Occasional News from Villeneuve-lès-Béziers 18th November, 2010 From Yves Blérard Léglise I watched the video from Wrington commemorating the November 11, 1918 last Sunday, it was a beautiful ceremony, I attended one in Villeneuve that day. On this occasion a mass was celebrated at St. Stephen’s church, then, as in Wrington, the participants went in procession led by the Mayor and officials to lay wreaths of flowers to the dead of both wars. Since last year, the square where the War Memorial is located has been called "Place du 18 June 1940" in tribute to the speech delivered by General de Gaulle from London to the BBC ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 12th November, 2010 Further progress in linking Wrington and Villeneuve primary schools: e-mail from Head teacher Laurent Fafeur to Annabel Scott of Wrington School: “Bonsoir Mme SCOTT, J'ai communiqué votre email à l'ensemble de mes collègues. Je pense qu'ils vont prendre contact avec vous pour "jumeler" leur classe avec une classe de WRINGTON. Pour ma part, je suis en train de préparer avec mes élèves un premier courrier ( traditionnel ) afin de vous présenter notre classe ( 27 élèves de CM2 ) et de vous proposer une correspondance. Ils n'ont pas encore tous des emails mais je vais y remédier afin d'envisager une suite "électronique". M BLERARD L'EGLISE m'a proposé d'intégrer le comité de jumelage et j'ai accepté avec grand plaisir. Il m'a appris que vous viendrez dans notre région au cours du premier trimestre 2011, je serai très heureux de vous recevoir dans mon etablissement. Je vous souhaite une bonne soirée. Amicalement Laurent FAFEUR” ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 8th November, 2010 In September this year a news item captured the attention of the UK media. Radio and TV news, and much of the Press ran the story of the unfortunate viticulturalist in Villeneuve-lès-Béziers who, in one night, had lost his year’s crop of grapes. Our regular correspondent in Villeneuve (you may have met him at the launch in Wrington) is Yves Blérard Léglise, and he told us this was an unusual crime in their area, made possible because the grapes are normally harvested overnight by large machines, so no one would have taken any notice. He has now  e-mailed the following update: “The Gendarmerie have caught the grape thieves. This is the translation of the article I've found on the web. In France we have a saying which says "BIEN MAL ACQUIS NE PROFITE JAMAIS". Grape thieves have been caught Since yesterday, Roland Cavaillé, the winemaker of Villeneuve who was the victim of theft of grapes on the night of Friday 24 to Saturday, September 25, was smiling again thanks to the police investigators and scientific technique then relayed by the whole brigade Valras. That night, unbeknownst to him, several people had harvested nearly two hectares of vineyards owned plots located Sauvian. Injury covering 24 to 30 tons of Cabernet Sauvignon. 220 hectoliters, estimated a loss of nearly 15 000 €! But it was not counting on the determination of the men of Squadron Leader Frédéric Viot, head of the gendarmerie company of Béziers, who has not hesitated to bring heavy equipment to trace the perpetrators of this theft. "For us, regardless of the injury and nature of the facts, wherever there is a tort of conversion, we do not hesitate to draw on the expertise of forensic technicians in order to close all chances on our side." And that's what happened in this case. Once they got wind of this theft, moved to the site and have been treating the place as if it were a crime scene. All the casts of footprints vehicles were made. All posts with vines of paint from a harvesting machine were studied in detail. Not to mention traces of plastic blades and other items identified on site who have ultimately to trace several cars and a harvester. And, a fortiori, from suspects. Investigations ensued classic wiretapping, shadowing, ... hideouts, which resulted in a judicial operation Tuesday morning at 6 o'clock. The five targets were all arrested without exception. Whether the chief of the thieves, a farmer of 37 years of Villeneuve who had managed to find a good alibi, and his four henchmen, a farmer of Gers, 63, owner of the harvesting machine, a winemaker of 45 from Montblanc, a farmer aged 30 of Beziers an a trader of 47 years. Placed in custody, this little world has acknowledged the facts. Whether the sponsor, who confessed to have acted out of revenge after a dispute with the victim. Or the four other "hidden pickers" who said they had agreed to commit the theft by mere friendship for Sponsor, without the slightest consideration. And if the investigations are ongoing to determine the destination of the grapes, they are all five being summoned by judicial police officers before the Criminal Court of Béziers January 19 next. Lawrence VERMOREL ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ www.wrington.net Occasional news from Villeneuve