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Bienvenue au Cercle Français de Dorchester !
Programme 2011-12
Usual venue: Tolpuddle Room, 2nd floor, United Church, Dorchester
Meetings take place informally from 19:30 and formally from 20:00 until approximately 21:30, except for * which is in the afternoon from 15:00.
2011-2012 committee
President
Mrs Valerie Collings
Membership Secretary / Publicity Dorchester and environs
Mr Robin Howes
Publicity Weymouth & Portland
Mr James Millard
Programme Secretary and Previous President
Mme Simone Verbeeck-Heard
Treasurer
Mrs Pamela Allbuary
Annual Membership Fee £15
Membership after Christmas £10
Visitors £5 per meeting,
Students £1 per meeting
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Please feel free to join us, whatever your level; you are guaranteed to learn something new in a friendly ambience.
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We enjoyed a successful 2010-11 season with a diversity of activities to appeal to a wide range of preferences; this is reflected in the fact that our membership has been steadily growing since September 2010.
Below is the programme for the current season, 2011-2012. Scroll down beyond this to view 2010-2011 season's activities and latest news.
PROGRAMME 2011-2012
SEPTEMBRE 20 SOIREE DE BIENVENUE: We were pleased to welcome about twenty people to our first
meeting of the 2011-2012 season, which was held at the Wessex Royale Hotel, High West
Street. There were several new faces, as well as some we hadn't seen for a while, boosting the
regular membership.
OCTOBRE 4 "LA BOURSE OU LA VIE?" PAR MIKE LATHBURY, CONSEILLER FISCAL
This was obviously a popular subject. Mike succeeded in presenting the rudiments of various
financial solutions to a raft of cash flow problems. His main example was the concept of 'equity
release'. The presentation was both provocative and humourous, encouraging audience
participation and discussion.
OCTOBRE 18 RACONTEZ VOS MESAVENTURES EN FRANCE OU EN PAYS FRANCOPHONE:
CONVERSATION GENERALE The group was divided into pairs with one listening while the
other one told their story for ten minutes. Each of the listeners in turn related what they had
heard to the whole group, before swapping roles. Everyone persevered with non-stop
participation. Well done everyone!
NOVEMBRE 1 FILM FRANCAIS CHOISI PAR NOTRE EXPERT Sixteen of us attended a somewhat
unpredictable and dramatic film from the late 1960s, situated in the PERIGORD region of SW
France. Chabrol's 'Le Boucher', set in a remote rural village, was centered on the life of a young
headmistress and the unrequited love of a passionate admirer, leading to a disasterous end.
NOVEMBRE 15 QUE FAISIEZ VOUS LE JOUR DU MARIAGE ROYAL DU 29 AVRIL 2011? :
CONVERSATION GENERALE Valerie opened the meeting with some guidelines for language
usage and appealed to members to think creatively before relating their stories. This was achieved
firstly in four pairs, then in three groups of three, five pairs and finally in the round. By this time
everyone was speaking confidently; there had been a constant buzz of conversation throughout
the evening, punctuated by the bell and changing groups. Welcome to the two new members,
who joined at the end of the evening.
NOVEMBRE 29 "VOYAGE EN BOURGOGNE", CAUSERIE ILLUSTREE PAR ANDREW MCCLURE,
VITICULTEUR This subject attracted new interest and several visitors were welcomed as well
as the 'regulars'. Andrew shared Burgundy holiday experiences from various places around the
region, giving specific details of gastronomic delights along with humourous anecdotes. These
were complimented with memorable slides. Thank you very much Andrew for a superb
presentation.
JANVIER 8* DIMANCHE A 15:00: THE DU NOUVEL AN
Fifteen of us met to celebrate the new year with an informal tea and chat in French and English
at Char-chars tearoom in South Street, Dorchester. The speciality tea for the day was 'White
Peony', which was introduced to us by Sonja, the proprietress, who pointed out its specific
health benefits, particularly for the heart. She also spoke about times when the tea is harvested.
Thank you Sonja for welcoming us again and for your interesting short talk. We now welcome
another new member, bringing our total to twenty so far this season.
FEVRIER 7 "HISTOIRE DE L'USINE WESTLAND, AVIONS ET HELICOPTERES", CAUSERIE ILLUSTREE PAR
JIM MILLARD, TECHNICIEN RETRAITE DE WESTLAND A dozen of us braved the minus one C outside
to attend. But the Tolpuddle Room was warm and cosy, as was the atmosphere Jim created. His talk was both
informative and memorable, as he took us through the history of 'Westlands', from its inception and described
anecdotally his own unique experience of over forty years working there. His talk was illustrated with
a series of enlarged photographs of the various models of helicopters and which included three generations of
his family. Thank you Jim, for sharing your story with us. At the end of the talk, we welcomed another new member.
