Our AGM was held on Saturday 25th April in the wonderful setting of the Hotel François 1er in the centre of Cognac. François 1er was born in Cognac in 1494 and was the king of France from 1515 to 1547. He was 6’6″ tall, which made him a giant in those days and was well known for his love of beautiful women and of hunting. It was only during his reign in 1539 that French became the language used in official documents, instead of Latin. Fortunately, we were able to conduct our meeting in “Franglais” mixing the two native tongues of our members. Around 30 people were kind enough to attend the meeting and the dinner, which was in the Hotel Héritage just down the road. On Sunday, twelve cars and 24 members and friends participated in the French national drive-it day by joining the local Rotary Club classic car rally to raise funds for the fight against Polio. Around 80 cars and 180 people took part and the money raised will fund 12,000 vaccinations in 2026. The rally started and finished at Maison Martell in Cognac, where we lunched in the magnificent old building that used to house the shop. The Club was presented with a bottle of Martell in appreciation of our participation and our President, Chris Park, was delighted and very proud to receive another bottle when his 1958 XK150 FHC was awarded “Best in show”. We then had a very interesting tour and tasting of Martell for a wonderful finish to a fun weekend! Our next event starts on Monday 4th May when 11 cars and 21 people will explore the four valleys of the Lot, the Célé, the Dordogne and the Ouysse by car and by steam train over five days.
