Our arrival at the Hotel Beau Regarde in Morzine wasn’t auspicious. Its formidable proprietor, Madame Claire, immediately itemising hotel rules including: breakfast service starting at 07:40, the lift being switched off at 23:00, the doors and staircases to be used after 23:00 and dinner arrival between 19:30 and 20:00 only. Rooms were allocated in a military fashion and we were lucky to have ended up with the correct partners. We grew to love her and she us.
Our week in Morzine found the skiers enjoying some good skiing in the four days of sunshine, There was one truly miserable morning where the mixture of horizontal snow, sleet and rain resulted in very poor visibility; morale sagged necessitating a coffee avec rhum stop. Whilst spirits were lifting the entire lift system was switched off due to thunder and lightning. The only exit from the valley where we found ourselves being a significant walk up the mountainside in deep snow. Subsequently we found ourselves skiing down a snowbound D354 road back to civilisation. The courage of the Ski Rotary Team in coping with adversity should not be underestimated. Chairlift exiting technique was, on occasions, lamentable with two or three highly embarrassing incidents which are best not recounted.
The skiing highlight of the week must surely be Sandra skiing her first black run – she needed and deserved the subsequent vin chaud
.The walkers, Madam President, Anne and Philippa were out in all weathers.. They enjoyed two excellent blue sky days high on the cross country ski piste. Walking wasn’t confined to the mountains. Lakeside and riverside adventures were taken in their stride despite walking through forest and past chainlink fences as lightening flashed around them. Gourmet hot chocolates and crepes provided a regular morale boost. Unlike the skiers embarrassing moments didn’t feature.
As in previous years the walkers and skiers met up for a lunch. This year we used a rainy morning to play pool, table tennis and chat – a delicious lunch preceded by beers. followed.
The hotel’s food was good including an excellent evening cheeseboard and a sociable communal fondue evening. Many bottles were sunk. A surprising and welcome development this year was it being rare for any of the party to retire to slumberland much before 21:45 !!!
It was a good trip – perhaps we’ll do another in 2020 – if so do think about joining us.
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Examples of memorable public oratory are still studied years after their delivery; one has only to think of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address or Martin Luther King’s “I have a Dream ” speech at the Washington Monument. Tonight we had the privilege of listening to memorable oratory from three schools competing in the District 1200 Intermediate Age Group Area Central Final of “Youth Speaks”. Each school chose a very different subject – Ansford Academy provided a confident presentation on “Return to Aberfan”; Sherbourne Prep School spoke on ” Happiness Cannot be Bought” and a young team from Sunninghill School, Dorchester gave an excellent and amusing insight on “Should Rugby Be Played in Schools”. The Best Speaker emerged from the latter with Ansford Academy being the winners. Several members of Brue Valley were in attendance to enjoy both the rhetoric and our President presenting awards and medals. Exhausted by the intellectual effort we repaired to the Natterjack afterwards for banter, beer and food. RW
