Friday 29 April 2022

Ferns in a Vineyard

Old vineyards that haven't had a century or so of having arsenic, copper and sulphur poured onto them multiple times a year can have some surprises. One abandoned vineyard at Séligny that I have visited a couple of times now has some nice ferns species, for example.

Male Fern Dryopteris filix-mas, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Male Fern Dryopteris filix-mas (Fr. Fougere male), abundant in the Touraine Val de Loire.

Intermediate Polypod Polypodium interjectum, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Intermediate Polypod Polypodium interjectum (Fr. Polypode intermédiaire), widespread in Western Europe.

Black Spleenwort Asplenium adiantum-nigra, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Black Spleenwort Asplenium adiantum-nigrum (Fr. Doradille noire) is rare in the Touraine Val de Loire, but widespread, being native to Europe, Africa and Australia, and introduced to America. It likes hot dry habitat with lots of flint.


Thursday 28 April 2022

Emergency Nest Boxes

Swift nest boxes on the scaffolding while the Chapelle de Saint Hubert undergoes restoration, Amboise, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
You can see the swift nest boxes casting long shadows high up on the scaffold sheeting.

The beautiful Chapelle de Saint Hubert in the grounds of  the Chateau Royal d'Amboise is undergoing a major restoration. Unfortunately neither the architect nor the chateau management took into account that the swifts will be arriving back any day now from their African wintering territories. They will head straight for their old nest places, and find them blocked. This happens a lot, and heritage architects really need educating on this subject. Luckily, our friends at SOS Martinets [link], the Amboise based swift conservation association, noticed and reminded the chateau that they must make provision for the swifts, which are a protected and declining species. They have provided wooden nest boxes which sit precariously on the exterior of the scaffolding. The next generation of young swifts will be long gone before the scaffolding comes down and the nest boxes have to be moved. You can see them up high on the side of the scaffolding in two columns at the top of the sheeting facing the camera as I took the photo. Let's hope the swifts take to them and their breeding cycle is not disrupted.

Wednesday 27 April 2022

Spring at the Kaolin Pits

 I visited one of my favourite nature sites the other day, mainly to make contact with the next door neighbour. I wanted to ask them if we could park right outside their gate if I organised an outing in the early summer. They turned out to be very friendly and agreeable, so not only have I got a generous parking area, but they will come on the outing as well. They are clearly quite interested in the site, particularly the bird life. So that's good.

I made a quick site visit and here is a selection of photos: 

Hypochromatic Green-winged Orchid Anacamptis morio, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
A hypochromatic (under pigmented) Green-winged Orchid Anacamptis morio (Fr. Orchis buffon).

Orchid habitat, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Orchid habitat.

Green-winged Orchid Anacamptis morio, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
A typical Green-winged Orchid.

Unusual mutation in Green-winged Orchid Anacamptis morio, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
An unusual mutation of Green-winged Orchid.

Green-winged Orchid Anacamptis morio, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Green-winged Orchid.

Swarm of honey bees, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
A swarm of honey bees Apis mellifera (Fr. un essaim d'abeilles) going over my head, the second I'd seen that day.

Violet Fritillary Clossiana dia, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Violet Fritillary butterfly Clossiana dia (Fr. Petite violette).

Green-winged Orchid Anacamptis morio, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Green-winged Orchid.

Green-winged Orchids Anacamptis morio, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Green-winged Orchids in their habitat.

Green-winged Orchids Anacamptis morio, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Green-winged Orchids on the edge of the former kaolin pit.

Former kaolin pit now filled with water, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
The former kaolin pit at the heart of the site, now full of water.


Tuesday 26 April 2022

Walking From Maire

The 12 kilometre walk on Thursday 14 April from Mairé nearly killed us. Four slogging hills in the route and temperatures in the mid-twenties. In the end Simon totally conked out with just a couple of kilometres of downhill to go. He could have made it back for himself after a little rest, but Joel and Jean-Jacques made the decision to go fetch a car and pick him up at the nearest road. I had to text Christiane to tell her I would be late for the refugee support meeting.

