Click on any of the links below to take you to a short description of the presentation or event
Click on any of the links below to take you to a short description of the presentation or event
When first asked to do this talk, John said no, talking about nuts and bolts is too boring. How wrong he was! It was very informative and funny, and it was great to have the beautiful 'retro-mod' car there in the Mairie courtyard to explore afterwards.
John's opening photo showed us an advert for the car, boasting it could do 83mpg for 7 days and nights! It was a bit of a fiddle. The car's top speed is 73 mph! It had been retuned and driven round a racetrack that had bends you could take without reducing speed.
The Ford Anglia 105e was launched in 1959, the same year as the Mini. It was designed by an American, Ellwood Engle who came over to Ford's Birmingham design centre, giving the car its futuristic fins. John showed us photos of the competition, including the Morris 1000 and the Austin A35, which looked to be from an earlier era, though they had good engines. In fact, the Morris outsold the Anglia, but the latter was one of the first cars to sell a million, including 14,000 in France.
John's car, to the disappointment of a Dagenham boy, was built at Halewood in Liverpool. It was a left-hand drive, built for export, and ten years ago John bought it out of a shed in France, for 800 euros. It was in appalling condition. John and 2 friends did an 800km round trip in a breakdown truck to pick it up. And so began a two-year labour of love, £12000 of expense and 2,500 man-hours of labour.
John got the car home to Agde, but had he really thought this through. ..
What does a full rebuild consist of?
Bodywork
Electrics
Mechanical chassis work, brakes, suspension and steering
Mechanical engine, gearbox, rear differnetial
Trimming, re-upholstery, re-chroming and headlining
Most difficult: bodywork, rebuilding doors with new seals and rubbers, window winder mechanisms, quarter lights etc.
There are so many different skills - nobody is a painter and a mechanic; as for trimming, how many mechanics can sew?
Since most Anglias are right-hand drive, John decided to switch it; it also made parts a but easier to find. But he did not have all the tools or equipment to rebuild the car. He needed to roll it over to get welding on the underside, so he built an ingenious wooden 'rotisserie' - on his patio - which stood the car on its side and spun it round 360 degrees. The car was very rusty - John referred to it as a 'Flintstone' car - you could put your foot through the floor and run it home. Apparently, a lot of old cars have weak floors and salt from roads and rain leaks mean floors got rusted through. It was interesting to find out that you cut rusty bits out with a disc-cutter, cut new pieces to fit, and weld them together. No sanding involved! You are often dealing with 'sandwich' construction - an inner and outer metal skin welded together at the edge. When John opened the underside, he found someone had poured concrete into the cills - he had to smash it out and get new ones.
When he had finished the underside, John took the car body (only the shell, no engine or other bits) back to the UK to his car body garage. This involved taking his half-ton 20-foot-long boat to pieces, to put the car on the trailer instead. He was in the UK for three months, donning overalls and working everyday with the lads, one of the best times of his life. His repairers were so committed they filled in every tiny dent, including ones there from its build. He was away so much that Debbie joked that the car was 'the other woman' so he named the car 'Angelia'.
He had the car repainted ermine white (and red); it had been repainted white-white for the French market. It had about 25 wires compared to ten times that many in a modern car. And the only electronic-ish thing in the car is a voltage stabiliser. He ordered two cowhides, in red and white, for the upholstery and trim. The most difficult job in the rebuild was fitting the 'head' lining inside the roof. When the trimmer said it would be another £1000 and two days to do it, John decided to do it himself. Today, the material is stuck directly to the ceiling, but then it was fitted to a steel sprung carcass. Most of this was broken, and it can't be welded. So John had to 'braise' it, which is what you do with brass. You get it to a cherry red heat and join the pieces.
To get the parts he wanted for the engine rebuild, John bought 4 engines. The bottom half of the rebuilt engine is from a ten-year newer model, a better engine, earlier ones leaked oil. There were a lot of adjustments to make parts work together, to switch to right hand drive and to be able to fill up with modern unleaded petrol. John showed us some technically challenging photos!
He had thought he could leave the original gearbox and other parts, as the car had only done 30,000 miles. But when he took the car out on the road, it was fuming and smokey and he realised all the bearings had gone, the rear axle whined, it was a disaster to drive. So he ripped the engine and gearbox out and rebuilt them, pushing the car from 39hp to 76hp (modern cars are 200-250hp). But it now 'went line a rocket' and when the car came up to a junction, and he tried to stop, it didn't. It was too powerful for the brakes! So he had to redo them too. Pat provided the furry dice.
All these changes, to make the car driveable on modern roads, even if just to classic car shows and local runs, means the car is a 'classic-mod' which the 'purists' might sniff about. But as John said, lots of older people have happy memories of driving these cars, and say 'I would like that car again'. And when they try it, they think 'how did I ever drive this rubbish'! John loves his stunning classic car and really enjoyed the work of rebuilding it: he has since rebuilt a mini, but not one needing the same two-year- long total rebuild. But despite this and his background in ICE cars, John has moved with the times; He now drives a sophisticated electric car for everyday use.
Brian introduced his talk with a recording of the famous Monty Python sketch, which is still very funny.
Brian worked in the nuclear industry as a physicist but since retirement he has focussed more on his long-term interest. Brian is an ' aqueducteur" or aqueducterist - his words to describe his enthusiasm for finding and researching aqueducts. A Roman called Sextus Julius Frontinus (probably from Narbonne, later Governer of Britain) wrote a book about building aqueducts, comparing them favourably to the 'useless' Egyptian pyramids and the Greek 'tourist tat' sculptures. Brian couldn't agree more.
Brian was interested in the Roman period from childhood. He lived near a field in which a Roman-era palace was later found and he really enjoyed a school trip to Lullingstone Villa where he admired Roman-era walls (he also visited Hadrien's Wall) and was interested in the everyday 'pots and pans' of Roman life. Before moving to France, many holidays were spent visiting places with aqueducts such as Arles and Nimes.
On his aqueductering trips, he enjoys finding hidden and lost bits in the garrigue. He also appreciates memorable encounters with local people who help him along the way, some of whom have become firm friends.
In 1974, Brian climbed up the Pont du Gard; you could do that then and walk along the channels. He researched the route from Uzes to Nimes and wrote his first book. He has written a second book and is rewriting his first book to add considerably more detail. He also found about 30km of the Beziers aqueduct, but there is little to see. Brian has travelled in Turkey, where there are some magnificent aqueducts, and next year will be travelling in North Africa, hunting down more aqueducts.
Brian explained very clearly what an aqueduct is and does. Briefly, it is a means of carrying water from a source to a point of usage. The use can be domestic, irrigation, public fountains and bathhouses, the latter a key social feature of Roman life.
Some of the Roman aqueducts are over 100km long and are truly impressive feats of engineering. Rome had 11 aqueducts to supply one million people. They take the water from springs and rivers and carry it, with bridges over valleys, but preferably underground - nobody can steal your water! There are inspection shafts every 70-80 metres to allow for maintenance. These can descend to 20 metres below ground. There are 'settling tanks' which collect the detritus, which can be cleaned out. The water channels can be 1.5 to 2 metres, and up to 3 metres high. They are lined with a waterproof cement containing crushed tiles. The surface is painted with a mixture including figs and pigfat, which makes for slippery walls, helping the water to flow freely. There is no mortar between the stones of an aqueduct, they are finely built and the stones bond together over the years.
At the end of the aqueduct, there is a 'castellum', a water tower, which distribute the water around the town or quarter. They also had a means of cleaning out the sewage system. The Castellum at Nimes is pretty impressive, and also the one at Pompeii.
All aqueducts work by gravity. There are no pumps. Sometimes the incline is as little as 0.2 %. Nimes aqueduct drops 12 metres over 50km, and the incline varies. The first section drops more steeply, the bit at Pont du Gard is almost flat.
When the aqueduct has to go down one side of a valley and up the other, it works with an inverted siphon effect. The water from a header tank races under pressure down lead pipes on one side, which pushes it up the opposite side, to a header tank at a slightly lower level. An aqueduct’s route through the landscape is whatever is the most cost effective, decisions have to be made, e.g., to go round a hill or through a hill, so they are often quite sinuous routes.
Aqueducts are long lasting - they don't have moving parts, but they do need to be maintained. The Roman aqueducts lasted 150 years or more in good condition, then maintenance declined with the decline of the Roman empire and especially the decline of cities. They often continued to be used for crop irrigation, for centuries, before falling in to total disuse. Though the beautiful aqueduct in Segovia, Spain, still carries water for some uses.
