Bacchus newsletter 4.2 - Les Chevaliers de Saint Bacchus

Volume 4 Issue 2
WEALD NEWSLETTER
Summer 2006
from Malcolm Valentin - Commandeur (Weald)
Great news! reBirth Announcement! On Saturday, June 10th,
the dormant Wessex Commanderie was revived in Dorking as
the Wessex and Downland Commanderie. Rather than repeat things, I’ll leave it to Phil Smith to tell the tale.
Moving on, the Garden Party will only be a month away by the
time you receive this Newsletter. The arrangements are as
before - with the added excitement of new games and competitions. Please respond as indicated in the enclosed flyer,
letting Jenny Smith and I know about food and attendees.
Publicity for the Magistral in Arras is also enclosed. Since this
is hardly any great distance from us, it will be a very popular
event and early booking is advised.
Malcolm Valentin
Now, over to Phil .....
The 7th Weald Chapitre Magistral was
a great success. In the end 72 members and guests enjoyed the blissfully
air conditioned environment of the
Grand Hall at the Dorking Halls.
The event was supported by the Grand
Maître, Michel Graviassy and his wife
Ginette-Constance and three other
members of the CIO; Grand Argentier,
Jacques Brulé, Grand Chartrier, JeanPierre Serin, and Grand Epistolier, Bernard Pérot. The French Connétable was
represented by Grand Chambellan,
Hervé Rubat du Mérac, and the Commandeur des Hauts de France, Michel
Budniok. The Grand Senechal of Belgium, Hugo van der Gucht represented
all the Belgian members of the Order.
In addition, we were joined by Daniel
and Joëlle Devaux from the Confrérie
du Hareng Côtier and it was a great
pleasure to welcome them to England. They travelled from Berck-sur-Mer
in their Renault Trafic Camionnette and spent the weekend camped in it
outside our house in Dorking.
During the ceremony, Malcolm Valentin was elevated to the rank of
Grand Chambellan d’Angleterre, Phil Smith was promoted to Commandeur of the reconstituted Wessex and Downland Commanderie and
Rajes Visram followed Phil into the rôle of Echanson, for this Commanderie. Also two new Weald members John and Eileen Le Rossignol were eloquently proposed by Douglas Bishop.
The catering team at the Dorking Halls excelled themselves in preparing a marvellous meal, with superb service and presentation. I sensed
from early in the planning phase their enthusiasm for the chance to
show that they could lead the delivery of a first class event.
Two events were organised for our overseas guests. On Saturday, lunch
at Denbies’ Vineyard was followed by a presentation and tour of the
Winery, where we learned of the great similarities in the geology of the
Champagne growing area of France and hills in Dorking on which the
vineyard is situated. The similarities explain the popularity of the
sparkling wine made by Denbies using the same “méthode traditionnelle” as the Champagne producers.
On Sunday, the overseas
visitors who had stayed
in Dorking enjoyed coffee in the shade of our
garden before setting off
in convoy for the RHS
Garden at Wisley. Everyone marvelled at the
stunning garden settings
with such a wide variety
of plants and colours.
However, on an increasingly hot day, we were
Attracting interest outside Dorking Hall ...
all very pleased to enjoy
lunch in the shade before
the Parisiens made their way home by car and Eurostar.
Jenny and I entertained the eight remaining “étrangers” who were staying in Dorking on Sunday night to a barbecue “chez nous” on a wonderfully warm evening. Six of them stayed on Monday to potter around the
town before we took them to Box Hill to enjoy the views of the town and
the Surrey countryside. Jenny had prepared a salmon for lunch, where
the animated French conversation continued as Michel Budniok, a
member of a Confrérie Fromagère insisted that blue cheese should be
accompanied by sweet wine and not red. In the warm sunshine we
compared the relative merits of a 1997 Domaine Tempier Bandol and my
last bottle of Muscat de Beaumes de Venise and I have to say that I
agreed with Michel.
It was 3.30 on Monday afternoon before we finally waved our French
friends goodbye after nearly four days in which our house echoed with
French conversation that had started with dinner with Hugo and Nele van
der Gucht on Friday evening.
I would like to express my gratitude to all those who have written to
express their thanks – your comments are greatly appreciated. Finally, I
must express my gratitude to my wife Jenny who has supported me
through all the ups and downs of the past year. It did take a lot of effort
to organise, but it was a wonderful weekend and I am grateful to all those
who supported it. I look forward to welcoming as many of you as
possible to Wells in my new rôle as Commandeur for the first Wessex
and Downland Chapitre Magistral.
Phil Smith
1
WHAT DISTINGUISHES WHO?
an occasional series prompted by a query
Le Grand Maître
Wears a red cape. A plain red ribbon with a gold Maltese cross at the
neck. Hat with white and red feathers.
