Patrick Hébert, Log Receiver at Nièvre Merrain, as told by Stéphane Ebel

The Last of the First!

The man is rather discreet, even secretive. With his cap firmly placed on his head, Patrick is not one to boast or talk about himself. He’s also not one for theatrics. It’s 1:00 PM on Wednesday, December 18th, at Nièvre Merrain in Varzy. Patrick steps away from his workstation to dedicate a little time to talk about himself, his work, and the Charlois company.

Talking about himself isn’t his thing, and interviews even less so. Seated in the company cafeteria, the conversation begins. Patrick has the local accent, the kind you love in Nièvre, so characteristic of the region. A guy from around here, a real local. I sense he’s a likable character, a bit rough, just how I like it, much like my grandfather used to be. In just a few days, Patrick Hébert, 60 years old, will retire. He’ll leave behind about 45 years of career, 39 of which were spent at Charlois. Forty-five years of hard work, dedication, and just as many memories and anecdotes, which he will share with me, without truly revealing himself. He represents the older generation for whom work is a value, an honor. He is the memory of the company, perhaps even its spirit. A hardworking, conscientious man, passionate about a job well done. In his 39 years at Charlois, he’s seen a lot—logs, staves, and hoops. Tons and tons of them.

“When I started working for the company, there were four of us,” Patrick recalls. “Pino, Sanchez, Léon, and me. It was the good old days, we worked hard! It was tough, but it was different.” Not the nostalgic type, Patrick, no, but still

Murlin, a corrugated steel shed..

A native of Châteauneuf-Val-de-Bargis, where he still resides today and plans to enjoy a peaceful retirement, surrounded by hunting, fishing, and nature, Patrick is not one for sentimentality or nostalgia. “It’s a new life starting, that’s all. I started working as a farm assistant when I was not yet 15. Back then, you had to figure things out.” He knew of Murlin and Charlois by name, but nothing more. “One day, I saw an ad in the Journal du Centre. Charlois was hiring. I applied, was interviewed by Denis, and the next day, I started.” It was 1980. “I worked all the positions at the stave mill. Sawmill operator, splitter… But what I liked most was being in the yard when the logs arrived by truck. Sixteen or eighteen a day. I saw the work evolve along with the company. When I started, there was just a corrugated steel shed at Murlin. It’s changed a lot,” he says, looking at me with a knowing gaze. The farm, Charlois, and then the army. “I spent some time working in the quarries at Ciez. Then the exploitation permit was revoked.” At that time, Patrick lived in Saint-Bonnot. “One day, Denis (Charlois senior, ed.) came to see me and asked what I was doing now. He had actually come to bring me back to work with them. I went, and I never left.

« Of course, we were already making staves for wine barrels. Some of the wood went to the Lormes sawmill for railway ties, and there was also framing wood. Little by little, the company grew, and the work became automated. But even today, nothing replaces the eye, the touch, and the hand of the worker. And oak, it’s what brings us together.”

After Murlin, and following a hip surgery, Patrick would work at Nièvre Merrain, near Varzy, to finish his career. This village, not far from Murlin where it all began, and Châteauneuf-Val-de-Bargis, where he was born, would mark the final chapter of his long professional journey.

Photo © Christophe Deschanel