Category: Lunch

Jeff Crudgington writes

We were 26 “Gintlemen” for our lunch at the Auberge des Trois Tilleuls in Genolier village on Thursday 3rd April:

Norman Eatough  

Peter Taylor

Chris Morris

Gary Van Natter

Mark Watts

Kent Forrester

Robert O’Riordan

Rudolph Staehelin (new member)

Trevor Davies

Stephen Long

John Burley

Peter Drew

Joe Kutzin

Drew Meek

Terry Gale

David Colledge

Mark Warren

Philip Jenkins

Mike Clayton

Richard Saynor

Reinier Tervooren

Mervyn Powell

Mike Price

Brian Allardyce

Jeff Shane

Jeffrey Crudgington

🍽🍷

Jeff

It was a fine lunch with excellent food, wine and service all at a good value price, in wonderful spring sunshine. Many thanks to new member Rudolf for sponsoring extra wine. We had the whole of the back room to ourselves. Jeff introduced the staff to us at the beginnng and again thanked them on our behalf at the end. This is a restaurant well worth revisiting.

Photos below taken at/after coffee. All self-explanatory.

Ralph Wares organised this lunch in Versonnex – at his local restaurant of choice, indeed an excellent choice – thanks Ralph!

His description of the optional pre-prandial walk follows :-

————————————————————

          “Walk around Versonnex prior to the Lunch at sur l’Ardoise! 

We were a squad of 5 people who turned up outside the church in Versonnex, at 10 am.

John Burley, Stephen Long, Philip Jenkins, Richard Saynor, Mark Warren and Ralph Wares.

Despite heavy clouds we had not one drop or rain, of which the forecast was correct.

The route continued down a tarmac small road for 500 meters then onto sort of gravel paths around horse fields, avoiding any mud.

Then passing over a small quaint bridge, along a track for a mile then right turn leading towards one of the Cern outposts.

Prior to reaching the Cern building we took a Sharp left turn on a track leading to la Batie Golf club Collex -Bossy.

There were lots of mumbling about dry throats, so a 5-0 vote was to stop for a coffee, which John kindly paid for.

Fully refreshed we headed back in a circular loop turning right up the hill from the golf course, then right again at the top of the hill towards the Cern building picking up the original trail path to the church car park.

From a time perspective, the walk takes about 1.45 to 2 hours with a gentle stroll.

Stopping for coffee meant we had to speed up our pace slightly to arrive at the Restaurant in time. (5 mins drive from the Church to the restaurant).

We arrived just in time.

Several topics were discussed on route ranging from American politics, Uhhhhhh,Ukraine situation, and experiences related to pension fund providers.

Not sure my health app is working correctly but it suggests we took approx. 11,000 steps, which is around 7.5 to 8 km in distance about 500 Kcal.”

Ralph W.

————————————————————

In my own case Mervyn and I chose to cycle to Versonnex after meeting at the Everness at 10 am. Mervyn had been in training – 400km or so around or near Lake Contanz. I felt out of shape and did some slip streaming and was grateful for two milky coffees at Gex.

We arrived on time to find regulars already enconced and beer was soon served. 16 attended and we had two tables, name badges were supplied to order (except Brian had a Bryan) :-

• Brian Allardyce
• Trevor Davies
• Norman Eatough
• Frank Ekman
• Mike Price
• Paul Sochaczewski
• John Burley
• Philip Jenkins
• Ross Linsley
• Stephen Long
• Mervyn Powell
• Richard Saynor
• Peter Taylor
• Gary Vannatter
• Ralph Wares
• Mark Warren

It was great to see and catch up with Frank again after 5 years since we last saw him on the Tour of the Dents du Midi – he descended to the valley on the second, rather long, day. He still lives up near the Salève.

The food was good, as was the house wine, service excellent and the banter matched. Starter of soup or another. Main courses were salmon or pork, and desserts were to die for (see photo), coffees followed. Not bad for Eu45.

Ralph gave the organisers speech – which nicely rounded off the occasion.

It was a warm and sultry day so it was good to be outside on the terrace at the AdF but under their adjustable sliding roof. In the event after some late cancellations and late additions, some 19 turned out for what turned out to be a very pleasant meal.

	GIN Lunchers
	Auberge de Founex 12 noon
	10.Jul.24
1	Bill Martin
2	Chris Morris
3	Dave Gwilliam
4	David Bridge
5	Gary Vannater
6	Gerry Swart
7	Hubert Pettingell
8	Joe Kutzin
9	Ken Forrester
10	Mark Warren
11	Norman Eatough
12	Paul Sochaczewski
13	Philip Jenkins
14	Peter Taylor
15	Richard Saynor
16	Ross Linsley
17	Trevor Davies
18	Trevor Greenwood
19	Wouter van Ginneken

It was good to see some new faces, along with the usual sterling stalwarts.

Starting with some rather nice cool beer, we ploughed through green salads, a choice between pork milanese with pasta or crevettes with rice. I tried to read out the set menu to the team and was roundly chastised by Norman for pronouncing ail as ale and not isle. Wines flowed too, and while some took dessert, most ordered coffee.

Later a brief speech by the organiser covered various things including whether or not the assembled lunchers were Unlucky to not be out on exotic holidays, or on the other hand Lucky to be living here in the Terre Sainte in nice summer weather. Absent friends were recalled, including especially a reference to a note from Alan Baker that had been circulated to all participants that morning. Alan is making good progress getting installed back in Blighty and requests that we visit him, especially if we bring Swiss cheese and wine.

