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Hot Gossip Archive - December 9, 2007
 And what an apt title that turned out to be! For last Saturday’s (17th November) Autumn Sale, we had changed the venue from St. Mayme de Pereyrol, which we were beginning to overflow, to St. Georges de Montclar. The salle des fêtes at Montclar is about 50% bigger and there is a large indoor foyer for all the vital chatting, drinking and eating!
We had between 6000 and 8000 books on sale of every type and category you can imagine, plus Christmas Cards, Cook Books, Chutneys, Instant Raffle, CDs, Videos and DVDs. The task that “Mr. Bookman”, Christofer Rexworthy and his band of book sorters undertake is truly awesome. Somehow they get them into order and stacked in empty cardboard vegetable boxes which we all bring back from our local Intermarché and Fruits/Legumes. This was the scene in the main hall on Friday evening as we waited to see what would happen the next day...
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| Come Saturday morning, it was all a bit different – with literally hundreds of people searching for special titles or just generally browsing. The day was bitterly cold – minus 9 - when we got to the hall and the Mayor had told us to be sure to turn up the heating to the maximum which we duly did. But, then just as we had a queue of people waiting for teas, coffees and hot sausage rolls, the electrics blew and, as if that was not sufficient, the fire alarm started ringing. Fortunately, the Mayor was in the village and came running extremely fast, no doubt imagining that the British had gone too far this time and were burning down his hall. But he ended up all smiles and apologising to us that we had been let down and he also asked us to thank our valiant parking attendants who braved the extreme cold for several hours to ensure that no-one was blocked in. He had apparently never seen so many people before at the village hall. By 12.30 we had run out of food and also out of coffee! Fortunately Christine Dumper lives close by, so we raided her kitchen and she saved the day. Even though we cook more food each time, we never seem to do enough. Fortunately, there is an excellent boulangerie in Montclar and we will ask Thierry to put-by some baguettes for us next time which will hopefully see us through. |
 Despite the cold, the sun shone and many of our friends and supporters were able to sit outside to scrutinise their purchases, refresh themselves and many then went back for yet more books or a walk around the beautiful village. Added to that is the fact that people are so very kind and many bring back the books that they buy to donate to the next one! We estimate that we took in perhaps 3000 books during the morning and, again the sorting team were on hand, getting the books ready to be delivered to the barn, which a friend allows us to use for storage. |
| After a provisional clear-up that Saturday afternoon, all the money was handed over to Phoenix Treasurer, Roger Farrow, who late that evening announced that we had taken over 6000 euros, a figure which in our wildest dreams we could not have imagined. We knew we had been terribly busy and had been preparing for 3 months or so, but it was still a wonderful shock. And what a difference it will make for Phoenix. Our vet bills will be covered for much of the winter and we can also save more dogs from being euthanised at the SPA. |
There are really too many people for us to thank individually, but we must acknowledge the extraordinary effort of Chris Rexworthy and his team of sorters, Tracey, Renee and Roz, Sally and Christine who have just announced this morning that from now until the next book sale in April, they will be sorting books every Friday afternoon. Our thanks also to Charlotte Lassetter who allows us to use her dairy barn for sorting and storage.
Thank you as well to all those who helped with refreshments, organised the transport of the books in vans and trailers, and the parking marshals, and thank you also to the hundreds of people who supported this event by buying and donating so many books.
We look forward to seeing you again in April.
Chris Smart
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Association Loi 1901
Siège Social: Les Jabauds, 24380 Vergt
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Telephone: (33) 5 53 54 94 81
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