French families to visit Margate

The families will be visiting Margate's beach and funfair

Thousands of people from deprived French families, who would not otherwise get a holiday, are to have a day out in Kent.

The families are visiting Margate on Wednesday with French organisation Secours Populaires Francais (SPF).

The organisation takes groups of families to a different destination each year and has chosen the UK to mark the 50th anniversary of the EEC.

"I hope they have a wonderful day," said Councillor Roger Latchford.

Treaty of Rome

"We welcome all visitors to our town and it is great that Margate has been chosen as a destination for these families," he said.

The visit has been organised with Thanet District Council and Kent County Council.

Jean Louis Callens, spokesman for SPF, said many of the families would be taking a ferry or travelling via Eurotunnel for the first time.

He said the families were being given the opportunity to meet their European neighbours to mark the signing of the Treaty of Rome, in 1957, which formed the European Economic Community.