For some years now the Knights of St Columba in St Albans have been raising money to support the Catholic schools in Batam, an island about 10 miles from

Singapore across the Strait of Malacca, Indonesia. One of our brothers, Pat Curtis, first met Fr Yance, the Priest who is administrator for about 16 Catholic schools on Batam and the surrounding islands, about ten years ago when he was working in the area.

As Indonesia is a Muslim country, the Government funds the Muslim schools only, and all other schools, Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, etc., have to fund themselves. It is for this reason that we have been raising money to help the Catholic schools in the area.

We have recently returned from a visit to France and Germany. Along the way we spent a few days at Camping Les Cigognes, Turckheim, a small village on the outskirts of Colmar in Alsace, France.

“Cigogne” is French for “Stork”. The campsite has special facilities for storks which nest in what looks like a concrete bowl at the top of a high pole. The birds are very noisy and give off a loud clicking noise which at first made us think that we were camped in a colony of woodpeckers. They are graceful in flight and, like hawks, seem to seek out warm air currents to ease their ascent. The ones at Turckheim are quite tame and seem ready to pose for photographs.