We were invited to attend the laying of the foundation stone at the new Ceramic Centre in La Borne.

Mme le Préfet du Cher (our department), le Président du Conseil Régional du Centre, le Président du Conseil Général du Cher and le Président du Pays Sancerre-Sologne - among others - came to mark this historic moment in the life of the pottery village of La Borne.

Here is our Préfet tapping a block into place. Everyone smiled and clapped after which they filed into the old Ceramic Centre building to listen to speeches before - at last! - the important vin d'honneur: white wine all round.

Demonstrators from the village, Prosper among them, took advantage of the occasion, when television cameras would be present, to demonstrate outside the Centre. It has been announced that 14,000 tons annually of sewage and industrial waste from the Paris region will be brought here to be treated and allowed to poison the soil and the water table of the Cher. The waste contains dangerous levels of heavy metals and chemical products. Local people have been demonstrating for several months and it is hoped that they will be heard by those remote politicians who sign agreements that affect so many lives, now and in the future.

Click on the pics!