Chers Amis,
Down here in the Bega Valley it almost feels like we are
living in a post-Covid world. On 17 November we saw our first French film of
the year. The film ‘Haute Cuisine’ was all about the appointment of a renowned
chef from the Périgord to the position of personal cook to the President of the
Republic, her commitment to preparing authentic traditional French cooking and
her experiences with the petty politics of the Elysée Palace. There was a good
attendance at the screening and most of us met for dinner beforehand in the
Club restaurant.
The big event of the month though was our visit to John and
Sally-Ann Cottle’s garden at ‘Shirley’ for a game of boules followed by a
picnic lunch and tour of the gardens. A full report on the day written by
Anh-Thu Stuart with some candid photos follows later in this edition. I would
like to thank John and Sally-Ann for welcoming our members into their grounds
and providing this wonderful venue for our day of picnic and pétanque.
While on the matter of pétanque, could I ask that you mark
the date of 13 December which will be the day of our annual Coupe d’Antibes at
Mandeni. Proceedings will begin at 10.00am so bring along some morning tea and
a picnic lunch and help us bid farewell (or good riddance) to what has been an
extraordinary year. Full details of the arrangements for the day will be e-mailed
to you by Mike Warren.
This month La Mouette has a new item for all of our film
buffs. Our Club Librarian, Anh-Thu, has kindly written a review of the film
‘Radioactive’ which tells the story of the life and work of the French/Polish
scientist, Marie Curie, who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity and
won a number of international awards for her work including Nobel Prizes in
Physics and Chemistry.
Finally, I would like to mention that, consistent with our
objective of promoting the study of French language and culture, we have
donated two French language books as prizes for outstanding students at the
South Coast Anglican College. I would like to congratulate the recipients and
wish them well in their future studies in French. We also donated a book for French
students at the Mumbulla School for Rudolf Steiner Education.
Meilleurs voeux, Rob McCombie
