We celebrated World Friendship Day recently in Cornwallwith a Brazilian theme! To see a few photos, click HERE

Who are we?

The Friendship Force of Cornwall is just one of 356 Friendship Force Clubs active in 55 countries on six continents.

Under the guidance of Friendship Force International in Atlanta Georgia, we learn about other people's culture and experiences the only real way you can and that is by sharing their roof and putting your feet under their table. At first you may be hesitant, especially if you aren't fluent in another language, but it can be a great and rewarding experience to join in their daily activities and specially planned events. After making these special friendships and exchanging cultures, your hosts will in turn want to visit our club and learn more about us - much more than can be found in a travel guide or on the Internet. As other clubs around the world learn more about our beautiful part of the world, they will also want to visit us and we in turn will visit them, exchanging a world of experiences and friends that will last a lifetime. You can read a diary of our most recent outbound exchange to Tallinn, Estonia by clicking HERE

We have just had a very successful incoming exchange with a group from West Alajuela in Costa Rica. For one of our new members, Harry, it was his first experience of an exchange and you can read his report HERE and see a few photos from the Farewell Party extravaganza HERE

Click the Play button on the video below to see how Friendship Force International works.

Friendship Force International from Martin Buck on Vimeo.

FF Comitan, Mexico, Nov. 2008. See more photos HERE , or read our diary of this exchange HERE

How we do this is by club "exchanges," the heart of the Friendship Force organisation.

During a club exchange club members or "Ambassadors" visit a club as a group of about 15 to 25, sharing in group travel costs and having the comfort of travelling with friends. One of the club members serves as the Exchange Director, to make sure that everyone gets there and back without a hitch.

If you belong to a Friendship Force Club you can also join another club's exchange, if they are going to place you have always wanted to visit. You can search for a club on the Friendship Force International site by clicking HERE

You can see all current UK outgoing exchanges by looking at our Exchanges page, and find more information on the new UK website at http://friendshipforce.org.uk/

A message from our President

Welcome to our website!
The introduction above, and with more information via the link to our international website, tells you just a little about who we are and what we do. In Cornwall we are a group of about forty people, many of whom are retired, from a range of backgrounds. We all live within about thirty miles of Truro and we all share a common interest in learning about other countries and their ways of life by having people to stay with us from these countries and visiting other countries ourselves. Our emphasis is on sharing the lives of those who stay with us or whom we visit and each home stay is limited to one week. In some years we will make two such stays, usually with a few days self-arranged extension in between and in other years maybe only one home stay. When we apply for these home stays, we also agree to host for a similar number of weeks in that year.
Most of us have been on package or even independently arranged holidays to other parts of the world but the experience of actually staying with the local people in their homes and, very often developing lasting friendships, is greatly superior to that of any “normal” holiday. Seeing the local sights is always part of our trips, but being shown them by the locals and experiencing their ways of life is so much more memorable.
We call our trips exchanges, but very often a trip one way may be followed in later years by individuals returning visits to those they hosted. Since visiting Canada in 2005, for example, our Canadian hosts have been here and we have been back there again. We have also welcomed our hosts from Germany and, next year we hope to see again our hosts from Estonia. The Christmas card list continues to grow!
Each traveller pays a fee to cover some of the activities organised by the host clubs but almost all food and accommodation whilst with the hosts is provided by them. We do the same when people come here so the costs of this tend to balance out. The vast majority of members of the clubs understand what it is like to have people staying in their homes and are determined to enjoy whatever conditions they find. In practice most overseas members are somewhat western orientated and many speak English. Therefore friendly relationships develop very quickly and there are very few problems. All this means that our members can travel with those whom they have got to know here first, at costs which are probably significantly lower than they would pay for a “normal” trip and with a much more rewarding experience. We are a club and none of us is paid so all members are expected to participate in some aspects of organisation but we all aim to help each other. For example, one of our most popular (and enjoyable) evenings with visitors is when one of our members teaches them how to make genuine Cornish Pasties in her kitchen.
We have included a diary on this website, with each day written up by a different member, from our November 2008 exchange to Mexico and Arizona. I hope that this demonstrates the diversity of activities, but what is almost impossible to put into words is the strength of the welcome we received and the lengths people went to ensure that we felt really “at home” whilst with them. We actually came home determined to do even better when we have visitors to Cornwall if we are to emulate the warmth of our time in Mexico. Having people to stay, even with the costs of feeding them and driving them around for a day or so is a very cost effective way of having a foreign experience without all the hassle and cost of travelling oneself!
As a member of any of the twenty Friendship Force clubs in the UK, you would be entitled to apply to take part in any exchange organised by another club. However, selection is not automatic and the President of your local club will be asked for a reference to ensure that you are likely to fit in with other travellers. Once the details for the outgoing exchanges for the next year are known, you will find a link to basic information on this website by going to the Exchanges page.
In our experience, the most successful exchanges are when the members going abroad or coming to us have already developed close links within their group. Accordingly, we hold a number of social functions throughout the year and many of these are organised so that potential new members can meet and talk to us as well as enjoy the events themselves. If you feel that what I have tried to outline above could be of interest to you, please do make contact via our website and we will do our best to answer your questions by email, phone or face to face as you prefer.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Robin

Fistral, Newquay