From the President

 Chers Amis,

Happy New Year and welcome to 2022 in the Alliance Française de la Côte de Saphir. We are looking forward to a full program of activities this year beginning with the Car Adventure Tour and Welcome Party on Sunday, 13 February. The route for the Adventure Tour is being organised by Wal and Vice-President Sylvie and will remain secret until you receive your driving instructions on the day. The event will finish with a BYO picnic lunch at Mandeni Family Fun Park. Consistent with Covid-safe practices you will be able to participate with car companions of your own choice, or even to travel alone if you wish. More details of the day are provided later in this newsletter. There are still places available so if you haven’t already done so, send an e-mail to Sylvie on mansynette@gmail.com, subject “AF Car Tour”, to tell her you are coming.

Of course, the Adventure Tour and Welcome Party will be a members-only event so make sure that you have renewed your membership for 2022. Remember that the reduced rate for singles is now $20 and the rate for couples and families is $40. It is preferred that you pay by EFT to Account name: 'Alliance Française de la Côte de Saphir' using BSB: 082 697 and Account No: 168279527.

We are planning two events in March, the first being a visit on the fourth of the month to John and Sally-Ann Cottle’s beautiful gardens at ‘Shirley’ near Nimmitabel. We had such an enthusiastic attendance at the last of these visits that we couldn’t resist John and Sally-Ann’s offer to do another this year. The second event will be a dinner with a French regional theme between 28 and 31 March, possibly at Wheelers’ restaurant. Mark the dates in your diaries so you don’t miss out.

Further events, possibly a French film night, will be organised later in the year and you can always drop in at any time to our library at Tura to get your fix of French language and culture from our great collection of music, films, books and magazines.

Meilleurs voeux,

Rob McCombie

From the President

 Chers Amis,

It’s been another interesting year, however, anybody who attended our end-of-year Coupe d’Antibes would have thought that everything was perfectly normal.  We fielded five teams for the play-off which saw me and the other members of L’Equipe eliminated very early in the piece.  After a gruelling set of closely run matches Kerry, Mareta and Brigitte (Très Belle) faced off against Lilias, Mike and Jessica (Les Jolies – obviously Mike’s choice of a team name) emerged victorious and were presented with the Coupe d’Antibes and the obligatory bottles of bubbly.  Runners-up, Très Belle, were very sporting and shared their winnings of boxes of chocolates with the rest of us after lunch.  It was a lovely day which finished up, as usual, with wine, good food and the company of good friends and reminded us of why we all belong to the Alliance.

We were finally able to have a much-delayed dinner together at Club Sapphire and hold our AGM on 9 December followed by the French film ‘Antoinette dans les Cévennes’.  The AGM was a brief affair with almost all of the committee from last year being re-elected to their roles for the coming year.  The notable exception, of course, was Clive Roberts who, after seven years of service on the committee has decided he needs a rest, which comes as a surprise to none of us.  Clive has always been one of the prime movers of our pétanque games and kept them going even when Covid had shut down everything else.  He has also been editor of La Mouette and our resident French film selector and projectionist. We greatly appreciate the energy and enthusiasm with which Clive pitched in to do whatever tasks needed doing in the organisation of our Alliance and we wish him well for the future.

Best wishes

Rob McCombie

From the President

 Chers Amis,

As Christmas approaches, Covid-related travel restrictions are removed, and the weather begins to warm a little, we look forward to a new year of the Alliance.  It looks like the end-of-year wine tasting we were planning can’t go ahead and you will have to rely on local suppliers for your Christmas tipples, but we are still looking forward to our Christmas Party/Coupe d’Antibes and BBQ at Mandeni and our much-postponed AGM and French Film Night at Club Sapphire. Under current NSW government health regulations these events are open to fully vaccinated members.

In the new year we are planning our 2022 Welcome Party, the Alliance Française Sapphire Coast Adventure Tour and another visit to John and Sally-Ann Cottle’s gardens at ‘Shirley’.  The dates of these events will appear in the December newsletter.

Earlier in the year Sylvie donated the French version of Scrabble and other board games which are available at our cupboard at the Tura library.  Luckily for us, her recent change of residence has required a further scaling down of French items which will help you while away a couple of hours on a rainy day.  These include the French version of Dominoes, and a number of picture books featuring well-known personages such as Spirou and Gaston La Gaffe.  For the more studious among you Clive has donated a complete BBC French Language course.  If you haven’t already done so, visit the library and borrow one of these or any of the many films, books and other items on the shelves.

