Spain to France,grape picker tickets 1970s (Vendangeur Espaniol)

[Animal Jack]

Good morning ....just hoping someone may be able to help me with this please. I have a rail ticket from the 1970s that looks as though it was sold in Spain to people who were going to France for the grape picking harvests(Sept-oct)
It has 'Vendangeur Espaniol' on the top and then Beziers-Cognac via Bordeaux- Angouleme
it looks like it was a sort of magic pass type ticket that , once purchased , would allow you to travel to all there grape picking areas...im just guessing
Does anyone know anything about these please , any info would be helpful . AJ.

 

[StephenHunter]

Is there anything on the other side?

 

[30907]

it looks like it was a sort of magic pass type ticket that , once purchased , would allow you to travel to all there grape picking areas...im just guessing

It looks to me like an ordinary (presumably complimentary?) single ticket between two specific centres of wine-making.

(UDSEA Charente is the Departmental Farmers' Union, from a quick search - so it seems the pickers were sought after there.)

Quite possibly the Roussillon harvest finished earlier than the Bordeaux one owing to different climate and the transfer was routine - or simply that ad hoc arrangements were made if there was a shortage of pickers in one area. But this is pure guesswork.

PS back then wasn't Beziers a centre of wine-lake plonk - so the harvest there might even have been less critical?

 

[Animal Jack]

Is there anything on the other side?

no , its blank.

It looks to me like an ordinary (presumably complimentary?) single ticket between two specific centres of wine-making.

(UDSEA Charente is the Departmental Farmers' Union, from a quick search - so it seems the pickers were sought after there.)

Quite possibly the Roussillon harvest finished earlier than the Bordeaux one owing to different climate and the transfer was routine - or simply that ad hoc arrangements were made if there was a shortage of pickers in one area. But this is pure guesswork.

PS back then wasn't Beziers a centre of wine-lake plonk - so the harvest there might even have been less critical?

Thanks ...thats helping already. Do you think the tickets would have been given to pickers in Spain before they left (issued in France and then sent to an agricultural office in Spain) so that they didn't have to worry about getting around in France once the picking started..

It looks to me like an ordinary (presumably complimentary?) single ticket between two specific centres of wine-making.

(UDSEA Charente is the Departmental Farmers' Union, from a quick search - so it seems the pickers were sought after there.)

Quite possibly the Roussillon harvest finished earlier than the Bordeaux one owing to different climate and the transfer was routine - or simply that ad hoc arrangements were made if there was a shortage of pickers in one area. But this is pure guesswork.

PS back then wasn't Beziers a centre of wine-lake plonk - so the harvest there might even have been less critical?

Thanks ...thats helping already. Do you think the tickets would have been given to pickers in Spain before they left (issued in France and then sent to an agricultural office in Spain) so that they didn't have to worry about getting around in France once the picking started..

 

[Gloster]

Thanks ...thats helping already. Do you think the tickets would have been given to pickers in Spain before they left (issued in France and then sent to an agricultural office in Spain) so that they didn't have to worry about getting around in France once the picking started..

I would expect that they were issued to the pickers in the Béziers area once it was decided who was going to Cognac and when. I would guess that an agent for UDSEA, possibility its equivalent in the Hérault, would handle that. UDSEA would not want to issue more than it needed as it was probably paying for each ticket, even if at a reduced rate. They possibly had similar tickets to get them from the Spanish border to the Béziers area that were sent direct to them in Spain or to an agent. (This is mostly guess work from living in France and a long-standing interest in the country.)

 

[jfollows]

It has 'Vendangeur Espaniol' on the top and then Beziers-Cognac via Bordeaux- Angouleme

Sorry, but it doesn't.

Vendangeur Espagnol

My French may not be brilliant but your post confused me.

 

[30907]

Sorry, but it doesn't.

Vendangeur Espagnol

My French may not be brilliant but your post confused me.

What did you think espaniol meant, out of curiosity? It seems to be a non-word though phonetically it would sound pretty much like espagnol.

 

[Animal Jack]

I would expect that they were issued to the pickers in the Béziers area once it was decided who was going to Cognac and when. I would guess that an agent for UDSEA, possibility its equivalent in the Hérault, would handle that. UDSEA would not want to issue more than it needed as it was probably paying for each ticket, even if at a reduced rate. They possibly had similar tickets to get them from the Spanish border to the Béziers area that were sent direct to them in Spain or to an agent. (This is mostly guess work from living in France and a long-standing interest in the country.)

Thanks thats really helpful Aj.

What did you think espaniol meant, out of curiosity? It seems to be a non-word though phonetically it would sound pretty much like espagnol.

sorry ,I didn't realised I had done that ...tiredness on my part.....

Thanks to everyone (once again) for your help on this Aj.