Get Together events and gatherings.
We enjoy keeping active and hold varied events each month including our popular Walking Group, Book Club & Library, History Group, Reading Circle and regular social events.
See below for more details on our activities and forthcoming events.
Forthcoming Events
Lunch and Wine Group – Tuesday 2 April 11.30 in L’Absie
The April meeting will be held at Michele & Eric’s home at La Bourse near L’Absie. The theme of the meeting for wines is looking at the difference in Languedoc past and present. Food, a starter, cheeses or a dessert is anything from the south of France, but which item is needed to be in collaboration with Diane to ensure all items are covered. A small charge is made to cover the cost of the wines, usually around €3 -4.
A maximum of 14 bookings are on a first come basis, due to restriction on size of hosts houses and how many reasonable tastings from a bottle of wine, but in the event of over subscription anyone who cannot be accommodated will be offered first refusal for the following meeting.
History Talk – Wednesday 17 April 15.00 in St Gelais
The meeting is in at the Cafe de Sports in St Gelais. The talk given by Eric Hansford is on the development of aviation after the first world war. This was a time of rapid advances in technology and feats of bravery or foolhardiness in which French and British aviators played their part. This is a continuation of Eric’s previous talk 2 years ago.
Book Group – Wednesday 24 April 11.30 in La Bourse
Discussing Becoming by Michelle Obama
Walk – Friday 26 April 10.00 in Sainte Ouenne
The short walk is around 3km and the longer walk around 8km.
The meal is at La Terrasse de L’Autize, Ardin, at 12.30 and, as usual, non-walkers are very welcome. This is about 15km from the walk starting place.
Quiz Night – Wednesday 12 June 18.00 in Cafe des Sports, St Gelais
Several people have told us they would like to come to the quiz but don’t like driving at night. I know some of our regular attendees work and can’t come earlier so I am hoping that by arranging a summer quiz when it will still be light when we finish we will satisfy all.
As always there will be several rounds, the option to eat beforehand and a (hopefully) guaranteed good time for all. Please come and join us. Teams of 4 if you wish, or we can form teams on the night. Exercise those little grey cells in good company!
You can download the list of activities in the monthly newsletter here.
Activities List
| Walking Group | A 8 km walk, with a short walk option of 4km, usually on the last Friday of each month. Organised by individual Members with lunch at a restaurant afterwards, which non-walking members are very welcome to attend. |
| History Group | Bi-monthly talks by Members on Anglo/French history and summer visits to historical places. |
| Book Group | Adhoc meetings at a Members home to discuss and review the latest novel read by the group.. |
| Lunch & Wine Club | Meets monthly where people bring and share a starter and a dessert with a talk on and tasting of a particular wine complimentary to the dishes |
| Fine Wine Evening | An occasional opportunity to taste a selection of more expensive wines, with a presentation by our very own expert Member |
| Quiz Nights | We hold 3 or 4 quizzes a year in local restaurants with an evening meal at a reasonable price. A fun evening and not too challenging! |
| Social Events | Summer BBQ, Summer Garden Party, Ten Pin Bowling, Horse Racing Day. |
If you would like to hold an event of any sort please contact the Coordinators, they will check if the date is free, discuss the details with you and let you know the date they need information for the Newsletter. We welcome volunteers (especially new members) to organise events which we would assist them with if necessary. All members are very welcome at any Get Together event wherever it is held. All information for events and events reports should be sent to the appropriate Coordinator first rather than to the Newsletter Editor direct.
If you are planning a large non Get Together event and you would like us to try and not have an association event clashing with it please also contact the Coordinators.
The idea for creating a GT History Library came as a result of receiving the very generous donation from Carol Andrews – a past President of GT – of her late husband’s collection of 250 history books, journals and miscellaneous articles acquired over a number of years. Keith had been one of the founder members of the History Group.
This collection has been augmented by a similar number contributed by Vaughan Wells such that the library now comprises a comprehensive collection of reference and text books, biographies and articles on aspects of world history with special emphasis on events in Britain and France.
We owe Carol a big thank you for her kind generosity in making this material available and thus ensure that Keith’s interest and enthusiasm for history can be passed on to both present and future members of the Association.
Jeremy Luckett, Chairman, GT History Group Committee, April 2015
The Group are very pleased to accept the collection of history books and genealogical tables of English and European royal families from the estate of John and Pauline Tonks who died within a few months of each other recently. John and Pauline had been members of GT since coming to France in 2007, following their retirement and their marriage in England. Both had a longstanding interest in genealogy and as well as running courses in the subject for GT members, John had traced his own family back as far as King Canute. A particular interest was the family trees of English and European royal families and their interconnections as a result of which the Collection contains a large number of history books on monarchs and prominent public figures of their time.
The History Group is delighted to receive this kind donation from John and Pauline who, as well as being members of Get Together were also members of Les Jardiniers de Poitou gardening club and active in raising funds for the Combined Services Support Group.
Jeremy Luckett, Chairman, G.T. History Group Committee, February 2016
Requesting/returning a book or article:
The Library is available to all members of Get Together, but you must be a registered user. The catalogue is available to download below or a hard copy can be consulted at History Group meetings. Requests should be submitted by e-mail to hglibrary0@gmail.com, or by hand at HG meetings. For books you will need to include your user number, the author and the title; for articles please include also the reference number to be found on the right-hand side of the listing. The maximum loan period is two months, or one month if the book/article is in heavy demand: the maximum number of books/articles that can be borrowed at any one time is four. A list of dates and times when books/articles can be collected/returned (usually at Menigoute) will be regularly updated under Forthcoming Events above.
NB: Library services are free of charge, and operated on a voluntary basis by the History Group Committee. Donations from GT/HG members are welcome, however, and will be forwarded on a six or twelve monthly basis to the cancer charity [CLIC Sargent] in memory of Keith Andrews.