FEVRIER 28 DES JEUX POUR AMELIORER VOTRE CONNAISSANCE DU FRANCAIS
Two newcomers brought the total number of participants to eighteen. The first game involved everyone mingling
informally, to 'find someone who...' The people were all French characters, past and present; musicians, monarchs,
footballers and politicians. After a twenty minute buzz, it was time to sit down in small group teams to decide the
locations of regional capitals on a map of France, within the marked regions. Knowledge gleaned provided a basis for
the next activity, which was a wordsearch, compiled by Valerie, in which the theme was regional and national french
dishes. This was done individually and the atmosphere was then one of quiet and intense concentration. The evening
concluded with a guessing game. There were five boxes and the idea was to guess the contents, most of which were
prizes. Again, the games evening proved to be a popular programme item.
MARS 13 "TROIS COMPOSITEURS FRANCAIS" EXPOSE PAR PINA MASLEN ET INTERPRETE PAR NEIL CUTHILL,
ANCIEN PROFESSEUR DE MUSIQUE Many thanks to Pina for giving us all a really informative and amusing talk,
delivered in such a way that we could understand and appreciate important events in the lives of the three French
composers; HECTOR BERLIOZ, GABRIEL FAURE and CLAUDE DEBUSSY. We are also grateful to Neil Cuthill for
playing selected pieces, on the piano, to punctuate the talk. The presentation began with Neil playing
"The Shepherds' Farewell", the first of several well-known pieces, which we were invited to guess the names of.
Afterwards, the seventeen attendees went away feeling enriched by this delightful evening.
MARS 27 "UN GRAND ARCHITECTE BELGE, VICTOR HORTA" PAR SIMONE VERBEECK-HEARD A big thank you to Simone
for presenting a really interesting talk, at an accessible pace. The coloured slides were superb and well linked to the
explanations giving us a lasting impression of Victor Horta's characteristic style, with its embellishments and the use of
glass to maximise the use of natural light inside buildings. Simone's great uncle had known Victor Horta personally and
this brought an added dimension to the talk. Simone presented Victor Horta's work in the context of the historical
development of Brussels with references to his work in Paris. The twenty attendees were greatly inspired and will
certainly know what to look for on future visits. Informal discussion followed.
AVRIL 17 ASSEMBLEE GENERALE 56 IEME AGM Thank you to all those who attended.
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la prochaine fois...
JUILLET 14 SAMEDI - FETE DE LA BASTILLE
This year we shall be celebrating again at The White Horse Inn, Litton Cheney.
Places need to be booked in advance. We shall need to have final numbers by
Tuesday 2nd July. The cost will be £20/head. So please put the date in your diary
and start saving now! Further details will follow and will be posted here as they become available.
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Programme 2010-2011
21 SEPTEMBRE LA SOIREE DE BIENVENUE
This was a well supported informal evening with an attendance of sixteen. Amongst the buzz of conversation- mainly in French-previous members renewed their subscriptions and exchanged summer news while welcoming visitors and new members.
5 OCTOBRE DES JEUX POUR AMELIORER NOTRE CONNAISSANCE DE LA LANGUE FRANCAISE
A dozen of us all had a fun time learning new language, based around five games, played entirely in French of course; hangman, guessing what was in the box, consequences, memory game and pass the parcel, which was laced with a combination of forfeits and small prizes.
19 OCTOBRE VENEZ IN COGNITO DERRIERE UNE MASQUE: "QUI SUIS-JE?"
Ten of us guessed the characters behind the masks- or represented pictorially or with objects- by asking questions which could only have yes/no answers. Characters presented were: Henri 1er 1008-1060, Le Marquis de Sade 1740-1814, George Sand 1804-1876, Claude Monet 1840-1926, Vincent Van Gogh 1853-1890, Josephine Baker 1906-1975, Jacques Tati 1907-1982, Celine Dion 1968.
2 NOVEMBRE "LE MONDE DES CHEVAUX DE BOIS"; CAUSERIE ILLUSTREE PAR JAMES MILLARD
Jim shared his story from how he had first come to be interested in making rocking horses, through to his remarkable achievements. There were illustrations throughout, including the technicalities involved. Jim was able to take us through the process, step by step and by the end of the evening we all felt truly enlightened. A spontaneous discussion followed the talk and several people contributed by relating their own experiences.