View near Maire, Vienne, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
The view looking back to Mairé from halfway up hill number one.

Spring Cinquefoil Potentilla tabernaemontani, Vienne, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Spring Cinquefoil Potentilla tabernaemontani (Fr. Potentille de Neumann).

The entrance to Chateau Rocreuse, Vienne, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
The grand semi-circular entrance to the 19th century Chateau de Rocreuse, hidden away in the forest.

Beech and oak, Vienne, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
European Beech Fagus sylvatica (Fr. Hêtre) (left) and Sessile Oak Quercus petraea (Fr. Chêne à trochets) (right) growing side by side on a trackside bank.

European beech leaf, Vienne, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Beech leaves, demonstrating the mnemonic Dominique P taught me the week before -- le hêtre a des poils, le charme a des dents (beech has hairs, hornbeam has teeth).

Rural buildings, Vienne, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Buildings in a hamlet.

La Pierre du sacrifice, Vienne, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
The so-called Pierre du sacrifice, a big rock on the steep hillside associated with a fanciful story of Druidic human sacrifice. More likely is that it was being quarried but abandoned mid-task, hence the various cavities and slots in it. Not for draining blood at all...

Early Spider Orchid Ophrys sphegodes, Vienne, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Early Spider Orchid Ophrys sphegodes (Fr. Ophrys araignée).

Juvenile smooth newt habitat, Vienne, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
This puddle formed by heavy vehicle ruts was full of juvenile Smooth Newts.

Le Gros Chillou, Maire, Vienne, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Le Gros Chillou (pronounced 'luh groh she-oo', as pointed out by Dominque when I inadvertedly pronounced it as 'luh groh sheel-oo'. I do know better, but sometimes one just forgets.) I've no idea if it's a prehistoric pile of stones or a modern one.


Monday 25 April 2022

ANZAC Day

 


The moving story of Private John Simpson Kirkpartrick bringing wounded soldiers to safety with his donkey (Simpson and his donkey) at Gallipoli is told to every school child in Australia. He is one of the original Anzacs, a seminal group in terms of how Australians view themselves today. This statue stands in the grounds of the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. If you want to read more about him, the AWM has a page on him here.

Saturday 23 April 2022

Who wants to be a Fireman?

I was looking through our photos yesterday and saw this, taken on our 2018 trip to Switzerland. On our way we stopped at Mulhouse, at the amazing Cité de l'Automobile.


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Today is the Fete St Georges, Preuilly's annual fete foraine. It's the first time the fete has been held since 2019. Yet another sign that life is slowly returning to kind of normal.

Friday 22 April 2022

Herps in the Forest

 Herps, in case you aren't in with the hip naturalists, are reptiles and amphibians. 

Here in the Touraine Val de Loire we get a small but delightful range of reptiles and amphibians that might, if you are lucky, be encountered along one of our many forest walking trails. Here are photos of the species you have the best chance of seeing. I've chosen photos from our archive that, if we have such photos, depict the animals as you most often see them, usually crossing the trail and trying to hide. None of these animals can or will harm you. We do have one venomous snake in the Touraine Val de Loire, but I have never seen one in the forest, only in warmer and more open habitats.

Juvenile newt, possibly Triturus vulgaris, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Juvenile newt, possibly Smooth Newt Lissotriton vulgaris (Fr. Triton ponctué) in a puddle formed by heavy machinery wheel ruts.

Fire Salamander Salamandra salamandra, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Fire Salamander Salamandra salamandra (Fr. Salamandre tachetée).

Agile Frog Rana dalmatina, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Agile Frog Rana dalmatina (Fr. Grenouille agile).

Spiny Toad Bufo spinosus, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Spiny Toad Bufo spinosus (Fr. Crapaud épineux).

Slow Worm Anguis fragilis, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Slow Worm Anguis fragilis (Fr. Orvet fragile), a legless lizard, not a snake.

Western Green Lizard Lacerta bilineata, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Western Green Lizard Lacerta bilineata (Fr. Lézard vert occidental).