Brian has found hidden bits of various aqueducts and contributed to greater knowledge of their trace in the landscape. In one case, having researched and predicted the path of an aqueduct, he persuaded a man to allow him to dig four test holes in his garden. With a minipele (small digger) he found a hole and got into the aqueduct. It was a wonderful feeling to be the first person to see it since the Romans who built it. Or, as the garden owner said, since the Gauls built it. Or, as Brian responded, OK, since the Gallo-Romaines built it!
'Regards' (manhole covers) are vital in the search for aqueducts. They may be the only part at ground level, the rest being below ground, or the stones above ground will have been removed by locals to use in building churches and houses. Brian searches between the known vestiges, where he thinks the route should go. He has maps and uses GPS. He showed us his trusty toolbag - it contains also notebooks and pens, camera, secateurs, paintbrush and trowel, but also drinks and sandwich box, dog biscuits and poo bags! It was very interesting to find he also uses copper water dowsers. As a physicist he knows that science has no explanation of why they might work - but it works for him, though not for everybody. Denise, also a physicist, said it works for her too, but not for Afshin!
Brian entertained us with his deep knowledge and enthusiasm for aqueducts. But as Brian said, he and Barbara do spend rather a lot of their holidays in aqueduct-adjacent locations - so I assume Barbara has a hand in which magnificent locations they visit next! May the dowser force be with you on your next trip!
You can find out more from his books: Brian Southgate (2025) “The Roman Aqueducts of the Alpilles: In the footsteps of Étienne Blanchet” and (2023) “Going with the flow – A walk along the Nîmes aqueduct”.
Helen talked to us about the Louvre Museum robbery of 19 October 2025. Nine French Crown jewel pieces were taken from the Renaissance-era Appolon Gallery. On the way, we learned some history of the Louvre buildings and of the jewels themselves.
The pieces were taken at 9.30am when the Museum had just opened. It was a daring robbery, but so simple as to be almost silly, and an embarrassment for the Museum management and the French government.
The robbery was over in under 8 minutes of which fewer than four were actually inside the Gallery. Disguised as construction workers, two thieves used a furniture lift (rather like a 'cherry picker') to reach a first-floor balcony. They cut the window glass open - after a renovation, the window had its bars removed and not replaced for fire safety reasons. On entering the Gallery, the thieves threatened the guards with power tools and then cut into the toughened glass display case with an angle grinder. The cases had previously had secure coffers which descended into the floor, but these had been old and worn and were not replaced. The Apollon Gallery cameras were facing the wrong way and there was no exterior CCTV on that part of the building. The thieves went back down on the furniture lift, where two other gang members were waiting on scooters. Off they went to a lock-up garage on the outskirts of Paris. What happened to the pieces after that, nobody knows.
The thieves were obviously in a hurry as they took only one of a pair of sapphire earrings. Empress Eugénie's crown was dropped during the escape. It was badly deformed as the thieves had yanked it out of the case through a hole that was too small for it. It has 10 diamonds and a gold eagle missing so somebody else may have had a nice payday too! As may the company, Boecker, who made the lift. Since nobody had been hurt, they ran an ad which went viral, with over 4m views in a matter of days. The photo of the lift and ladder up to the balcony was accompanied by the strapline 'When you want to move fast'! The authorities have said the crown probably can be repaired but it will be 'delicate'.
The Louvre building was originally a fortress, built for Philippe II in the late 12c. It was later completely remodelled in the 16c, to become a palace for François 1, the 'Rennaisance Prince'. It first became a museum during the French Revolution, and was saved from fire during the Paris Commune of 1871. Parts of it continued to be used for national academies and Ministries until the 20c. It is the largest national museum in the world, gaining its famous glass pyramid entrance by 1989. This too is to be remodelled as it is too hot and too cold (depending on the season) for the queues waiting to enter. The Louvre is more popular nowadays but has fewer staff than it used to employ, to manage its enormous exhibition space (nearly 73,000 sq m) and equally enormous collections. The Museum's Director had been in place for 4 years. She was criticised for being more focused on future projects than on protecting current collections and her resignation was eventually accepted. Protecting the collections is an almost impossible challenge in such large historic old buildings, much remodelled, and subject to increasing regulation of culturally important buildings, at the same time as years of public sector cuts. There had been several reviews of the Museum's security. It seems likely that either the thieves, or their employer, had read the 2014 report, which had identified all the security weaknesses the thieves exploited.
The pieces taken are likely those from the area with the least risk to the gang, for the biggest pay day. The jewellery was worth 88m euros. It was mainly parures from the Napoleonic period. Parures are matching sets, usually including tiara, necklace, earrings, rings and brooches. Those stolen included jewels worn by Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III; Princess Marie-Louise, granddaughter of Queen Victoria; Marie-Emilie de Bourbon, wife of Louis-Philippe, who was the last king of France, and Hortense, Queen of the Netherlands. The jewellery stolen included a very large diamond bow brooch, originally conceived for a belt worn by Empress Eugénie for the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1855. Some of the pieces had more than a thousand diamonds and hundreds of emeralds, but their historical importance to France is much greater than their monetary value. This is despite the fact that these and many other Crown jewels, were sold in the 1870s for political reasons. They were bought by famous jewellery houses, other royal and aristocratic families and American heiresses including Marjorie Post, whom Helen said had a fascinating life and was worth a separate talk.
It was interesting to find how frequently the precious stones were reset or the piece remodelled for the fashions of the day, and how much older the stones were than their current setting, often first recorded in the 16c or earlier. Because of their historic significance, the Friends of the Louvre Museum had over time been buying back these pieces, to reconstitute the Crown Jewels collection. Which is why they were not dispersed, or in the Smithsonian Museum in Washington (some still are), but in the Louvre, as Helen said, 'a robbery waiting to happen'.
The thieves left DNA traces and were soon arrested and are still in custody, but have not gone to trial as yet. The two thieves who broke in are residents of a poor Paris banlieue and have a history of burglary, though not on this scale. One even claims he thought they were going to rob a jewellery shop and he wouldn't have done the job had he realised the cultural significance! They say that for them, it was a 20,000 or 25,000 euro 'payday'. But though they have admitted the robbery, they will not say who hired them, they say for fear of reprisals. The investigators seem to be no further forward than they were a week after the robbery. Was there a Mister Big? We don't know. Was it an 'inside job'? We don't know. Where are the pieces now? We don't know. Helen is very knowledgeable about precious stones and she thinks the stones have been cut out but would not have been fenced in Europe. They would have to be recut because their period cut (eg cabochon rather than brilliant), their quality and weight would make them instantly recognisable. She thinks it likely the diamonds went to the Gulf states and the emeralds to India.
Is the Louvre security better now? I don't know, but I hope so. There are quite a few things in there I wouldn't like to see go missing from history. Though, on the cheerful side, the Mona Lisa, stolen from the Louvre in 1911, was recovered intact in 1913, and is now behind bullet proof glass and hard to see well in a busy gallery. But there are plans to remodel its presentation and put it in a different gallery ....
Denise talked about an iconic Victorian heroine, Grace Darling. Her part in the rescue of 9 shipwrecked mariners has become an example of charity, fortitude and hope (memorised in a stained-glass window in St Aidan’s church, Bamburgh) recorded in stories and schoolbooks from Japan to Australia and the USA, as well as the UK.
Along the way, Denise took us down some interesting 'rabbit holes', e.g. when the Royal National Lifeboat Institution was founded (1824) and when the Royal Humane society (1174) and why (for people who had apparently drowned, but often had not died and could be resuscitated. In earlier times they had believed tobacco smoke enemas would be effective!).
Grace was born in 1815 on the Northumberland mainland on the north-east coast of England, and was brought at 3 weeks old to her home in the Farne islands, off the Northumberland coast. These islands played a key part in the development of English Christianity, due to the monks of Holy island. There are 15-20 islands, as 5 are only visible at low tide (when Holy Island is actually accessible on foot). The islands are formed of very sharp dolomite rock, and they are a serious hazard to shipping when they are not visible. One island alone, Knifestone, was responsible for 60 wrecks.
Grace's father William was lighthouse keeper. At the time there were only coal-fired braziers and her father's job was to keep the flame alight, but the light did not reach far out to sea. In Grace's early years they lived on Brownsman island, which was just large enough to grow vegetables and keep a few animals. When Grace was aged 10 they moved to a new lighthouse, when ship-owners had finally agreed to pay the levy for a proper lighthouse with tower, built on an island that was merely a rocky outcrop. To get all their supplies, they had to row a flat-bottomed 'coble' dinghy (better for avoiding rocks and launching off beaches) the one-mile distance to Bamburgh on the mainland.
