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Life in rural areas is often difficult. To make it slightly easier, trade unionists and activists from the Vendée region in western France want to encourage the creation of social ties in their region. In 1993, Gilbert Métivier, a well-known activist in rural affairs, created ‘Racines’, a monthly magazine for the retired, which quickly became successful. The magazine can hardly be described as morosebecause it has twelve thousand subscribers, and the fact that it has been running for the past eighteen years is a testament to an efficient team of three hundred unpaid staff and three salaried journalists. Readers, associations and trade unions throughout the entire Vendée region are actively involved in the running of the magazine. They inform the editors about their readers' centres of interest, sit on the editorial board, and take part in the important, annual festival which brings together two thousand retired people for a day of training workshops, debates and fun activities. Can such social movements help in revitalising regions? Catherine Baty, the young editor-in-chief of ‘Racines’ who took over from the founder, tells the unusual story of this magazine.