With a final showing of hands for both NL and England adherents, England should win 5-1 tonight based on this GIN supporter poll.

Next GIN lunch – per Richard, Ralph Wares will organise – watch out for his e-mail – in August.

After something of a pause, GIN lunches resumed on Thursday 2nd of November. 

With everybody back from summer travels, a strong turnout was expected and so it proved with almost 30 attendees. The venue was Founex Tennis Club restaurant with the charming host Ishmaël providing the function room so we could make as much noise as we liked and stay as long as we wanted. 

With driving rain prevailing, the biking group wisely decided that discretion was the better part of valour and just came for lunch. The restaurant was probably very glad to have GIN since, probably on account of the appalling weather, the main restaurant was virtually empty. The upside for us was attentive service and quick production from the kitchen of our lunches. 

There were many different animated  conversations going on around the room but there was much interest in the Himalayan returnees, Mark Watts, Mervyn Powell and a guest John Horekens. Their brief description brought back many memories for others who had been on trips to the region with something of a competition going on to establish who had been there first. The clear winner seemed to be Norman in 1969 but congratulations go to our intrepid threesome who are still getting out and doing it in 2023!

PS A vote of thanks from me (PeterT) on behalf of all of us to MikeH for organising the fine meal, and getting a separate room and eliciting Ismaël’s good service. Thanks to Mark2ts for the Trek talk and to John H for his insights on the expedition. See John if you plan to go to Nepal.

PPS Attendee list (in no particular order)

Mike Hempstead (organiser)

Norman Eatough

Terence Gale
Ralph Wares
Philip Jenkins
Trevor Davies
Drew Meek

Bryan Clark

Hubert Pettingel

Ken Forester
David Colledge
Dave Gwilliam
Peter Drew
Mark Warren
Richard Saynor
Mike Price
Stephen Long
John Horekens
Mervyn Powell
Leslie Coull
Mark Watts
Mike Clayton
Gerard Swart
Peter Taylor
Brian Allardyce
Gus Ritson
Bill Martin

l

Peter Drew organised a GINclub lunch in Founex on the day of high winds. Nearly everone turned out, including new member Jeff Shane, welcome Jeff!

Attending were a score of Gintlemen – and who in no particular order were :

Alan Peters (rumoured not to have arrived but was with us in spirit)
Alan Baker 
Brian Hewitt
Brian Allardyce
Bryan Clark
David Gwilliam
Drew Meek
Ken Forrester
Gerard Swart
Gary Vannatter
William Hogg
Michael Hempstead
Norman Eatough
Paul Sochaczewski
Peter Taylor
Terence Gale
Steve Long
Mike Price
Jeff Shane
Peter Drew
David Colledge

A very pleasant lunch with a chance to catch up with our chums.

Thanks to Peter D for organising this. The food, beer, red wine and Founex Chasselas were excellent.

Numbers of participants for the lunch fluctuated wildly in the last week before the event, but in the end, 21 hungry diners turned up on time at La Croix Blanche in Ferney Voltaire.  The restaurant opened last year after the complete restoration of the building which was delayed by the pandemic.  This historic site was constructed around the same time as the Chateau de Voltaire in the 18th century and was originally used as a workshop.  More recently, in the 1960s, it served as the social club for Bernie Cornfeld’s IOS staff, but then became derelict after the collapse of that company.

We were placed at two long tables on the ground floor and other diners were probably grateful to be well away from the chatter by being placed on the first floor.  Two new members, Jeff Crudgington and Ralph Wares, were welcomed and introduced themselves to the group.  Contacts were made and intimations of interests in our various activities were carefully noted.

Everyone opted for the three-course menu, which made things easier for the chef, the serving staff and not least, the organizer!  The bill reflected that 11 carafes of St Joseph and Chardonnay were consumed. Discussion was animated in true GIN style, before we all ventured back into the cold at around 14.00.

It was great to meet up with old and new friends and sample the local French cuisine.

Present: Brian Allardyce, John Burley, Bryan Clarke, David Colledge, Jeff Crudgington, Trevor Davies, Norman Eatough, Ken Forrester, Harry Leefe, Stephen Long, Rudi Pluss, Mike Price, Tony Raeburn, Richard Saynor, Paul Sochaczewski, Peter Taylor, Wouter van Ginneken, Gary Vannatter, Ralph Wares, Mark Warren, Mark Watts

Stephen Long organized this lunch and chose a venue, new to most of the lunch group but already a favourite with the biking group. We all had the plat du jour of a mushroom starter, maigret de canard, and a tarte/cake dessert.

There were 19 of us; Alan Baker, Andrew Nievens, Bryan Clark, David Colledge, Gerry Swart, Harry Leefe, Mark Watts, Mervyn Powell, Mike Hempstead, Mike Price, Nathan Finkelstein, Norman Etough, Peter Taylor, Philip Jenkins, Ray Fiander, Reinier Tervooren, Rudi Pluss, Stephen Long, Trevor Davies. There would have been 22, a post Covid record, but for 2 late cancellations and one no show who will remain nameless – but we know who he is.

As expected the food and service were both excellent, the wine and the conversation flowed although it seemed to avoid the usual chestnuts of Scottish independence and the relative merits and expected longevity of Britain’s prime ministers. We did get a few who had trouble finding the venue and some organ recitals but no other complaints.

All in all a good lunch at €35 a head.

This was the last lunch of 2022. We are now planning for 2023 and need a “volunteer” for January, all other dates are already taken, see here.