Monthly Archives: May 2008

A musical night out

Posted on by Richard
2

Saturday night was the concert at Foussais church by the Stevenage Male Voice Choir and we were very much looking forward to it. Not just because we like that sort of thing, but also because it would give us a chance to get a bit dressed up and go out for the night. We get precious little chance to do that these days, and any event we do go to is almost certainly a casual affair.

Now, Lisa was keen to get there early, but I took the view that, knowing how we’d been caught out before by arriving on-time (how silly of us!), we should leave it until just before the scheduled start time of 8pm. So at 7.45 we set off into the village, only to find that half the Vendee had arrived at the church! It was heaving. Of course, when we looked at the proramme, it became clear why – it was being presented in conjunction with “All Saints Vendee” – the local Anglican parish, catering mainly for English-speakers in the region. So it was not going to be the small local gathering of the usual village faces, but was in fact a giant ex-pat gathering of English from all over the region. Not at all what we were expecting!

I have to say we were a little disappointed. Although it was lovely to see the local church packed to the gunnells, we hadn’t really bargained on a night surrounded by English folk. But then again, we can’t complain too much, as I suppose we are ex-pats ourselves!

Anyway, on with the concert. The SMVC were joined in the proceedings by Choraline, a local choir from La Chataigneraie, and Jason Wallace, a flamenco guitarist (more of him in a moment).

SMVCAfter various introductions in French and English, the combined choirs opened with Ave Verum by Mozart, which took a little getting going, but sounded good by the end. Then the english chaps went from Grieg to Elgar, via Dvorak and Negro spirituals and all sounded great… especially “Steal Away” which was sung very quietly and, even in the huge church, we could hear every word.

Then Choraline took to the stage. As a choir of around 60 (people, not average age!) they made a big sound. The Gloria by Vivaldi was particularly exciting as they filled the church with their combined English and French voices.

Then we had Jason Wallace. It is clear that Jason is a hugely tallented guitarist and you can tell that he is extremely passionate about flamenco, but I do feel that maybe his section of the programme went on a bit. His “Flamenco Rythms” were seemingly a string of improvised flamenco “riffs” that never really seemed to go anywhere much. If perhaps there had been a singer to accompany him it may have provided a bit more focus, but, as it was, most of the people around us (especially the children!) were dropping off half-way through the second “number”.

Anyway, having survived the flamenco, the SMVC came back with another selection, culminating in the rousing “Gwahoddiad”, which reallyblew our socks off at the end.

Foussais ChurchIt appeared that the interval couldn’t come soon enough for a lot of people, as three-quarters of the audience charged outside. Quite what for I don’t know as it wasn’t a warm night, nor were there refreshments on offer. Perhaps just for a cigarette…? Anyway, we just stayed indoors and stretched our legs and tried to regain some feeling in our backsides after an hour of sitting on church pews. I’m sure they make them deliberately hard to encourage the congregation to kneel!

The second half began in fine form with the boys singing “Over The Rainbow”, which was a really nice arrangement. “London Pride” and “On A Clear Day” were not songs I knew, but the chaps did well, before rounding off with “The way you look tonight”.

Then came what we felt was one of the highlights of the night, the second section from Choraline. They performed a group of Negro Spiritual and traditional songs that swung from haunting to rousing and everything in between – a great section that really showed off what a good choir they are. I could tell by this point that Lisa was wondering if she could get to rehearsals at La Chataigneraie! Even the bats in the church enjoyed this one, as they came out to play and started swooping and diving over the heads of the audience.

We then had more flamenco. ‘Nuff said about that I think.

Foussais Church WindowFinally the SMVC returned with “Oh What a Beautiful Morning”, which had everyone singing along (much to the kids’ embarrassment). They rounded off this section with an English version of “Nessun Dorma”, which was an interesting take on the classic, but I think it went well and was a good finish to their performance.

Finally, after various presentations and speeches, the choirs combined for a rendition of “Everybody Sing Freedom”, which was another rousing song, which gained them an encore from the gathered masses.

Overall it was a great night out and the kids did very well, considering it is SO not their “thing” :)

Afterwards we nipped to the Sale des Fêtes for the Vid d’honneur, where I had a quick chat with the conductor with whom I had traded emails before their visit and I said how much we had enjoyed it. Then after a slice of brioche and a quick slurp of rosé it was nearly midnight and definitely time for bed!

Look who I found hiding in the weeds…

Posted on by Richard
2

I found a frog!

This big fella was hiding behind the breeze-blocks piled up next to the garage. I’m reliably informed that he’s a toad, not a frog (thanks Susie for clearing that up :) )

After watching him amusing himself by poking his head into every crack in our wall, I rescued him and released him down by the lake.

Surprisingly, none of the ladies of the house chose to try their luck and kiss him, so I guess they may have missed their chance to find a prince charming…!

Name that sound

Posted on by Richard
6

I am constantly amazed by all the wildlife around us here. The other night I walked down to the lake at the end of our lane to try to capture some of the sounds this wildlife makes.

Anyone out there care to try to identify the various sounds (other than my feet crunching in the gravel obviously!), as I’m a total duffer when it comes to animals. Your David Attenborough-esque comments would be much appreciated!

Parades, ports and pools

Posted on by Richard
1

Another packed weekend behind me…

Thanks to the very handy collection of public holidays in France, I had a nice break from work for the last few days. As this coincided with a visit from my parents, it was doubly-nice.

09052008862On Friday we paid a visit to Coulon, on the edge of the Marais Poitevin. This is an area of marshes and canals that criss-cross their way through the woodland, stretching from Coulon to pretty much the coast. Its somewhere we’ve been meaning to visit for a long time and so we finally got round to it. What a beautiful place it is. We only saw a very little portion of it as we had to get back in the afternoon for Molly to go to a party, but what we saw was lovely. Definitely somewhere to explore further.

