Issue 5.1
Spring2007 Editor - Malcolm Valentin - Commandeur
(Weald)
and INCLUDING news from
WESSEX & DOWNLAND by Phil Smith - Commandeur - Wessex & Downland
Despite all my best intentions, it is March already. Strange things are happening to the weather pattern with enough rain to last a year, Spring flowers are blooming long before they should - and yet this Newsletter is slightly overdue put it all down to global warming.
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Richards’ last day at the Hickstead Hotel and we wish him well in his retirement. I also hope that whoever takes over from him will be just as helpful and understanding when the time comes for Weald’s Magistral … the intention being to use this venue again, if possible, in 2008.
Since the decision was made for this Newsletter not to be sent out by post to everybody, I had hoped to print a little And finally (and not just to fill the space!) the spaces left table showing the results of the survey sent out by John by Jenny & Phil Smith will be filled by Mike Powell as the Rudolph with his New Year letter but, with some annual Argentier for Weald and Mike Whittington as treasurer. subscriptions still to arrive (a reminder perhaps?) as yet the Malcolm Valentin full results are not known. However it is a relief that the vast majority of members do seem to be quite happy to Saint Bacchus - Weald Sunday Lunch receive the Newsletter via the internet. Please feel free to correct me if I am wrong! Jack Muncer had the bright idea of arranging the lunch and As yet, publicity, information and booking forms for the Magistral in Beaune have still not arrived, but all concerned will be e-mailed by John Rudolph as soon as it comes. A considerable number - 40 odd - from the UK are attending, which hopefully means that there will be a healthy return number coming from ‘over there’ to the Magistral in Wells, despite the greater distance. Phil Smith has once again contributed a whole ‘Wessex Page’ giving further details. It is so very sad to report that Cedric Westerman died suddenly on January 13th and he will be much missed. As the first Commandeur of Weald, ‘Ced’ had been great fun for me to serve under for three years – always leg-pulling or a joke to tell – and then, with Basil Rushton’s encouragement and since his official title was that of Baillie, an attempt was made to establish a programme of events in the Hove area. There was no doubting Ced’s general popularity for, at his funeral service, the church in Brighton was packed – including a smattering of past and present Saint Bacchus members. One of the eulogies was given by former member Maurice Averns, who has been kind enough to write a tribute for this Newsletter. We send our love to Bridget and Cedric’s family – and I personally thank Bridget for refusing to be downhearted when, “as Ced would have wanted”, she came to the Saint Bacchus Lunch only two days after what must have been a traumatic experience. More sad news - and do see the Saint Bacchus website for a tribute by the Grand Maitre, Michel Graviassey - is that of the death, aged only 63, of Jean-Claude Lebel, the Grand Connétable de Canada. He was not that well known to those of us in the UK, but he has corresponded with me following invitations to our Magistrals. On a happier note, the website also has a good selection of photographs from the Magistral in Dorking, courtesy of Jean-Pierre Serin. The Bacchus lunch was well attended by members and guests - while Phil & Jenny Smith were in France furthering their contacts in the Order! - and, once again, it was all down to Jack Muncer for organising this popular and now regular event. As will be seen from the report, it was John
Chapter meeting on Sunday January 28th, at the Hickstead Hotel - a conveniently central and familiar location - and nearly two years since our last visit. For a few hours and on a rare sunny day, some two dozen Saint Bacchus members, partners and guests enjoyed the chance to relax, drink wine and indulge in good humoured camaraderie over a decent lunch.
While Angela checks numbers, things still don’t add up for Jack, but Rosemary is happy!
After all that had gone in the week before, it was an especial pleasure for us all to welcome Bridget Westerman, who had every excuse for not coming - and an even greater pleasure to see Phyllis Gould, who arrived and departed in a rather splendid ‘wheelie van’. Guests were Toni and Hulya di Paolo (an Italian and a Cypriot respectively), who intend joining the Weald Connetable, which is becoming more and more European in its membership! It transpired that John Richards, the manager, had opened the bar and restaurant just for us and we therefore had the exclusive use of the rooms. In conversation, John announced that he was retiring from the hotel business - and the following day would be his last at the Hickstead - which made the occasion even more significant. Obviously we all wish him well in the future and rather than lose someone who, uniquely, understands the needs of our events - hope that he will join the Order! Many thanks to Jack for arranging what is becoming a very welcome tradition. Barbara Valentin
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WHAT DISTINGUISHES WHO? an ongoing series prompted by a query
Echanson
Has a black cape with a white lining. A green ribbon with two red stripes and a red Maltese cross at the neck. Hat with black feathers.
