About Us

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Réans, Armagnac, 32 Gers, France
Our objective is to promote friendship between women of all nationalities living in Gascony, SW France, to share our interests and to offer help when needed. The Club started in 2008, with twenty English ladies living in Gascony, using a foreign language and experiencing a new life. Since then, several different groups have been added and our membership has grown into the hundreds, with new ladies moving to the area and ladies who have lived here a while, who have discovered us, who want to make new acquaintances and discover new areas of interest. Today we have eleven nationalities, and our speaking/working language is English. The GLC meets on the second Tuesday of each month, excluding July and August.Every member receives an email each month, giving the name of the restaurant, the chosen, menu and a booking form. In 2014, we became a non-profit making Association, known as Ladies Lunch Club de l’Armagnac and was re-named in 2019 to Gascogne Ladies Club. Our annual subscription fee of 10 € is payable in January each year. Each member of the Club may participate in some or all of our various groups

Monday 13 June 2016

LLC June 2016 Bookclub meeting

Next meeting for the June book has been chosen by Paula and is on June 16th


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Paula comments: “I was not able to put down Michelle de Kretser’s book Questions of Travel when I found it in my local second hand book shop.
When I read it, I thought, the LLC group would like to know this book, and I believe that there would be good discussion.
It does have violence, but it is in the context of devastation that leads to a migrant’s path, and this is why I think that it is so suitable a theme for now and what our world is facing in the displacement of lives and events that shape destinies. 
Michelle de Kretser was born in Sri Lanka and now lives in Australia.   
Her book Questions of Travel won the Australian Prime Ministers Award in 2013 as well as the literary Miles Franklin award.
I found it a very moving book of great literary standard.  I’m glancing at the back cover right now and quote Hilary Mantel

“I so much admire Michelle de Kreser’s formidable technique - her characters feel alive, and she can create a sweeping narrative which encompasses years, and yet still retain the sharp, almost hallucinatory detail.  It’s brilliant.”" 


All meetings, unless notified, are at Pam’s at 2.30.


Outlook for this summer: 

July 21st:  
The book chosen from my suggestions was 

As I walked out one midsummer morning – Laurie Lee
As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning

At the age of nineteen he sets off from his native Slad in Glos and walked to London and then travelled on foot through Spain, where he was trapped by the outbreak of the Civil War. He writes of an age in which it was considered perfectly reasonable for a teenager to set off "tramping" from home, with a minimum of luggage, to walk 100 miles to London, sleeping in fields and barns along the way, to find gainful employment - which turns out to be manual labour. On a whim, he extends the journey to a foreign country with no forward planning, no means of contacting home besides old-fashioned post, and no safety net. In a way it would hardly matter what the subject matter was - the lyrical prose of Laurie Lee is enough to light up the page. The 19-year old Laurie leaves his home in Stroud and starts walking. He walks to the sea (which he has never seen) to London and subsequently the entire length of Spain. Living on his wits and his ability to play a tune on his violin he finds 1937 Spain a country on the verge of civil uprising. Lyrical, hugely evocative of period and place and beautifully written by a natural storyteller and poet.

The other 2 that were suggested were:

A Place Called Winter

(Notes from an Exhibition/A Perfectly Good Man) A sage, romance, historical fiction, based loosely on truth and a story of self-discovery. A shy but privileged elder son, Harry Cane has followed convention at every step. Even the beginnings of an illicit, dangerous affair do little to shake the foundations of his muted existence - until the shock of discovery and the threat of arrest force him to abandon his wife and child and sign up for emigration to Canada.Remote and unforgiving, his allotted homestead in a place called Winter is a world away from the golden suburbs of turn-of-the-century Edwardian England. And yet it is here, isolated in a seemingly harsh landscape, under the threat of war and madness that the fight for survival will reveal in Harry an inner strength and capacity for love beyond anything he has ever known before. an irresistible, searching and poignant historical novel of forbidden love, secrets and escape.