Grace and her siblings grew to adulthood on the Farnes. She could row as well as any of them and she and her brothers used to explore the islands by boat. Her oldest brother also became a lighthouse keeper, and the youngest worked on the local lord's mainland estate where their grandfather was head gardener.
One very dark and stormy night, September 17 1838, when Grace was 22 years old, and home alone with her parents, before 5am she saw the light of a ship in trouble and by 7am she could see some survivors clinging to the rocks. She and her father set off in their coble to rescue them, despite the storm which continued to rage for three days. Grace rowed on the first of the two rescue trips that her father made (the boat was only large enough for 6 or 7 people) and they took off those most injured or in difficulty. This included Mrs Dawson, tragically, her 2 children had perished of exposure overnight. The ship had broken in two within 15 minutes, and most of the 30 to 40 passengers (there were no manifests in those days and people bought their tickets on board ship) were trapped in the stern, which quickly sank. The survivors were in, or reached, the bow, which broke up a bit later. Captain Humble of this steamship, the SS Forfarshire, and his wife, went down with the ship. There were 2 inquests about what happened. The first blamed the captain for continuing the voyage, in the knowledge of damaged boilers, though at the time of the wreck, the ship had turned back to try and reach safe harbour. But in the storm, they mistook the light from the Darling's lighthouse for one much closer to shore, and ran aground on the rocks. At the ship-owners' request, there was a second inquest, which found only the storm to be the fault.
Grace was undoubtedly a heroine, a young women who rowed out in a raging storm to save others, as was her father, who went out twice. There were also 7 men who rowed out from the mainland, taking two hours to get that distance, arriving after the survivors had been rescued. These men included Grace's youngest brother William Brooks. These men, who did not get any recognition, and all of the rescued, returned to the Darling's lighthouse, it being impossible to get back to shore till the storm abated.
Both shipping and media were growth industries and the story quicky spread to newspapers around the world, often with Grace as the dramatic sole heroine, and some rather fake news about her 'lazy' father, who they said did not want to launch their boat. It was only years later that the record was corrected, in a book by Grace's favourite sister Thomasin. Sadly, Grace had died of tuberculosis four years after the rescue, cared for on the mainland by Thomasin. Grace's story had touched many people, and Grace had tried to reply to every letter. Before she died admirers had sent her a great deal of money, including £50 from Queen Victoria. Grace hated all the attention, having grown up in a quiet and remote place. The Duke of Northumberland set up a 3-person trust to manage the money she received, which was devoted to good works and care of the poor. Grace's story also contributed to later changes in maritime law concerning ship's manifests and lifeboats. And her story was used in the moral development of little children. Like some others attending Denise's talk, I remember reading about Grace's heroism in one of our primary school reading books, along with Greyfriar's Bobby, the faithful little dog, and other models of right behaviour.
Denise brought it all to life, with details including that the sister's shared their one good dress by having 2 hidden sets of fastenings. And it was so relevant to today, to hear about the mediatisation of Grace's story, and her dislike of that. She felt she had only done her duty.
Denis began by outlining the medieval context for the origin and rise of the De Montforts. In the 9th century, England and France were not nation states. They had neither stable borders nor unified government. The first king of England rather than the English, was Aethelstan (924-939) and the first king of France, rather than the Franks, was Philp II (1165-1223)
Denis outlined the nature of war, in which knights on horseback functioned as the tanks of the day. He emphasised the feudal structure of fealty and overlordship that governed warrior relationships, but also the widespread inter - and intra-family warfare as well as the many Crusader attempts to take back the Christian holy places, only the first of which (temporarily) achieved that. He emphasised that in feudal times there was not so much a rule of law in the warrior class, but of sacred religious oaths and the sword. Warriors went to war for their beliefs and to get booty. The de Montforts certainly did. Denis thought that chivalry was a myth for non-combatants and non-Christians. To an extent it existed for the noble classes as if captured on the battlefield they were valuable and were usually ransomed - including Richard 1 of England, the Lionheart.
The first Montfort history knows anything about is Guillaume (around 1000) a castellan (keeper) of a castle for King Robert II (the Pious). He became wealthy by marrying an heiress through which he gained a valuable forest in Yveline, very profitable in a time of lots of churchbuilding, which needed oak. Many of the next Montforts were called Simon or Amaury; Denis illustrated the violence of warrier life, showing how many of Simon 1's grandchildren died young in battle, or fought against their own siblings. Denis also showed the violence against women, with women family members exchanged in deals, or suffering from rapt marriage (kidnapping and marriage by force). In the case of Bertrade in an arranged marriage to the Count of Anjou, she was then married bigamously in 1095 to King Philippe Ist ('the Amorous'!). Excommunication by the Pope and its reversal, was not uncommon.
Denis then focused on two Simons, father and son, who were key to the history of Languedoc and France (Simon V, 1175-1218) leader of the Albigensian Crusade and Simon VI (c 1208-1265) leader of the 2nd Baron's revolt (1264). Both men were brave and ambitious warriors, excellent battlefield leaders, fierce Roman Catholics and from a modern perspective, greedy and cruel.
Simon V fought in the fourth crusade of 1202-4. As a holy warrior, despite the riches that could be taken, he refused to take part in the sack of Zara in what is now Zadar in Croatia, and then Constantinople, the centre of Orthodox Christianity. But he did take part in the Albigensian Crusade against Christians in Languedoc, as they had been declared heretics by Pope Innocent III. King Philip II, Simon's feudal overlord, wanted to extend his lands to the wealthy and cultured South-west, and the Pope wanted to crush heresy and regain the tithes that were no longer sent to Rome. Chosen as leader on the battlefield, Simon V took the lands of the young Viscount of Beziers, Albi and Carcassonne. The 24-year-old Raymond-Roger Trencavel gave himself up while in siege, in exchange for his people being able to leave Carcassonne unharmed. He was not ransomed, but died a prisoner, perhaps murdered. There is a recently erected statue of him opposite the cathedral in Béziers. Simon went on to beat Raymond-Roger's overlord, Raymond, Count of Toulouse. Raymond had called for assistance from his own overlord in the ruling family of Aragon. Peter of Aragon made two errors, his position on the battlefield, part of the melee, and wearing borrowed armour, he was killed unrecognised rather than captured. Simon V was now the wealthy ruler of a vast territory on behalf of the French King Philip But he was oppressive and unpopular; his predecessors had been sympathetic to religious minorities. Simon V was killed in the Carcassone siege by a rock catapulted from a siege engine, having refused to leave service before the end of Mass, despite the reported difficulties on the battlefield. But King Philip got what he wanted, as did the Pope, and the South west was Roman Catholic and subjugated to King Philip's France, enforced by a string of royal forts, often called Cathar castles.
Following William the Conqueror in 1066, many nobles had titles in England and France. Simon V was Earl of Leicester by his mother's family, but could nor take up the earldom's lands and income as he could not owe fealty to both the kings of England and France. His son Simon VI got the lands and income and moved to England. The lands had been given to Simon's cousin the Earl of Chester by King John of England. But as this Earl had no children to inherit, Simon swapped his French lands with his own brother, who gave him the title in exchange, agreed by King Henry III (son of John) and the Earl of Chester allowed him the lands. Henry had continuing difficulty with his unruly barons. He raised oppressive taxes as had his father John (partly to fund a ransom for his brother Richard, partly to raise money for fruitless wars in France, trying to get back the lands in France he had lost (his mother Eleanor of Aquitaine's vast inheritance). In Henry's case it was to raise armies for the Pope's wars. HIs father John had faced the first Baron's revolt and had agreed to a Charter that gave the barons more influence in governance. Under Henry iit was renewed and called Magna Carta. Simon successfully led the second Baron's revolt (1264) and captured Henry and his son Edward on the battlefield of Lewes due to their poor battle tactics. Simon VI became de facto ruler of England for a year and in that time widened the rudimentary parliament of barons to include knights, who were not nobility, but gentry. The franchise in England was not much further extended until the 19c. After a year, Edward escaped and many barons gathered to the royal standard. Simon VI was cut to pieces at the battle of Evesham, and found to be wearing a hair shirt, a form of religious chastisement. He had been a fanatical Catholic, was very influenced by his confessor and was the first noble to expel Jewish people, though probably at least as much for financial reasons as for religious reasons.
