La vie associative

I've just met a British man who has lived in northern France for a few years and is gradually improving his French. Like me he finds this hard work, and nowhere more so than in meetings - also like me he had spent years training people to run meetings well and in the end he has given up the struggle of going, and with it given up some of the friendly contacts you make through belonging to local associations.

In France associations are part of everyday life and, like many British clubs, an ideal way of finding social life, so many expats in France join them and find themselves involved in the unique French meeting. In the UK these are usually relatively orderly affairs in which there is a Chair(person) steering the business, a secretary taking minutes, and a written agenda. I have never encountered the latter in France, and almost all the meetings I've been to have taken place in a constant buzz of talk, after the long flurry of bises and handshakes at the start. Since even French people find it difficult to hear what's being said, it's no wonder foreigners feel left out if they are uncertain of their French.

In England, we both spent much of our lives working in voluntary organisations, at different times as paid workers and as volunteers. I spent most of my working life employed to improve the voluntary sector, so I'd tried to understand how the 'voluntary sector' worked in France, without much success. Some years ago a French friend used the expressive phrase le tissu associatif to describe the voluntary sector in France, but it was only after our move that I discovered how important the association is to everyday life here. The idea that people should be able to band together to do things for mutual and/or community benefit is at the root of the modern state: the right to form associations is enshrined in the law of 1901 which everyone knows about.

Of course many people belong to clubs and societies in the UK, but many of these are not really seen as part of the voluntary sector. Here everything from sports clubs to arts festivals, small local choirs to national charities, environmental organisations and campaigning groups are Associations Loi de 1901. They have a status in and alongside every commune and alongside the local and national state and commercial sectors. And they have advantages in exemption from taxation and in access to local communal resources, meeting rooms and so on. Above all they are in most people's minds as part of everyday life, whereas in the UK many people who belong to clubs don't really think of the voluntary sector or know what it is.

Because the association is such an engrained part of French life people here do jobs as part of the bureau (committee) of the association, and presumably enjoy the even more frequent meetings involved! Otherwise France and England are nearer when it comes to willingness to volunteer - never enough pairs of hands for some jobs, some members who are content to enjoy the group activity but don't offer to help out, and plenty of people who'd never think of doing work without pay. However, I think the UK is a long way ahead in organising volunteers through local volunteer bureaux and I think in training programmes and so on. (committee) of their favourite

I think la vie associative is a healthy and positive part of French life and we really enjoy our voluntary work here - I just wish meetings were less chaotic!