15 octobre 2016

Ma ville natale: Bourges


Our cercle family gathered at its last meeting to learn about our long-standing member Claudine's ville natale, Bourges.  Claudine, a Berryuère by birth, talked about her cradle days in this city in central France where both her grandmothers lived in the same street. Although her family would later move to Blois in the Loire Valley, a theme of one of her earlier talks, she returned to Bourges for the civil celebration of her marriage with husband, Seamus.  Then this summer, they both headed back to the city as Claudine felt it was about time to get to know better the place where she was born.

During her talk, Claudine traced the Celtic origins of the city from its beginnings as Avaric in Gaul through the Roman conquest in 52 BC to the establishment of Avaricum, the capitol of Aquitaine Première and eventually becoming a medieval Royal City.  She explained how the first Archbishop began construction of churches and Romanesque cathedrals, whose foundations were to remain as important monastic settlements up to the Revolution.

A short video presentation around the ramparts of the city led us to Claudine's personal pictures and impressions of the Saint Etienne Cathédrale, built from 1195 to mainly the late-13 century, culminating in the award of Unesco World Heritage site in 1992.  In this part of her presentation she picked out several architectural features including the very unusual absence of a transept.
Claudine's chronology concentrated on important characters associated with Bourges and included such VIPs as Duc Jean de Berry, Charles VII from the House of Valois and Jacques Cœur.  This latter had become Controller of the Royal Purse but fell out of favour with the King who accused him of poisoning his mistress and sentenced him to death.  Jacques Cœur avoided execution by escaping to the protection of the Pope but later died in disgrace on the Greek Island of Chios.

We were next escorted to the centre of Bourges as Claudine shared with us a selection of views of the 400 odd protected houses in the vicinity of Place Gordaine where several stone and half-timbered houses still stand side-by-side. Other stops en route were the Hotel Cujas, now the Musée de Bourges and the Passage Casse-Cou, a break-neck construction built over a Gallo-Roman wall.
As the talk progressed we stepped into Renaissance Bourges and forward as it revealed itself as a City of Culture, attracting students to its university, among them a young Jean Calvin from Picardie.
Claudine went on to target the development of Bourges as a military and industrial city in the late-19th century and when considering its more recent past pinpointed two more landmarks, le Château d'eau and the Maison de la Culture, the first in France inaugurated by André Malraux accompanied on the occasion by then Président Général Charles de Gaulle. As an aside Claudine noted that many cultural activities are now managed by private concerns with less use made now of the nationalised Maisons de Culture.


Claudine's presentation incorporating elements of son et lumière was ably assisted and managed by her husband, Seamus and as it drew to a close it was soon time to provide a token of appreciation for a carefully researched and affectionate appreciation of this lovely city in Central France.
Our président, noting that he himself was an adopted Berrichon having spent his year's assistantship in the Cher department, remarked that his close friend Daniel who lives near Bourges had called on the esteemed local wine maker, Eric Louis to mark the connection between Claudine and the region.
Eric Louis produces wines in Thauvenay, quite close to Bourges and Claudine was duly presented with a personalised gift card,


an apron from the domaine and a locally available bottle of Eric Louis wine.  They both, after all, share the same terroir.



Un très grand merci à Claudine et Seamus et nos remerciements aussi à Daniel et au Domaine Éric Louis.

01 octobre 2016

Article invité: L'Île de Ré et le frelon Asiatique

Vendredi dernier je viens de retourner de l'île de Ré située en Charente Maritime. Ce qui m'a impressionné le plus c'était le paysage pittoresque et champêtre. Quant aux maisons et petits hôtels, et les façades des petits magasins, ils ressemblent à un film de Jacques Tati  et son drôle de personnage M. Hulot.Mais en passant par la petite ville St Martin en Ré pour faire des achats, j'ai vu un grand bâtiment entouré de grandes murailles. Autrefois un site de la légion étrangère française peut-être?  Non, en effet la plus grande prison contemporaine en France. Edifié en 1690 comme ouvrage militaire pour protéger l'ile et transformé  en dépôt pour le regroupement des prisonniers condamnés aux travaux forcés et destinés à être envoyés aux bagnes.En effet, le capitaine Alfred Dreyfus et Henri Carrière, dit "Papillion" du film de ce titre y étaient emprisonnés avant leur départ pour le bagne. Le voyage à Guyane durait trois mois.Mais ce qui a fait sensation récemment en France c'est le frelon Asiatique qui a envahi trois quarts des Départements français.