By the 13c the De Montfort family lacked male heirs and the name has faded, though one of the two universities in Leicester is called De Montfort University. But branches of the family married into the royal houses of Scotland, Wales, England and France. To this day, Languedoc is part of France, and England still has a Parliament. In the current geopolitical climate, Denis's talk felt more than historical, and now the USA has a Department of War (rather than defence) and its soldiers are referred to as warriors.
Denise chaired a discussion about the future of the club. It is in good order with high membership, plenty of presentations both past and planned, and the finances are sound. There is a need to recruit a new committee for 2027 and two members have said they are happy to stand (and the bilingual mairie liaison member is willing to continue). We need two more to satisfy legal requirements to remain as an association. Current committee members are willing to help in the transition to a new commitee.
Conviviial lunch with food provided by Ken and Alison and wine from the domaine.
On a very hot May 27 we assembled at 7.30 am to get the comfortable and well driven coach from Beziers to Toulouse. After checking our passports we had a guided tour of the assembly line for the Airbus 321, the most popular, narrow-body, commercial passenger twin engine jet airliner for short to medium range travel - it carries 185 to 239 passengers. This enormous hanger housed 6 planes in the process of finishing assembly. The guide was very knowledgeable about the Airbus history and current operations.
Airbus is a consortium between France, the UK, Germany and Italy. Each country makes a specific part of the plane, for example the UK makes the wings. Some parts are moved with Airbus’s own ship to be assembled in various factories, other parts go by plane. With an order book of 20,000 planes and only 13,000 built there is work for many years: Automated vehicles and robots do a lot of the work but humans are still needed during assembly; painting for example is done by humans.
After assembly extensive testing is completed before customers pick up their planes.
After the assembly line visit we were taken inside the enormous transport plane the A400M. This plane can take off and land on almost any surface and needs a short runway that may be on sand or grass. It can load army vehicles or take paratroopers and has been used in war: But it also has a civilian license and can be used for any purpose where large loads need to go to possibly remote locations - and it can be refuelled in flight.
After the tour and lunch we visited the museum which holds an astonishing set of craft, including Concorde, a retired Airbus passenger plane and the plane used to transport rocket stages for the US space progamme. But it also has historic craft from the beginning of flight in the early 1900s, fighter planes, helicopters and models of craft too big to even fit in this very large space, such as the A380 capable of carrying 853 passengers. The museum has many information panels in English and French and some mockups of current and historic air traffic control systems.
A well planned and informative visit. Thank you Denise, Raymonde and Robert.
A fun, interactive session with Dave Leather, but with an important core message about the harm that some current medical myths and social media influencers can cause to you and yours and to public health. Dave reminded us that strong views weakly held are much better than the alternative of weak views strongly held!
Dave asked us for some of the medical folktales we grew up with or still trusted. Here are three from Steve, Mike and Judy.
1 Did carrots help RAF pilots in WW2 see better in the dark than their German counterparts? There was a big publicity campaign at the time. Indeed, there was a shortage of veg in Germany and betacarotene (Vitamin A) is important for healthy eyes, but more doesn't make you see better. In fact, it was British propaganda to conceal the development of radar.
2 Does chewing gum wrap itself round your heart and take 7 years to be expelled by the gut? Complete fiction. But parents often dislike the sticky mess and may want to discourage children from consuming it. As a child, Dave got chewing gum stuck in his braces. His Dad being a chemist, dissolved the chewing gum by dunking his braces in petrol. No fun for anyone!
3. You can't swim for 2 hours after a meal without risk of drowning? There is some physiological rationale, due to blood being drawn away from the limbs towards the stomach and bowels to aid digestion, thus the potential risk of cramps. But later studies showed no real-world impact. Our circulatory system is designed to cope with dealing with both at once.
We see above 3 types of foundations for myths - propaganda, care, and insufficient empirical study.
3 more myths, from Anne, Trevor, and Dave himself.
4 Can you help night cramp by putting a bar of soap between the sheets? Dave asked if anyone had tried this and got benefit? A couple of people said yes. There was a possibility that having the bar of soap there might make people change their posture, but mainly, it is likely to be a placebo effect. Doctors find some symptoms, like restless legs, difficult to explain and treat. But even if there are no serious health effects from the condition, people may suffer a lot of discomfort and irritation. Some people get benefit from taking or doing something, even if there is no active ingredient. The ritual itself, and taking matters into your own hands, or faith in the remedy, can themselves result in benefits to some people.
5 If you rub a wart with a piece of liver, then bury the liver in the garden, as the liver rots, so the wart will eventually dry up and fall off? Complete fiction. Warts are highly infectious and irritating, but they are a self-limiting condition. Any particular wart will eventually die off. Myths that 'play for time' are common with self-limiting conditions.
6 You can 'catch things' from toilet seats? They are not a friendly surface for germs. And STDs need intimate contact - mucous membrane to mucous membrane. When Dave was a GP, he used to work one day a week in an STD clinic in Manchester. It was quite common for patients to shuffle in, covering their embarrassment with the explanation that they must have caught their STD from a public toilet seat.
So, the placebo effect, 'playing for time' and social stigma are three more sources of medical myths.
Dave went on to list 10 medical myths that are just plain wrong, from chocolate causes acne, to cracking your knuckles causes arthritis, to sugar causes hyperactivity in children.
Dave turned to three important questions about medical myths in general-
First, do doctors as a group buy into any medical myths? Yes. For example, the existing guidelines about treating asthma were not adequate. There was a belief that smokers would not benefit from inhalers, so were not offered them. Evidence showed that was wrong. Dave himself had been taught that ephedrine should not be used to treat damaged fingers and toes. There was a belief that it would block circulation and risk gangrene. In a medical emergency to a chap's finger, Dave used ephedrine and it turned out fine. Nowadays we know it was a myth. In both examples, better studies showed earlier assumptions were not well founded.
Second, do vaccines cause autism? There is now a serious measles epidemic in the USA, closely related to areas with low uptake of measles vaccine. This pernicious myth is causing irreversible harm to children. The original study on the impact of MMR vaccine and its link to autism, was very small and flawed and the author had produced fraudulent figures, to support an outcome that would be attractive to certain sponsors. All this was shown by World Health Organisation investigations and by the results of well designed and implemented studies, and was dealt with legally. In fact MMR vaccine is more effective than giving doses individually. MMR is especially safe as it does not contain any active component of the virus. It interferes with its reproduction. Myths and useless alternatives to vaccines continue to be propagated by influencers and others. Anyone who has ever had to suffer measles, tetanus, shingles, polio or aids would tell you a vaccine is a better option than a horrible disease. Yes, some vaccines contain toxins, they are designed to provoke an effect, but the side effects are mild and self-limiting. And researchers continue to develop vaccines that reduce or eliminate the need for ant toxin. The tetanus vaccine is now much easier to take than it used to be. And using 'herd immunity' as an excuse not to get vaccinated is very unlikely to work as the required immunity rate to prevent spread is so high. Dave stressed that the industry is very highly regulated and the rewards of effective vaccination campaigns on our health and life expectancy, far outweigh any risks.
Finally, Dave asked if medical myths can ever do good? Yes, it has happened. The cholera bacterium was not identified until 1885, but there were devastating outbreaks in many countries before that, for example 1832, 1854 (the Pezenas statue of Our Lady, off Avenue Verdun, is a poignant stele to the 1854 outbreak). Contemporary belief was that cholera was caused by a miasma (bad air). John Snow (the pub called after him is excellent, says Dave) took an empirical approach to the outbreak in Soho, London. He mapped the outbreak and found the local water pump was at the centre of it. He took the handle off the pump and the outbreak stopped. The pump was found to have sewage leaking in from a damaged cesspit. The myth of miasma was useful in encouraging people to avoid risky behaviours (contemporary advice was temperance in eating and drinking and avoiding cold water). But a rational empirical approach was the route to stopping the outbreak at source.
Katherine thanked the local people and organisations who had contributed photos, anecdotes, diaries or articles, and the books and exhibitions that had most influenced her.
She started with Marechale Pétain and the armistice of June 1940. France was split into annexed and German occupied zones, buffer zones and the 'zone libre' in the south governed from Vichy. Political parties and trades unions were banned, there was suppression of press and radio, Republican and Socialist politicians and officials were dismissed, including Vincent Badie, the mayor of Paulhan, who had voted no to giving Pétain full powers. Perceived enemies of the new order, especially communists, were tracked down and incarcerated.
Katherine drew on Claude Alberge's book of his memories of childhood, to illustrate life in old Pézenas emphasising the rural character of much work, and daily life and leisure, which continued, in a straitened form. She showed photos of Claude's family and some photos and drawings of daily life in old Pézenas. There was rationing from 1940, and Hérault was hungry. This was due to the monoculture of vines, and inability to sell wine for export to pay for food imports.
