NEWSLETTER - JANUARY 2016

NEWSLETTER - JANUARY 2016
CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE

​Dear members,

2015 was a really important year in the development of the FBS.
Our new Secretary, Isabelle Gault, has energized our membership campaign and enhanced our program, both of which have achieved significant success. In particular the new website has reached out to a new and younger membership and our events have been well attended and in many cases over-subscribed. A highlight was undoubtedly the speech by Winston Churchill’s grandson, Randolph on ‘Churchill and France’ which was attended by Her Excellency the French Ambassador. The Embassy’s support is critical to the success of our society and I am grateful for its commitment.
The last meeting of the year was held in the House of Lords with two outstanding speakers- Baroness Eliza Manningham-Buller former head of MI5 and Mr Amil Khan formerly of Reuters and the BBC and now actively involved in anti-extremism projects in the Middle East. Both speakers gave us a unique perspective on the crisis in the Middle East.
This last meeting was jointly chaired by Baroness Quin and myself and I would like to place on record my gratitude to Baroness Quinn for her proactive and imaginative contribution to our Society. Let me also place on record my gratitude to the council for all the hard work and dedication they bring to the cause.
What is the cause?
If any of us ever had any doubt the answer was provided by the solidarity between Paris and London shown after the murderous attacks in Paris in November. Our cause is a common one, shared values, shared sentiment, shared commitment. The role of the Franco-British Society is made all the more necessary by these events and I have no doubt that in 2016 the relationship between our two countries will become ever closer.
 
Meilleurs voeux pour la nouvelle année,

Lord Watson of Richmond CBE FRTS

 Wednesday 4 February 2015

 Talk on Andree's war, a true story of bravery and courage in occupied Paris

at the French Institute

with Francelle Bradford White

 Monday 27 April 2015

AGM at Lancaster House 
In presence of HE the French Ambassador Sylvie Bermann, the British Ambassador to France Sir Peter Ricketts, our FBS President The Rt Hon Dominic Grieve QC MP, our Chairman Lord Watson,  The Rt Hon Baroness Quin our Vice Chairman and Mr Peter McCoy our Treasurer.

Bernard Palmer announced the 2014 FBS Book Prize winner: Helen Castor.    

Tuesday 24th March
Evasion
​
Edward Cholmondeley-Clarke gave us an very interesting and illustrated talk on French escapes from Britain in the Napoleonic period. His talk was followed by a cocktail. 
All our thanks to Captain Bernard Hornung who invited us to hold this event at The Cavalry and Guards Club,

Monday 3rd June 2015
Le lycée Français Charles de Gaulle 1915-2015

Talk by co-writers of the book Olivier Rauch et  Charlotte Faucher.
Our President, The Rt Hon Dominic Grieve QC MP
was our Guest of Honour.
We were very pleased that some of the members of the Anglo-Belgian Society could join us. An important number of Belgian children schooled at the Lycée during the First World War.
The talk was followed by a cocktail at the Lycée.  

​Thursday 7th July 2015
​
Despite the general tube strike, the FBS members made it to Oxfordshire. 
Our day trip to Le Manoir aux Quat'saisons : Raymond Blanc's world famous Oxfordshire hotel and two Michelin Star restaurant. After a delicious 4 course Summer Menu, we visited his garden which supplies the restaurant with 90 types of fresh salads and vegetables, herbs, mushrooms and fruit.
It was a fantastic, memorable, sunny day!

Trip to Nantes 10-14 September 

1.Nantes was the destination of the Franco-British Society’s trip to France in 2015 and its history and heritage provided our theme. Our four-day visit gave us many opportunities to see and learn about both, and to enjoy the scenic and culinary delights of this rejuvenated city and its region. We left London on the Eurostar on 14 September and reached Nantes by train via Lille. Our well-located hotel had views of the Castle of the Dukes of Brittany.

2.We enjoyed a welcome dinner in the opulent Belle Epoque surroundings of the Brasserie La Cigale with its fine mosaics and mirrors and were treated to a Ballade Nantaise menu
3.Next morning we had an informative tour of the city with a local guide. We learned that, although Nantes today is part of the Pays de la Loire Region, its past as the capital of an independent Britanny is everywhere evident; the local people still regard themselves as Bretons. Nantes was by the end of the eighteenth century the principal port of France and  heavily involved in the slave trade, through which many fortunes were made. We were shown round the fifteenth century Cathedral of St Pierre et St Paul. It contains the tomb of Francois II, the last Duke of Britanny, and of his wife Margaret, who were the parents of Duchess Anne.