Then on Saturday we took Mum and Dad to La Rochelle. We took a rather scenic route to get there, but arrive we did. Once within spitting distance of the city we began playing the “lets try to find somewhere to park” game. After circling round and round the city for what seemed like half an hour, we finally stumbled upon the park and ride car park. What a little gem that is! €2 to park for about 4 hours, with a free shuttle bus into the old port and back again. Thinking back to similar schemes in the UK I recall having to pay extortionate amounts for this DSCF0542kind of thing. The weather was lovely and we had fun exploring the city (although I fear the shops were more of a draw for some members of the family than others…).

We had lunch on the dock-side and ate an ice-cream as we watched the boats coming and going – all very civilised. We promised ourselves we would come back another time and see the aquarium – a bit more interesting for the kids than shopping methinks :)

Sunday was the day of the Fontenay Biennial festival. After a lazy morning (much-needed after lots of walking the previous 2 days) we lathered ourselves in suncream (the summer came in force this week) and headed off into Fontenay. Our worries about parking were unfounded as the town had opened up the car park at the Stade Municipal – lots of room and well placed for a short walk into the centre. We positioned ourselves at the mi-point of the main street and waited…and waited…and waited. The advertised start time was 2pm, but the parade was so steady, it didn’t reach our position until about 3.30! But it was certainly worth the wait. About 30 different groups filed past representing the different villages around Fontenay, as well as the different countries where the town is twinned with another.

DSCF0590

There were flamenco dancers, line dancers, polynesian dancers, marching bands a-plenty. And the floats were amazing, all decorated with thousands of paper flowers. Mister Fontenay was there (as promised), as well as the countess and her predecessors. All the participants did incredibly well to keep going as the heat was so intense. It was a great atmosphere and there was no trouble (compared with similar events in the UK, where there would always be some elements of the crowd up to no good).

There were no police guarding the parade, nor barriers to hold people back. It was just a very friendly event with everyone having a good time. Just what we wanted.

DSCF0599

So eventually the parade passed us by and we headed home for some much needed refreshment, before venturing back out for the night-time parade at 10pm. This was a smaller-scale affair, with pretty much the same floats as had been in the earlier one, but this time they were illuminated in various fashions. This was quite effective, but without the music is lacked a bit of the atmosphere. This didn’t matter to a lot of the participants though, as I think they had all kept themselves entertained in the local bars in between sessions!

The culmination of the night was supposed to be a firework display – the thing we had really come out for and the reason we allowed the kids to be out so late. DSCF0680

It was due to start at midnight, which, of course, normally means at least 20 past. But when it got to half past midnight and still there was no sign of anyone lighting even a match, never mind a blue touch-paper, we just had to give in and go home. What a shame, but everyone was dead on their feet and we just couldn’t wait any longer. Still, it had been a great day and we’re really glad we went.

Unsurprisingly Monday morning was a quiet affair – big lay-ins all round. Then at lunchtime we went for a walk in the woods at Mervent – one of our favourite places. It’s so beautiful there and so peaceful. We took a picnic and joined the other like-minded folks in enjoying it in the dappled shade of the trees. The afternoon was wet, though not with rain to begin with. Peter and Judith had invited the kids round to play in their pool and the adults for aperitifs. A very pleasant afternoon, although it was spoiled after a couple of hours by the rain. Still, we can’t grumble. It had been another lovely day.

Spaniards and Stevenage

Posted on by Richard
1

Looks like there’s something big happening in nearby Fontenay-le-Comte. As we drove through today to take Rosie to her French lessons, we noticed lots of flags (French, Spanish & EU), bunting, barriers and seating being erected. Checking out the Fontenay web site it seems to be a celebration of the town’s twinning with the Spanish town of Crevillent. It looks to be a pretty big affair with parades, dancing, fireworks, the elections of “Mister Fontenay”…(no, don’t even go there, I am NOT in the running!), and a parade of about “110 Spaniards”. I’m presuming these Spaniards will be adorned in their party gear, not just dragged off the streets!

My parents are coming to stay for a week from tomorrow, so it looks like good timing for a top weekend’s entertainment for them. I’ll be sure to take photos and show any decent ones here.

More top entertainment coming up is a visit to the church in Foussais of the Stevenage Male Voice choir. We saw this advertised in the local Chocolate shop (yes, we have a chocolate chop in our little village…strange but true. that is, a shop that sells chocolate, not one that is made off chocolate – that would be rather impractical given the temperatures that have suddenly arrived). Now we are a pretty musical family. All of us love singing – Lisa and I were both in various choirs and singing groups back in Grimsby, and we all play various instruments – so we though this would be a great opportunity to hear some great voices, whilst also mixing with the locals once again and doing our bit to support the community. I think the profits go towards sthe local church so its all in a good cause.

It was also interesting that it was the Stevenage choir who were visiting, as my sister lives not far away, so it is a place that we know quite well. So I decided to get in touch with the choir to find out why they chose to come to our neck of the woods.

I had a very nice reply from the conductor of the choir who seemed really chuffed that I had got in touch. Apparently an ex-choir member has moved out to a place near La Châtaigneraie (about 15 mins from us), hence the link to this area. After the concert in Foussais on 17th May, they then travel on to Chatelaillon-Plage, where they will perform a concert on the 21st May.

They are singing with a local choir called “Choraline”, so we are looking forward to hearing them too, as at some point we would love to get into a choir over here and start doing some singing again. We both really miss it. Needless to say, I’ll fill you in on how it went!