Seamen's Club Bordeaux Bassens

09/04/2025

Dear Seafarers, Our special greetings today are for seafarers who will be celebrating the Jewish Passover, the Christian Easter, including the Orthodox Easter. The music is fitting, it is the well-known « Let my people go » by Louis Armstrong ; this feast, for all these religions, is the one of passing from slavery to freedom. May knowing that there are peole on shore who are celebrating with you be a solace. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHbC8Nhd46s
Also, our greetings go to the crew of the Oracliff, relaxing outside our Seamen’s Club last week.
The information is a bit special this time : here are links to several networks which can help you in different ways :
ISWAN, well known of course, which has an App which may be very useful, including the Helpline where you can speak to someone in your own language, 24/24and 7/7 days a year. Download the ISWAN for Seafarers app, a free mobile app for seafarers which can be used offline to access help, information and support around the clock. https://www.iswan.org.uk/our-app/
Stella Maris, « Seafarers often have to work away from their families and local communities for nine to 12 months at a time. Across the world, we aim to provide a ‘friend in every port’ and stand alongside seafarers and fishers to ensure their rights are upheld. For 100 years we’ve been extending the hand of friendship and welcoming seafarers and fishers to our shores.
Our network of chaplains and volunteers makes more than 70,000 ship visits each year and supports hundreds of thousands of seafarers and fishermen in times of need ». https://stellamaris.org.uk/ukraineresponse/
The Mission to Seafarers, where you can find the help of a chaplain and fill in the Happiness Index, so helpful for ship owners, trade unions, Seamen’s Clubs : it is a picture of how you feel in your job.
https://www.missiontoseafarers.org/seafarers
I am afraid that It is becoming increasingly difficult for me to write on Facebook Seamen’s Club Bassens ; so these messages could be even fewer and farther between. But be assured that you will always be warmly welcomed in our Seamen’s Club !
With the new ships coming into being, may I say « May the wind always be in your sails ». Annie.
Seamen’s Club Bassens : Opening times Monday to Saturday included, 5pm to 10pm.
Phone numbers : from 10 am to 5 pm, dial 0033 (0) 7 55 15 84 80
From 5pm to 10 pm , dial 0033(0) 9 72 55 32 72

15/03/2025

Mathilde and her collegue at our Seamen's Club yesterday evening. They are in charge of relationships with the dockers, the first women in this job !
Keep it up girls.
Annie

12/03/2025

Dear seafarers, Our special greetings go to the muslims who are starting Ramadan, and to the Chris-tians who are going into Lent. All of you have in common that it is a time of the year when each and every one of us thinks about how to look after our fellow men better.
And when we say « fellow men », of course we are also thinking of our « fellow women » … this is a belated special message to the women on board, and on shore, who keep things going : here on the Estuary of the Gironde, which leads to Bassens, they are in Goverment instances, in charge of the grain silo, in charge of the dockers, mechanics on the different sorts of ships on the river, on the tugs, captains of the river shuttle, volunteers in the Seamen’s Club, members of Stella Maris …
The music and and the information are especially for you ! Nina Simone in « It’s a new day », https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHRNrgDIJfo
And a program for women seafarers, « She sails » ;
« At CMA CGM, our greatest asset, and the one we rely on the most, is our staff members and, amongst them, our seafarers. However women are not sufficiently represented in our current pool of seafarers, and this needs to change. We have decided to launch a new program aimed at making seafaring careers more appealing to women: “She sails", empowering women at sea.
The objective is to answer career and recruitment questions, highlight the opportunities that the CMA CGM Group can offer to women who are interested in joining us, and showcase the success stories of the women seafarers in our Group. » Read more about it :
https://www.cmacgm-group.com/en/she-sails
Fair sailing to you all ! Annie.