There were tens of thousands of refugees - Jewish and other people from eastern Europe and the occupied and annexed north and east of France and from Belgium. Claude remembered the soup kitchen on Promenade du Quay for Belgian refugees. The Agde transit and internment camp held about 25,000 people and more than 50,000 passed through it. There were IndoChinese forced labourers on extremely low wages, red Spanish families who had escaped from Franco's Spain, were forced to do labour, new young recruits called up to the Belgian army and Czech soldiers who escaped after the occupation. The soldiers rejoined their own or Allied armies, others became resistants and others moved back to Spain or to Latin America. There were two barracks of Romany families and nearly 4,000 Jewish people. Some escaped, but many were transported to Rivesaltes and on to Drancy and the death camps. There was a roundup in1942 but in Beziers it was 50% unachieved due to local people giving advance warning and some hiding Jewish families. La Baronne Louise de Bardy, who Yad Veshim lists as 'righteous among the nations' is one example. Sabine Zlatin helped Jewish children out of Agde camp, but was betrayed and many children were sent to death camps.
After November 1942, the Germans occupied the free zone. Everyday acts of civil resistance became more frequent. Local resistants included Jean Bene, the mayor of Pézenas before Vichy dismissed him, who founded the maquis LaTourette, Andre Dau, who changed his views and finally headed a sabotage team, Rene Poincare who escaped POW camp and headed up the regional false papers team and mission activities, and intellectuals who had escaped the north such as the Montpellier professors Marc Bloch and his colleague Pierre-Henri Teitgen. Civil resistants kept their day jobs as long as possible, such as the Montpellier women Suzanne Demangers, Laure Moulin and Therese Nichterwitz who engaged in message drops, code breaking, producing false papers and hiding fugitives and equipment. Resistants came from every political view and background. The maquis Bir Hakeim included Spanish guerillas and German antifascists as well as many local people. Neither red Spanish nor resistants were considered legitimate combatants and were not treated as POWs and torture and execution were usual. The main resistant groups in the south had almost no ideology in common, except wanting to get the occupiers out. De Gaulle gave Jean Moulin, born and brought up in Beziers, the task of uniting these three groups. In preparation for the general uprising (signalled in codes messages on the BBC) the British and Americans increased their arms drops and parachuted in some weapons and explosives experts including Colonel Andrew Croft, who worked with the maquis Bir Hakeim.
The Vichy government created the French Militia (Milice) in 1942-3. They were active in rounding up Jewish people and hunting down resistants and were widely reviled for their pro-Nazi sentiments and use of torture.
Katherine showed photos of the bombing of Sète, to deceive the Germans about where the Allied landing in the south would take place (in fact in Provence). She referred to the hundreds of local people who died despite the evacuation, and the downing of some American pilots, including Harold Kline, just outside Pézenas. She showed us photos of Liberation Day in Pézenas welcoming first the maquis Armagnac. In the months after the Liberation court marshalls and executions and other exactions took place, until civilian government could be re-established. She referred to 'epuration' in which Vichy collaborators were dismissed and faced penalties and to the extra judicial shaving and abuse of women, including in Pézenas, as punishment for (legal) relationships with occupying forces.
The Republic was reborn but rationing went on until 1949 and France had to be rebuilt, socially, politically, culturally and economically, which it was, a tribute to French resilience. She concluded by playing the Marseillaise from Casablanca, sung by real soldiers and Resistants who fought for the Republic.
Mick and Pat gave a presentation of their one month experience in Madagascar. Mick did the talking and Pat displayed the photos and videos.
Mick commenced with an overview of Madagascar - the fourth largest island in the world - its climate, geography, politics and economics. The species of mammals, reptiles, insects and plants are in many cases only found in Madagascar. 90% of the forests have been lost - 40% since 1950 alone. Logging and slash-and-burn farming practices are a threat to current fauna and flora.
Then we got to the lemurs (103 species, 90% are under threat - 17 of the larger lemurs have already become extinct). They are not monkeys but are are more related to squirrels, loris and bushbabies: Examples shown included the ayaye, the largest nocturnal lemur with a large finger for getting at grubs etc. Then we moved to the indri; the largest lemur, an animal where the female is dominant. Ringtail lemurs are the most well known, also with females dominant.The mouse lemur is the smallest lemur weighing 20-35 grams. Also shown was the sifaka, which keeps an upright posture and leaps from tree trunk to tree trunk while other lemurs leap from branch to branch. We finished with pictures of various lemurs and videos of Mick or Pat feeding and handling lemurs.
While lemurs are the prime interest for most visitors there is a wealth of other fauna and flora, for example the mongoose. Mick and Pat showed us snakes. There are eighty species which includes 3 boa constrictors. We saw land tortoises and turtles being assisted from their nests into the sea. We saw spiders (harmless to humans) plus frogs, snails and beetles.
Finally we saw flora, for example giant baobabs, which store huge quantities of water to withstand the dry season: There are orchids, many only found in Madagascar. Tamarinds and Anacardium trees (the cashew tree) are common. Cocoa is grown and produces high quality chocolate: Madagascar is a major producer of vanilla pods.
Mick explained that there are no dangerous fauna or flora in Madagascar, including the snakes. However the same cannot be said for the roads which are mostly dirt tracks! Madagascar is one of the poorest countries in the world and the infrastructure is poor - hotels are basic and one needs to be aware that visits will not be luxurious. Having said that Mick and Pat so much enjoyed their month there, when they travelled all over the island, that they have already booked to go again.
Julian is an art historian. It is impossible to do justice to the depth and breadth of knowledge that he brought to this insightful presentation of Modigliani's art and life amongst the artists, patrons, avant-garde and demi-monde of early 20c Paris. We recommend you visit Julian's website https://www.julianhalsby.com/.
Modigliani was born in Livorno, Italy in August 1884 and died of tubercular meningitis in January 1920 in a freezing cold flat in Paris. He lived a short, intense life, making striking modernist art but no money. He endured repeated bouts of TB, salving and masking his suffering with heavy use of drink and drugs. Sober, he was a handsome, charming man of style and manners, but his substance abuse enabled his brutal side and he was a serial abuser of the woman in his life, many of whom later killed themselves. Three important relationships were with Anna Akhmatova, Beatrice Hastings and Jean Hebuteme.
His life has been the subject of a number of films as well as books and his art is heavily collected, reaching prices equal to Matisse and even more than Picasso. His work is famously subject to repeated fraud - perhaps more current 'Modiglianis' are fake than are his own work. This has made it difficult to produce an agreed 'catalogue raisonne; though two more catalogues are due.
Modigliani was born into a bourgeoise Sephardic Jewish family. His mother's family were descended from a line of Talmudic scholars, highly educated and cultured, and his father's line were bankers and entrepreneurs. He remained proud of his Jewish and Italian roots and influences. The family were wealthy, but lost their money to metal price falls and business failure the year before Modigliani was born.
From childhood, Modigliani drew very well, his mother (who had founded a successful school with her sisters) taught him at home till age 10. She later assisted him to study for two years with a local master (Micheli). Modigliani concentrated on his art; he was frequently absent ill from school, first with pleurisy. He later contracted typhoid and in his delirium despaired that he would die without seeing the great Renaissance painters, and begged to visit Florence, which he did, and later studied in Rome and Venice, truncated by bouts of TB.
Julian used comparative photos to demonstrate the influence of Renaissance artists on Modigliani's painting - not copies, but absorption and transformation into the long-necked, masked-faced women, drafted with quick, elegant, fluent lines and masterly use of colour. In the same way Julian showed us the influence of Cezanne on Modigliani's use of colour, simplified forms and elimination of unnecessary background and busyness. As Waldemar Janusek once said 'he stopped each painting just before it was safe to do so'.
Julian thought that the great retrospective in 2017, at Tate Gallery London, fell short in two areas - in not demonstrating the Renaissance influence, and in not offering photos of the many artists and patrons he painted from life whilst living among them in Paris from 1901, first in Montmartre and later in Montparnasse. Such photos would have demonstrated a key element of his art - his capacity to capture a likeness and within that, to illuminate the sitter's character.
Picasso admired Modigliani's work, but Modigliani was a little jealous of Picasso's success and he was never a member of the 'bande Picasso'. He did make a very few now highly regarded sculptures, influenced first by Brancusi, and like Picasso, by African masks, but the cost of materials and the effect of the dust on his lungs sent him back to painting. He sketched in cafes, painted quickly, indoors, and was never really interested in the outdoor/ landscape philosophy of the Macchiaioli and Impressionists before him, nor the 'imprisonment' of the caged regularity of Cubism.
