Programme

All talks start at 6.30pm at the Brighthelm Centre

A warm welcome from 6pm. All talks and activities are held in French

Talks and events 2024 – 2025

2025

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Previous talks – Saison 2024

25 September: Social evening and light-hearted quiz

9 October: French politics: an update – Béatrice Moreau-Gray

23 October: Social evening and secondhand French Book Sale

13 November: The real story of the French Revolution – Mike Wells

27 November: Songs of Paris – Peter Prowse and his guitar

11 December: When London turned Impressionist : Claude Monet’s Vues de la Tamise,1899 to 1904 – Karen Serres, Senior Curator of Paintings, Courtauld Gallery, London

22 January: Art in France, 1885 – 1900 – Christopher Doidge 

12 February: Gérardmer, Pearl of the Vosges – Sylviane Case

26 February: The Life and Death of Coucy-le-Château – Suzanne Hinton

12 March: Cookery demonstrations – Bob Winton, and members of the Cercle

26 March: Clermont-Ferrand – Bob Winton

9 April: A music hall artist at the Panthéon – Brigitte Thibaut

23 April: Balzac and the French Revolution – Peter Smith 

14 May: Corsica – Nathalie Morgan 

28 May: AGM and social evening

11 June: Germaine de Staël, la bête noire de Napoléon – Annie Kean

Previous talks – Saison 2023-2024

27 September: Les Vendanges / The Grape Harvest – Gill Forte and members of the Cercle

11 October: Le français, langue d’Angleterre / French, England’s language – Simon Coffey

25 October: Traduire G Simenon / Translating Simenon – Ros Schwartz (with Claire Peligny)

8 November: Bruxelles / Brussels – Elspeth Broady

22 November: Les abeilles & le miel / Bees and their honey – Alain Caron

13 December: Honfleur – Dan Lippman

10 January: Social evening in French

24 January: Un parcours international / An international career – Jessica van Thiel

14 February: Je t’aime moi non plus / Speak to me of Love – Agnès Baetens

28 February: Madame de Sévigné – Suzanne Hinton et les membres du Cercle

13 March: La Rochelle – Isabelle Martin

27 March: Return to Vietnam – Dany Marx

10 April: Le Lapin Agile – Brigitte Thibaut

24 April: Questions d’actualité / Current affairs – Béatrice Moreau

8 May: Carcassonne – Nathalie Morgan

22 May: AGM in English and social evening (French and English)

Mercredi 12 juin – Matinée en plein air (English and French) Guided visit of All Saints Church in The Drive, Hove, BN3 3QE.

Previous talks – 2022-2023 Season

28 September: Soirée d’accueil / Welcome evening

12 October: Russian immigration to France around 1917 – Annie Kean

26 October: The Auvergne – Adriano Capuano

9 November: Café-théâtre parisien – Béatrice Moreau-Gray

23 November: Les Misérables: The novel of the century – Peter Smith

14 December: The Breton Connection – Frances Stenlake

11 January: Brian Walsh and his guitar

25 January: Belgium, with help from Jacques Brel – Francesca Delescluse   

8 February: Fifteen years which transformed France: 1885 to 1900 – Christopher Doidge

22 February: From prisoners to tourists – Isabelle Martin

8 March: The first refugees : the Huguenots in England  –  Sue Delafons

22 March: Limoges: a town that is not just porcelaine – Robert Winton

12 April: Haute Couture – Brigitte Thibaut

26 April: Learning French through the ages – Suzanne Hinton

10 May: The Gorges of the Tarn – Nathalie Landroit

24 May: AGM