A group of Belgian friends who meet up once a year in their home country have done so again this year … but this time in Huddersfield.

The visitors stayed in Golcar and have revealed what they loved about being strangers in the Colne Valley.

The group came here because one of their band, Ingeborg Verheijke, has lived in Golcar for many years after marrying Yorkshireman Martin Fox and is a midwife in Huddersfield and Calderdale.

She said: “We were all scouts and then scout leaders in Belgium and have known one another as far back as the 1970s. We meet up once a year which is usually somewhere in Belgium and they’ve been aiming to come over the UK for years and now it’s finally happened.”

The group stayed at the Grade II-listed Millbarn three-storey self-catering holiday accommodation in Golcar and came to sample the kind of delights we Huddersfield folk take for granted.

These included a night at Golcar Liberal Club, pie and peas from Bolster Moor Farm Shop, trips on buses into Huddersfield, playing snooker and pool at Golcar British Legion, a takeaway curry from Raj on Scar Lane in Milnsbridge and walks along Huddersfield Narrow Canal.

But what did the 13-strong group love most about their stay in Huddersfield?

On this they are unanimous.

Patricia Nuytemans said: “We are just not used to this level of friendliness. Everywhere we go people are so friendly and helpful and that’s both the young and older people.

“When we go back home we are also going to start calling everyone ‘love’ as we absolutely love it.”

The group was mainly helped while figuring out bus timetables but met a young boy dressed up in his Halloween costume struggling to hold all his sweets so they gave him a bag for them.

Visitor Kathleen Willemsen said: “He was overjoyed and we had a great time chatting to him. When we left him he actually said ‘I’m going to really miss you ladies’ which was so cute.”

Another aspect of British life they’ve grown to quickly love is a full English breakfast and real ale.

The group come from the village of Kalmthout in northern Belgium near the border with Holland where the land is very flat so were continually amazed at Huddersfield’s hills.

“It’s a wonderful change,” said Patricia. “And it also means you gets lots of different views all the time. We walked along Huddersfield Narrow Canal and the autumn colours were just so amazing.”

All the group wore scout neckers when they were out, specially made for the visit as they feature half a necker from Golcar Scouts with the other half from Kalmthout scouts.

Written by ANDY HIRST who runs his own Yorkshire freelance journalism agency AH! PR (https://ah-pr.com/) specialising in press releases, blogging, website content, copywriting and ghost-writing autobiographies.