Grand Connétable
Has a black cape with a red lining, red collar and red piping. A red ribbon
with double stripes of white and a gold Maltese cross at the neck. Hat
with white feathers.
PRIZEGIVING AT PLUMPTON
A report from our Parisien correspondent ....
Les 10 et 11 juin 2006, se déroulait à Dorking le 7eme Chapitre de la
Grande Connétablie d’Angleterre organisé par la Commanderie de
Weald.
Les délégations des Grandes Connétablies de Belgique et de France
étaient importantes et bien sur la présence du Grand Maitre et de la
Première Dame de l’Ordre rehaussait l’éclat de cette manifestation.
Phil et Jenny Smith avaient mis tout leur cœur à sa préparation et le
résultat fut à la hauteur de leurs efforts.
Tout d’abord ; ce fut la visite du vignoble de Denbies; le plus important vignoble privé d’Angleterre où nous eûmes l’occasion de déguster les différents crus produits (y compris le "Champagne" !). Le
déplacement en petites voitures électiques guidées dans le chaix et la
tenue du bar de dégustation furent très appréciés par les visiteurs.
Le chapitre dans la grande salle des fêtes de Dorking fut également à
la hauteur, le discours du Commandeur fut d’autant plus goûté qu’il
l’agrémenta, comme d’habitude, de passages dans un français qui, de
l’avis de l’assistance, s’améliore d’année en année.
Enfin, point culminant de la manifestation, le repas, servi dans une
autre partie de cette salle, fut somptueux. Un grand Bravo à Phil et
Jenny pour le choix d’un traiteur de ce niveau et encore Bravo à Phil
pour la sélection des vins. Les "Côte de Duras" étaient grandioses.
Bien entendu, l’embiance était celle de Saint Bacchus avec sa fraternité coutûmière. Qu’il est bon de se retrouver (et surtout à table....) !
Le lendemain vit la visite du parc floral de Wisley avec le repas
sympatique au restaurant du parc. Encore un choix judicieux de Phil
et Jenny et le "Côte du Rhône" était fameux ! (j’en entend déjà qui
disent : « il ne pense qu’à ça ! ») (not all of us could afford it! - Ed)
Bref, on s’est bien amusé, on a bien mangé et on a bien bu (encore!).
On the scorchingly hot
Friday of June 16th, Basil
and Christa Rushton,
Malcolm and I attended
the annual ‘end of academic year’ prizegiving
ceremony at the Plumpton Agricultural College.
The main speaker was
Richard Ashworth, MEP
for the South East region. We had to wait until almost the end of a
very long crocodile of
rather scruffily dressed
award winners filing past
to see who had won the Someone, someone else, me and John Seecombe
St Bacchus prize for the
Top Practical Student in Wine Production – this year being one John
Seecombe, a young South African who had come all to Plumpton College
especially for the Wine Study Course; incidentally he also won a distinction in his HND examination. Sad that we’ll never get to know him better
as he was off to South Africa to get married in a week and – one day –
hopes to run his own vineyard. A very nice person, extremely handsome
and good-looking, and one to watch (wine-wise, that is!).
The St Bacchus garb attracted a lot of attention, quite naturally! We
believe that we were photographed for the television news, but won’t let
it go to our heads!
It was also good to see Chris Fosse again, who is now in charge of a
brand new wine department; wine production is now some 50,000 bottles
a year, which is a long way from “since it was just a demi-john in the
corner of the lab” – and the basic course is being supplemented by two
new ones – in Viticulture and Oenology, and Wine Marketing.
Barbara Valentin
Merci Jenny, merci Phil et merci à tous ceux de la Commanderie de
Weald qui ont mis la main à la pâte pour cette manifestation réussie.
Jean-Pierre Serin
(With apologies for any boobs! - Ed)
RECHERCHEZ LE VIN VRAI !
New moves to adapt French wines to the international market have been
confirmed by the French Agricultural Ministry.
The plans include the controversial use of oak chips to flavour wine, an
artificial reduction in alcohol in wine and a recategorisation of wines.
There will be a reduction in the number of wine categories to AOC, vins
des pays and vins de table and grape names will be included in the labels
on bottles of wine above vin de pays level.
Source : ‘France’ Magazine
REMEMBER !!
WEALD GARDEN PARTY
HARTFIELD
SUNDAY AUGUST 6th
Dates for the diary
6th August 2006
21st October 2006
25th November 2006
16th June 2007
6th October 2007
New members of the Weald Commanderie
John and Eileen Le Rossignol.
Tel. 01403 754 005
Mob. 07720 287 022 (John)
e-mail : (John) [email protected]
(Eileeen) [email protected]
Weald Garden Party - Hartfield
French Chapitre Magistral in Arras
Chapitre Magistral de la Confrérie du Hareng
Côtier in Berck sur Mer
International Chapitre Magistral in Beaune
Wessex & Downland Chapitre Magistral in Wells
What complete rubbish! Ed