He sold some paintings during his life, at low prices, often around cafe terraces and later in Nice. But he remained impoverished - which he felt he needed to be - as well as louche and sexually profligate, to fertilize his art. He had been very influenced in his teens - and continued to be - by the writings of Nietzsche, D'Annunzio, Lautremont and Baudelaire.
He had two patrons in his early years, Paul Alexandre and then Paul Guillaume during WW1. His life became a bit more stable by 1916, when he acquired a main dealer and patron, Leopold Zborowski who paid for studio space, living expenses, materials and models. He got him his first and only solo exhibition, in Paris in 1917, which displayed the paintings of nude women for which he would posthumously become famous. Having nudes in the gallery window caused a scandal and the police shut the exhibition on the first day. It later reopened, without the offending window display, but perhaps some dynamism had been lost. He later spent some productive time in Nice with other artists and his young wife, where his daughter was born, one of four children from his relationships. They returned to Paris in 1919 when his wife was heavily pregnant. He died shortly after their return to Paris, and Jeanne, who suffered from depression, committed suicide the following day. Her parents, who had never approved of the marriage, buried her separately from him, but in 1930 they agreed that they could be interred together in Pere Lachaise cemetery. Collectors began to buy Modigliani's paintings shortly after his death, and he was soon posthumously very famous and highly collectable, to this day.
Harry is the founder and owner of Harry's Tandoor. They are based in Autignac, north of Beziers, where you can pick up orders. They do pop-ups and events and will be at Pezenas Gare du Nord on Sunday 19 April 12.00-13.00, and hope to be there once a month. You can find their menus @harrystandoor or phone +33608689648.
Harry came to talk about founding his business and the challenges of growing it, and his passion for cooking and eating nutritious and pleasurable meals. Many of us can confirm the quality of Harry's food, whether at events, or at Mark's recent curry night, or tasting the scrumptious cashew-filled bhajis that Harry brought with him.
Harry was in the music business, but twelve years ago he came to live near Nice to support his parents. He spoke movingly about his mother, who had been diagnosed with terminal cancer, and his desire to share happy moments with her through a shared love of Indian food. They had fond memories of home-cooked South Asian food, made by Pakistani and Indian friends and neighbours in Essex. He remembered their approach to food and caring - that you know someone when you eat with them. He began, not knowing much about how to cook - but knowing how to eat! He emphasized that Indian food is not takeaway junk made from everything thrown into a pot - it is intentional and nutritious as well as very tasty. Particular herbs and spices are put into dishes because one enables the other to release its properties. He talked about the varieties of Indian food from different regions and dispelled the myth that all Indian food is always 'spicy'.
Harry makes sophisticated dishes whether the protein is meat and fish (and his comes from local French bouchers and poissoneries) or vegetarian or vegan. The herbs and spices are challenging to find in France and Harry gets his from a French grower, fresh and very high quality, and nothing like the dry and dusty jars on supermarket shelves. All his sauces are home-made.
When no longer needed at home, Harry decided to get into the restaurant business professionally. He confessed that when first looking for a job, his CV was mostly tosh, but you can't get a job without experience. As he put it, for four or five years he got shouted at a lot in kitchens, but as the shouting got less, his CV got more truthful. He learnt French and Indian cuisine and worked in Michelin starred restaurants, high-end hotels and superyachts. He travelled the world and having turned up his nose at a pineapple! curry in Sri Lanka, on eating it, it was the best thing he ate there. Today, Harry offers a more standard menu plus monthly adventurous tasting menus.
COVID times turned Harry's professional chef's life inside out. Many long-standing family businesses closed. So three years ago, Harry started again, planning on having a beautiful food truck with the best equipment - which he has, but he couldn't get a regular spot on the local markets. He spoke of the difficulties and frustrations and money lost as a Brit trying to set up a business in France, a complicated and rather closed system. But as 'H-table', he has developed his French cuisine as well as Indian, for domaine events and weddings and dinner parties. They have plans to sell their own spice mixes, with QR codes for recipes (yes please) and to further broaden their activities. He says his wife, who speaks five languages, is the brains of the business.
As we tucked into the bhajis, Harry answered lots of questions - if you've got a cold - ginger and garlic (he makes his own honey-fermented garlic paste); if people say they think their curry is better - he used to get upset, now he is pleased that they can make something they enjoy; how he chooses what to offer - it's what he likes to eat, you can't please everyone, but he knows it is good; and we got a dissertation on French and British ideas of what is a 'hot' vindaloo!
Harry thanked us for our patience and listening ear, and we thank him for his delicious food, and aim to taste more of it.
25 of us drove just over the Herault border to La Couvertoirade in Aveyron. We had lunch in restaurant La Tour Valette and Didier and Elfie gave us a guided tour of the Templar village.
The lunch was hearty rural food and very welcome. We had arrived 800 metres up on the Larzac plateau in a very cold (6c) tramontaine of 100 km an hour.
Before lunch Didier gave us a rich and detailed history of the Knights Templar and the Knights Hospitaller, who took over many of the French properties of the Templars after their dissolution by the Pope in 1312. This followed false accusations of licentious and blasphemous behaviour, engineered by Philip IV of France, who was heavily indebted to them and intended not to pay them. The Templars survived in Portugal and parts of Spain under different names (e.g. Order of Christ). Their incredible history has given rise to secret societies not connected to them and to legends concerning the whereabouts of their great wealth. It is said they are the origin of the ill-luck associated with Friday 13th, as that was the date on which Philip IV had 50 of them burnt at the stake.
The Templars were monk-soldiers, officially founded in 1118, after Jerusalem was retaken by Christian armies, to protect pilgrims wishing to visit the Holy Land. They were also the Crusaders' heavy cavalry who made the advance attacks and were noted, including by the great Ayyubid commander Saladin, for their bravery, honour and cruelty. At the same period another Order of monks, the Hospitallers, were founded in Jerusalem, building the hospital of St John of Jerusalem to care for sick and injured pilgrims and soldiers; their military role has ended, but their welfare mission continues uninterrupted to this day. Both Orders became very wealthy from legacies, dispensation from paying taxes and grants of land on which they grew crops and farmed sheep. Most of both Orders' members were not military knights but managed their businesses and the forts and castles they built throughout Europe and the Holy Lands. Only the first of the nine Crusades was a real military success, and the principalities and Kingdom on the other side of the Mediterranean were gradually lost. The Templars' primary role was over, but their innovative banking development of letters of credit (to avoid carrying money on the dangerous journeys across Europe and the Middle East) and guardianship of noble wealth deposited with them, became their downfall.
We took the village tour with Didier who explained that the remaining fortress was 15th century Templar, but the village walls and towers were built in the 14c by the Hospitallers. We visited the simple and beautiful small Romanesque church and cemetery, where Elfie had pointed out the modest gravestones, containing only insignia, and neither names nor dates. Some of us braved the very windy ramparts after watching the short film about water management on this calciferous plateau with plenty of rainfall but no rivers and lakes. Didier had explained about clean water catchment from the roofs into cisterns, and dirty water used for the sheep, which flowed into a pond in the village square until a typhoid outbreak in the 19c, when an impressive new pond was built outside the village walls. We ended our visit browsing around the small artisan shops in the medieval streets.
Some of us went on a half hour drive to Ste Eulalie-de-Cernon, to see a cutlery-making demonstration. This village has the south of France's most important Templar Commandery (admin unit), a Romanesque church, Renaissance chateau and impressive walls, and is prettily sited on the left bank of the river Cernon.
Both villages are amongst the Plus Beaux Villages de France and many of us said we would be back on a warmer day - Katherine and Denis went back a week later, for a family lunch on the same restaurant's garden terrace, in 23c. They went up the ramparts again, and this time nobody's hat blew off!
Many thanks to Didier and Elfie for their very committed guiding in challenging weather, and to Denise and all the Committee for organising such an interesting trip.
Geoffrey's Dad also called Geoffrey, was a prisoner of war (POW) from August 1940 to April 1945. His Dad wrote a contemporaneous journal, a precious keepsake for his son, our speaker, and a way for him to understand what his Dad had experienced, as like most former soldiers, he didn't really talk about the war.
On the 1st October 1939 there was a general call-up for men aged 20-21. Geoffrey signed up for the Royal Air Force, and was found fit for duty. But the Commanding Officer at the Chipping Norton training centre didn't like the look of one of his toes and sent him to the infirmary to have it chopped off! After recovery he joined an air surveillance group, developing films on the base. But by May 1940, the loss of aircrew in combat meant Geoffrey was sent to retrain as a gunner and radio operator. We heard several amusing stories of training mishaps, including the Commanding Officer (and his enormous walrus moustache) having to buy a number of accidentally shot pigs.