Western Whip Snake Hierophis viridiflavus, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Adult Western Whip Snake Hierophis viridiflavus (Fr. Couleuvre verte et jaune, also known locally as a cinglard).

Juvenile Western Whip Snake Hierophis viridiflavus, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Juvenile Western Whip Snake.

Barred Grass Snake Natrix helvetica, Shropshire, England. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Barred Grass Snake Natrix helvetica (Fr. Couleuvre helvétique).

Thursday 21 April 2022

Wednesday 20 April 2022

Welcoming Ukrainian Refugees

Every town and village in the Sud Touraine now has at least one Ukrainian family in their midst. They've arrived as refugees, usually with very little. When I say families, I mean women and children and grand parents. There are no single women, and no men between 18 and 60 -- they are still in Ukraine, with the armed forces or civil defence. Families are in fact separated and will experience two different wars, which is a concern in the long term. I fear for those who will end up widowed or so changed that they divorce.

A network of help has very quickly sprung up, driven primarily by two young local women who are Ukrainian by birth, but have lived here in the Touraine for some years. Nina and Valeria are amazing. They have organised vanloads of supplies going to the Ukraine, and those volunteer driven vans evacuate people who are fleeing the conflict. They are very clear about what needs to be done once they are here -- find accommodation, get people the proper residency status, get them into the health system and the kids into school, get them jobs and transport, and most importantly of all, get them into French classes.

Meeting in a small country town to aid Ukrainian refugees, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
A public meeting of AARST, with a newly arrived Ukrainian refugee family on the left, Valeria in black in the middle, Nina to her right in blue, Christiane behind them.

We already had a volunteer organisation to welcome refugees in Preuilly sur Claise, created when there was a real crisis in Syria a few years ago. But Syrian refugees did not want to come to rural France, and indeed the French authorities discouraged them settling outside of the bigger centres as it meant they would be isolated, with no compatriots for support, and potentially no access to transport or jobs. 

The same applies to the Ukrainians, but has worked out differently. Nina and Valeria are aware of the challenges,  but are adept at managing partnerships with everyone from the sports clubs to the prefecture, and Preuilly's volunteer organisation to help refugees has been revived, with a name change to reflect our broader outlook. It has become the Association d'Accueil des Réfugiés en Sud Touraine (AARST).

I'm on the committee, along with various friends. My role is to organise social outings so the refugees can meet people and make friends. Others are doing the more serious and urgent tasks of taking people to the prefecture and CPAM (the healthcare insurer). Organisations like ours are also bridging a gap that has opened up between those who wish to offer accommodation and those who need it. Theoretically the prefecture was managing this, with whizzy new software, but whilst both groups can easily register on the website, there seems to be some impediment to matching people up. Groups of private volunteers like us are simply sidestepping it and relying on personal networks to get everyone in accommodation in a timely manner.

Of course the uncertainty of not knowing if and when they can go back to Ukraine makes everything from getting a job to signing the lease on a house difficult. And it's not just the things they need to sort out immediately that are stressful. Ukrainian drivers licences are not automatically transferable to French ones, so if they are still here in a year they face doing a French driving test. This is one of the reasons Valeria is emphasising the need to learn French. Special classes have been set up within the school system for the kids, and local authorities are organising classes for adults. Several people at the meeting put their hands up to say that they had experience of teaching French as a foreign language.

Apart from Valeria and Nina, the other person who ensured the success of the public meeting is Christiane, the president of the Association. A week before, she called everyone she thought could help, to get a clear idea of what could be done and by whom. That's how I ended up on the committee.

I'm glad to say that my only personal Ukrainian contact of prior to the war, a highly regarded entomologist of much the same age as me, based in Kyiv, has made it to Berlin with his wife, with the support of the Natural History Museum there. I'm sad to say that my local Russian friends are feeling like they need to keep a low profile, despite them being vehemently against the war.

The committee is meeting tonight to further develop our action plan and to establish teams for doing the various tasks needed.

Tuesday 19 April 2022

Botany Outing to Seligny

On Saturday 9 April the Association de botanique et de mycologie had an outing to Séligny. Here are some of the things we saw.

