From the President

 Welcome to your gateway to French events!

Unfortunately, Wal and I were forced to stay home, confined because of Covid, but I heard that not only was the dinner at Tidal successful, but it was absolutely delicious... I would be delighted to hear about your comments. You will find a copy of the Alliance Française de la Cote de Saphir’s pamphlet over the page and attached to your email, prepared by our talented librarian, Carole, which I highly recommend you to share with friends and possible members.

The French Language and Francophonie Week, which this year took place from 18 to 26 March, is a rendezvous for word lovers. The theme of this year’s edition was "Dis-moi dix mots à tous les temps" (Tell me ten words in all tenses) and invited us to reflect on our perception of and relationship with time, in particular by playing with the French words that express it, including : lambiner (dawdle), dare-dare (double quick) and "déjà-vu", which is widely used in Australia. From this idea and with the arrival of Easter, I am offering you two word compositions based on the unavoidable, for our greatest pleasure, chocolate eggs, and wish you an eggcellent family, friendly, génér’oeuf and délici’oeuf (*) Easter weekend, as well as very pleasant reading and hope to see you all on Tuesday 18 April for our first movie night of the year, “Les Deux Alfred”, a light-hearted human comedy about a virtual world that will never replace real encounters ...

With all my friendship,

Sylvie

(*) génér’oeuf for généreux (generous) and délici’oeuf for délicieux (delicious)

From the President

 A warm welcome to our members and thank you for joining, or rejoining, the Alliance Française, I hope 2023 will provide you all with many opportunities to enjoy French activities and culture. The recent Welcome Party, held at Lilias and Mike's home, was a very pleasant event complete with joyful ambiance, sumptuous food, warm and pleasant weather and the opportunity to celebrate Roger Stuart’s new decade birthday. Once again, thank you Lilias and Mike for your hospitality, thank you all for your delicious contributions and thank you Anh-Thu for sharing the “big secret”. Roger, who had decided to be noticed during the evening, along with Johanna and Robert, taught us the art of eating cheese with a spoon... not a very French practice!

This month you are invited to read “Winter in Provence - A letter from Carpentras” an article written by Brigitte and Simon who seem to agree with Frédéric Mistral, Provencal poet and writer (1830-1914), who once said: “When the Good Lord begins to doubt the world, he remembers that he created Provence”. If you are like me, your suitcase will be soon packed, ready to join Brigitte and Simon in no time!

For your diaries, please note that on 17 March we are organising a French-inspired dinner at Tidal Restaurant (Merimbula), for which you will soon receive an email with all the necessary details, followed in April by the first French film night. Further details will be published in next month's La Mouette for the film night.

While I'm on the subject of cinema, let me remind you that the French Film Festival will be held in Canberra from 9 March to 5 April. Comedies, suspense thrillers, historical dramas, family films and, of course, romance, there is something for everyone.

Sylvie

From the President

 Welcome back to your monthly dose of French goodies.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas surrounded by family and friends and an exciting beginning of the year.  As G.K. Chesterton proclaimed, “The world will never starve for want of wonders, but only for want of wonder”.  So, the committee and I asked ourselves what we could offer that was different, what we could bring you that was new, how we could use this year to offer you wonder and fun. For many of us, the commencing of a new year brings feelings of optimism and possibility, from dreams to actions, January is the month of good resolutions, so let's marvel in 2023…

Our first event of the year to start 2023 with a bang is the Welcome Party to be held at Mike and Lilias’ place on Saturday 11 February. This year, we will take the opportunity to “pick the king” (tirer les rois) and eat the famous frangipane cake, the recipe for which is given below. I hope to see many of you there.

In the year ahead, I look forward to maintaining our focus on putting members first, continuing to offer you great occasions to meet and have fun. Wishing you a great year,

Sylvie

From the President

 The days drag on longer, the sky relaxes, spring is coming and with it the hope that we can all get together for outdoor activities such as pétanque and picnic… if the rain agrees to stop bothering us!

