MOST REMARKABLE FRENCHMAN

Over the centuries, we have received a lot from France, and to her we have given much

Over the centuries, we have received a lot from France, and to her we have given much. One of France's gifts to us is in the Glenans Sailing Club. That organisation sprang from the fertile mind of one of the most remarkable men of his generation - Philippe Vianney. He was a noted leader of the Resistance from 1940 on organising, with other young people, a clandestine journal which achieved a huge circulation; Defence de La France. He and his group also concentrated on forging passports and other wartime documentation. In 1944 he was arrested by the Germans, tried to escape and was shot - six bullets in his body. He was taken for dead. That night he escaped.

Now to sailing. In his autobiography he wrote (own translation): "Since 1940 we had been obsessed at being locked up in a continent dominated by the Germans, who denied us the sea, on the other side of which was freedom. For us, who could not move about on the coastline without danger, for it was bristling with defences and constantly under surveillance, the Atlantic and the Channel... symbolised the royal route of escape. After the Liberation the sea retained for us this almost sacred character, an international link between the peoples, the opportunity for any who knew navigation, to make for the four corners of the world."

And so, in the autumn of 1945 he and his wife and children spent a few weeks holiday in Brittany near Concarneau. The following year he came back again to the area, notably to a group of small islands, the Glenans. And on and on it went, Vianney learning something about boats, forming the sailing club 50 years ago, and eventually we see it expanded and extending to Ireland. Here Glenans runs courses for those who know little or nothing about boats but are willing to learn, also for those who know a bit more, and generally exists for those who like to spend convivial and useful holidays with like minded (seaminded) people. Glenans Irish Sailing Club, 5 Lower Mount Street, Dublin. Phone 6611481.

Irish journalists, too, owe a lot to Philippe Vianney, as many know. A wonderful man. He died in 1986.