Le frelon Asiatique
Arrivé de la Chine dans une livraison de poterie  en France, c'est la cause de six morts déjà, aussi menace-t-il la diminution de l'apiculture en France et la plupart de l'Europe. Au mois de mai 2016, il y avait des nouvelles de sa découverte au sud de l'Angleterre dans le Devon.  Monsieur Aldo François, apiculteur renommé dans la ville de Loix, ile de Ré, et avec 600 ruches dans son Rucher, m'a invité à regarder ce qu'il fait pour se battre contre cette menace. Avec mes propres yeux j'ai vu ces frelons qui allaient à l'attaque des abeilles. Ils désiraient entrer dans les ruches mais il a mis une grille comme celle qui sert à combattre les souris pour ne pas donner accès à l'entrée des ruches mais permet aux abeilles de partir. Mais néanmoins, les frelons pouvaient décapiter des abeilles en plein vol. Et en mettant deux des frelons sous le microscope je savais comment cela se pouvait. A la pointe extrême sur chaque  patte se trouvait une griffe comme celle de l'aigle. Et leur dard, un centimètre de longueur! Ils pouvaient tourner en vol dans une microseconde pour décapiter une abeille pour la ramener à son nid, si carnivore qu'il soit, qui se régale de tous les insectes. 
J'espère que je peux m'excuser qu'à la fin de mes enquêtes j'ai confié mes deux exemplaires, leur cercueil inclus, aux flammes.

Jim Holland


02 septembre 2016

Bulletin mensuel: septembre 2016

Chers Amis,
This September, in addition to our own first meeting on 14th September, there are are number of events with a French flavour which I'm sure you would like to know about.

THE LANTERN MAN
The Lantern Man, a new play by our own Jane Coyle, is set in Dublin in 1916 and tells the story of Johnny McGrath who returns from the Western Front to a city he barely recognises. When he unexpectedly inherits a collection of glass lantern slides showing images of soldiers in action he decides to use them to tell the public the real story of the war. The play was inspired by the discovery in a Belfast church of a collection of World War I lantern slides, known as the Castleton Lanterns.
The Lantern Man begins its tour of Northern Ireland with performances in ..
Duncairn Arts Centre, Belfast on 9 & 10 September

See flyer at this link.




French Films at QFT.

Fri 9 – Thurs 15 Sept

L’Avenir
Things to Come

Dir: Mia Hansen-Løve
France/Germany • 2016
1 Hr 42 Mins • Subtitled

Mia Hansen-Løve’s (Eden) fifth feature is a tender, contemplative portrait of womanhood - and an irresistible collaboration between the film-maker and the legendary actor Isabelle Huppert (White Material, Amour).

Nathalie (Huppert) teaches philosophy at a Parisian high school. Unexpectedly, Nathalie’s husband
announces he is leaving her for another woman. With a new found freedom suddenly thrust upon her, Nathalie must reinvent herself and establish a new way of living. Featuring a remarkable performance from Huppert, Things to Come is an intelligent, poetic and naturalistic exploration of one woman’s pursuit of happiness.

Fri 23 – Thurs 29 Sept*
*NOT Screening On Wed 28 Sept

La Chambre Bleue 
The Blue Room

Dir: Mathieu Amalric
France • 2014
1 Hr 15 Mins • Subtitled

Mathieu Amalric (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly) directs and stars in this impressive and
impressionistic romantic thriller. Amalric plays Julien, a married man who runs foul of the law after an affair with a local femme fatale (played by co-writer Stéphanie Cléau). The film is tantalisingly sliced and pieced together through flashbacks, so you catch glimpses of his life unravelling and spiralling out of control. Amalric has crafted a mystery of savage tautness, cutting away all extraneous elements to leave the heart of a story that compellingly teases at the truth.

Sat 3 Sept, 3.30pm

Le Fabuleux Destin D’amélie Poulain 
Amélie

Dir: Jean-Pierre Jeunet 
France/Germany • 2001
1hr57mins • Subtitled

30 Under 30 gives us another excuse to fall under the spell of Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s fanciful
Parisian fairytale starring Audrey Tautou. Heart-swelling cinema at its best.

Sat 3 Sept, 4.00pm

Belle Et Sébastien, l’aventure continue 
Belle & Sebastian, TheAdventure Continues

Dir: Christian Duguay 
France • 2015
1 Hr 37 Mins • Subtitled

This thrilling update of the popular 1960s TV series, based on the beloved French children’s novel, reintroduces us to brave Sebastian and his faithful canine companion Belle as they set out to find Sebastian’s adoptive mother following the end of World War II. Please note: contains mild bad language. 

For a full listing of films showing at QFT this month see ...


À bientôt, Philip

15 août 2016

Game of Thrones door at The Dark Horse




The Dark Horse Coffee House, home for meetings of the cercle now has one of the ten Game of Thrones doors made from trees felled by storm Gertrude at the Dark Hedges. 
So if you are a fan of the series but have not yet been to one of our events why not faire d'une pierre deux coups ? We are sure you'll like both.