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La Jeusseliniere |
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Here I am, at last with a resume of this summer, 2007, at La Jeuss. When I say summer I use the word loosely as sun-wise it was not the best of summers, but what we lacked in sunshine we certainly benefited from the warmth of people and the music. As always so many good memories of each and every week. The reason for the tardiness of this letter will become evident at the end, so read on. . |
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We started the weeks courses off with Bruce Woodley, one of the founding members of the Australian Group 'The Seekers'. I had know them all when I was living in Australia in the early 1960’s and have kept in touch with Bruce over the years. The last time Dan and I were back in Australia, we met up with Bruce and he told us he was planning to visit Europe in the Spring of 2007, all seemed to slot in perfectly and so we had the first weeks tutor and the courses set. We followed Bruce with Soundsphere, myself and Iris Bishop, Mike Silver, Kevin Dempsey and Joe Broughton, Stan Graham, as usual the weeks finished in August with Harvey Andrews.
As
I have done in previous writings I am not going to single out any
particular week. The reason for this is that it would just take too long
as each and every week produced their own forms of magic and memories.
We did have a couple of weeks that were back to back and this was
something we said we would not do again, but when availability of
certain tutors is such that we have to go against our rules, then blow
the rules out of the window, but the pressure of the work involved in
doing two weeks one after the other is quite demanding. We do have the
invaluable help of Marilyn Hicks in the kitchen, but each week is hard
work for Dan as she has set such a high standard for the lunches which
are so much part of the week.
As I have mentioned in previous writings both Dan and I have such a great feeling when people arrive on the late Sunday afternoon as rather apprehensive strangers to when they leave after the Friday night concert as firm friends. As always we were so pleased to welcome back many people who have been to La Jeuss before and of course the new comers too.
All things must at sometime come to an
end, as quoted by the great Arthur Catsky.
Sadly after much soul searching we have decided to sell La Jeusseliniere.
I do stress that we have found this a very difficult decision to make,
but with heavy hearts we have made it. We believe there
is a silver lining at the end of the rainbow and we found one too, it
comes in the shape of two very special people Yvonne and John
Hart, from sunny Shropshire.They heard through Harvey Andrews that we
were thinking of selling La Jeusseliniere, so at the beginning of
November they came over to spend a few days and to have a look around
and meet our French and English friends and neighbours. From the first
moment we met them we both felt an immediate kinship towards them and we
knew that they would just be the most perfect people to continue with La
Jeuss and keep the courses going. They have a love of the music, and the
experience of having run the very successful Village Hall Concerts in
Hope, Shropshire and their radio programme 'Harts of Folk' and we know
that the magic of La Jeuss will keep on flowing.
So it is with a great feeling of warmth
that we can say the courses at La Jeuss will keep on going with Yvonne
and John. We wish them well and all the very best to them and all who
enjoy the Spirit of La Jeuss.
To end this Dan and I would like to thank each and everyone of you La Jeussers for enriching our lives through your friendship and music.
A message from Yvonne and John Hart to all
La Jeussers |
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After 21 years of smallholding in the South Shropshire Hills we had been looking for a new adventure in France when Fate stepped in . . . the link in the chain was Harvey Andrews . . . he knew that Martyn and Danni were sadly having to give up their wonderful place at La Jeusseliniere when he heard that we were looking for something in France. Cleverly he put the two together as he also knew that we had been hosting and promoting folk music concerts with professional artists in our local village hall for the past 4 years as well as presenting and producing ‘Harts of Folk’ - broadcast weekly on Radio Maldwyn for nearly 12 years. We already knew about the courses at La Jeuss but never thought that we would have an opportunity to become involved, so, as soon as we heard, we zoomed over to all stops to try to purchase La Jeuss to continue the music courses for 2008, hopefully following the same friendly format as Martyn and Danni. For as long as we can remember we have always been involved with music, both of us being amateur performers - John concentrating on mainly unaccompanied rural and farming songs, whereas I am a singer of traditional and contemporary material, unaccompanied as well as accompanied on guitar. Farming has been our life for the last 36 years. John is now a cow chiropodist and cattle specialist whilst I look after the smallholding which includes my nursery business of growing cottage garden plants and vegetable plug plants for mail order and Farmers Markets. In our spare time, when not involved with folk music, we try to squeeze in other interests - John loves photography and agricultural history, whilst I dabble in art, mainly watercolour and pencil work - and our latest hobby is learning the French language and drinking French wine and Calvados. So, all of you out there who have been on a course at La Jeuss or are thinking of going on one for the first time, let us say that we shall endeavour to keep the magic going and make the experience one you wonąt forget and, hopefully, may even want to come back for more. If you would like more information or an update on the SMOOTH changeover, don't hesitate to contact us on: yj.hart@virgin.net We can't wait to meet you all Best wishes Yvonne and John |
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