Birkenhead YMCA

Camille Desrocher & Samuelle Boyer

When 16 year old Camille Desrocher of Collège Sainte-Anne de Lachine, Montreal emailed Nigel Hughes, CEO of Birkenhead YMCA to ask if it was at all possible that they might be allowed to take part in a small project during a visit to England, they probably little realised who they were emailing, because Nigel is one of those people who takes such requests very seriously.

So when Camille and her fellow French speaking student, 16 year old Samuelle Boyer landed in Manchester on 8th January, they were about to be given a total blank canvas – and no small one at that – a prominent 2m by 2m wall-space!

Commented Nigel – "Both girls were very jet-lagged when I picked them up from where they were staying, but their enthusiasm soon had them excitedly explaining some of their ideas that had been emailed to me a few weeks earlier".

"Staff, residents and I quickly picked a design and message that we all liked and the girls set too each day for a whole week producing their huge picture".

Once finished everyone was impressed by their work – it is a blend of radiant colours and brightens an otherwise dull boring wall space.

Asked what they think of their finished artwork both girls said "We're really pleased with it and very happy that everyone at the YMCA likes the painting".

Back home in Montreal, Camille and Samuelle attend the private Collège Sainte-Anne de Lachine and live in the suburb of Montreal on the Island of Montreal – they have done a huge amount of research about Wirral and Merseyside before making their trip and knew Birkenhead YMCA was one of the more progressive YMCA's in the area.

Amongst key destinations they want to visit during their stay are the Albert Dock and the world famous Cavern Club. Before they fly home to Montreal the girls are also going to be visiting North Wales as they are keen to complete a project studying minority cultural issues and languages.