Green-winged Orchid Anacamptis morio, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Green-winged Orchid Anacamptis morio (Fr. Orchis buffon).

Green-winged Orchid Anacamptis morio, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Green-winged Orchid.

Saint Mark's Fly Bibio marci, male, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
A male Saint Mark's Fly Bibio marci (Fr. Bibion).

Botanists, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Two marvellous botanists, Jean P and Jean B, with Laurent and André. I'm lucky to know these people.

Green-winged Orchid Anacamptis morio, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Green-winged Orchid.

Botanists, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Botanists getting together.

Red Roof Moss Ceratodon purpureus, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Red Roof Moss Ceratodon purpureus, which grows where vine prunings have been burnt.

Vineyard, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Part of the site we visited is a vineyard.

Orchard, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Part of the site is an orchard.

Common Dog Violet Viola riviniana, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Common Dog Violet Viola riviniana (Fr. Violette de Rivin) -- spur paler than petals and notched at the end, strong 'landing pad' striations for pollinators.

Agile Frog Rana dalmatina, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Agile Frog Rana dalmatina (Fr. Grenouille agile).


Monday 18 April 2022

Spotted on the Road

We were going to the supermarket last week when we saw this car headed toward the fuel pumps. Naturally, we stopped for a chat.




The car is a Salmson VAL 3 from 1925 belonging to a man who has his workshop near la Roche Posay. He collects pre-war cycle cars, and although this tiny car is just that - tiny - I would have one. We may actually have seen this car - or one of the owner's other cars - at an event around the area. I would have to check through thousands of photos to be sure.

Salmson is a French engineering company founded as a pump manufacturer in 1890. In 1896 it started building internal combustion engines and turned to automobile and aeroplane manufacturing. They built their last car in 1957.

Saturday 16 April 2022

Holiday Booked

Yesterday we sent off the deposit for our apartment rental for this summer's long break. That means that for a week breakfast will look like this:

Yup. We're off to Cauterets again for a week in July. We have rented the same apartment as last year because we really enjoyed being in the middle of a bustling but not too loud town, and we know the setup. We will once again be walking slightly ambitious distances (mainly downhill) and getting excited about seeing vultures.

It does seem slightly odd to be returning to somewhere we have already visited when there is still so much of France we haven't yet explored, but Cauterets was really good to us after over a year of lockdown and stress. Besides - we have to visit places like this and walk while we are still able to.

Friday 15 April 2022

Goats don't eat Orchids

And it appears they aren't too keen on cowslips, either. I took this photo yesterday afternoon.


Thursday 14 April 2022

What is a Chateau?

We are often asked "what is a chateau?" The answer is always slightly complicated, and never completely satisfactory.

Any country building substantial enough that the owners feel comfortable telling someone else it's a chateau seems to qualify. It could be a chateau fort (fortress or castle in English) a chateau ferme (fortified farm), a palace, a 19th century retreat, a renaissance fantasy hunting lodge (like Chambord). No building style defines a chateau, nor does the presence (or absence) of towers, fortifications, a moat or a long driveway. Most chateaux in France were built between the late 10th and early 20th century, but I am sure there are some outliers.

Of course not all chateaux are actually in the countryside. If it's a castle (in the English sense) it could be in the middle of town (Langeais, Tours), looming over a town (Amboise, Chinon) or surrounding a town (Carcasonne). Other chateaux may have been built on the outskirts of town, or even in the countryside, and the town grown to absorb them (too many to mention).

This, for instance, is a chateau.


We know it's a chateau, because there is a sign.


Chateau Fromage is here. We have driven past it many times and never realised it.

(If you think this blog post was written just so I could post pictures of Chateau Fromage, you're correct.)

Wednesday 13 April 2022

The Prison at Fontevraud

In 1804, the former Abbey of Fontevraud was transformed into a prison. It took ten years for the work converting the complex and it was not until 1814 that the first 200 prisoners arrived: men, women and children. In 1850, the women were transferred to the prison of Rennes while the children went to Roiffé. 

