In order to give the restaurant due notice, reservations for the AGM will close on 21st September at midday. Please email Nigel if you wish to attend: nigelhgriffin@gmail.com.
Details are in this post: https://ousswfrance.com/2022/08/23/gaillac-agm-september-29th/
Thanks to Chris Boddington, arrangements have been made for this year’s AGM to be held in Gaillac (81). Thursday 29 September 2022, 12h.00 for 12h.15 at the Hotel Restaurant La Verrerie, 1 Rue de l’égalité, 81600 Gaillac. Guests are also welcome.
Nigel has sent details to all members. Members are also reminded that the annual subscription for 2022–2023 is now due.
The final OUS SW France visit for 2022 will be on 20 October to Château Feely, followed by lunch at the Bistrot de Malfourat. Details will be circulated in early October.
Note: The annual Phoenix Book Sale, to support care and rehoming of animals in need, is on 1 October in the Salle Anatole France, 33 rue Anatole France, 24100 Bergerac. See <https://www.phoenixasso.com/phoenix-book-fair/>.
The Bordeaux wine region is not short of chateaux, but few (any?) combine in a visit a tour of a finely restored building, a wine tasting and chai visit with an encounter with the life and work of an artist who captured the spirit of his age so graphically. A good twenty members, Cambridge alumni and friends took part on this 23rd June – and we enjoyed a good lunch too. Marion and Nigel are due generous thanks for arranging this visit, which was also excellent value for money.
In the gallery below, see the amphora being used experimentally to mature the blend. The chateau produces red, white and rosé, now under the etiquette ‘Toulouse-Lautrec’, as it was the chateau of Henri’s mother, Adèle. See too Henri’s childhood drawing hidden behind a door and a reproduction showing his fondness for red-heads, presented by the chateau’s own redhead.
He writes: During 2022 the Festival will continue its work of supporting young, talented musicians with residences and recitals. However,due to the excessive costs incurred over recent years as a result of covid-related restrictions, we can present only one concert (3rd Aug) and one piano recital (1st August) this season.
For more information and to book visit the festival web site: https://www.saintemerefestival.com/home-en
Nigel has sent members details of our next excursion. Please contact us if you have not received these.
Château Malromé, first recorded in the sixteenth century, became in 1847 the joint property of Adolphe de Forcade La Roquette, Vice-President of the Council of State under Napoleon III, and his half-brother, Marshal Armand-Jacques Leroy de Saint-Arnaud, Governor of Paris and Minister for War. The two men were adepts of the fashion for interventionist restoration championed by Eugène Viollet-de-Duc (1814–1879), best known for his work at both Pierrefonds and Carcassonne andon Notre-Dame in Paris.
In 1883, Countess Adèle de Toulouse-Lautrec née Adelaide Fergusson purchased the property from Forcade La Roquette’swidow. Her son, the painter Henri (b.1864), was a frequent visitor, dying at the château in September 1901.
Among later owners of the Château was Doctor Gabriel Seynat, adjoint of the postwar Mayor of Bordeaux, Jacques Chaban Delmas. The house and grounds have been extensively restored.
Our secretary has recently emailed members our proposed events for 2022. He writes: “An outline of possible future events was presented at the 2021 AGM held at Issigeac in September. Most of those had been repeatedly kicked down the road since 2019, courtesy of Covid. It is accordingly a pleasure to announce that we hope this year to stage some of them.”
Here is a brief summary (events are always followed by lunch):
Thursday 14 April, 12:00. Robert Taylor. Professor of Condensed Matter Physics at Queen’s College, will give a short pre-lunch talk entitled ‘Not All Wines Are French’ at the Restaurant l’Atelier, 24560 Issigeac. Subscriptions close on 23rd March.
Late June: Visit to Château Malromé (33490 St-André-des-Bois), home of Toulouse-Lautrec’s mother and the last home of Toulouse-Lautrec himself. He died there and is buried in the local churchyard..
Thursday 18 August, 10:30: Morning tour of the biodynamic Château Feely (24240 Saussignac).
Mid-September: AGM in the Gaillac area (81).
Members are requested to pay their subscriptions at their earliest convenience.
Our secretary has been in contact with OUBC. Regrettably, it will not be possible to join them during their January 2022 training session, as they are currently planning to do their training elsewhere. They may return to Le Temple in future years.
Member Piers Killeen has arranged for renowned pianist George Fu to perform works by Debussy, Ravel, Rachmaninov and Schubert in two concerts on August 6th and 7th. Details are here:
The Bach programme in Toulouse resumes in September. Details of the Ensemble Baroque programme are to be found at http://www.baroquetoulouse.com.
Member Christopher Pike has alerted us to these concerts. They are devoted to the Occitan and Catalan mediterranean cultures and take place in rural locations with a rich roman, medieval and southern gothic heritage. Use the link above to see the programme.
OUS South West France 
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