Jumelage Agen Corpus Christi

From left to right, Corpus Christi twinning representatives, Heather Moretzshon and Melody Cooper, representatives of Agen (Elisabeth Martre, Muriel Cazenobe, Philippe Galan and Maurice Cottenceau) and right Alan Wilson, President of Corpus Christi Rotary and Mayor Joe Mac Comb./ Photo DDM

A five-member delegation from the Agen Corpus Christi twinning committee traveled to Texas two years after receiving a delegation from the Texas city of Agen during the Pruneau Show festivities.

Direction, Texas! This trip, during the school holidays of All Saints' Day, "was entirely financed by the participants whose main mission was to develop exchanges between this great American city of more than 325,000 inhabitants and now the leading port of the US oil trade and its counterpart Agen who is much more modest, "says Philippe Galan, the chairman of the twinning committee.

After discovering Houston and Galveston, the delegation spent four days in Corpus Christi. "It is important to highlight the warmth of the Texan committee's welcome, the personalities encountered, as well as the smile and the very kind words of the Americans encountered in the street, the businesses of Corpus Christi, San Antonio or Austin.

Corpus Christi Mayor Joe Mac Comb welcomed the delegation to his office and received a gift from the Mayor of Agen, an AUS rugby jersey flocked to his name and listened to Jean Dionis' video message inviting him to the next Prune Show. Joe Mac Comb has responded favorably but he will have to wait for the verdict of the polls to know if he will still be mayor! Indeed, in the "States", the "mid term elections" that concern the US Congress but also each state of the Union, also lead to the renewal of municipal councils, an election every two years!

Solidarity Action

Over the course of the four days, our Agenais had a busy and very well organized program, which allowed them to visit a high school, meet the director of Texas University TAMU-CC and a representative of Chamber of Commerce to consider further exchanges. The presence of Elisabeth Martre, professor of English, was very useful during the discussions.

The other highly anticipated moment of this trip was the presentation by Muriel Cazenobe, the treasurer of the committee, of a check for 2000 dollars, collected by the Rotary Club during the charity concert organized last January at "La Tannerie" with the support of the Agen Corpus Christi Twinning Committee. This solidarity action following the damage caused by Hurricane Harvey in 2017 was warmly welcomed by the Rotary-Club Texan who invited the delegation of Agen to share a meal with nearly two hundred guests.