Dîner annuel 2017

Annual French Dinner

You are cordially invited to our annual French dinner on Wednesday 31 May 2017, 7:30pm for 8:00pm at Harlequins Rugby Football Club, 45a Deramore Park, Belfast BT9 5JX

The cost is £29.50 per person for which we provide a glass of wine on arrival and choices of entrées, plats et desserts with an inclusive cheese course and tea or coffee. 

You will find full details on the flyer attached.

If you wish to attend the annual dinner please print out and provide details on the attached form and return it together with payment by Friday 26 May 2017 to:
 Ray Largan, CFB Treasurer,9 Dalboyne Gardens, Lisburn BT 28 3BX 

Debussy and friends

Bulletin mensuel: avril 2017

The next meeting of the Cercle Français de Belfast will be …

on Mercredi 12 avril 2017 à 19h.30 

in Dark Horse Coffee House, 

30-34, Hill Street Belfast BT1 2LB

Topic: Debussy and friends

Speaker: Hilary HEADLEY

Debussy's music was considered by French society to be not quite acceptable and, in one case, outrageous. The Belle Époque, however, brought revolutionary changes in music, art and writing. Debussy was among its leaders, and his influence had a very long reach. 

Bal Feirste's monthly Workshop/Bal 

Bal Feirste's monthly Workshop/Bal will take place on:

Date: Sunday, 9 April

Venue: Sunflower Club, Union St, Belfast (upstairs)

Dance workshop: 17.00-17.30
Bal: 17.30-19.00

(this is a free event, donations welcome)

Dance workshop - no experience or partner needed, devoting our time to a Breton dance -the "Pach Pi".

Bal - a time to practise your moves, not just the dances of this month, but others we have covered to date guidance will be given where necessary.

Christine Bovill: Piaf

Friday 28th April 8.00pm

Áras Mhic Reachtain

283-289 Antrim Road

Belfast

As part of the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival Christine Bovill, Scotland’s Little Sparrow and multi award-winning songwriter and performer returns to Áras Mhic Reachtain with her triumphant show Piaf. Bovill is the world’s best Piaf performer! No pretence. No gimmicks. Simply a voice. Pure and majestic. Singing of life’s triumphs and tragedies, resisting the temptation of retelling her life story, Piaf focuses instead on the music.

Support from Eve Belle

Tickets £10 - MORE THAN HALF ALREADY GONE! To purchase tickets click here.

Both Sides

The Dark Horse

Sunday 7^th May 3.00pm & 7.30pm

Tickets £8

Our friend Jane Coyle returns to the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival with a new play 'Both Sides'.  It is a development of 'Me Here, Me', the Beckett-inspired monologue which was at CQAF last year. You will see a big difference now that a companion piece - 'Before Before' - has been added.  The two musicians, Mark and Annette, will be involved again playing their atmospheric French dance music.

For further details and to purchase tickets click here.

Cercle Français de Belfast Annual Dinner

When going to press with our programme we still had not settled on the date for our annual dinner so you might like to note in your diary that this year  Cercle Français de Belfast's Annual Celebration Dinner will take place on Wednesday 31^st May.

Looking forward to seeing you on Wednesday evening.

À bientôt, Philip

Notre prochaine conférence - The Paris Commune

Bulletin mensuel : mars 2017

The next meeting of the Cercle Français de Belfast will be on mercredi 8 mars 2017 à 19h.30 in Dark Horse Coffee House, 30-34, Hill Street Belfast BT1 2LB

• Topic: The Paris Commune       Speaker: Seamus McKEOWN

Seamus will recount the story of three months of bloody confrontation on the streets of the French capital following the siege and fall of the city to the Prussians on January 28, 1871.

• Bal Feirste presents their next French Bal with French Pianist - Valentin

This month's Bal Feirste's Workshop/Bal will be a special event with a change of venue and a very special guest performer …. Valentin Barray.

Valentin Barray creates a beautiful ambience through-out his Bal Folk performances.  He is a pianist and composer with a glittering array of achievements and accolades from his formal studies and performances in Europe.      

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3AZMoShDSQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfRyh7rvE2Y 

www. valentinbarray.com

www.facebook/valentin.barray

Venue:     An Droichead, Cooke St, Belfast, BT7 2EP

Date:        Sunday 12 March 2017  

Time:       Doors open             17.30 ~ BYO

                 Dance workshop   18.00 ~ 18.45

                 Bal (Dancing)        19.00 ~ 22.00

Cost:         £5 to members ~ £8 to non-member

• Eddie Izzard at the MAC

One of our members, Brian, has drawn my attention to the fact that Eddie Izzard is coming to the MAC for one night soon.  His show “Force Majeure” is on Thursday 16th March, and some members may be interested. He presents his show in 3 languages consecutively, an hour each, German, then French and finally in English. Tickets are required for each separately and the English version is sold out but, at the time of writing, there are still tickets available to the performance in French.

• Mois de la Francophonie en Irlande

To celebrate French language and cultural diversity, the Month of La Francophonie 2017 will showcase from March 1st to April 2nd a series of cultural events involving music, literature, film and history along with talks, debates and contests. 

You can find a full list of events at …

http://www.ambafrance-ie.org/The-Month-of-La-Francophonie-in-Ireland-2017-Programme but perhaps of most interest to us will be Franco-Irish Literary Festival (1^st -2^nd April) … more information to come later this month.

• Cercle français de Belfast Annual Dinner

When going to press with our programme we still had not settled on the date for our annual dinner so you might like to note in your diary that this year Cercle Français de Belfast's Annual Celebration Dinner will take place on Wednesday 31^st May.

Looking forward to seeing you on Wednesday evening.

À bientôt, Philip

La nuit de la lecture 14 janvier 2017

Tonight, 14 January, the first Nuit de la lecture takes place all over France.
It's brilliant to see how many events have been planned and just how diverse they are. Check out the clickable map at the following link: La Nuit de la lecture to see what's happening in or near a French town that you know.

At our annual Bal musette, earlier this week, it was suggested that members might like to take the opportunity to share details of what they are presently reading.  In that way we could join in spirit with the French event.


Here's what some members are reading:

Chris:
I've started Le corps de ma mère by Tunisian writer, Fawzia Zouari. You can find details of the book on the publisher's page here.  I am not that far into the book but have already found that I can relate to some of the issues raised. Making me think.

Philip:

I'm reading A Country Road, A Tree by Jo Baker. This is in English but the story is based on Samuel Beckett life in Paris during WW2. You can find details on Good Reads at this link.

Gerry:

Has just finished reading the part-autobiography, Below Stairs by Margaret Powell.  Here's a Good Reads link.  The book has an intriguing handwritten French inscription inside the front cover.  It reads "En vue de la troisieme saison... Joyeux anniversaire."  Any detectives out there?  Gerry is now reading Graham Greene's A life in letters.  Greene was a great French-speaking traveller, visiting Vietnam, French Indo-China four times researching The Quiet American. While he was in Saigon the French Commander-in-Chief, Général de Lattre, concluded Greene was a spy.

Gerry also has a Tintin app on his iPad but he says that's another story...

Like to share what you are reading?
Then please send details to Philip at cfbelfast@gmail.com  or add them via comments below. 

Fête des rois et bal musette

The Christmas holidays may have come to an end but you can still enjoy the festive spirit by joining in the Cercle Français de Belfast's celebration of La Fête des Rois.

This year our Fête des Rois Bal musette will be held on Wednesday 11^th January 2017 at 19h30 in The Dark Horse Coffee House.

Please note:While this event is free for members, guests will be asked to make a contribution of £5.

Bonne année,
Philip