Best wishes

Rob McCombie

From the President

 Chers Amis

Behind us lay the broken remains of so many events planned and then cancelled that it seems to be an act of extraordinary optimism to try again.  However, having adjusted our forward program yet again we are fairly confident that, given the very high vaccination levels in our community together with the Government’s plans to make life easier for us after 1 December, we will be able to hold our annual Coupe d’Antibes on Sunday, 5 December and our AGM on Thursday, 9 December.

All members who have had two doses of any of the approved vaccines will be most welcome so please note these two dates in your diaries.  Information on other important upcoming events is provided later in this newsletter. I am very much looking forward to getting our Alliance back on track and hope to see you all again soon.

Best wishes

Rob McCombie

From the President

 Chers Amis,

What a difference a day makes!  As I write, a day ago we received the announcement that the Bega Valley LGA Covid 19 lockdown was to come to an end.  Up to that point, and in the context of news reports of a number of Covid cases having been detected in the area, the prospects were for a lifting of restrictions only on some distant horizon.  Social distancing restrictions will continue and PPEs will still have to be worn in some circumstances but now, by and large, we can all breathe a sigh of relief and get back to doing the things we all want to do.  With this in mind you will be aware that, with the lightning speed of a dawn commando raid, Mike and Clive organised a pétanque game on Friday the 17th and our Committee is conducting a(n outdoors) meeting next Friday to get our Alliance activities back on track again.  Mike will be contacting you by e-mail about upcoming events asap.

The other big item in recent news, of course, concerns the demise of the troubled Franco-Australian submarine project and consequent press reports of the challenges this has caused for the bilateral relationship.  However, I am confident that with the passage of time and a refocussing on our shared values and history, the maturity of our relationship with France will restore the warmth of the links which for so long have joined our two governments.

Best wishes Rob McCombie

From the President

 Chers, Amis,

It was with deep regret that we cancelled the French inspired car tour planned for Sunday, 15 August.  The event had been enthusiastically received by our members and 31 people in 8 teams had registered to participate on the day.  Of course, everything came to an abrupt halt with the imposition of a lockdown in NSW due to a rise in the discovery of Covid cases in regional areas.  The good news is that all of the work by Sylvie and Wal which was put into organising the day has not been lost.  Nor has all of the work that kept the participants up late at night studying French geography, history, wines, food, poetry, literary allusions, cinema and popular culture in order to decode the cryptic clues which were going to guide us to our destination.  Rest assured, we will reschedule the car tour as soon as circumstances permit.  While on the subject of upcoming events I should mention that our AGM and French Film Night is scheduled for Monday, 27 September.  We will use the same format that proved popular last year and will start with dinner in the Club Sapphire restaurant at 6 pm with the meeting starting at 7pm followed by the film at 7.30pm.  Let’s keep our fingers crossed that regional lockdowns will be a thing of the past by then so mark the date in your diaries.  I hope that you are all well and coping with the current restrictions.  I know that it’s a second best option but if you are aware of any of our members who are finding things a bit tough, give them a call or a text and let them know that they are not alone and that we are thinking of them. 

Best Wishes, Rob McCombie

 

From the President

 Chers Amis,

It’s that time of the year again and the world’s greatest annual sporting event, the Tour de France, is drawing to a close. By their bleary eyes and advanced state of fatigue you can easily recognise the local Alliance Française members and other Tour enthusiasts as you walk around town. For three weeks they have kept vigil over their televisions into the wee hours of each morning as the epic battles of this great race are fought out against the background of one of the most beautiful countries on earth. The Australian contingent this year is so large that for the first time ever the Australian riders actually outnumber the Italians. Perhaps the Italians stayed away because they heard that debutant rider young Ben O’Connor from Western Australia would lead one of France’s oldest teams, AG2R-Citroën, and would be blitzing the bunch on the longest and highest climbs. We didn’t get to realise our own 14 July plans because of Covid but, on the day, we were able to watch the Tour and raise a glass to France and to some of the world’s greatest athletes.

Speaking of tours, in this edition of La Mouette, you will read further information about our inaugural Alliance Française Sapphire Coast Adventure Tour which will take place on Sunday, 15 August. Mark the day in your calendars and get some friends to come along and help you to work your way through the clues which will get you to your destination. Sylvie and Wal have been very tight lipped about the route so we are all looking forward to seeing where they take us and enjoying an exciting day out.

Best wishes

Rob McCombie