On Tuesday 16th November, Marie-Claude Hawkes visited the French department and gave a talk to pupils of A2, A1 and IB2, entitled ‘A Child’s Memories of German Occupation in Normandy 1940-1944’ in which she spoke about her mother’s experiences of daily wartime life in Montebourg. It was a very personal account of her family’s daily struggles, finding enough to eat and living with an enemy presence in her village. Her talk was illustrated with slides of authentic photographs of the period which detailed life from the invasion, through D Day and to eventual liberation. This is the third time that Marie-Claude has visited the department and as always, we feel very lucky to have such an engaging speaker who brings personal history alive for our pupils: the valuable snippets that go beyond the textbook. Many thanks to Marie-Claude for her time and to her appreciative audience of pupils and teachers, for being such a great audience.