21/02/2025

Dear Seafarers,
Greetings to the Chinese seafarers in our Seamen's Club this evening, you were lucky to have some nice sun. I tried to get some photos of the crew of the Indian Bulker and the Fure Viskar off yesterday evening but didn't manage to. Hope it works tonight !
All the best to you,
Annie

19/02/2025

Dear seafarers, our special greetings today go to the crew of the Indian Bulker and of the Fure Viskar: we hope you had a good time in Bordeaux; and thank you again for the fish and chips! Have a good journey to Rotterdam. Our article today is about life at sea which is not always smooth sailing ... read about stories of unpaid wages and deteriorating conditions on board ...https://www.iswan.org.uk/stories/unpaid-wages-and-deteriorating-conditions-on-board/
And the music is Seifa Keita Moussoulou
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eF_0moBBTGo
Enjoy!
The best of everything,
Annie

29/01/2025

Dear seafarers, Our special greetings go to the crew of the SH Freesia … you must be somewhere on your long trip between Rouen and La Réunion, many days without being able to go ashore … this message is also for all of those in the same case. The photos are to help you on your way : the table outside our Seamen’s Club is sometimes awash with the rain, but at other times, the sun makes it a friendly place to sit. (Life is a bit like this, occasionally) And the tugboat against the setting sun is beautiful. (Arnaud, from the tugboat, was in the Seamen’s Club with you the other night. He too sailed for months on end at one time of his life). We hope you will like the music, and the document today is about how a seafarer feels about his job. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oRyVnuNWww
https://www.iswan.org.uk/news/why-i-stayed-in-seafaring/
Perhaps you would like to write something about why you like life at sea, as a comment to this message ? Please do so !
Keep heart, make the most of the beautiful things you come across ! Annie

08/01/2025

08/01/2025

Vous aimez rencontrer des personnes de toutes nationalités, vous parlez anglais, ou d’autres langues.
Vous avez un peu de temps à partager.
Vous souhaitez aider les marins qui viennent en escale dans les terminaux du Grand Port Maritime de Bordeaux.
Venez rejoindre les bénévoles du Seamen’s Club de Bassens !
Renseignez-vous auprès d’Escale Estuaire de la Gironde [email protected]
Et voyez nos vœux pour 2025, avec notre galerie de portraits!

08/01/2025

Dear Seafarers, Our best wishes to all of you. May this year be a good one for yourselves and for your families, with the hope that Fraternity will be uppermost . May we know how to welcome you in a way which relaxes you, and make you feel at home.
Our belated special greetings go to the Orthodoxe seafarers, who celebrated their Christmas yesterday. And to the crews of the TG Aries, the Norman, the Hanna . With our volunteer Thierry and Arnaud, of the tugboats, to keep you company in the Seamen’s Club.
And a bit more of our Portrait Gallery : Guy, Jean-Michel and Pierre ; Annie (the one who signs these messages) These four people were instrumental in the setting up of the Seamen’s Club. Jacques, who you may see in the Verdon ; and Claude.
The music today is Cesaria Evora, we hope you enjoy it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNVrdYGiULM
And the information, something from ISWAN on how to be a mentor to the younger seafarers :
https://www.iswan.org.uk/news/talking-point-be-the-mentor-you-wish-you-had/
The best of everything to you ! Annie

22/12/2024

Dear seafarers, Our special greetings go to the crew of the Albiz : it is a time for Christmas presents and a Christmas tree in the Seamen’s Club ! Also to the Jewish seafarers, with the beginning of Hannouka, and the Christians among you. We hope all the crews have the opportunity to have a nice party on board on Christmas Eve.
A few more people in our portrait gallery : In the Seamen’s Club these days you may come accross Bernard and Christopher, Yann and Patrick, Thierry ; and Robert works in the background.
Our song is a traditional English Christmas carol about ships … but not exactly like those you know !! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GD7a0g9uODg
and we would like this poem to bring you some solace in this time of the year which is not so easy.

"As the night shakes out its apron of stars
And a silence holds back the desert breeze,
In the midst of wandering men seeking the path from all time to all time
The light, trembling tune of a flute mingles with the choir of angels,
Then He - who - comes opens up a space of hope,
Opens up horizons of beauty and joy. "(S.M. SMITH)
Annie.