4.Then we were taken to 'Le Grand Elephant', now a major tourist attraction of the region – a humorous but beautifully engineered tribute to the city’s industrial past. The elephant is 12 metres high and 8 metres wide and has articulated joints. It is a highly impressive and realistic structure as it moves, trumpeting and squirting water, and many of us enjoyed a ride in it, marvelling at the mechanical underbelly from within as we toured around the extensive site. 
5.There was also a highly imaginative carousel of intricate sea creatures – which some of us later rode – built by the same factory on this site and drawing inspiration from the fact that it had been a shipyard.
 

6.We also saw the Passage Pommerage shopping arcade, a spectacular nineteenth century multi-level shopping centre. It was an impressive building with a monumental staircase flanked by gas lamps holding allegorical statues. Sadly, despite the odd shop selling candles or ethnic jewellery and a wonderful chocolaterie, many of the premises were empty and the place had a run-down feel.
That evening, we were at leisure to have dinner at one of Nantes many restaurants and to enjoy a warm evening stroll back to our hotel.  Some went up Le Nid, a skyscraper in the centre of town, to enjoy the great views from its 32nd floor bar and terrace. ​

7.The next morning started with rain as we set off for a day at the seaside. But the weather cleared up and we were able to have  coffee and a walk round the harbour of the pretty fishing port of Pornic before going on to the small port of Le Croisic.  There we chose to have lunch at one of the many seafood or Breton crepes restaurants along the seafront.
8.Later we walked along the sandy beach on the seafront of the elegant resort of La Baule. We stopped briefly at the lovely walled town of La Guerande, which derived its wealth from salt, before coming across an unexpected treat : M Hulot's statue at Saint Marc sur Mer. His holidays were, of course, made famous in the 1953 Jacques Tati film. We all took photographs by the statue, sadly now without its pipe. We ended our tour with a visit to St Nazaire, once France's main naval base and bombed to extinction in the last war. Most of the naval shipyards have now closed. We saw the enormous ships built for the Russians before the order was cancelled by the EU as part of the range of sanctions imposed after the Russian incursion into Ukraine.

8.On Sunday morning, after a leisurely breakfast, we visited the Castle of the Dukes of Brittany, a short walk from our hotel, for an audio-guided tour. The Castle, surrounded by a moat and well-tended lawns, is the last of the great Chateaux on the Loire. It was built by two of the last rulers of independent Brittany, Francois II, the last Duke of Brittany, and his daughter Anne (who was twice Queen of France). The Castle fortifications enclose a Renaissance palace with beautiful carved facades and from the top of the walls we were able to enjoy fine views over the city.
 The Edict of Nantes was signed in the Castle in 1598 by Henry IV, an important event in bringing to an end the wars of religion by granting greater tolerance to the Protestants. It was revoked in 1685 by Louis XIV but the people of Nantes played no part in the subsequent massacre of the Huguenots.
 We had a free afternoon with a choice of visits. Some went to the Musée Jules Verne, housed in a beautiful late nineteenth century building, others visited the impressive Memorial to the Abolition of Slavery or the Chapelle de l'Oratoire. Many chose to enjoy a stroll round the lovely botanical gardens close to our hotel, with their imaginative and sometimes humorous plantings and topiary. We enjoyed dinner together on our last evening at a restaurant next door to the hotel.
 We left the next morning after an enjoyable visit, in convivial company, to a most agreeable and interesting French city and its surroundings.
9.We thank our helpful and informative tour manager Terence Rodriguez, who gave us much useful information during our trip and of course we thank Isabelle Gault  for all she did and hope that her first trip as our Executive Secretary was not too much of a baptism of fire!  The arrangements went smoothly. We hope she will be accompanying us on many more visits to la belle France.           Monica and Jonathan

 Monday 23 November 2015  Talk with Randolph Churchill: Churchill and France

Tuesday 1 December 2015
Talk with Baroness Manningham-Buller and Mr Amil Khan.

Brenda et Isabelle vous souhaitent un joyeux Noel et une heureuse année 2016.
Elles vous attendent l'année prochaine pour de nouveaux événements:
12.01.2016: Pierre Skira à la Redfern Gallery
23.02.2016: Talk by Helen Castor -Joan of Arc- followed by lunch at the French Institute
18.03.2016: Talk and exhibition at the Royal Academy- Monet
April: next AGM
12.06.2016: The Patrons lunch; 90th Birthday of our Patron Her Majesty the Queen
October: Trip to Paris- with l'Association France Grande-Bretagne
and more.....