At its peak the prison of Fontevraud held 2700 prisoners overseen by 48 guards.  The notorious facility, considered the second worst in France, closed in 1963.

Graffiti on a prison cell door, Fontevraud-l'Abbaye, Maine et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Graffiti on a prison cell door done by a member of the Resistance in the Second World War.

Some inmates left traces of their time in the prison of Fontevraud, probably to remind those who came after who they were (sometimes military, sometimes craftsmen, for example).

Tuesday 12 April 2022

Lanterne des morts, Fontevraud

The lanterne des morts in the village of Fontevraud-l'Abbaye emerges as a thin octagonal tower from the centre of a funerary chapel that was once in the middle of cemetery. It is topped by a lantern which was lit when someone died, and every evening to light the small medieval cemetery that surrounded the chapel.

Funerary chapel with lanterne des morts, Fontevraud-l'Abbaye, Maine et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.

It has been privately owned since the end of the 18th century and can be found near to the parish church, outside the famous Abbey. The chapel was built in the first quarter of the 13th century, from grey limestone, having been commissioned by Alix de Bourbon, the Abbess of Fontevraud.

Funerary chapel with lanterne des morts, Fontevraud-l'Abbaye, Maine et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.

The property is not open to the public.

Monday 11 April 2022

Progress report - la Tour de Marmande

We wrote quite extensively about the restoration works of the Chateau de la Tour de Marmande in October 2020.

Susan was back in the area on Saturday and took this photo of the newly restored tower, sans scaffolding. There is still work happening on what we assume is the donjon (keep).


From this angle (and viewpoint) it really does look like a chateau rather than just a mysterious tower - which is how we always thought of it. There are echoes of le Grand Pressigny in the tower, which is unusual in this area.

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You may have noticed that there was no blog posts over the weekend. We were busy last week, and they just didn't happen

Friday 8 April 2022

Supporting Ukraine

As soon as the Russians invaded Ukraine, local Ukrainians got organised. In Tours a new charity called Touraine-Ukraine was set up within days. They networked with the Préfecture, created several depots where people could leave donations and organised collections of clothes, food and medical supplies, which they then delivered to Poland or Ukraine. On the return journeys they bring back refugees, almost all women and children. Local people stepped up and offered accommodation both short and long term.

Near us the village of Chambon has been particularly active, with residents driving vanloads of supplies to Ukraine on three occasions, and now we have a number of Ukrainian families living in the area. The city of Bourges, which is twinned with Kharkiv, sent two buses to pick up refugees and bring them back to safety in central France. The village of Bossay sur Claise organised a fundraising concert and one of 'our' Ukrainian refugees, who is a piano and flute teacher, led a singalong of Ukrainian folk songs as part of the programme.

Tree wrapped in Ukrainian colours, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Table.

The kids at the primary school in Preuilly have wrapped the symbolic Tree of Secularism in front of the school in blue and yellow as a gesture of support.

Thursday 7 April 2022

Christ Comes Out of the Attic

Church, Fontevraud l'Abbaye, Maine et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
The parish church of Fontevraud l'Abbaye village, outside the famous Abbey.

The church of Saint Michel was built about 1170 at the request of the Abbess Audeburge of Fontevraud Abbey and paid for in part by Henry II and his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine. It is in the village, outside of the famous Abbey.

Fontevraud crucifix, polychrome wood, 15C, Maine et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.

The most remarkable object in the parish church at Fontevraud is this polychrome wooden sculpture of Christ on the cross. It was carved in the 15th century but discovered in the attic of the presbytery in 1952. The body is tortured, but the face peaceful. His fingers are extended in a gesture of benefaction.

Fontevraud crucifix, polychrome wood, 15C, Maine et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
The Fontevraud parish church crucifix, which is in the village, not the Abbey.

Compare it to this much cruder crucifix from Ligueil, with its agonised and despairing Christ who is nonetheless in the same tradition, and was also found tucked away out of sight in an attic.