16 NOVEMBRE "MA VIE VECUE AU JAPON"; CAUSERIE ILLUSTREE PAR VALERIE COLLINGS
We are pleased to welcome our two new members who joined this evening. Valerie held our interest for an hour and twenty minutes, relating various experiences from her time spent teaching in Japan. The coloured slides generated a number of questions along the way and especially towards the end, definitely had the WOW factor!
30 NOVEMBRE VENEZ REGARDER UN FILM FRANCAIS, SELECTIONNE PAR NOTRE CONNAISSEUR, ANDREW MCCLURE. Despite the freezing temperatures, a dozen of us enjoyed a truly comical evening watching the film,
"LE JOUR DE FETE" starring Jaques Tati. The comedy, local colour, characterisation and philosophy were all thought-provoking elements, making Andrew's choice of film particularly suitable for the short disussion in French afterwards. Merci beaucoup Andrew!
14 DECEMBRE VENEZ IDENTIFIER ET APPRENDRE DES ARTISTES FRANCAIS ET LEURS TABLEAUX Valerie presented a selection of postcards, each one featuring a different painting. The artists were mainly French Impressionists. After a brief introduction, the task was to identify as many paintings as possible by name and their artists. There was more than one painting for some of the artists. An informal discussion followed.
9 JANVIER DIMANCHE APRES-MIDI A PARTIR DE 15h00 PRENONS LE THE DE L'APRES-MIDI ENSEMBLE POUR FETER LE NOUVEL AN CHEZ 'CHAR CHARS'. The New Year was celebrated in style, hosted by Sonja of Char Chars, who also gave a brief and interesting discourse about the origin of the custom of taking afternoon tea. This was an informal meeting with the emphasis on socialising, while enjoying the excellent tea, sandwiches and cakes. This is one of the two meetings each year where non-francophone associates are invited to attend, the other being the Bastille Day Celebration in July. We are pleased to welcome another new member.
8 FEVRIER FILM AU SUJET DE LA REGION DE CH'TIS This was an excellent evening with plenty of laughter. Thank you Andrew for your superb choice of film. The event was attended by sixteen people including four native speakers. An especially warm welcome to all those who were attending for the first time. We cannot wait for the sequel to this meeting, in the form of a talk at the next meeting. It will be fascinating to discover the degree of authenticity portrayed in the film.
1 MARS "MA VIE ET LA LANGUE DE LA REGION DE CH'TIS" PRESENTATION AU SUJET DE LA REGION DE CH'TIS PAR PINA MASLEN. Pina gave us an interesting insight
into the humour of the regional culture through play on words, origins of the patois and her own background. Despite some unavoidable technical difficulties, the ten people who attended gleaned a greater understanding and appreciation of the film through a closer look at the highlights which Pina had selected to illustrate examples of the language.
15 MARS "NAPOLEON PREMIER ET L'EUROPE DU 21EME SIECLE" PRESENTATION PAR SIMONE VERBEECK-HEARD Simone coloured in for us our previously montone impressions of Napoleon, describing in some detail his influence on the internal affairs of France and the legacy it has left today. A most informative talk was enjoyed by all fourteen attendees.
29 MARS REUNION GENERALE
Eleven proactive members plus one visitor attended and contributed both feedback and new ideas to help us prepare for our next season. There was one apology. As usual for the A.G.M. only, the formal part of the meeting took place in English. Most of the ideas put to the vote were agreed on, either unanimously or with a strong consensus. Our thanks and a warm welcome is extended to Pamela Allbuary, who has kindly agreed to serve on the committee as our new treasurer.
After the usual soft start with informal French conversation from 19:30, the formal meeting began at 20:00 and finished at 21:25. Thank you to all who attended.
N.B. The A.G.M. marks the end of the current season: 2010-2011. The new season begins
in late September, though there is always a summer meeting between the two seasons, on or around le 14 juillet.
The committee met on 10th May 2011.
14 JUILLET BASTILLE DAY CELEBRATION Fifteen of us met in the sunshine in the garden, outside the White Horse Inn at Litton Cheney, where we enjoyed a truly excellent meal inside, French style. The weather was also perfect, as of course was the company. Our thanks to Simone and Jean-Louis for organising this memorable event.
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VALERIE ET LE COMITE VOUS SOUHAITE
BONNES FETES
ET ATTEND AVEC IMPATIENCE VOUS REVOIR
SAMEDI LE 14 JUILLET 2012
A PARTIR DE 11:45
  
A BIENTOT!
UPDATED 28/04/12 V.J.C.
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