09/08/2026
What a fab night on Thursday, Carine, our President opened her home to NSWI members for a social French evening full of fun and laughter, not to mention the gorgeous BBQ food cooked by Neil, Sue’s husband. The committee prepared a lovely spread of French food from épicée Saucisse to Tarte au Citron. Several members dressed up in French style, including Steph who was our very own cheeky maid. The competition was a decorated beret. 1st was Lynn, 2nd was Terry and 3rd was Viv.
Carole Romaine returned as our speaker for the night and delighted us with her story of how she became an expert in several languages.
Her story began way back in the 50’s where her grandfather learnt French and Russian by working in Canda, France and Tyneside docks where the ships carrying timber from Russia used to port there. Because of this he became a fluent Russian speaker. Carole’s love of languages came from her grandfather. It’s such a small world, two of Carol’s teachers married and had a daughter, who happens to be Carine our president. Carol has also worked for many years with Marillyn our secretary at Secondary School. How small is this world.
The task for the night was finding various items around Carine’s home which had stickers on with the French word – tapis (carpet), miroir (mirror), écureuil (squirrel), les fleurs (flowers) were examples. Not only did it give us a chance to look around Carine’s beautiful home, but it was an excellent way to learn French. Afterwards, Carole took us through the list making us roll off the French pronounces correctly.
Although the night was windy and a little chilly, everyone had a great time.
Thanks must go to Neil for the wonderful BBQ, Paul for all his help, Carine for opening up her home, Ben for labelling everything and the committee for providing the delightful spread.