By July 1940 Geoffrey had passed his training and was attached to Squadron 142 on the Isle of Sheppey. He did 4 or 5 sorties as air surveillance before getting leave and asking his 16-year-old sweetheart Muriel to marry him (after the war). It was the last time he would see her for more than 4 years. On 31 August 1940, Geoffrey was sent on a bombing mission as gunner. The German army was massing in Northern France for an anticipated invasion. Since the Fairey Battle level bombers could only shoot forward and to the side, the Messerschmitt fighters tucked underneath them to deadly effect. His squadron were herded over the anti-aircraft batteries and half the starboard wing of Geoffrey's bomber was shot off. The pilot managed to ditch in the sea off Boulogne-sur-Mer. Geoffrey was the only survivor of his 3-man crew. He was saved by his position as gunner standing up in the open. He jumped into the water and was rescued by French fishermen who handed him over to the German authorities. With 30 other British airmen he was sent to a transit camp in Frankfurt for questioning then on to Stalag Luft 1 on the Baltic coast, then in 1942, to Stalag Luft 3.
His parents didn't know where Geoffrey was or even if he was still alive for more than 3 months, until they got his first letter home. At the outset, his camp had 1500 prisoners, mainly British and Colonial aircrew but including 200 from the USA. Escape was almost impossible. The camp was built on sand to make tunnelling very difficult and the double barbed wire fence had a space of 3 metres within, completely filled with barbed wire, and watchtowers every 30-40 metres. 10 metres in front of the fence was a tripwire and anyone passing that could be shot. Some prisoners' mental health weakened to the point of 'wire frenzy', suicidal rushes at the fence.
The film 'the Great Escape' was based on events at Stalag Luft 3. It took place in March 1944. There were 3 tunnels, Tom, Dick and Harry. 2 were discovered in the regular searches, but 76 people escaped through the third, 50 of those recaptured were shot - a war crime, since it was the duty of officers to escape, and only 3 made it home.
Despite a library and sports ground and opportunities for a minority to work with local farmers, everyday life was dull, frustrating and insecure. Aircrew didn't do forced labour and the badly treated Russian POWs did the hard labour and the dirty jobs, such as cleaning the camp latrines. Food was insufficient and boring, for example watery soup and doubtful black bread. Meat rations were at times withdrawn as collective punishment. 'Food fatigue' eating disorders were common as the war went on. Hygiene was poor and space was crowded. 10 men slept in bunks in each dormitory space of 7x4 metres. That increased to 25 men late in the war. Latrines were long benches with holes, and men were allowed one 3-minute shower per week. The only place to wash clothes was the bathroom sink. Health care was limited. The stench of sweat and cigarettes (from Red Cross parcels) were constants. Many men read a lot, as did Geoffrey. He was also a talented artist, and our speaker showed us a number of his really excellent sketches. Men also kept the war going by goon (German officer) - baiting and bribing guards with Red Cross goodies to get useful things including railway timetables and official stamps. They spoke in code to alert others when a search of the barracks was coming.
Red Cross parcels - containing letters, food and 50 cigarettes - 20 million parcels were sent during the war, were lifelines - usually! Our speaker read out parts of some very sad and also some rather fruity letters. For example - 'Dear Jack, I thought you were dead, so I got married. I hope you don't mind'. Another said - 'I have redecorated our bedroom with a nice colour on the ceiling. I understand I will be looking at the ceiling a long time when you return!'
YMCA support for social welfare enabled the men to get cards and board games and theatre equipment, including lights and wire (also used for tunnelling), sewing machines (30 men dressed as women for their shows!) and materials that could also be used to make false papers.
June 1944 was D-day, and they heard on the radio that the British and Russians were advancing - a great feeling of joy for the men, and a sense that the guards were getting nervous. By January 1945, the order was given to evacuate the camp. By this time, the camp had expanded to 10,500 men, and had many more American POWs. The men strapped on Red Cross sacks to use as rucksacks and formed a column 4-5km long, with guards marching alongside. They walked 500 km, eventually becoming a column of 50,000-60,000 POWs and seeing hundreds of thousands of Germans fleeing the Russian advance, and some airmen dead in a field, so near the end of the war. The men slept in ditches and fields, wet and cold, food was scarce, their shoes were worn through, their feet were very sore, some couldn't keep up, and only the thought of Muriel kept Geoffrey going. But he got home and he married Muriel.
Our speaker Geoffrey finished by saying 'My Dad thanks you very much for listening'. And we must thank his Dad for his service - and for keeping his journal, "lest we forget".
Nb The single engine Fairey Battle bombers were so poorly armed and so slow that on each sortie 50% of them went down. They were withdrawn from active service by 1941.
Philippa has spent much of her life in France and is retiring from birding Languedoc this year, but handing on to an excellent team. She was motivated to found Birding in Languedoc when she realised that despite excellent birdwatching opportunities in France, the birding offer was very underdeveloped yet is a big niche in tourism.
France has more than twice as many breeding birds as the UK, more than four times as many butterfly species and nearly four times as many reptile species.
The Mediterranean Basin is one of the world's 35 biodiversity hotspots. Occitanie is blessed with a wide variety of landscape including coastal dunes and cliffs, marsh, plains, vineyards, garrigue, gorges and mountain and is on the Western Migratory Flyway for birds migrating between northern and eastern Europe, North Africa and Africa south of the Sahara. The variety of landscape means there are species to be enjoyed all year, but spring and autumn migration sightings can be very dramatic - 2000 honey buzzards circling up in thermals! A tramontane (north westerly wind) concentrates birds in very narrow corridors, otherwise they can be spread over a 50 km airspace.
There are very good spots to see particular species, such as rock thrushes, all year round in Minerva (male has blue chest marking) and in winter, alpine birds such as wall creepers (little grey birds on grey rocks, until they open their wings) or Portiragne on the Grand Maire for greater flamingos, black winged stilts, terns and more, and Lespignan, where lesser kestrels (bit smaller, no dark moustache, yellow toenails instead of grey) have been reintroduced. But you may not have to go far. Until recently there was a magnificent eagle owl (1.8 metre wingspan) who used to perch in full view in a local carpark!
Philippa showed us many excellent photos and talked about how to distinguish different raptors in the air (eg Bonelli's eagle has darkish underwings, short-toed eagles' are largely white). She showed us photos of birds we could commonly see in our gardens and on roadsides, and at what time of year, including serins, zitting citicolas (formerly fan- tailed warblers), Sardinian warblers, black redstarts, rollers and bee-eaters (which sound like an old British telephone). Philippa played us some of their songs and calls, the former mainly heard in springtime.
Philippa ended by telling an enthusiastic audience how to get started, including putting water out in the garden, good binoculars, 10 by 32 is plenty good enough, Collins Field Guide, still the best, and what not to do (drones near nests!). The Merlin app is great for identifying birdsong, which is the best way to begin to identify birds. Participating in guided trips will whet your appetite. Birding Languedoc has trained guides who know where to go and can identify what birds are around by their sound, as soon as they step out of the car. For those who prefer wildflowers, there are trips for that too!
With St Patrick's Day coming up on the 17th March, Mickael welcomed us in Gaelic and then asked what we know of St.Patrick. Everyone immediately thinks of the parades. The first parade was in 1601 in St Augustine in Florida! Then in 1731 in Boston and 1762 in New York - all associated with high populations of Irish diaspora. Today, even the rivers go green for the day in Chicago! The first Irish parade was in Waterford in 1903.
Myths - St Patrick banished snakes from Ireland? There were none. He dressed in green? Up until the rise of Irish nationalism in the 18c Patrick was always depicted in pale blue. And his use of shamrock to explain the Trinity - there is no historical record of this. Most Irish people would report that Patrick was captured in Wales and taken to Ireland where he spent 6 years as a slave. In fact it is much more likely that he was captured by Irish pirates in Brittany.
We have two letters written by St Patrick in which he tells us something of his life. He was born in 385 to Romanised Celtic parents, - Father from Strathclyde and Mother from Gaul. Aged 16, he was captured into slavery by Irish pirates and lived as a shepherd somewhere in Ireland. He felt called by God to ministry, escaped, and joined family in Brittany who had left Britain with the withdrawal of some Roman troops. He spent years in France studying for the priesthood, first with the community of St Martin of Tours, then as a barefoot monk and finally with St.Germanus of Auxerre, before returning to Ireland as a missionary. Ireland was ruled by Chieftains and Druids were responsible for the oral history, poetry, law, and religious ceremonies. Patrick first successfully converting a clan chieftain in Antrim, in the north of Ireland, before travelling all around the northern half of the island. He Christianised existing festivals and druid practices - for example blessing sacred wells, and then using them for baptism. Patrick finally died in Antrim, and is buried in Downpatrick.