The Man who Forgot his Wife – John O’Farrell. 
The Man Who Forgot His Wife
Several novels including The Best A Man Can Get, This is Your Life, May Contain Nuts and The Man Who Forgot His Wife. He has also written 2 very successful history books. A former comedy scriptwriter for shows such as Spitting Image and Alias Smith and Jones, he is the founder of the satirical website NewsBiscuit and is well known for appearing on TV programmes including Grumpy Old Men, The Review Show and Have I Got News For You. 

Lots of husbands forget things but Vaughan has forgotten he even has a wife. Her name, her face, their history together, everything she has ever told him, everything he has said to her - it has all gone, mysteriously wiped in one catastrophic moment of memory loss. And now he has rediscovered her - only to find out that they are getting divorced. This book is the funny, moving and poignant story of a man who has done just that. And who will try anything to turn back the clock and have one last chance to reclaim his life. "It's a rare treat to come across a novel that is both comic and thoughtfully acute about love, and life, and stuff... Hilarious and heart-tugging, this is indeed a memorable comedy" 



August 2016 will be our Garden Party and we’re suggesting anyone can bring a poem to read.
Also bring books to swop.

September 2016 
Theme month and we have decided on 
French authors
So any book written by/about a French author, in English or French.




Remember, Book Club is always on the 3rd Thursday of the month.

For more information about any of the above or our next meeting and venue, please contact:
LLC secretary: lunchclubgascogne(at)gmail.com
or you join the blog here: 




follow by email (click on this link if you want regular info) or our 
facebook page (see widget on the blog)
Ladies Lunch Club de l'Armagnac.

Saturday 11 June 2016

Sign up for LLC BBQ on 2d July 2016 for members and their guests

Dear Lady Members, we are delighted to invite ALL members, their partners, friends and families to our
SUMMER BBQ - Saturday 2nd July 2016 
at 6 pmat the beautiful Château le Bédat


address: L.D.Bedat,  route de Lupiac,32290 Aignan 
Tél.: 05.62.08.58.59

Program: 
Admission to grounds will start at 18h 
when the Chateau de Lisse Vineyard  will be offering free wine tasting with the option to buy should you wish.  

Dinner (buffet style) will commence at approx.19.30 under the wonderful canopy of trees, accompanied 
by music by Vitalmoment Olivier Romanute. 

Between main course and dessert we are delighted to announce THE GERSABELLES will once again be entertaining us with some new music. 
This will be followed by a free Raffle.

After dinner for those who like to dance we are hoping to have some dance music to suit all moods.

MENU
Appetisers
Port & chicken liver pate
Antipasti Mozzarella, chili & lemon
Served with rustic breads
***
Hog Roast
Tahini dressed courgette, green bean & herb salad,
Patatas Bravas,
Walnut, apple & cheese coleslaw

OR
Vegetarian Option
Garlic & Cheese Tart
***
Pudding
Lemon Tart served with
Vanilla Cream
***
Wine and coffee and truffles included

Musical entertainment will be provided
17,00 Euros per person,
or 7,00 Euros for children under 12 years

to be paid by cheque to LLCA, in advance please
Maximum tickets is 6 per member

Deadline for bookings Friday 24th June 2016

sign up by using the booking form to members or send your email to: <lunchclubgascogne@gmail.com>



​--------------cut off here and print-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
for prepayment please cut off booking slip to add to your cheque and send to below postal address or bring to our June Luncheon on 14th June :

Ladies Lunch Club de l’Armagnac      SUMMER BBQ   Saturday 2nd July 2016 at 6pm

Member’s name

………………………………………………………

Please reserve me  …….  tickets for adult guests,

and  .…..  tickets for children (u 12yrs)

Please make your cheque payable to LLCA, postdated until 2nd July 2016 and send this
completed slip along with your payment to:
Kate Notman, Fitan, 32290 CASTELNAVET

Any queries please email us at lunchclubgascogne@gmail.com
__________________________________________

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