It was 1968 when Father Dino Berti, a Salesian of Don Bosco and founder of the Association, took up the students’ and families’ suggestions and started organising the very first study visits to the UK. He proved to be a real pioneer in the field of youth exchanges in Europe. He offered a good chance to learn foreign languages on the one hand; on the other, he engaged the students and involved them in a real group experience of Christian life.
In no time TGS Eurogroup grew, the number of students, volunteers and supporters increased, together with the educational and training activities in the field of youth and social tourism. Soon the Up and Down the Bridges of Venice came along (“Su e Zo per I Ponti”, in Venetian dialect): a walk for solidarity to bring together children and youth, families, school groups and sport teams in an ideal cultural and social journey to discover Venice. More recently, new opportunities of training activities for young people started out, both in Italy and abroad, including active citizenship activities, seminars, training courses, twinnings and tailored projects for schools.
TGS headquarter is in Mogliano Veneto, in the province of Treviso, at Collegio Salesiano Astori. The Secretariat, which is the real heart of the Association, keeps in touch with students, their families, volunteers, the Salesian Family, institutions in Italy and abroad, associates, and many contacts at local, national and international level.
TGS50
In 2018 TGS Eurogroup celebrated its 50th birthday.
Through the years, thousands of students experienced our study visits in the UK as well as in the rest of Europe, while tens of thousands enthusiastic people have walked the Up and Down the Bridges of Venice with us. Each and every one of them is brought together by the idea of gathering together in solidarity and friendship, according to the principles inspired by Don Bosco.
It is thanks to the passionate and committed volunteers and members of the Association that TGS Eurogroup plans, designs and implements its educational and training activities, becoming more and more articulated each year. It is thanks to the volunteers that we keep faith with the very same title “Eurogroup” we gave ourselves: we look with confidence in the coming years to the challenge of involving a growing number of young people in educational journeys all around Europe (“Euro”) in the form of a group experience of Christian life (“Group”).