The Ligueil pulpit crucifix is a piece of folk art. The artist and date are unknown, there was nothing written about it in the past, but it is clearly a piece of French heritage. The artist obviously felt free to express himself and the work does not fit any particular tradition.

Ligueil crucifix,  polychrome wood, possibly 16-17C, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
The Ligueil crucifix.

A pulpit crucifix is a liturgical object intended to hang on the wall of the nave of a church, opposite the pulpit. This one from Ligueil was probably made by an itinerant sculptor in the 16th or 17th century, perhaps copying a much older version judging by some archaic traits.

This sculpture was discovered about nine years ago in the roof space of the church in Ligueil. It cannot always have been kept in this church and could have come from one of the former churches in the town. It's not documented, but it is likely that at some point prior to the Revolution it was decided that the sculpture was too uncouth and it was replaced by a more modern crucifix. This relegation would have enabled it to escape the acts of vandalism that swept the region in 1784.

There is an old repair to the back, perhaps by a blacksmith, which is testimony to long use and public affection for this object before its banishment to the attic. Rich in meaning, highly individual yet at the same time representative of rustic works which reveal the thinking of the humble artists who carve wood. It is no wonder it was listed as an historic monument in its own right in 2014. 

Wednesday 6 April 2022

Farewell to the Former Mayor

Marriage ceremony, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Mayor Gilles Bertucelli, officiating at the marriage of our friends Jean-Michel and Martine.

Last week the inhabitants of our small town were shocked and saddened to learn that our former mayor, Gilles Bertucelli, had died. He had lived all his life here and everyone knew him. Here is a translation of his obituary in the local paper.

 

Town function, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Mayor Gilles Bertucelli officiating at the town New Year's best wishes ceremony. Also present a government Minister, a member of parliament and the President of the Communauté des communes (super shire).

"Gilles Bertucelli, former mayor of Preuilly-sur-Claise, is no more. He died of pleural cancer on Saturday, March 26, perhaps due in part to the asbestos he often handled professionally in his youth, at a time when the harmfulness of the material was not known. He was 69 years old.

In September 1952 his father Norbert came to settle as an electrician plumber in the municipality, where Gilles was born on 7 October. After Grade 10, he entered the family business as an apprentice and then acquired a master craftsman qualification.

In 1976 he married Françoise, and two children were born, Romain and Marie. In 1985, the couple took over his father's company, which had six employees, and continued its development. Gilles was passionate about innovation and invested in new technologies: renewable energies, geothermal energy, biomass, heat pumps. In 2014, when he reached retirement age, it was one of the principal employers in the municipality, with 43 employees.

Gilles Bertucelli was also been involved in the development of the town for thirty-seven years, as a municipal councillor from 1982 to 2008, including a term as deputy mayor and as mayor from 2008 to 2020. He participated in the development of leisure, sports and culture. In 1983, as a young councillor, he and some friends created the MCJ (Maison communale de jeunes -- Community Youth Centre), whose activities are still flourishing forty years later.

Among the main achievements of his mandates are the housing estate of La Saulaie, the heating of the communal buildings, the renovation of the town hall square, and the guinguette (outdoor dinner dance space). A strong defender of small village life, he helped the installation and maintenance of local businesses in the center of the village.

Several Preuillaciens recall with emotion a council meeting where the mayor impressed by his courage. In 2015, sensitized to the fate of migrants perishing in the Mediterranean, he had imagined making available vacant housing in the municipality. At this relatively stormy meeting, with a large audience, partly unfavorable, the mayor managed to turn the opinion around. In response to a mistrustful question, he replied, "I was moved by the terrible images seen on television and I am ready to welcome suffering human beings, regardless of race or religion." The public was won over and embraced the mayor's humanitarian approach."

Memorial ceremony for the World War II Deportees, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Mayor Gilles Bertucelli officiating at the memorial ceremony for the World War Two deportees.

You can read the original in French here [link].


Police controlling traffic during a big funeral, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
The police were controlling traffic because of the large crowd at the church for the funeral.

Dancing in the street, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Gilles Bertucelli dancing in the street during a village festival.