Michael told us stories of Patrick's miracles and amusing encounters - including being asked to suck the nipples of some brigands - a Celtic gesture of friendship (he refused). He concluded by offering us all a tot of Connemara whiskey and a copy of St Patrick's prayer - the Breastplate or "the Deer's Call" as it is known.
Helen, Gill and Sandra talked about the Tuesday Club. They focused on the origins, early years and purpose of the Club. Six current or past presidents were in attendance!
Helen talked about the first full year of the Club in 2009-10, when it had its articles of association, officers (unpaid) and purpose of not-for-profit space to enjoy each other's company and to make friends, not just for 'ex-pats', but for all and everyone. All three speakers emphasised how valuable the Tuesday Club was in ensuring that newcomers to the area could meet people regularly, and for those arriving without speaking French, how important that is in breaking social isolation. Right from the start, there was a wide range of weekly talks and trips. Members have a wealth of hobbies, interests, lived experience and contacts to contribute.
Gill talked about the origins of the Club in 2008, when Carol's English bookshop was a great place to bump into people, and Carol had many contacts in the arts. It was she who had the idea of the Club, which began upstairs in the Blah Blah cafe, developed a newsletter in English and French, and put on British bands on a Friday night. She helped develop and write articles for the English/French magazine which was issued monthly for about two years giving information on all the local events and she encouraged through the English community live music which became weekly events throughout a couple of summers.
The Club met later in Hotel Moliere, Cinema Moliere, Salle Bonnafous and Hotel St Germain. The Club was always looking for a bright, ground floor venue with parking, preferably free! Today, thanks to Pezenas Mairie, we have all of that in Salle Ginette Michel.
Sandra spoke about her experience in various officer roles in those years, and the logistics of organising events, transport. venues, lunches. Gill and Sandra separated out some of the officer roles, to reduce individuals' workload. Sandra spoke of the difficulties when the Club had to stop meeting during COVID, but how important it was that members continued to support each other. And how Jackie and Kevin relaunched the Club post- COVID, so that it is thriving today.
The speakers had fond memories of trips such as the little train in the Pyrenees, Abbey de Valmagne, table top fairs and summer parties and Christmas lunches. All the speakers mentioned that not every talk interests everyone, and occasional trips don't go to plan. But as Helen reminisced about the boat trip in awful weather, members' camaraderie made the best of it. She finished by saying God Bless the Tuesday Club and all who sail in her.
Wednesday 25 February 2026: Afshin Hosseiny: Towers of silence. Afshin spoke about the Parsee custom of sky burial in Mumbai. He thanked Robert for the source podcast by the International Women’s Foundation.
When the Arab-Islamic armies conquered Persia, many Persians (Parsees or Parsis) in 7-10th century migrated to India to protect their religious beliefs. Parsees originally settled in Gujarat, them some moved to Mumbai , where they were able to practice their Zoroastrian religious (centred on fire as the representation of the divine) . A legend said that the local Hindu king had showed them a pan full of milk, saying, suggesting that there was no room for Parsees, the Parsee leader addedsome sugar in the milk which didn't overflow, showing there was room for the Parsees. Today, the number of Parsees in Mumbai is in decline, to around 57,000. Parsees are a highly urban, educated community, with strong representation in businesses, law, education and the arts.
Afshin's talk focused on the Parsee custom of exposing their dead at the top of large towers, each 15 - 30m tall, to be consumed by vultures - in 30 minutes! The remaining clean bones are brushed into a central hollow in the tower. The custom arose from Parsee beliefs on of good and the impurity of evil, which are in constant battle. The souls of the departed had already gone to await the last judgement. Since cadavers are impure, they cannot be consumed by fire or buried in earth. The Parsees bought large area of land, called Doongerwadi , and built their sky towers in it. Special workers, who could not leave that land, live in Doongerwadi perform the rituals.
Over the years the population of vultures (40 million) in India has reduced by 99% due to the increased use of Diclofenac painkiller for animal husbandry and humans. In addition a complex mix of the rise of ethno-nationalism, the literal rise of high-rise apartment blocks overlooking the sky towers, and housing demand, put political pressure on the Parsee cemetery. The Parsees tried alternative methods to accelerate decomposition, including putting solar panels on the towers, but to limited effect, meaning the decomposing bodies remain for too long on the towers. For now, the Parsees of Mumbai have managed to hold on to their 2000-year-old custom, but smaller communities of Parsees elsewhere have had to abandon it. Helen noted that Freddie Mercury (Farrokh Bulsara) was a Parsee, from Zanzibar, whose funeral service in London was conducted by a Zoroastrian priest, but Freddie was cremated. Denis remarked that in the middle of the 20c the Catholic church had to accept cremation due to shortage of burial plots.
Our rather mature membership was very interested in the topic - as Afshin said - a dying tradition!
And welcome to Irini, new member who joined today.
There were lots of games to choose from. For example, there were people playing a complicated kind of dominoes; others playing 'up words' a bit like Scrabble except you can stack the words, eg changing luck to suck; Connect4, a bit like noughts and crosses; Magnetic, where going in low can attract or repel other people's counters and Slayjo card game, lowest score wins. Many apologies to the Jenga players; I interrupted their concentration to ask a question about rules and their tower bit the dust.
But first, Denis presented our cheque for 300 euros to Theo from Cancer Support Languedoc (csflanguedoc.com). They do very valuable work in Herault and Aveyron, supporting cancer patients and their close family:- everything from medical liaison to language and emotional support, wellness activities and driving people to appointments and events. Support is free for the users - and the charity are always looking for volunteers. Over the year, we collect the money from the donations you make for your weekly tea and coffee, and this is the main source of our contribution to Cancer Support, so, as Theo said, keep on drinking!
We watched a slideshow (many thanks to Afshin for organising the slides) of magnificent photographs Colette took during a 2 months' road trip to the UK last summer. Just Colette and her trusty van and Frenchwoman's can-do attitude, including driving the van in narrow, twisty roads to remote Highlands' hamlets. The van got a ding or two, but got her home safely.
It was an incredible journey, up through France then driving right round the UK, from the Cotswolds through York, Durham and Edinburgh, to Ullapool in the very north of Scotland and down the west coast from the Highlands and Isle of Skye to the Lake District, North Wales and London.
Colette encouraged us to ask questions and speak about the places we had visited - from Cotswolds pubs, to swimming! in freezing Loch Ness! to touring the magnificent Bodnant gardens, one of Colette's favourite memories. It was an enjoyable trip down memory lane for many of us and a stimulus for some of us to take a look at the maps and think about a trip of our own.
With a focus on English black and white cottages and Scottish baronial mansions, hills, heather, coasts and lowering, rainy skies (it was the UK summer after all), the UK looked curiously empty of people...except for a surprisingly large number of photos of rather attractive Scotsmen in kilts ...
In 1968, 22-year-old Trevor decided to see the world. He signed up for the merchant navy as a junior officer engineer. To see the Americas and the Caribbean, he worked for banana companies trading through the Panama Canal. Life on board was hard work with long watches, and often boring. It could be dangerous ashore (he was held up at gunpoint) or the rum too tempting for young men - he and 2 others found their ship had sailed without them, so had to fly and take the train to catch up. We learnt a lot about the technical challenges of getting ships through the Canal, illustrated with photos, and a video about growing and processing bananas.
Our western bananas are almost all Cavendish, from Chatsworth greenhouse 180 years ago. Banana growers are the bigger users of pesticides, more than 200, and very bad for workers' health, though safe for consumers and very healthy. They ripen in ethylene at the retail end of their journey and there is a big banana shed in Perpignan.
The presentation had lots of enjoyably groan-worthy jokes. Why did the banana go out with the prune? Because she couldn't get a date. How does a banana answer the phone? Yellow? Trevor finished his talk by showing us lots of yummy banana desserts - but in the words of the 1923 US hit-song - yes we had no bananas!
Wednesday 3 June 2026: Raymonde: French public holidays
Wednesday 28 January 2026: Denise: Would I lie to you (again)
Wednesday 21 January 2026: AGM
Wednesday 14 January 2026: First meeting of the year. Galettes des Rois.