French church

Brighton and Hove French Circle: Update

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The Brighton and Hove French Circle prides itself on being one of oldest French Circles in the country.  But was it really founded in 1915 as we have always claimed?  Well, yes,

This little snippet seems to show that Antoine Désiré Joye, teacher of French and Pasteur of the French Protestant Church in Queensbury Mews (see blog of December 2016) was at the fountainhead of the Cercle Français.  For 10/6d you could attend a course of 30 lectures on literature given by the man himself.

Source: The British Newspaper Archive

The French Circle still continues the tradition of providing a series of subscription lectures and talks throughout the winter months. Continue reading →

Christmas 1915

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© Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove

On Saturday 25 December 1915, the ‘Brighton Herald and Hove Chronicle’ published this small advertisement placed by the French Protestant Church in Queensbury Mews Brighton. 

 

On the same days were several small adds from refugee French and Belgian citizens offering various forms of tuition. 

On the Palace Pier, you could watch a highly interesting film illustrating the “Manufacture of Guns in France”.  At the Florence Road Baptist Church, Captain G. M. Rice (Chaplain to HM Forces) was to give an account of his work in France.  In an upstairs corridor of the Brighton Library you could go to view an exhibition of ‘war relics’ which included a large collection of the debris of the battlefield – German helmets, French kepis Turkish fezes (and) fragments of every kind of shell,  whereas Estelle’s (The Dainty Blouse Shop) in Preston Street was advertising Dents celebrated French Kid gloves at a bargain price of 1/11¾ (one shilling and eleven pence three farthings – a snip at the price).