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

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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