the way throughout the whole duration of the fulfilment of our project (if we reach 100%). Check it out!

Lynzy & Vivienne The Coaltown Daisies

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