Argentier
Has a black cape with a white lining. A brown ribbon with double stripes of white and a red Maltese cross at the neck. Hat with black feathers.
Beaune June 2007 When we lived in Belgium in the 1960s and ‘70s, Beaune was a halfway house between Brussels and Bandol on the Mediterranean. In those days the main north-south motorways were just being built and it took two whole days to get to the south and the overnight stop was somewhere between Langres and Vienne. The Hotel de la Poste in Beaune had two Michelin rosettes and had bedrooms large enough to put carry-cots and the kids’ supper would come up at six o’clock on an enormous glittering platter. Little by little the motorways were built and we had more leisure to look at things around the Côte d’Or. So this mentions a few places that those who are not going can keep for another time and for those who are coming that merit extending your stay. There are of course the various “Routes des Vins” around Burgundy and Nuits -St-Georges, or down towards Chagny. There is the whole of the Beaujolais to the west of the road from Mâcon to Belleville, but that is a few miles south. If you allow time a visit to the Wine Museum at Romanèche-Thorins owned by Georges Duboeuf is well worth the effort and you get a wine tasting included in the price of your ticket. The museum shop has all the different Beaujolais names at reasonable prices. A trip to the Chateau de Pizay, where we held a Magistral a few years back, is a good place to buy Beaujolais. They have vineyards in Pizay, Brouilly and Py (Morgan) and produce red, white and rose. There is a good hotel as well. I buy a few dozen every year and can recommend them but not for keeping more than 3 or 4 years max. Mine never last that long but your Grande Argentière does so with great success. For great churches there is Avallon (103kms) and Vézelay, and a little to the north near Montbard is the world heritage site at the ancient Abbaye de Fontenay (allow two good hours for the visit and it’s also a good place to picnic). Here the family Montgolfier first put balloons in the air. To this day the French call balloons “Montgolfiers.”
A TRIBUTE TO CED Cedric Christopher Westerman was born in Hove on April 6th 1927 and passed away on January 13th this year. He lived most of his life in Brighton, and when he left school, joined the family firm of builders. At 24 years of age, he joined Taylor Woodrow and went to work for them in Nigeria to gain more building experience; then returned four years later and re-joined the family firm. Cedric was well known in the building trade and at one time was the Sussex regional chairman of the Chartered Institute of Builders. He was also a very keen freemason and was much involved in charitable work, in particular the Brighton Trust for heart disease. Cedric had many interests including gardening, cine-photography, travelling, sea fishing and bridge. One of his greatest passions was food and wine and he was well known for cooking ambitious menus (along with the appropriate wines, of course) for his many friends when he and his wife Bridget entertained. It was this interest that prompted him to join the Chevaliers de St Bacchus. Having been appointed the Commandeur of Weald at its inception by David Gould, over the next three years he organised highly successful Magistrals in Hove before handing over to Malcolm, and was then inducted as Baillie of Brighton & Hove. His was a familiar and ever-cheerful face at most St Bacchus functions and the inspiration behind the ideal that membership of the Order was for pleasure rather than pretentiousness. Cedric lived a very full life and everything he undertook he did with passion and enthusiasm – and his lively sense of humour was well known. He was a very special person – not only to Bridget and his family – but also to his many friends, and he will be sorely missed. Maurice Averns
Ever wondered what it would be like to bathe in Champagne? The Australian singer Dame Nellie Melba (she of toast and peach fame) did. In fact she wondered aloud to her neighbour, winemaker Hans Irvine, who duly instructed his cellar master to fulfil her wish, put a bath in the winery, fill it with fizz (and assemble a temporary screen). It took 152 bottles to fill the bath and by all reports the Dame (who liked a drink) enjoyed the experience, although she did complain that it was a little cold. After her modest dip and photo opportunity, a bath full of bubbly remained and the canny Scottish cellar master decided in his wisdom, to save it. The cellar hands set to work and soon had the bath contents back in bottles. However, despite several recounts, a strange fact remained - although 152 bottles of Seppelt ‘Great Western Champagne’ (as it was known) were poured into the bath, it is said that 153 bottles came out!
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And when the motorways were all built we could get to Valence in a day from Calais and enjoy a decent Pastis in the hotel in southern French evening sun. Pastis always tastes better in the sun, ”Merci a Dieu”!! .... He is French, of course.
Now try the Sudoku!
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John Rudolph
Remember, moreover, the seventh of October!
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