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 & Wine Group – Tuesday 7 November nr. Chey
The November meeting will be held at Dorothy & Alan’s home near Chey. The theme of the meeting for both wines and food is Beaujolais before Noveau. Food, a starter, cheeses or a dessert is on the same theme as the wines, 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.
Ladies that Lunch – Tuesday 14 November 13.00 in Nanteuil
Meet at 13h at Le P’etit Torque. Nanteuil, St Maixent.
Please book your place with Julia by Sunday 12th Nov, menu choice decided on the day.
History Talk – Thursday 16 November 15.00 in St Gelais
The Paris Commune 1871: What, When and Why it is still of importance 150 + years later.
The talk will be held at The Cafe des Sports in St Gelais. You can eat at the restaurant beforehand, please indicate when booking your place if you wish to have lunch.
There is a charge of €5 to cover the venue and teas and coffees which will be available after the talk.
Book Group – Tuesday 21 November 11.30 in Bressuire
Reading Moondrop to Gascony by Anne Marie Walters.
This is followed by a convivial ‘bring and share lunch’. Please contact Sue Morley if you are interested in joining the group and to say what you intend to bring to the lunch.
Quiz – Wednesday 22 November 1800 in St Gelais CANCELLED
Yes it’s November again and time to sign up for the GT quiz before your brain hibernates for the winter.
It will be held at Cafe des Sports in St Gelais. The meal is booked for 6pm so we can eat before we start the quiz with the usual meat/poultry, fish or vegetarian options. (around €15 including wine).
Michele and Eric Hansford will be asking the questions and we will be booking the meals so could you sign up asap and let us have your food choices.
As usual, it will be teams of 3 or 4, so if you need help getting a team together or need directions just let us know.
Walk – Friday 24 November 10.30 in Cherveux
We will meet at 10.30 am in the car park next to the old protestant temple on the D8 St Maixent l’ Ecole road in the village, next to the playing field opposite the school.
There will be a short and long walk. The short walkers can while away the time with a cup of tea in our house as it is just up the road.
As ever, please wear stout footwear and bring waterproofs and water.
The meal will be at 1.00pm in The Cafe des Sports in St Gelais, clearly signposted from Cherveux on the road past the mairie .Non-walkers are welcome.
As usual, the options are poultry/meat, fish or vegetarian – €15 including wine.
Toilets are open in the village square.
Lunch & Wine Group – Tuesday 5 December 11.30 in Le Retail
The December meeting will be held at Yvonne & Steve’s home in Le Retail. The wines will be those which would be a fine choice to accompany the Christmas Lunch/dinner. Food, a starter, cheeses, or a dessert can be typical for the festive period and perhaps a Christmas pudding can be found!?
A small charge is made to cover the cost of the wines, usually around €4
A maximum of 14 bookings are on a first come basis, due to restriction on size for 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.
If you would like to join us or would like more information or to book please contact Diane & Keith Mousdale.
Christmas Walk and Lunch – Thursday 7 December 10.30 in St Lin & Reffannes
The walk will start at the football stadium in Saint Lin, where there is plenty of parking. It is a 7kms walk, mainly along quiet chemins, there will be a shorter 4 kms walk. This is an interesting randodeuxsevres.fr walk.
You will discover on the walk, a pool called the ‘German Pool’, numerous viewpoints over St Lin, the Chateau de la Bouchetiere, a pond and the church of Saint Leon plus other interesting points.
Please wear walking boots.
This should give you a great appetite for lunch at Le Dix-Vingt, 14 Rue de la Grande Auberge, 79420 in Reffannes, a 10 minute drive from St Lin.
This is the Christmas walk AND lunch, and we would encourage non walkers to meet us at the restaurant at 12:50 hrs, the meal is booked for 13:00 hrs.
This is an all inclusive meal and vegetarians have their own menu! There will be the customary bottle of champagne to be won too – free entry.
The meal is €32 each including an apero, the meal, cheese, wine and coffee.
When booking we need you to make your choices from two menus (you cannot mix menus) for starters, mains and dessert.
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. |
| Reading Circle | Adhoc meetings at a Members home to discuss and review the latest novel read by the group. Reviews of all the books read can be viewed in the PDF below. |
| 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.