Concerning our movie night of last month, I am well aware that I should have said a few words at the end of the film, but I must admit that I was a little ‘stunned’, under shock and that I had to ‘digest’ the film in order to be able to talk about it, which was done during our Papotage & Blah-Blah session. The choice of movie was made taking into account the subject, the actor, who was absolutely excellent, and the rating given by the film critics and the audience, but we did not expect such violence, both in the shots and in the words... I promise you a lighter, more entertaining choice, for our next movie night.

Last month Brigitte and Simon donated some French fashion magazines, if you are a fashion aficionado, they are available at our cupboard at the Tura library.  I again encourage you to read our newsletter, it is full of gripping articles, including a story about Camargue, which makes it worth reading. You will also discover the history of “prendre l’apéritif” (having a pre-dinner drink), an essential guide on asparagus (a spring vegetable in France) and other interesting articles. I don't need to tell you more, I'm sure you are already reading it!

Bonne lecture, enjoy reading.

Sylvie

From the President

 Your monthly dose of Alliance Française has just landed in your inbox, so I encourage you to spend some time reading and enjoying French culture. Speaking of French culture, a friend of ours recently mentioned that she was able to “hear” my French accent in my writing, so you may have to listen up carefully…!

We held our AGM on September 8, followed by the French film ‘En Guerre (At War)’, which certainly did not leave the audience indifferent. There was no difficulty with the AGM despite the notable decision of Robert McCombie who, after six years of service on the committee as President, decided to step down from that role. We all greatly appreciated the energy, continued presence and enthusiasm with which Rob helped to organise our Alliance and I certainly am counting on him to help me in my new task. Grand merci Robert.

Our next event is the Car Adventure Tour, followed by a picnic on October 23, Pétanque should soon have a new court, and your dedicated committee is working on the programming of different and interesting events. Stay tuned!

Sylvie

From the President

 Chers Amis

Our big event for July was our big event of the year – our Bastille Day lunch. We completely booked out the Tidal Restaurant in Eden with 33 members and 11 non-members attending so we had the place to ourselves. Chef Gavin Swalwell provided a wonderful French menu featuring an excellent choice of dishes at an attractive price. Mike Warren enlivened proceedings by engaging Andy, the accordionist, who played for us when we had our Bastille Day celebrations at Tathra. Hearing old French classics on the accordion provided an authentic French flavour to our celebrations and Andy led us in song when we all stood to perform our own rendition of La Marseillaise.

Our annual general meeting will be held at 7pm at Club Sapphire on 8 September. Please mark the date in your diaries and come along for dinner before the meeting and a French film afterwards.

Please also note that Sylvie and Wal will be organising another car tour on Sunday 23 October.* The tour was well received earlier this year and we look forward to competing in the next “adventure”. Details will be provided when Sylvie and Wal return from their trip to the U.S.

* The committee is keen to obtain feedback from members and would appreciate if you would take the time to answer the question (see your copy of La Mouette) regarding the options proposed for this event.

Meilleurs voeux

Rob McCombie

 

From the President

 Chers Amis

Most of our region seems to have gone into hibernation and many of our local towns and businesses which are normally buzzing have become very quiet. The notable exception to this, of course, is your committee who have been hard at work on our program of activities over the next few months. Most notable among these are:

• Our annual Bastille Day (July 14) lunch which will be held for the first time at Tidal Restaurant in Eden. French-trained Chef, Gavin Swalwell, and his partner Fiona Myers have offered a superb menu of regional French dishes which will soon be e-mailed to all members. As has been the case in past years, the cost of meals for members will be subsidised to the amount of $10 per person. Guests are welcome but the cost of their meals will not be subsidised.

• A French film night to be held at Club Sapphire in late August.

• A Winter Cassoulet Lunch to be prepared at my house by members of your committee in late September. Cassoulet is, of course, an unforgettable hearty, winter dish from the south of France.

• Finally, due to the popularity of our first Car Rally, we are planning to hold another on Sunday, October 23.

Our Secretary, Mike Warren, has also been hard at work negotiating with a number of different venues to find a new home for our weekly pétanque games. In the interim, these are being held on the grass at Ford Park in Merimbula. We will keep you posted on progress with finding a permanent venue.

Meilleurs voeux

Rob McCombie