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Over-75s can join young for meal in school canteen
Six years ago the village of Bioule, near Toulouse, opened its school canteen to retired people over 75, and the scheme has been such a success that the mairie has received enquiries from around 50 other French communes who want to follow suit.
“It wasn’t difficult to set up, from an administrative point of view,” says the secretary.
“And we have a group of people who eat regularly, so it’s easy to manage numbers. If someone wants to come along, they just have to let us know in advance so that the kitchen can manage numbers.”
The idea was the result of an idle jest while the canteen was being built. “I wouldn’t mind eating there,” Pierre, one of the villagers told the maire. He had recently been widowed, and was lonely.
Thinking it over, mayor Gabriel Sierra, took him at his word and set up the scheme whereby over-75s can eat at the canteen for €6, and as an added extra, they get to spend time with the children, often telling them stories about the history of the village.
